Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Rush Limbaugh: The Heart of the Rot in the GOP

From Andrew Sullivan's blog:

"It hardly matters whether you agree with Sandra Fluke, or if you think she is advocating on behalf of suboptimal policy, as I do. There is no excuse for Limbaugh's behavior, and nothing redeeming in it. His words aren't merely illogical. It isn't just that he seems to misunderstand that birth-control pills cost the same whether someone has sex once per month or twice every single day. The problem isn't just that he misrepresented the fullness of her testimony. Beyond all that, he has once again shown himself to be coarse, vulgar, bullying, callous, and needlessly cruel.

This is hardly the first time. Defending himself during a 2010 controversy, Limbaugh
said, "If you read all the way through the story, you'll find that they are livid at me, even though I've called nobody a 'bitch,' I called nobody a 'whore,' I called nobody a 'slut.'"

Guess that excuse won't work anymore.

There's his sexist quip that NASCAR's Danica Patrick should be expected to crash because she's "a woman driver."
Here's what Rush Limbaugh thinks about women:
If the conservative movement's least charitable critic invented a talk-radio host to embody every stereotype of a contemptible right-wing blowhard, the result might well be a thrice-divorced 61-year-old man taking to the airwaves to call a young female law student a "prostitute" and a "slut." It would be too much -- too unrealistic -- if the same man was once detained after a guys weekend in the Dominican Republic with a bottle of Viagra, and if he went on to compare the female law student to a Nazi and suggest that she post a sex tape online.
[skip]
There's his sexist quip that NASCAR's Danica Patrick should be expected to crash because she's "a woman driver." In the course of running through various anal-rape jokes Limbaugh has made over the years, Gabriel Winant harkens back to a clip in which an apparent rape victim describes a finger being inserted into her rectum while Limbaugh laughs at it. John K. Wilson, who wrote a book about Limbaugh, digs up another example of his commentary on women:
My cat comes to me when she wants to be fed. I have learned this. I accept it for what it is. Many people in my position would think my cat's coming to me because she loves me. Well, she likes me, and she is attached, but she comes to me when she wants to be fed. And after I feed her -- guess what -- she's off to wherever she wants to be in the house, until the next time she gets hungry. She's smart enough to know she can't feed herself. She's actually a very smart cat. She gets loved. She gets adoration. She gets petted. She gets fed. And she doesn't have to do anything for it, which is why I say this cat's taught me more about women than anything my whole life. But we put voices in their mouths.
I run through this history -- there are more examples -- so that Limbaugh apologists cannot portray these latest remarks as an aberration. They are not. This is what the man is like. He is nevertheless invited to the White House by Republican presidents, praised by conservative magazines, given honorary titles by conservative think tanks and defended by conservative bloggers.

What confounds me most about it is that Rich Lowry and Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review, Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard, Matthew Continetti of the Washington Free Beacon, Glenn Kessler of The Claremont Review of Books, Arthur Brooks at the American Enterprise Institute, Edwin J. Feulner of the Heritage Foundation, fellow talk-radio host Bill Bennett -- none of these people would ever dream of going before a national audience and calling a female law student half their age a slut and a prostitute. None of them would ever dream of joking that if she wants her health insurance to cover birth control she should put a sex tape on the Internet. If a deranged gunman held a loved one hostage and forced them to make those remarks, as if of their own volition, they'd feel deeply embarrassed and ashamed doing it. Yet when Limbaugh says these things -- when he said other things as indefensible in the past -- he remained and remains a frequently celebrated, seldom criticized figure within the conservative movement. The Dittoheads are kept happy, but discredit is brought upon the movement. No leader of the conservative movement is willing to defend Limbaugh on the merits. They just stay mum."
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Let them stay "mum."  I call it cowardice.  They've hitched their wagon to a filthy-mouthed bully whose greatest pleasure comes from the noteriety he gets whenever he attacks African-Americans, people with medical problems, and independent, strong women. 

There is nothing new about a man calling  women who are obviously more intelligent, better spoken, and better bred than he a "slut" and "whore." That is, afterall, how frightened and balless men have always behaved throughout history toward women who dare to express their opinions.

We must never forget that the Republican Party ADMIRES THIS MAN, MADE HIM AN HONORARY MEMBER OF  THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS, AND NO LESS THAN THE FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, DICK CHENEY, SAID HE NEVER MISSES LIMBAUGH'S SHOW.

The GOP:  Wallowing in Limbaugh's trough of slime and loving every moment of it.

