Rush Limbaugh

[leebee]

I am outraged, absolutely outraged at what Limbaugh said on Weds. Calling Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute" on air, saying the reason she was upset is because she was "having so much sex" she couldn't afford her birth control, saying that as long as taxpayers were going to foot the bill, he wanted something out of it and suggested she post sex tapes online.
Outrageous. This is not free speech. This is slander at its basest. Here are some of my top issues:
1. Sandra Flukes testimony was to tell the story of a friend who couldn't afford to pay for oral contraceptives to treat her ovarian cysts. The woman then developed a large cyst that had to be surgically removed, including a portion of one ovary. False economy, there. Had the university covered the oral contraceptives, the surgery would not have been necessary.
2. Rush seems to not understand how oral contraceptives work in the first place. It doesn't matter how often you have sex, you must take them every single day. He shouldn't have said any of it in the first place, but at least get something right.
3. I am appalled at how many people first defended Ms. Fluke by saying how much sex she had was irrelevant. It is. But who in their right mind would think that anyone would be willing to testify before Congress and say, "I have too much sex and can't afford my BC pills!" It's utter nonsense. The assumption should have been, "Rush is speaking out of his ***." I know it was for many, but many of us fell into the trap of believing what we heard.
4. So.Much.More. I'm angry about this, more angry than I've been in a long, long time.

I'm going to track down his advertisers and bombard them with my anger. Sleep Train has already pulled their $$. ProFLowers sounds like they might, with enough pressure. I'm going for the only part that matters--his wallet.

[amarante]

I agree with you but what is more disheartening is that Republicans have NOT denounced him and that Limbaugh's views are acceptable to a large segment of the population.

IMO, what it reveals is the real "id" behind the mask of the current war against women's sexuality. The politicians may mask it in defending the First Amendment or however they choose to attempt to hide their dog whistles, but what they are really preaching is that women should move back to the fairy tale land of the 1950's when they were submissive; when sex was risky for women - and women's fear of pregnancy preserved morality.

[patt]

Great idea!

[leebee]

I agree with you but what is more disheartening is that Republicans have NOT denounced him and that Limbaugh's views are acceptable to a large segment of the population.

IMO, what it reveals is the real "id" behind the mask of the current war against women's sexuality. The politicians may mask it in defending the First Amendment or however they choose to attempt to hide their dog whistles, but what they are really preaching is that women should move back to the fairy tale land of the 1950's when they were submissive; when sex was risky for women - and women's fear of pregnancy preserved morality.

You're absolutely right. There is something circulating urging Rs in Congress to denounce it, but I don't know how far that will go. Not far enough, I'm sure.

[amarante]

THere is a boycott Limbaugh FB page

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boyco...N/253645602134

List of sponsors with contact information

http://www.topplebush.com/boycott_rush.shtml

[SDMomChef]

This blog post captures many of my thoughts:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-coh...trol-sex-video

[Melman]

I didn't see this captured above (and haven't checked all the links yet), but Rush doubled down on his crap spewage:

Limbaugh called Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute," saying that she was having "so much sex" that she wanted the government to pay for her contraception. Then, he went further, saying, " if we're going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch."

Sleep Train, one of his advertisers, has already pulled their advertising. Other advertisers are definitely hearing from people.

I keep reading comments on various sites with people saying Ms. Fluke should sue for slander. I have yet to see anyone confirm that this would qualify. It looks like it would to me, but I'm definitely far from understanding the legal world. Anyone know for sure? I would LOVE to see that! To provide some detail, this is from legal-dictionary.com

Slander is any defamation that is spoken and heard.

Collectively known as defamation, libel and slander are civil wrongs that harm a reputation; decrease respect, regard, or confidence; or induce disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against an individual or entity. The injury to one's good name or reputation is affected through written or spoken words or visual images. The laws governing these torts are identical.

To recover in a libel or slander suit, the plaintiff must show evidence of four elements: that the defendant conveyed a defamatory message; that the material was published, meaning that it was conveyed to someone other than the plaintiff; that the plaintiff could be identified as the person referred to in the defamatory material; and that the plaintiff suffered some injury to his or her reputation as a result of the communication.

[leebee]

This blog post captures many of my thoughts:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-coh...trol-sex-video

Thanks for posting. Very well put.

[wallycat]

I heard about the video/watching on the news and my jaw dropped.
Really??? Why didn't someone tell him that the guys getting sex should be grateful ...and why can't he tape his own escapades or rent a porn flick if he feels the need to watch!!

My biggest gripe with this whole thing is why the need to make birth control free. It is a Rx med and should be covered as a drug, but cholesterol meds, BP meds, viagra, etc. are not free....
Since most women (and yes, NOT ALL, but MOST) take bp for contraception, arguing that it is a preventive med is silly, IMHO.
Taking cholesterol meds is preventive too....no one knows who would have a heart attack or not.
Ugh...this whole politics stuff is getting disgusting.

[amarante]

I don't have any issue with it being free since it impacts healthy women for approximately 30 years - statistically the time of sexual activity less pregnancy or attempting to get pregnant which averages 5 years for women.

