Rush Limbaugh must be having one hell of a jolly time what with all the attention he’s garnered by calling Sandra Fluke—the young Georgetown University law student who spoke out publicly in favor of women having access to contraception through school or employment insurance plans (something currently denied them at places such as Georgetown)—a “slut” and a “prostitute.”
Concentrate for a moment on what Mr. Limbaugh revealed about himself when he also said:
[I]f 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.
Excuse me? “So we can all watch?” Is Mr. Limbaugh planning a party? Sounds to this observer as if Mr. Limbaugh is experienced in watching online video postings of a certain sort. Wonder if he’d be willing to talk about this on his show.
Aside from wondering what in the world the fourth Mrs. Rush Limbaugh thinks about being married to a husband such as Mr. Limbaugh, I wonder what Mr. Limbaugh’s fans are thinking. Are the men all riled up and laughing while they listen to him spit out these epithets? What about his female fans? Are they contemporary versions of crude village crones in 15th-century England, eager to burn the latest witch at the stake? Or are they cringing silently in the corner of the kitchen while listening to the radio, wondering inside why Mr. Limbaugh so crudely attacks a woman who spoke her mind publicly.
I also wonder what could possibly be going through the heads of Republicans candidates for president, all of whom are remaining remarkably silent on the matter. Rick Santorum managed to claim Mr. Limbaugh was “being absurd,” saying, “you know, an entertainer can be absurd.” That’s it? That’s all we get from Mr. Morality?
Would it be so hard for each and every one of these presidential hopefuls, especially Mr. Santorum, to loudly condemn their conservative brother’s misogynistic rant? If the president of Georgetown—who disagrees with Ms. Fluke on the issue of contraceptives and Catholic institutions—could issue a clear public condemnation of Mr. Limbaugh, couldn’t at least one of the Republican bunch of presidential potentials step up to the plate? (Meanwhile, John Boehner sort of spoke up, calling Mr. Limbaugh’s words “inappropriate.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker. By the way, do you possess a vocabulary that’s larger than that one rather gentle word of opprobrium to condemn such gross talk about a woman on publicly owned airwaves?)
That the President telephoned Ms. Fluke and spoke to her, reportedly thanking her for speaking up on behalf of women, and adding that she should tell her parents that they “should be proud,” was surely political. Just as surely, it was also the right and just thing to do.
I hope Mr. Limbaugh’s house has a fine wood-paneled basement, with a large, flat-screened TV on a velvet-wallpapered wall opposite the sofa—a TV capable of streaming online videos directly from his computer. That way, he can host a nice big party.
Or maybe all the man needs is to be alone with his laptop.
