In the aftermath of Rush Limbaugh's
controversial comments about Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, several companies pulled their advertising from his radio program. On March 3rd, Rush did something I don't believe he's ever done when faced with backlash from any of the outrageous statements he's made... he offered an apology. At least it's the closest he could come to one.
Posted on Rush's website is his "apology":
"For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity,
three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the
wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal
attack on Ms. Fluke.
I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious
political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational
activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that
American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened
to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the
line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be
debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that
are interested in running to keep fit?In my monologue, I posited that it
is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone's
bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential
level.
My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be
humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke
for the insulting word choices."
Rush's apology rings false because after his initial Wednesday February 29th attack against Ms. Fluke, he hurled additional verbal bombs at her on Thursday and Friday. It was only after a number of advertisers started to abandon ship that he saw the error of his ways. Apparently, his "apology" hasn't stopped the bleeding because another advertiser, Carbonite, pulled their ads from his show. After dropping Limbaugh's program, Carbonite CEO David Friend said the following:"No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could
possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and
well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal
attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency.
Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless
decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our
action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn
their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public
discourse."While writing this post, I learned that
another company (Pro Flowers) yanked their ads from Limbaugh's show on
March 4th. Props to all the companies who have finally had enough of
Limbaugh's "entertainment".
If you'd like to let the companies still advertising on Rush's program know that you don't approve of his misogyny, below is one of the sites where you can make your voice heard.
Let me close by saying that the Limbaugh/Fluke controversy isn't a left vs. right issue to me. Even if one disagrees with Ms. Fluke's stance that health insurance plans should cover the cost of birth control, I don't see how they can defend Rush's despicable attacks against her. As always, I like to hear from people with opposing viewpoints. I'd especially like to hear from any female conservatives who read this post.
Sandra Fluke's testimony:
26 comments:
When he first came on TV, I didn't think he was appropriate for public viewing. His show should never have been permitted to air. This merely further proves my beliefs.
His is nothing but a loud mouth, know-it-all, with a vulgar presentation that should be taken off the air immediately.
He acts like "the loudmouth-looking-for-attention-bully" that is always present, especially around children and other "influenceable" people. He is obnoxious! He is a bad influence for those who have not yet had the chance to mentally develop as an individual thinker.
Anyone that accepts his presentations, do not have the ability to think for themselves. They merely want to be in the crowd that thinks they are smarter than anyone else.
However, the standards in this world have become so lowly that most do not recognize the damage done.
However, you too are free the chose your demise. I prefer to have a mind that is capable of thinking for itself, and in a manner that does not try to put oneself over anyone else.
Now I have had my say, the choice is yours.
Last rant for a while. Vacation time.
But at least I can go away from online spamming on a LMAO note!
What Rush said was deplorable. He's a schmuck. I have no use for him.
But I caught a video of Ed Schultz calling for Limbaugh to be fired for making the comment -- the same comment Ed made just a few months back. (Whether or not Rush called for Ed to be fired, I don't know. I don't listen to either.)
So that definitely pulls an involuntary giggle out of me.
I don't buy into none of the had-it-coming crap due to the public vs. private nonsensical gibberish.
And Rush said what he felt and only apologized to try to stop the bleeding. He's not fooling anyone.
But, seriously, a guy like Maher saying shit like this can still pull in high profile guests and famous feminist bulldogs who fawn over him. Ed's still around. So while Rush might be a moron, I don't see where he has to lose his job over it.
Don't get all totalitarian on us, libs! Call an ass an ass and move on about your day.
While I cannot condone Rush's words. I will not support the woman. Obama said that her parents should be proud of her? Really? Proud that their daughter wants to have sex with multiple partners? And then expect the tax payers to pay for her contraception? Yeah, I don't think so.
If she wants to have sex with a zillion partners, that's her business, but I sure as heck don't want to have pay for her abortions, abortion pills or any kind of contraception. That responsibility should be between herself and her partner. Period. Or maybe, she can and use a little self-control and just say, "no." And practice abstinence. I don't think it will be the death of her to refrain from sleeping around. Not to mention the fact of spreading STD's.
