Palm Beach Daily News made the Thursday broadcast of Rush Limbaugh’s radio talk show. When Rush mentioned being proud because pictures of his cat, Punky, were printed on the front and back page of the Palm Beach Daily News, I soon received some emails and calls from nice folks who were having trouble finding them online.
Part of the problem may have been that the show transcript has Rush saying that the photos were printed on Wednesday, when they actually ran on Tuesday, April 29, 2008. Also, Rush listeners who are not regular Shiny Sheet readers are probably not familiar with our Pet Set column by Paulette Cooper Noble and were confused by a link to our Pets page rather than directly to the latest column.
I changed this to make the article easier to find, and I also added a link to the front page picture of “Punkin,” which was not initially attached to the Web story. The story is no longer online, but can be found by ordering a back issue of the April 29, 2008, Palm Beach Daily News.
While it’s nice to know that the paper got a shout out and we welcome the additional Web traffic, some comments Rush made about how the Shiny Sheet got its name because its front page “used to be shiny” but uses “regular paper” now are a bit off the mark. If you compare our print edition to another newspaper, you’ll see that the paper looks much whiter and feels a bit thicker.
I asked Palm Beach Daily News Publisher Joyce Reingold, and here’s what she says, “Actually, prior to World War II the entire paper was shiny — not just the front page. But, from what I’ve read about our history, the paper changed when the slick, book stock prices became prohibitive.
Still, I must take exception with El Rushbo’s claim that we’ve ‘gone cheap’ and use ‘regular’ paper. Au contraire, mon frere! Our 45-pound, white, bright paper costs about $575 a ton more than the ‘regular’ newsprint used by ‘regular’ newspapers.”
However, Joyce says, “Punky is just adorable! It makes me smile to think my uber-liberal, cat-loving mother would have something in common with Rush Limbaugh!”
I concur that “Punkin” is a very pretty kitty, whether you lean to the left, the right or are moderate like me. Some would probably debate the “greatest little cat in the world” part though.