And a drug whore at that.
Limbaugh issued a rather lame apology on his website for calling a woman a “slut” and a “prostitute”, but it doesn’t seem like that is going to be enough. Despite the apology, two more sponsors have pulled the plug on Limbaugh, bringing the total number of advertisers who have jumped ship to eight.
UPDATE: Conservative George Will says that GOP leaders have avoided criticizing Limbaugh’s comments because they fear Rush Limbaugh:
Boehner comes out and says Rush’s language was inappropriate. Using the salad fork for your entrée, that’s inappropriate. Not this stuff. And it was depressing because what it indicates is that the Republican leaders are afraid of Rush Limbaugh. They want to bomb Iran, but they’re afraid of Rush Limbaugh.
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More likely, they’re afraid of looking like pussies to the party base by distancing themselves too far from the one guy that keeps the base all fired up.
Can we have a bake sale and get this plastered all over the country on billboards??? 🙂 It sure beats “Do you miss me yet?” Thanks, IK
I’ll give him at least a little bit of credit for offering a real apology, and not the seemingly more common “I’m sorry if I offended anyone” type of apology. That said, it did come off as rather halfhearted and motivated by more loss of advertisers than any real self awareness.
Limbaugh simply stated that his statement was a bad choice of words. Total BS. His statement was one meant to demean all women, not just Sandra Fluke. It was meant to stir up outrage at the administration. It was intended to obfuscate the real issues being discussed relative to health care. To claim it was simply a poor choice of words was simply a poor excuse for an apology.
At the same time, I don’t hear anyone coming out against Bill O’Reilly after he backed Limbaugh up, either. Although he didn’t use the words prostitute or whore, he described Ms. Fluke as a woman feeling entitled to birth control and therefore expecting everyone else to pay for her pregnancy-free sex through their increased health care premiums. My wife and I no longer expect to produce any children, so should we have to pay for pregnancy care for those that do? Same logic. G, these folks are nuts.
I misspoke. Limbaugh’s statement was not intended to demean all women – only those who have sex while not wanting an unintended pregnancy.
In my opinion, Limbaugh’s biggest sin was using his power and huge microphone to bully one, powerless person. That’s the worst kind of cowardly bullying.
The real issue here is not sex or pregnancy or health care or free speech. It is that this kind of political “dialogue” (and I use the term loosely!) prevents EVERYONE from focusing on real problems and finding workable solutions that benefit the majority rather than assorted special interests. And that is what Limbaugh and his ilk should be rightly condemned for!
What Limbaugh did is deplorable, unacceptable and totally inappropriate. However, the liberal media storm is biased IMO, which makes sense if your a liberal.
Where was the equal outrage from the left for the fairness to women when Jerry Brown or his associate called Meg Whitman a whore? Or how about Bill Mayer’s comments about, Palin, Bachmann or the breast feeding women in Applebees? Brown issued an apology as he should and the media went quiet except perhaps for the right, but it did die down rather quickly. I’ve seen no apology from Mayer or other national comedians for there attacks on women whether prominent or not. I think it is the “pot calling the kettle black like the earlier post said.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/04/rush-limbaugh-s-apology-liberal-men-need-to-follow-suit.html
PtSgt: I think the “outrage” that you speak of is based more on “the straw that broke the camel’s back” syndrome that in any hashmark tally of remarks made by left vs. right.
Limbaugh is a verbal polluter reaching many ears and a large contributor to the vitriol that passes for civil discussion about the changes that need to happen so that we can live civilly and problem solve effectively in this country.
The whore term was used metaphorically. The slut term was not.
Do you understand that distinction? Do you understand why the situations are not the same?
Ironically, the use of the word whore in that instance WAS inappropriate, the same way that calling someone who pillages the environment for profit a rapist is, or the way people now call each other Nazis in political discourse. It is inappropriate because you are going too far in your characterization of someone. They were not saying that Meg Whitman actually exchanges sexual favors for money.
Rush’s use of the word slut was not inappropriate. It was EXACTLY what he wanted to say about her, along with a slew of other sexist garbage, and it was reprehensible.
Pretending these two things are the same doesn’t make it so.
Well, over the course of 24 hours whatever tiny amount of respect I thought I might had had evaporated, when it became clear that not only was he not willing to apologize with his own voice, but he immediately started trying to distance himself from it once he was on the air again.
Regarding balance, there are a couple things to consider. IMO, the most obvious difference between Bill Maher and Rush is that nobody really cares what Bill Maher thinks except Bill Maher. But more importantly, this was not an isolated incident of name calling. He kept coming back to it. Repeatedly. Over the course of several days. And he made it worse each time. Even conservative commentators agree on that: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/05/opinion/frum-rush-limbaugh-fairness/index.html
Patricia, I agree. I think if a republican does win the whitehouse back, Limbaugh would fall off the deep end into drug dependency again and maybe cash out his chips for good.
Hey I don’t listen to Rush and think his language was vulgar and he only recanted when outside pressure mounted. He is an absolute A##$&@!.
I also agree that Mayer’s audience is not as large as Rush, but that doesn’t excuse the language.
I’m not going to speak to Ms Fluke’s character because as my Daddy taught me it doesn’t matter, a lady is a lady and we don’t talk about ladies that way.
As to “The whore term was used metaphorically” I’m glad you were their and squared them away. The recordings I heard made it alittle difficult to make that determination, but I guess if you reach far enough for anything you’ll get it to protect ones viewpoint. I don’t excuse any of it and neither should anyone here, it has no place in public discourse. It shows hatred, bigotry, intolerance and the general decline in public decency.
I wasn’t there, but I have magical superpowers which include reading comprehension beyond that of an 8 year old:
“Do we want to put an ad out? … That I have been warned if I crack down on pensions, I will be – that they’ll go to Whitman, and that’s where they’ll go because they know Whitman will give ’em, will cut them a deal, but I won’t,” Brown said.
“What about saying she’s a whore?”
“Well, I’m going to use that,” Brown responds a moment later. “It proves you’ve cut a secret deal to protect the pensions.”
If you think in any way that the term whore was used to mean that she exchanges sex for money, you are a moron. Complete and total moron. There is no other way to put it. And if you don’t really think that but are saying it anyway, you are a partisan hack.
Accusing me of reaching. That’s rich.
Pwease mistr 1032 cn u splain me wat u sein so dat a simpl min lik me cn unersand
You are just like Rush, but hide in sheeps clothing behind a computer monitor. You have the same mind set just on the opposite side of an issue. Your example shows nothing different from what I’ve said, oh great mind.
But it does prove my last point.
Am I going to have to separate you two?
LOL. OK Dad I’ll try to behave. 🙂
The number of advertisers refusing to appear on Limbaugh’s show is up to 98
That’s right, he’s lost 98 advertisers
I have a suspicion that suggesting his audience boycott advertisers that leave him might have been the last straw