Mitt Romney has drawn criticism for remaining largely silent on Rush Limbaugh’s sexist attacks against Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke, saying only, “it’s not the language I would have used.”
What has gone largely unnoticed, however, is Romney’s corporate connection to Limbaugh. While Limbaugh owns the company that produces his show, it’s syndicated and broadcasted by Premiere Radio Networks, which also handles Limbaugh’s advertising. Premiere is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clear Channel, the radio and outdoor advertising behemoth. Clear Channel, meanwhile, is owned by a partnership of two private equity firms, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners — the same Bain Capital that Mitt Romney once ran.
Romney left Bain in 1999, long before it purchased Clear Channel in 2006, but he still makes a large portion of his income from Bain, via a lucrative retirement deal and with millions invested in Bain funds. And Bain and its employees have given at least $151,500 to Romney’s presidential campaign, and $2 million to the super PAC backing the candidate.
Appearing on The View today, Fluke was asked if she thought Limbaugh should be “fired” over his comments about her. “I’m going to leave that up to the sponsors, to Clear Channel communications,” she replied.
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We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.
Over the last months, each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming. But, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November, “Together, we are more powerful than Trump.”
Indeed, the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders, but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups. Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty, staff, and students refusing to comply. And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity.
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