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Rush Limbaugh鈥檚 foes are striking back at his talk show empire beginning Thursday via anti-Limbaugh ads scheduled to run in eight cities. The liberal watchdog group Media Matters says it will spend at least $100,000 on the effort, which highlights Mr. Limbaugh鈥檚 attack on Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke as a 鈥渟lut鈥� in an attempt to get local stations to drop his show.

One of the ads urges listeners to call and tell Limbaugh鈥檚 affiliates that 鈥渨e don鈥檛 talk to women like that鈥� in our city, according to the Associated Press.

Hmmm. Is this campaign a waste of money 鈥� or the coup de grace for a career teetering on the edge?

First, we鈥檒l note that the ads are the latest salvo in an escalating war between Limbaugh and Media Matters itself. The liberal group has been instrumental in organizing an advertiser boycott of Limbaugh on social media, providing lists of target firms and contact phone numbers.

In a March 20 opinion piece in Politico, Media Matters founder David Brock asserted that the sponsor exodus has 鈥渄isintegrated鈥� Limbaugh鈥檚 business model. Well over 100 companies have taken steps to make sure they aren鈥檛 associated with Limbaugh鈥檚 show, Mr. Brock wrote.

Limbaugh鈥檚 harsh attack on Fluke was unprecedented even for him, according to Brock.

鈥淚t is for that reason that Media Matters, along with numerous other groups, have begun to educate advertisers about the damage their financial support of Limbaugh鈥檚 program can do to their brands,鈥� wrote Brock.

As a practical matter, Media Matters鈥� increasingly visible attacks on Limbaugh have allowed the talk show host to reframe the controversy to a certain point. Instead of his harsh words against a young, female private citizen, the issue Limbaugh takes on now is the attempt by a group that鈥檚 taken money from liberal icon George Soros to force him off-air. It鈥檚 a battleground on which Limbaugh appears to feel more comfortable.

鈥淢edia Matters and the Democrat National Committee and the Democrat Party are exposing themselves,鈥澛燣imbaugh said on his show Wednesday. 鈥淭his is an unintended consequence. They鈥檙e exposing that their Astroturf campaigns are not grassroots at all.... They are totally professionally created and executed Democrat Party opposition research-type attacks. And they have nothing to do with consumers.鈥�

Second, demanding that Limbaugh wholeheartedly apologize is one thing. Demanding that he stop speaking is another. Liberal comedian Bill Maher has noted on his Twitter feed that he dislikes advertiser boycotts 鈥� perhaps due to his own controversial comments 鈥� and he is not alone. An opinion piece earlier this month from feminist icons Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem, and Robin Morgan pushing for the FCC to kick Rush off US airwaves drew negative comments from many quarters. The Atlantic鈥檚 Conor Friedersdorf warned of a political escalation that could result in 鈥渁ttempts by the left and right to use speech codes as a cudgel against opponents鈥�.

Third, the increasing heat of the presidential campaign will affect the anti-Limbaugh cause to some degree, perhaps further allowing the talk show host to divert attention from his particular anti-Fluke diatribe.

You鈥檒l note that Limbaugh himself links Media Matters and the Democratic Party together in the same breath. Meanwhile, Media Matters criticizes not just Limbaugh, but what the group terms his 鈥渃onservative cheerleaders鈥� among GOP-leaning pundits.

The further the controversy drifts from the harm done to a particular person, the more likely the chances that Limbaugh emerges from the controversy financially intact. Will his influence diminish, given advertisers鈥� newfound wariness of controversial speech? That might be the real question going forward.

Meanwhile, the more time Rush spends talking about Media Matters, the less he spends attacking President Obama. It鈥檚 possible that will be a main effect, inadvertent or otherwise, of the anti-Rush ad campaign.

鈥淲e have to wonder how all of this is actually plain ol鈥� politics. We鈥檙e heading toward the presidential election and Rush鈥檚 focus has been taken off his usual ball, onto his own crisis,鈥� writes Carl Marcucci of the media trade publication RBR-TVBR.com on Thursday.