That is NOTHING to be proud of. I find it rather repulsive and sick.
Okay, Malcolm, you got my opinion. I am ready for the outbursts. :)
I hate the threading glitch in Blogger where I can't reply to the post, but must reply to someone's comment, like Leticia's. Threading is just one of those "improvements" which make Blogger harder to read and use.
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Malcolm said: "Rush's apology rings false because after his initial Wednesday February 29th attack against Ms. Fluke, he hurled additional verbal bombs at her on Thursday and Friday."
I know. I heard his original rant, and his doing this on subsequent days. Limbaugh also lied in his apology. He did call Fluke a prostitute and a slut many many times. He also misquited Fluke entirely.
Leticia: Fluke did a lot of damage to herself when at one point she recommended people go to read stuff on 'Media Matters' a Democratic campaign site well known for insulting and lying about opposition candidates and editorializing and leaving out facts they disagree with. Instead of taking the high ground, she showed herself to be a partisan political tool. There's better ways to fight biased, deceptive, insulting Limbaugh than go to to the biased, insulting, deceptive Limbaugh's of the left.
This whole mess is both their faults and people should just move on. They both didn't do a very good job representing themselves.
After looking at Ms. Fluke's testimony on C-Span, I didn't get that she was advocating sleeping around without having women having to face the consequences of their actions. It seemed to me that all she was asking for was that women confronted with certain conditions be covered medically by their insurance companies regardless of the fact that that medication could be used for something else. Denying women who face that predicament is like denying the relief from morphine to people with cancer because it could be used as a recreational drug. It's unconscionable.
As far as Rush goes, I don't really think it matters who or how many sponsors pull out from his show. If 6 or 8 months from now, most people have forgotten the controversy and his ratings have remained the same, those same sponsors will be back in droves trying to buy air time on the show. The only way to stop people like him from broadcasting is for other people to stop listening to him and his kind because they would no longer matter or count.
He's in full damage control mode now. I listened to him yesterday and he was going on and on about how he is not losing advertisers. With such sophistry as claiming that advertisers on local stations which carry the Limbaugh program who are pulling advertising during the noon-to-three period are not really pulling ads from his show or because of him.
Now this I disagree with:
"The only way to stop people like him from broadcasting"
I don't want to stop anyone from broadcasting. Period. Come on, man. There's a First Amendment in this country. Respect the spirit of it and don't demand that people be silenced because you disagree with them.
What Rush Limbaugh said and what I believe in has nothing to do with the 1st Amendment. No one has said that laws should be made pulling him off the air because some disagree with what he says. But what he has said has been especially egregious and possibly slanderous and nowhere in the Constitution does he or anyone have the right to behave that way.
If you don't want him to stop broadcasting then that's fine with me but I do and there are such things as marketplace forces which both you and I will be able to influence but never control which will determine which of us will win. That's called "capitalism." How about respecting that!
On 3/6, I contacted several people to get their take on the Rush Limbaugh/Sandra Fluke controversy. Teresa (who writes the blog "Teresamerica"), sent me the following email response:
Hi Malcolm!
Internet Explorer is giving me trouble and for some reason in Google Chrome my computer or blogger won't allow me to post comments when the drop comment box is directly below the post. The profile pick box gets small and won't allow me to sign in so here is a response:
You called Rush's apology "fake". Why? How do you know what is in
Limbaugh's heart? The fact that he issued Fluke an apology, which he does very rarely, took alot on his part since he isn't that type of humble guy. Isn't it possible since he is married that his wife pointed out the error of his ways, he listened and took her opinion to heart? He issued an apology as he was losing sponsors... Instead of judging him, which shows how you think and what is in your heart, can't you just accept his apology as a true apology? What if Obama had done what Limbaugh did would you be calling his apology fake? Heck,Obama never called Laura Ingraham and offered her an apology after Ed Schultz called her a "right wing slut" so this shows the hypocrisy of the Left when it comes to someone being called a slut on air. They ONLY care about it when a Leftist political propaganda whore gets called a slut. Yep, that's what I would call her. Anyone who lets herself be used as a prop in front of Congress to ask for $1000 in funding per year for their aids in their sexual escapades should be called a political propaganda whore IMO. And, most people don't use contraceptives for medical purposes. About 10-20% (my educated guess from personal experience and in talking to women over the years) use
contraceptives for medical purposes. You are more than welcome to post this. I do have more to say but I'll leave it here for now.
