Rush Limbaugh selection in children’s book competition causes a stir
(CNN) - Rush Limbaugh - radio host, conservative firebrand and... children's book author of the year?
The Children’s Book Council and its Every Child a Reader program released on Thursday their author-of-the-year finalists for their annual Children’s and Teen Choice Book Awards.
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Limbaugh is one of the four finalists, and his nomination has prompted outrage on social media, given the host’s often-incendiary nature.
Limbaugh's book is titled, "Rush Revere and The Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans" – a time-traveling tale of colonial America and the latest of two books in the "Rush Revere Series" published last year by Simon & Schuster.
Limbaugh, an outspoken figure in the political world, often expresses controversial sentiments on his radio program. Recently, Limbaugh blasted Pope Francis' economic views as "pure Marxism," and, in 2012, he called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute" for her support of women's access to birth control.
The Children’s Book Council issued a public letter, posted to its website and Facebook page, defending its finalist selection process following the uproar online and insisting that the author of the year finalists "are determined solely based on titles’ performances on the bestseller lists."
"Some of you have voiced concerns over the selection of finalists from bestseller lists, which you feel are potentially-manipulable indications of the success of a title. We can take this into consideration going forward, but cannot change our procedure for selecting finalists after the fact," the organization said in the letter.
The CBC letter goes on to say the kids, who will start voting next week, ultimately decide which author wins in each of the six categories, including best author. The letter goes on to assure that the organization has a procedure in place to protect against fraud and adult's voting in the contest.
"This program has never been about CBC or ECAR endorsing finalists," the letter says.
Limbaugh touted the apparent success of his book series on his radio program on Thursday.
"We just found out last night that on the New York Times Best-Seller List of March the 30th, ‘Rush Revere and the First Patriots’ will open at number one, and ‘Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims’ moves up to number four," said, according to a transcript of the audio.
Limbaugh’s book landed at the number-5 spot on the New York Times best seller’s list for the week of March 23.
CNN's Dana Davidsen contributed to this report.
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Perhaps Rush should now consider running for president. After all childrens novels were all Obama had as credentials. Rumor is though, that Rush actually did author his!
you lefties are amusing – your are so steeped in hate and hypocrisy it's astonishing – you shoudl be more civil or one of these days we're gonna stop carrying you and you will expire...
So many good comments for Rush and the truth! My girls are older but I think I will buy the books anyway and read them myself. Congratulations Rush!
"for her support of women's access to birth control" ... No, actually Limbaugh's words you've quoted out of context had nothing to do with "access" but with Fluke's position that other people should pay for her birth control.
hmmm so if someone is against Obama's failing program without having read it they are "racist" if a lefty is against this book without having read it they are "enlightened" ya right
Never, NEVER doubt Rush .....
Wow, what a far leaning political hack piece this is. But then, what would anyone expect from this organization. Specifically referring to that one paragraph, the slime-job of Limbaugh with total misrepresentation of context on two comments he made, I would expect nothing less from CNN. What a total failure of news reporting by Davidsen and her editors. It is total hubris and not worthy of reading. You liberals must be going absolutely crazy over this. Have a nice day.
And there we have it folks. Free publicity for Limbaughs book. The mere outrage will push this into best seller territory.
Lefties played right into the trap. LOL
See this is what you counter cultural progressive liberal socialist get when you write those stupid kids books of yours about Moa, Marx, Stalin, Castro and Che. No one buys them but you!
Enough of the liberal whining already, my 9 years twin boys absolutely love the books. It's about reading fun and in the Rush Revere series they're learning the actual history of America. No question their favorite character is Liberty the Horse who, talks, can become invisible, and can time travel.
This is about getting kids to read, not politics!
After reading some of the liberal comments, I have come to the conclusion that there are a lot of miserable, wretched people out there and that they're so full of vitriol and hate they can't see the forest for the trees. Sad, pathetic, small-minded people that haven't even read the book. I have never seen anything like it in my life. It's another sad commentary on our disintegrating society.
God forbid it be about American patriots long forgotten by our liberal media types...it may disrupt the progressive's indoctrination processes...
Rachel
His books are excellent. This of course makes the liberal loons furious.
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His books may tell good stories, but the histories thye tell are filled with falsehoods. In short, it's conservative propaganda. Besides, shouldn't awards for artistic merit be based upon artistic merit, and not profit. The largest grossing movies in Hollywood do not always take home the top acting Oscars, not unless there is something that merits artistic achievement in them.
It takes about 2 minutes to hear a dozen lies spew out of his mouth....anyone who believes Rush must suspend all critical thinking ...ignore the fact based world....and have no connection with reality...the man is a dangerous influence and it is pitiful he has so many blind drooling followers who actually have the right to vote
"Limbaugh, an outspoken figure in the political world, often expresses controversial sentiments on his radio program."..... To a Lib, truth is controversial.
The LEFT and the MSM are outraged that Rush is so popular and successful. The majority of Americans are happy for him and admire him for his love of our great nation. Kids are learning real history from his accurate portrail of our heritage' sadly, the schools today are NOT teaching history. Three cheers for El Rusho!!!!!
It's driving the Lefty loons crazy...Atta boy Rush!
malice420dotcom
It's the children's turn to win with truth. Rush has already won.
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The kids don't usually buy the books/ The parents do.
Leave it to CNN to be fair and balanced
His first children's book is great. My daughter loves it. I read it to her at night and we are on Chapter 7.
Rush is a disease that cannot be spread, and i am going to my child's school to let the principal know that if they use those books in the school i will pull my child out.
Funny thing is, people like Bill Maher are the ones with an "often-incendiary nature", yet they are celebrated by the left. Anyone who says this about Rush CLEARLY does not listen to him at all. And I agree with another poster – nobody on the left or media EVER challenges Rush on the facts. They wait for the once in a blue moon event where he says something they can take out of context (Fluke) and run with it as if he says these "bad things" every day. Another example is "I hope Obama fails". Anyone who listens to the show knows he said he wants him to fail on getting his policies through, but the media and left would rather report it as a lie. Funny thing is now more than half the country agrees with Rush that they don't want Obama's policies (ie. Obamacare).
Yes, by all means, silence those who disagree with you. Meanwhile, let's make sure all five year olds have read "My Two Dads". Freedom of speech is for everyone, if you actually believe in equal rights, which most Liberals don't really. They believe in THEIR rights, not yours.
The old saying of "never judge a book by its cover" takes on a new twist: "never judge a book by its author."
His books sell because what he preaches (for the most part) is the truth and liberals have a really hard time facing the cold hard reality of life. He tells them what they don't want to hear so rather then listen they ostracize. It's the liberal way.