There are other free preventative care measures like flu shots and basic health exams which are also required of all health insurance.

Statistically, providing this things for free drives down health costs for everyone as well as insuring health for the person taking them. Unwanted pregnancy - or even wanted pregnancy is significantly more expensive than the cost of contraceptives.

I am not defending our current crazy arse system of health delivery. I don't know why it wasn't made into some form of single payer - or at least give people who don't get their insurance through large corporations the ability to buy into Medicare or even the health care plan currently run by the US government for its workers. Funny that you never hear any of the hypocritical politicians on the right refusing health insurance paid for by taxes. The only people I know who are happy with their health care coverage in the US are on Medicare or have coverage through very large corporations.

[PurplePotato]

I agree with you but what is more disheartening is that Republicans have NOT denounced him and that Limbaugh's views are acceptable to a large segment of the population.
.....

Um, Rush is pretty extreme. He is not accepted by a large segment of anything. And why would a bunch of Republicans feel the need to publicly denounce a radio personality who is known to be bat sh!t crazy?

I think what he said is absolutely crass and uncalled for. Do I believe anyone is taking it seriously? No.

He's doing it for ratings. And boy is it working because everyone's talking about him. Ignore it and it will go away into whatever hole it crawled out of.

[ADM]

Do I believe anyone is taking it seriously? No.

Oh Christy, you would be very disheartened to realize how much the Bible Belt and the politically far-right believe that Rush is absolutely right and is doing a bang-up job in enlightening the country! That is exactly what they preach from their pulpits and in their hate-mail campaigns.

[charley]

Limbaugh isn't worth your rage. The man's a pig! Wasn't he cancelled from a previous radio show?

[amarante]

Oh Christy, you would be very disheartened to realize how much the Bible Belt and the politically far-right believe that Rush is absolutely right and is doing a bang-up job in enlightening the country! That is exactly what they preach from their pulpits and in their hate-mail campaigns.

Absolutely agree. The Republican Party is in thrall to Limbaugh as he provides *information* that fires up the base. They court him and are afraid to get on his bad side lest he turns the base against them.

Not a single member of Republican leadership has condemned the comments.

I don't think that the Republican "elite" believe in what Limbaugh is saying but they find him a useful weapon to fire up the base and be able to keep their *distance* from his more extreme rants.

[Gumbeaux]

Not a single member of Republican leadership has condemned the comments.

Speaker John Boehmer finally did about 45 minutes ago.

http://www.wesh.com/politics/30588663/detail.html

[amarante]

Speaker John Boehmer finally did about 45 minutes ago.

http://www.wesh.com/politics/30588663/detail.html

Pretty weasel words IMHO - inappropriate is about as innocuous as one can get in terms of "condemning" something so outrageous - and was the slap at those people who are outraged really necessary except as a wink to the base?

"The speaker obviously believes the use of those words was inappropriate, as is trying to raise money off the situation," Michael Steel, Boehner's spokesman, told CNN.

[ADM]

Limbaugh isn't worth your rage. The man's a pig! Wasn't he cancelled from a previous radio show?

A man like that IS worth our rage! The man, with his loyal followers, ignites hate and even illegal activities. He is not going to go away if we hunker down, say "Yessir" and scamper off to a Spring tea party.

Would you have the same opinion if he broadcast that "All women should be kept at home, barefoot and pregnant"? (Which I suspect he believes.)

[amarante]

And he is absolutely non-contrite - he is *tripling down" on this morning's show.

The thing that is scary about him is that he is stating these lies as the truth - and people accept the lies because he is presenting himself as a news commentator not a story teller.

When I had a long commute a decade or so ago, I would listen to him occasionally for 5 minutes or so with that other piece of work Dr. Laura. Often what they were ranting about bore no relationship to the actual facts of the news I had read that morning but his listeners would accept it as the truth. I remember one of them claiming that the Librarians Association wanted porn to be available on the library computers when the actual news item was that they thought that the internet censorship software was over restriction - i.e. if you googled breast for cancer research, it would be restricted.

Rush Limbaugh doubled down on his incendiary comments about Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who was denied the right to speak at a contraception hearing, during his Friday.

The conservative radio host sparked outrage on Wednesday when he called Fluke "a slut" and "a prostitute." He alleged that she was "having so much sex" that she couldn't afford contraception.

He went further the next day, adding, "if we're going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch."

The controversy snowballed as pundits and political figures fiercely condemned Limbaugh's incendiary comments, and one advertiser withdrew its commercials from the radio program. President Obama even called Fluke on Friday to offer his support.

However, the fall-out in the wake of his comments did not stop Limbaugh from making more attacks about Fluke on Friday. "She was not allowed to testify because it was not about women at Georgetown who have so much sex they can't afford birth control," he thundered.

He said that her speech at a press conference served to show that "she's having so much sex she can't pay for it, and we should."

Fluke had testified about the reproductive and broader medical reasons for birth control, and cited the cost. Limbaugh said she was having "$3000 worth of birth control pills worth of sex."