wow Malcolm, my jaw is dropping because of these comments by the two conservative women!
Leticia says Sandra's parents should not be proud of her because she's a slut, she has multiple sex partners, and she wants the taxpayers to subsidize her escapades, zillions of them! Oh and don't forget the abortions she has too... How can anyone take Leticia seriously with misguided statements like that? Where did she get this info from, certainly not from Sandra's testimony! I don't believe conservative women even listened to Sandra speak! I find their statements repulsive and sick...
Then we have Theresa, She calls Sandra a Leftist political propaganda whore! She believes Sandra was a prop to get before Congress to ask for 1,000.00 a yr to pay for her sexcapades! LOL. As for Theresa saying most women don't use contraceptives for medical purposes she is also dead wrong, she should do a little research on her gender, her "sisters", instead of damning them! Your guess is not educated at all Theresa!
Whose comments did I agree with 100%? Curious, that's one smart gentleman!
Rush Limbaugh is entitled to his own opinion.
This is still America, even if it doesn't seem to be.
In American we have something called "Freedom of Speech"
In America we don't try to silence someone because we disagree with what he said.
In American we don't letter write for his sponsors to stop advertising on their show so that he should lose his ratings and be fired.
If that were true then this country would not be called the "Land of the Free"!
People of all political persuasions have a right to their own ideas and to advocate those opinions on their own.
We can always change the station of shut it off if we don't like it. WE don't and we should not call for them to be fired!
If that were so then lets get rid of that Anti American Ass Hole Bill Maher.
How would you like that?
Humm, I thought not.
So according to Sue, Leticia and Theresa aren't entitled to their opinions? But all you liberals Rush haters are? Isn't that special!
The latest wrinkle is Gloria Allred calling for the government to censor Limbaugh.
I am going to hazard a guess that Malcolm doesn't approve of this measure?
Darth, I did not say those two conservatives were not entitled to their opinions, DID I?? I think I said my jaw was dropping by their words and then I said the comments by Curious were my favorites. See how conservatives twist words to make themselves look good and the libs look bad?
Earnest: Thanks for stopping by. Your description description of Rush Limbaugh was on point.
Josh: Your comparison of Ed Schultz's comments towards Laura Ingraham vs. what Rush said about Sandra Fluke is yet another example of false equivalency. Ed called Laura a “right-wing slut" and a "talk slut". Although his comments were out of line, he didn't go any farther than that. He also apologized the following day and voluntarily suspended himself from MSNBC for a week. Rush continued his verbal assault against Ms. Fluke for 3 days and only apologized when sponsors started pulling out.
Enjoy your vacation.
Leticia: In all seriousness, did you actually watch Ms. Fluke's testimony?! Your comments about her having "sex with a zillion partners" and "sleeping around" are all the result of your fertile imagination. In her testimony, she didn't say nor did she imply the assumptions you made about her sex life. In fact, the testimony consisted solely of other women's personal experiences... not Ms. Fluke's.
As I alluded to in the last paragraph of this post, this post isn't about the birth control debate itself. It's about Rush's attack on a woman who doesn't share his point of view. Although I disagree, I have no issue with your stance on birth control. However, you should at least stick to the facts about Ms. Fluke as we know them. All that talk about her having multiple sex partners and sleeping around is way off the mark.
dmarks: I'm not happy about the changes to Blogger either. Hopefully, I'll get used to it with time.
