TV Newser:

Rush Limbaugh is challenging MSNBC to go 30 days without saying his name.
“I challenge you, MSNBC! 30 days without anything mentioning me. No video of me, no guests commenting on me. See if you can do it.”
Limbaugh says the cable network is trying to “build its ratings on my back.”

Based on the evidence, I don’t think MSNBC is trying to build its ratings. If that were the case, they would have picked someone other than Ed Schultz for the 6 P.M. slot. Or, at the very least, put a show up that pairs Schultz with a conservative like the old Hannity & Colmes. MSNBC is going after Rush for the same reason they go after Fox News every day, and that’s in an attempt to discredit both Rush and Fox as institutions. The question remains how long MSNBC management will tolerate MSNBC’s second- and third-place finishes in the ratings. Keith Olbermann’s losing to Nancy Grace on Headline News should tell someone that the MSNBC model isn’t exactly working from a ratings perspective. MSNBC might think they’re offering quality journalism, but at the end of the day, it’s got to make money.

The MSNBC attacks on Rush are also the same script the Left used against Palin. The MSM and Obama, at first, held off going after Palin. The blogs and MSNBC, however, were early attackers. Those attacks then made their way into the MSM, where they became effective.

So, for every attack on Rush by MSNBC, we’re seeing no bump in the ratings, but we are seeing the MSM take notice of the message MSNBC is trying to get across.