Infidel753 has a great post up on this subject as well.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

All this talk about limiting access to birth control is ridiculous! We are missing a much bigger problem in this discussion. The medication we are talking about does SO MUCH MORE than prevent pregnancy. Do you want your wife, sister, mother, daughter or girlfriend asking their boss for permission to take this medication for the following conditions?
What kinds of medical conditions can be helped with birth control pills?

Cancer prevention for people with a family history!

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS): is a hormonal imbalance which causes irregular menstrual periods, acne, and excess hair growth. Birth control pills work by lowering certain hormone levels to regulate menstrual periods. When hormone levels are decreased to normal, acne and hair growth often improve.

Endometriosis: Most girls with endometriosis have cramps or pelvic pain during their menstrual cycle. Birth control pills are often prescribed to treat endometriosis and work by temporarily preventing periods. When hormonal treatment is prescribed continuously, young women will rarely have periods, or not at all. Since periods can cause pain for young women with endometriosis, stopping periods will usually improve cramps and pelvic pain.

Lack of periods (“amenorrhea”) from low weight, stress, excessive exercise, or damage to the ovaries from radiation or chemotherapy: With any of these conditions, the hormone “estrogen” is not made in normal amounts by the body. Birth control pills may be prescribed to replace estrogen, which helps to regulate the menstrual cycle. For girls whose menstrual periods are irregular (too few - or not at all), birth control pills can help to regulate the menstrual cycle to every 28 days and provide the body with normal amounts of estrogen. Normal estrogen levels are important for healthy bones.

Menstrual Cramps: When over-the-counter medications don't help with severe cramps, birth control pills may be the solution because they prevent ovulation and lighten periods.

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS): Symptoms of PMS such as mood swings, breast soreness, and bloating, along with acne can occur up to 2 weeks before a young women's period. Birth control pills may be prescribed to stop ovulation and keep hormone levels balanced. Symptoms may improve, particularly when oral contraceptive pills are prescribed continuously.

Heavy Menstrual Periods: Birth control pills can reduce the amount and length of menstrual bleeding.

Acne: For moderate to severe acne, which over-the-counter and prescription medications haven't cured, birth control pills may be prescribed. The hormones in the Pill can help stop acne from forming. Be patient though, since it takes several months for birth control pills to work.

http://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/features/other-reasons-to-take-the-pill

Anonymous said...

Women only want this poor man for what he can give them and he is stupid enough to brag about it.

Shaw Kenawe said...

We need to always associate Rush Limbaugh with the GOP. He is their darling, afterall, and GOP pols soil their undies if Rush smells any disloyalty from them.

I think it's great that the GOP so willingly associates itself with and embracess a once illegal drug abuser, a guy who lost his job with ESPN for his racist remarks, and who now attacks young women on his radio show, calling them sluts and whores, and who admits that he'd like to watch women who get coverage for contraceptives post videos of themselves having sex on YouTube.

This is who the GOP and the GOP politicians admire!

I thought the bottom of the cesspool was as low as Rush could go, but the little worm proves to us each day that he can find deeper and deeper slime holes to descend into.

Infidel753 said...

While it's a valid point that birth-control pills have uses other than contraception, we shouldn't be shy about defending access to contraception as contraception. That is the main use of these medications, and it's a perfectly necessary and respectable one -- nothing to be embarrassed about.

Lisa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lisa said...

Hey Shaw I guess it doesn't bother you that our president took $1,000,000 from Bill Maher,you know the guy who calls women the "c" word and said John Huntsman can blow him?
I notice how now the democrats are disassociating themselves from OWS now that the rest of the country is seeing their violence and their directionless movement.
I guess the code pinkos are now doing OWS protests now that a Democrat is in the White House.
Sometimes I wonder who is funding these people,but I have a prety good hunch.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Nice try at changing the subject, Lisa.

Rush Limbaugh was made an honorary member of the Republican Congressional delegation, and was honored by no less than Vice President Dick Cheney.

Rush Limbaugh is heavily involved in GOP politics and has appeared at many CPAC and other important GOP gatherings.

Rush Limbaugh has been on the air in all major radio outlets in this country for 20 years, 3 hours a day, 5 days a week.

And Bill Maher is a comedian with a cable show once a week for a few weeks out of the year.

Bill Maher goes after politicians and other famous people.

Limbaugh attacked a private citizen who gave testimony before a Congressional committee and called her a "slut" and a whore.

Your comparison is idiotic.

Lisa said...