When I first heard that Rush apologized, I was shocked. I should have known there was a catch because what he said wasn't much of an apology at all.
Although I read that Gloria Allred called on FL prosecutors to charge Rush with a misdemeanor under an obscure 1883 law, I haven’t seen anything about her trying to get the government to censor him. If she is, I’m not in favor of that.
Curious: Had I not listened to Ms. Fluke's testimony or read the transcript of it, I would have thought she went on an extensive rant about how the government should pay for her willingness to sleep with any guy that walks! I quickly learned that how some right-wingers are interpreting her testimony has no basis in reality.
In regards to Rush, I don’t think he’s going anywhere anytime soon. Sadly, there will always be people who like their talk radio to match their minds: hate filled and fact free. The GOP can do themselves a huge favor by refusing to bow and scrape to Rush whenever he makes one of his patented disgusting remarks.
By the way, your morphine analogy is right on the mark.
Teresa: Sorry to hear about the browser/Blogger issues you had. I’m not a fan yet of the Blogger changes yet. Maybe it’s a matter of time.
Your defense of Rush is very revealing. In answer to your question about why I don’t believe Rush’s “apology”, I thought I spelled it out clearly in my post. I don’t believe him because calling her a “slut” and a “prostitute” wasn’t a slip of the tongue. In addition to these slurs, he commented about wanting the so-called “feminazis” to post sex videos online, said that Ms. Fluke is having so much sex that it’s amazing she can still walk, and wondered if she had boyfriends lined up around the block. He launched over 40 attacks against Ms. Fluke over a 3-day period! After sponsors start pulling out, then he decides to apologize. I’ve never heard him apologize for any of the vile comments he’s made over the years. Also, in his apology he blamed the left for his comments saying that he descended to our level. That’s the type of intellectual dishonesty I expect from someone like him. Instead of taking personal responsibility, he blames it on the left! You used a similar tactic in one of your recent blog posts about Romney supporters/staff members who were caught stealing Rick Santorum signs. When people on your side of the political fence do something wrong, don’t try to push it on us.
You don’t think his so-called apology is tied to the sponsor exodus? Credit to two of the other conservatives who commented here (Josh and dmarks) because they aren’t buying Rush’s apology either.
“What if Obama had done what Limbaugh did would you be calling his apology fake?”
It always comes back to President Obama with you doesn’t it?! If President Obama had the same track record as Rush and the circumstances were the same, I wouldn’t believe his apology either. I can’t speak to why President Obama didn’t call Laura Ingraham to apologize when Ed Schultz called her “right-wing slut" and a "talk slut". Because that incident didn’t receive nearly the amount of coverage as Limbaugh’s comments, it’s possible President Obama didn’t even know about it. You also left out one important detail: Ed offered Laura an apology the following day after he made the comments. Had Rush done the right thing and apologized immediately, President Obama may not have felt a need to call Ms. Fluke.
You call Ms. Fluke a “Leftist political propaganda whore”. Ironically, your comments aren’t that much different than what Ed said about Laura. Taken in context, I could tell that Ed referred to her as a “slut” because she praised then-President Reagan for having a beer overseas while trashing President Obama for doing the same thing. Having said that, Ed used poor judgment and was right to apologize.
You’re also wrong in your assessment that the left is hypocritical when it comes to a woman being called a slut on the air. The Women’s Media Center was one of the feminist organizations that condemned Ed for his comments towards Laura. In case you didn’t know, the WMC is an organization founded by feminist activists Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem, and Robin Morgan. The president of the WMC is Julie Burton, a leader and activist for women’s rights and progressive causes.
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/press/entry/condemning-sexist-remarks-by-tv-host-ed-schultz-womens-media-center-thanks
On a side note, I am not a fan of conservative columnist/Fox “News” pundit Cal Thomas. I liked him even less when he called Rachel Maddow "the best argument in favor of her parents using contraception" during a panel at the annual CPAC conference last month. However, I gained respect for him after learning that he called Rachel the next day to apologize for his remarks.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/11/cal-thomas-apologizes-to-rachel-maddow_n_1270287.html
Now I believe his apology was sincere, unlike the so-called one that Rush made.
