Cal Thomas on Limbaugh

* In defending Rush Limbaugh (Column Right, July 19), Cal Thomas suggests a conspiracy is at work to discredit the talk-show host/commentator: “Newspaper columns and paid newspaper ads allege ‘factual errors’ in some of his comments (would that someone held the big media accountable for their very real and numerous factual errors).”

As the media watch group responsible for the paid ads, and the group mentioned in most of the columns, we have news for Thomas: For years, we’ve been holding the big media--New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Nightline, CBS News, etc.--accountable for their errors. But now that we’ve issued our first report on Limbaugh, rather than discuss the merits or specifics of our survey on Limbaugh’s chronic inaccuracy, Thomas hints of a liberal plot.

We do agree with Thomas on one point: “Limbaugh should challenge some of his most visible critics to public debate.” We stand ready to debate Limbaugh. But when national TV and radio networks invite Limbaugh to appear with us in debate, he refuses.

Limbaugh’s attitude seems to be: Why debate when I can serve up 22-minute political sermons every night on TV, unchallenged by opposing views, voices or facts?

JEFF COHEN

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)

New York

* Thomas got it exactly right (no pun intended) in his column on Limbaugh. Limbaugh’s legions share a keen sense of “at last!” At last, a spokesperson who can articulate the frustration many of us feel as we see the values we hold dear assaulted at every turn. At last, someone with the chutzpah to pillory the arrogance and elitism that are the hallmarks of the left. At last, someone who is, as he puts it, “equal time” to balance the decidedly left-leaning “mainstream media.”

Because his message is so welcome and refreshing and his intelligence so clearly formidable, I have often wished that Rush were less bombastic and his style less in-your-face. I know that he is dismissed as a raving right-wing loon by people who cannot get past the buffoonery; indeed there are many times that I cringe at the excesses of his style while wholeheartedly agreeing with the substance of what he says. But “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and given the swelling number of ditto-heads in the country, Rush “ain’t broke.”

SHARON BIGGERS

Huntington Beach

* I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read Thomas’ column on Limbaugh! How in the world did The Times allow this to happen? You finally have printed something truthful about Rush. There are people other than liberals who read The Times.

BETTY CASE

La Crescenta

* Thomas defends Limbaugh by passing on his assertion that his opponents are not regular listeners. As proof, Limbaugh claims that his detractors have not even noticed that he stopped using the term femi-Nazi over a year ago.

This is a perfect example of the way Limbaugh uses half-truths to build his arguments. For, while Limbaugh may not utter the epithet himself, it is alive and well on his show. In fact, only recently, it could be heard in a satirical song Limbaugh played about (Health and Human Services Secretary) Donna Shalala.

RICHARD COHEN

Santa Monica