Oh boo-hoo Shaw anytime the left does that you claim oh they're' a comedian,it's what they do. So in other words it's OK for him to call a woman the c--- word because he's a "comedian".
Bill Maher is a spokesperson for the democrats whether it's once a week or once a month.
Limbaugh does what he does to stir up the masses and it just goes to show how utterly overly sensitive the left is. I used to think Limbaugh was a sexist until I actually listened to him and got the humor it really is just satire,unlike Maher who just comes off as arrogant and nasty. Anyone who knows who Limbaugh really is knows what he does on the air is just for the purpose of getting the left in a tizzy. His political views are what he truly believes but the other stuff is not who he really is ,but Maher used to be funny now he's just another holier than thou liberal who thinks he knows best.


Who cares who's doing it? The thing about the left is you have comedians and actors getting free air time to call people anything they want but because it's "what they do" you get a free pass.
And it just so happened the president called this girl in the Green Room of MSNBC just before her interview there.
A 30 year old needs a phone call to tell how "proud her parents must be" from the president? Are you kidding me?
.
Oh and speaking of private citizens remember how the entire media went after Joe the Plumber for asking a question of the president? Even his taxes were investigated. Who do you think ordered that?
And then everyone was out to get him to prove he wasn't a plumber? That was what did in Nazi Germany using the media to attack people.
Plus they did it to attack Sarah Plain too and now they are making a movie about her and how they made one about Bush Death of a President. Are you crazy? The left is 10x worse that anything Rush says because he really does it to get back at what the left does all the time.And besides he didn't call that girl a slut ,he did make reference to it but he didn't outright call her one,unlike how SNL treated and distorted Palin and not to mention how the media oozed over every interview Obama gave and even Matt Lauer had to help Obama with his Muslim Faith response. After Obama said "My Muslim Faith" Matt Lauer said "You mean your Christian Faith".
Meanwhile Charles Gibson looking down his nose at Palin with a holier than thou attitude.

Lisa said...

Oh and by the way where were you when Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a slut ? He meant it too that's the difference the left means it and the right does it just to get under your thin skin.

Shaw Kenawe said...

"Oh and by the way where were you when Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a slut ? He meant it too that's the difference the left means it and the right does it just to get under your thin skin."

Schultz apologized IMMEDIATELY AND WAS OFF THE AIR FOR A WEEK.

And no matter your excuses for the foul-mouthed gasbag, the fact is that he is the spirit and soul of the GOP. All the GOP pols kiss his prodigious arse.


Bill Maher is not the spirit and soul of the Left. Most people don't even know who he is. No Leftyu politician is afraid of him the way the Right trembles before El Rushbo.

Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin? What is this a pity party for the GOP?

Those light-weights defeated themselves with their inanities and lack of intelligence.

Your foolish attempts at making this a "he did/he did" equivalency will not work, and everyone knows it.

You've come here and said EXACTLY what children do when they've been punished for being bratty.

"He did it TOO!!!!!"

Doesn't work here.

There is no Rush Limbaugh equivalent on the Left.

The conservatives built and encouraged the monster, now they can live with the destructive force it is wreaking on the GOP.

Dave Miller said...

Lisa, you are right in that it wrong for Schultz and Maher to use language like that.

I for one do not believe that this type of language has any place in a civil society, especially from the airwaves.

That being said, Maher is not a news commentator, like Schultz and Limbaugh. So let's look at those two situations.

Both of these men used offensive language on the public, free airwaves. And then what happened?

WIthin days, Limbaugh had doubled down and defended calling the woman a slut. Schultz was suspended from his program and then came on the air and made a personal apology, in his own voice. He did not mail it in as Limbaugh did.

Regarding Maher, again he is a comic, but for me that does give him an excuse to debase another individual. But perhaps the difference here is that to see his show, you have to pay for the privilege, or punishment, depending on your point of view.

Perhaps a better example might be David Letterman, who, like Schultz and Limbaugh is also on the public/free airwaves.

He wrongly maligned Sarah Palin in his show and then came on the air to apologize personally, much like Schultz.

Both Letterman and Schultz publicly acknowledged, in their own voice, on their own shows, that they were wrong.

And Limbaugh? I'll let you and other conservatives determine whether his apology matches the level of contrition of either Letterman or Schultz.

Lisa, try sticking to the post. When you get angry, or do not like the tone of a post, rather than bring facts and logic to the table, you react and bring in other non related issues.

Really, regardless of how much any Dem might get away with, the subject of this post was how Rush Limbaugh was wrong.

Are to believe from your comments that you believe it was alright to use that type of language to describe another woman?

In all of your comments on other blogs touching on this subject, you've yet to say Limbaugh was wrong.

Was he? And if he was, why has the GOP leadership be fairly silent in condemning his language and actions?