Sue: I think a lot of right-wingers didn’t even bother listening to Ms. Fluke’s testimony. They took the purveyors of the right-wing noise machine at their word and ran with it instead of using any critical thinking skills. I don’t know what’s worse: letting someone like Rush Limbaugh do your thinking for you or actually watching Sandra Fluke’s testimony and still interpreting it as her asking the government to pay for her to sleep around!
By the way, I loved how Darth Bacon tried to distort your comments about Leticia and Teresa. Reading comprehension doesn’t appear to be one of Darth’s strong suits.
Darth Bacon: I don’t think anyone’s infringing on Rush’s right to freedom of speech. Calling for his removal from the air is different than saying he can’t speak his mind period!
Your comments about America and how we all should be allowed to say what we want almost moved me to tears. Did you make the same plea to your right-wing cohorts who called for the firing of David Letterman after he made jokes about Sarah Palin and one of her daughters?
Also, you may have noticed that I deleted the comments you left @ 9:30 AM on Sunday. Although I welcome people with opposing views here, the comments you left at 9:30 were over the line. In addition to your drawn out rant against President Obama which had nothing to do with this post, you launched a personal attack against Sue. I don’t have time for any of that foolishness.
In case you haven’t read it yet, here is the link to the Comments Policy:
http://sites.google.com/site/diversityink/
If that’s too much for you to handle, take the train.
thank you Malcolm....D Bacon is a friend of Lisa, she really should watch who she pals around with.
The liberal hypocrisy continues on the Rush Limbaugh story.
This movement of angry Democrats is trying to get Rush Limbaugh off the air because he is partisan and demeaning to our president. I never thought I would see the day when so many Americans would so aggressively throw away their freedom of speech. It seems blatantly obvious that if Rush Limbaugh can be silenced for offending people who love Obama, then just maybe we could do the same to all the people on CNBC, NBC,MSNBC, and HBO...
And now that Feminazis Jane Fonda lover Gloria All-Red gets into the act, the same Gloria All-Red that called Sarah Palin is a dumb twat on the Bill Maher show!
How's that for hypocrisy?
Curious: His statements are an expression of the First Amendment, and those who are trying to get him off the air show no respect for it. Demands that he be censored (as per Gloria Allred) are downright unconstitutional and fascistic. Gloria Allred has indeed called for the government to punish and censor him.
The wisdom of Voltaire is all you need: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
"f you don't want him to stop broadcasting then that's fine with me..."
Glad to hear that First Amendment freedoms are fine with you, even if given begrudgingly.
And yes, I know that some will use their influence in the marketplace to accomplishing silencing of someone. That's allowed and legal under the Constitution, but it's very immature and small-minded and un-American, and shows a hatred of the Bill of Rights above all.
Come on, if you don't like someone. turn the channel.
dmarks, Why anyone would want to bring up Gloria Allred or take her seriously or even defend her when I'm sure she should be able to do that herself is beyond me, so I wont. Whatever you have for or against her is not really part of this discussion and I'm not, nor do I believe is anyone else, really interested in it.
There is perhaps a futility in arguing just for argument's sake, this I feel is beginning to happen here. I would suggest that you actually read the 1st Amendment and see what it says and maybe try to understand how it's been interpreted by the Supreme Court before you pursue this line of argument. Perhaps then you will realize that all I have said, to use your methods is, "...if you don't like someone. turn the channel."
Thanks for the shout out. I'm not really that smart, if my father was still alive I'm sure he'd disagree with you. I just dislike bullies and people who like to twist the truth only to suit their own needs.
Sue: You're welcome. I'm not putting up with that type of BS.
Anon: You don't get it and you probably never will.
Dave: Right on the nose my man. These righties recite these talking points with little or no thought.
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