He described her testimony from his perspective. "So the woman comes forth with this frankly hilarious claim that she's having so much sex -- and her buddies with her-- that she can't afford it," Limbaugh continued. "And not one person says, did you ever think about maybe backing off the amount of sex that you have?"

He said that his comment about a sex tape was merely him "illustrating absurdity by being absurd," imploring his critics to "lighten up."

Limbaugh also reacted to President Obama's call to Fluke. Obama told Fluke that her parents should be "proud" of her. Limbaugh had a different message for them. "I'd be embarrassed," he said. "I'd disconnect the phone. I'd go into hiding."

[alicerh]

Since she is a law student at one of the top law schools, I can't wait to see the defamation suit she files against fat a$$ Rush. I hope she brings him to his knees. Also, I keep thinking about the male birth control pill in the works. When it is finally released what will these poor men do to defend its insurance funding?

[ADM]

I keep thinking about the male birth control pill in the works. When it is finally released what will these poor men do to defend its insurance funding?

A good point.

Would you/could you trust a man who *told you* he was taking a male birth control pill? I think women will always need to take the prime responsibility and precautions for their bodies and lives.

[tbb113]

A good point.

Would you/could you trust a man who *told you* he was taking a male birth control pill? I think women will always need to take the prime responsibility and precautions for their bodies and lives.

Only if it turned his penis green. I would need visual proof that it was actually being used

[amarante]

In all seriousness, male contraception seems like such a waste of research dollars. Beyond the issue of trust, I can't imagine most men willing to put up with one iota of discomfort or side effects which would be inevitable with ANY kind of "medicine".

Men are reluctant to get snipped when the procedure is so much less invasive than tubal ligation.

[patt]

Would someone please call Fiona Glenanne and ask her to take care of this Limbaugh person?

Patt

[KAnn]

I have been doing my best to contact all the sponsors of Limbaugh's show(QuickenLoans, ProFlowers, etc.) This is just beyond sickening.

[funniegrrl]

http://www.topplebush.com/boycott_rush.shtml

I've thought Rushbo was odious the first time I heard him, back in the '80s. So for me to rail against him for this one thing would be a drop in the ocean of contempt I've had for him and his ilk for over 20 years.

The thing about what he's saying -- what he usually says -- is not just his opinion, but the fact that he's not even basing his rants on *facts*. Yet, what he says is spouted as fact by his followers, and thus the entire conversation is distorted. THIS is the real damage. In this particular case, he's ranting about "taxpayers" footing the bill; his entire repugnant spiel is based on this outrage at the gubmint paying for birth control. That's not what this issue was ever about -- it was about mandating INSURANCE coverage that allows women to obtain BCPs without a co-pay. Yet, scroll through the comments on any online article about this, and you will see dittoheads railing against "the taxpayers funding birth control." That's not even the issue, but Rushbo has taken that canard and run with it, THEN built his house of crap on top of it.

And of course, the Republicans are terrified of him swaying opinion of their precious selves, so they can't say anything meaningful against him. Any time in the last few decades that any one of them has contradicted him or said he's crossed a line, they have been slapped back into place pretty quickly. No one, not one single one of them, will stand up to him in any meaningful way, and usually not even in the weasel way we saw today.

He is a scourge on this country -- a hypocritical, lying, fear-mongering, power-mad, ego-driven, EVIL excuse for a human being. This isn't about what side of the aisle you are on, this is about distorting the conversation so far that major policy decisions are made based on trumped-up issues espoused by waste of DNA.

[charley]

A man like that IS worth our rage! The man, with his loyal followers, ignites hate and even illegal activities. He is not going to go away if we hunker down, say "Yessir" and scamper off to a Spring tea party.

Would you have the same opinion if he broadcast that "All women should be kept at home, barefoot and pregnant"? (Which I suspect he believes.)

You give the man too much credit. The sheep that buy into his BS are the same ones that follow people like Sanctimoron, Gingrich, and Romney. That's where your outrage should be directed.

[leebee]

The sheep that buy into his BS are the same ones that follow people like Sanctimoron, Gingrich, and Romney. That's where your outrage should be directed.

EXACTLY. But my outrage is directed at the source in this. And it is beyond his usual babble. He made this about an individual. A woman who was trying to stand up for women, who did nothing to bring this on herself. She has been defamed, denegrated in just a heinous way. As far as those that are linked however loosely by ideology. I got enough outrage to go around. And I'm just getting started.

[BarbaraL]

Too bad the man's parents didn't use birth control; the best service they could have provided this country.

[KAnn]

Wow. I just watched Ari Fleisher and Mary Matalin respond on CNN. I think I lost ANY respect I had for Ms. Matalin. As the mother of daughters you would think she could have, at the very least, repudiated the personal nature if his attack on this young woman. But, no. Mary Matalin defended Rush and attacked the young law student instead! (Ari Fleisher did repudiate Limbaugh but tried to make an analogy that the Democrats, specifically Huffington Post do the same thing!!) The GOP's misogyny seems to know no bounds.

[jjsooner73]

And Bill Oreilly agrees with Rush.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1318249.html