“He sounded like a vile, disgusting pervert …” An Analysis of Persuasive Attacks on Rush Limbaugh During the Sandra Fluke Controversy

Abstract

This article examines the persuasive attacks made against Rush Limbaugh after his insults of Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke. The persuasive attacks against Limbaugh attempted to increase perceptions of his responsibility for the acts, but the majority worked to increase the perceived offensiveness of his acts. The most successful attacks extended Limbaugh's attacks to the audience, pointed out Limbaugh's own inconsistencies, applied pejorative labels to Limbaugh's words, and linked Limbaugh to the positions and ideologies of the Republican Party. The analysis found that the attacks were successful in the short-run, but less so in the long-term.