Rush Limbaugh may have really stepped in it this time. On his show yesterday he called Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown student and contraceptive advocate, a “slut”. He also said that any woman who advocates for contraceptives should post their online sex videos:
Yesterday Sandra Flake responded to Rush on the Ed Schultz show:
I guess my reaction is the reaction a lot of women have when they’ve been called these names. Initially you’re stunned but then, very quickly, you’re outraged because this is, historically, the kind of language that is used to silence women, especially women who stand up and say that these are their reproductive health care needs and this is what they need. And what’s been amazing to me today is the outpouring of support. Everyone from members of Congress to Georgetown faculty to so many women who’ve contacted me, and I think it’s clear from what they’ve said that they’re not going to be silenced by this.
This fat, sexist pig that the Republican Party has anointed their messiah has really opened up can here. It’s bad enough that the GOP is fighting back against their image of being a sexist party, but when you got their hero making these kind of derogatory remarks towards women, it just undoes everything they have been trying to repair. Now we have some Republicans responding:
Carly Fiorina, National Republican Senatorial Committee Vice-Chairman, on Friday condemned Rush Limbaugh for calling law student Sandra Fluke a “slut.”
“That language is insulting, in my opinion. It’s incendiary and most of all, it’s a distraction. It’s a distraction from what are very real and important issues,” said Fiorina on CBS’s “This Morning.”
But if history is any indicator it might just be a matter of time before Carly has to appear on Rush’s show to apologize for her statement. That is why Rush is the leader of the Republican Party. People might not think he is, but every time a Republican politician denounces him they end up having to go on his show and kiss his royal ass and beg forgiveness. Maybe that’s why king coward John Boehner isn’t denouncing the comments.
And while Republicans continue to cower behind Rush, it looks like advertisers aren’t:
One of Rush Limbaugh’s advertisers announced Friday that it was pulling all of its commercials from his radio show in the wake of Limbaugh’s incendiary comments about a female law student and contraception.
After being bombarded on Twitter, mattress store Sleep Train said that it would no longer advertise during Limbaugh’s top-rated show following days of outrage over Limbaugh’s statements about Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown student who was denied a chance to speak at a Congressional hearing about birth control.
If we can get more advertisers to follow suit then maybe something will finally be done. True I’m sure the right will quickly go into their standard meme of “freedom of speech”, but that’s just them protecting their God, Rush Limbaugh.
UPDATE
John Boehner has responded through his spokesman:
“The speaker obviously believes the use of those words was inappropriate, as is trying to raise money off the situation,” said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel in a statement. House Democrats have raised $1.1 million off the “War on Women” campaign.
And that statement makes it sound like Boehner only responded because the Democrats have exposed the GOP for their sexist ways. I’m sorry, but when his own party holds hearings on women’s reproductive rights and refuse to let any women speak at it, then they are a sexist party.