The talk radio host has finally launched an unobjectionable engine of profit - and he's pitching it in an amusing costume
There's been a lot of talk recently about the conservative movement selling out its base. There's the Glenn Beck's scheme to push overpriced gold, the sketchy behavior of Human Events, the financial conflict of interest many talk radio hosts have when they plug the work of right leaning think tanks. Today in The Economist, Will Wilkinson puts it this way: "Right-leaning think tanks and advocacy groups are to a significant extent transmission belts conveying the cash of fearful, constitution-loving widows into the bank accounts of "movement" professionals in Washington, DC."
As a longtime critic of all this behavior, its only fair that I credit prominent examples of conservative entertainers making money without compromising their ethics. Lucky for me, Rush Limbaugh's latest venture is both totally above board and kind of hilarious. In order to capitalize on the Tea Party phenomenon, he's just released Two If by Tea, an iced tea brand that has him dressed up like Paul Revere on the label. "The liberals are coming!" he warns. He talked the product up on his Thursday radio show: "The tea inside the 16 ounce bottles is the best that you have ever tasted."