Has Rush Limbaugh finally gone too far?
 

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Electio...y-gone-too-far

Radio host Rush Limbaugh created a furor for labeling a woman a 'slut' after she testified in favor of mandatory employer health coverage of contraception – and that was just the beginning. He may have hurt the Republican cause this time.


By Peter Grier, Staff writer / March 2, 2012


In this January 2010 file photo, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh speaks during a news conference at Planet Hollywood, in Las Vegas. Has he finally gone too far for labeling a woman a 'slut' after she testified in favor of mandatory employer health coverage of contraception.

Brian Jones/Las Vegas News Bureau/AP/File

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Has Rush Limbaugh finally gone too far? Has he said something so outrageous that it is actually damaging the conservative principles he espouses?

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Those are relevant questions in the wake of the radio host/gadfly/provocateur’s labeling Georgetown University law school student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute,” while urging her to make public video tapes of her intimate acts. Mr. Limbaugh made the comments after Ms. Fluke testified in support of mandatory employer health coverage of contraception in front of a nonofficial congressional committee.

“If we are going to have to pay for this then we want something in return, Ms. Fluke,” Limbaugh said on his radio show earlier this week. “And that would be the videos of all this sex posted online so we can see what we’re getting for our money.”

Fluke herself has said she was “stunned” by these remarks. In an appearance on MSNBC’s "The Ed Show" on Thursday night, she said, “All [Limbaugh] needs to know is this is really inappropriate. This is outside the bounds of civil discourse.”

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Democrats and their political allies have rushed to her defense. Some 75 House Democrats have signed a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R) asking him to condemn Limbaugh’s words. The Women’s Media Center posted a Web story titled “Rush Limbaugh’s Sexism: Finally Too Much to Bear?”

Meanwhile, some Republicans have noted that while they don’t support his rhetoric, they support the point about health insurance Limbaugh was trying to make.

“A law student is now a hardship case? She needs the rest of us to provide her with free contraceptives?” said conservative columnist Mona Charen in a piece posted Friday morning on National Review Online.

Few commentators predict that Limbaugh will back down. He makes his living saying outrageous things: that’s how he attracts 20 million listeners a day, many pointed out. Even a nascent boycott of Limbaugh’s advertisers organized by opponents probably won’t faze him. (So far one advertiser, Sleep Train Mattresses, has pulled ads from Limbaugh’s show in reaction to the controversy.)

The problem, say some in the GOP, is that Limbaugh’s personal goals can conflict with the political goals he says he supports, and this may be one of those times. In pouring gasoline on a subject that was already a propane fire, he may have drawn attention to himself, but it’s possible he’s singeing Republicans who are standing close to the action.

“It doesn’t help,” said Carly Fiorina, National Republican Senatorial Committee vice chairman, Friday on "CBS This Morning." “That language is insulting, in my opinion. It’s incendiary and most of all, it’s a distraction.”

Ms. Fiorina noted that the Limbaugh uproar had taken some attention away from Thursday’s vote in the Senate on the Blunt amendment, legislation that would have exempted religiously affiliated employers from providing employees with contraception.

“It’s a distraction from what are very real and important issues,” said Fiorina.

Re: Has Rush Limbaugh finally gone too far?
 

Ya well, Obama has quickly picked up on this misnomer, and called the girl himself personally....

Re: Has Rush Limbaugh finally gone too far?
 

Re: Has Rush Limbaugh finally gone too far?
 

Maybe Rush should see that when he calls anyone names like that, he reveals what a complete he is? The saddest thing about Rush is that he even has an audience, and gets quoted, imo.

“It’s a distraction from what are very real and important issues,” said Fiorina.

Most likely his raison d' etre? Although I disagree with the mando contraception thing myself...but that is irrelevant.

Re: Has Rush Limbaugh finally gone too far?
 

Rush being Rush!!! And Pelosie being Pelosie, dragging a catholic law student before congress as the poster child for birth control entitlement!!! Her action is really a lower low than Rush's low!! We must look like fools to the rest of the world.

Re: Has Rush Limbaugh finally gone too far?
 

You got one part of your post right, lol.

Re: Has Rush Limbaugh finally gone too far?
 

I'm not a big fan of Limbaugh or any talk radio host for that matter. I stopped listening to talk radio about three a half years ago because I felt like it was influencing my vote. I would rather think for myself.

However, I completely agree with Limbaugh here. The woman said she is having so much sex she can't pay for it. He simply suggested that she back off of some of the sex.

She brought this on herself. I don't think Limbaugh would call someone a 'slut' unless they publicly announced that they were having plenty of illicit sex, so much in fact that they can't pay for it all.

It's just as bad as the woman in Florida who had more than 12 kids and couldn't afford to provide for them so she told reporters that someone needed to pay for it.

That's entitlement if I've ever seen it.

This woman has her own personal interests in mind. I don't know how much more black and white it could be.

Re: Has Rush Limbaugh finally gone too far?
 

Did he say anything that a real conservative wasn't thinking anyway? Is he too honest?

Re: Has Rush Limbaugh finally gone too far?
 

Santorum has that problem also. It's great for voters, not so much for the GOP.

Re: Has Rush Limbaugh finally gone too far?
 

I don't remember her saying that in her testimony. Care to provide a link to her saying that? lol