Sleep Train not to be confused with "Select Comfort," which still runs ads on the RL show, also since both have done a great deal of advertising on the Rush limbaugh show.....~BLS

By Joe Newby

The Examiner

Sleep Train, one of the companies that dropped its ads from Rush Limbaugh's radio program after Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute," asked Limbaugh for another chance.

But Limbaugh denied the company's request.

The Los Angeles Times reported:

A Limbaugh spokesman said that California mattress company Sleep Train asked to restart a “voiced endorsement” from Limbaugh that it had publicly cut off last week. The company said at the time that it “does not condone such negative comments toward any person.”

Several activist groups have called for companies to drop their ads after Limbaugh called a Georgetown law school student a “slut” and a “prostitute” for her support of a proposal to mandate birth control in standard healthcare coverage.

“As a diverse company, Sleep Train does not condone such negative comments directed toward any person,” Sleep Train said. “We have currently pulled our ads with Rush Limbaugh.”

The Times added that Limbaugh spokesman Brian Glicklich forwarded an email he said had been sent to Sleep Train President Dale Carlsen.  According to that email, Limbaugh himself considered the company's request and denied it.

“Thank you for your requests last week and this week to restart your voiced endorsement in local markets of The Rush Limbaugh Show,” the email began. “Rush received your requests personally.”

“Unfortunately," the email continues, "your public comments were not well received by our audience, and did not accurately portray either Rush Limbaugh's character or the intent of his remarks. Thus, we regret to inform you that Rush will be unable to endorse Sleep Train in the future.”

“Rush appreciates your long friendship and your past support, and we wish you good luck in the future.”

According to the Washington Post, Sleep Train has been with Limbaugh for over 25 years.

A post at the conservative blog Hot Air notes:

Via the Daily Rushbo, he talked about this a bit on yesterday’s show, claiming that two sponsors had already asked to return and that “one of them is practically begging to come back.” I don’t know why Sleep Train would pull ads if the prospect of losing Rush forever made them nervous enough to cave this quickly. They’ve alienated the right by abandoning him and irritated the left by going squishy over it. Have we learned nothing from l’affaire Komen, my friends? Rule one of inserting yourself into a hot-button public debate: Once you pick a side, stick to it. Sheesh.

After Sleep Train and others pulled their advertisements from Limbaugh's program, grassroots conservatives boycotted many of the companies on their own, and a number of Facebook pages were started targeting the companies.  Limbaugh reassured his audience that everything would be fine and the advertisers would be replaced.

On Wednesday, he said the media was misrepresenting the whole story because they do not understand how his business works, "nor do they have the ability to understand it."

He added:

Nobody is losing money here, including us, in all this. And that is key for you to understand. They are not canceling the business on our stations. They're just saying they don't want their spots to appear in my show. We don't get any revenue from 'em anyway. The whole effort is to dispirit you. It's to make you think the left is being successful in its campaign when it isn't. In fact, the left is so fed up, they can't see straight. They thought they had me. They thought I would be off the air by now. They can't understand why I still am on the air. There is also another rumor going around that I am going to be suspended for a week. It is utter BS.

"I would have to suspend myself," he said.

He explained further:

It's such inside baseball stuff, but 28 sponsors -- 32, whatever number they're using -- that have been lost, are not direct advertisers here. And they may not even be advertising within my three hours on the stations they're running. It's impossible to know. Now, you might say, "Well, whatever it is, these people are putting out statements." Yes, they're putting out statements because they're hoping to make political gains -- and it's gonna backfire. You can look at the stock price of some of these companies. I'm not gonna say any more, but it's going to backfire. So you have a bank say (pompously), "We are announcing today that none of our commercials will ever again run on the Rush Limbaugh Show." They're not a sponsor of ours, folks. They may buy sponsorships on 10 or 15 of our affiliates around country, but they're not sure they're being inserted in my three hours; they want to make sure they're not. They'll run elsewhere on the station.

As we reported earlier, the war against Limbaugh's free speech will ultimately fail.