Rationalizing for Rush

There has been an ongoing conversation on this blog over the past week regarding Rush Limbaugh's "two words" with both sides agreeing that what he said was wrong. That is of course the last point at which they agree.

With that in mind I wanted to address a few items.

First, it should be noted that Rush didn't just say two unkind words about Sandra Fluke. He leveled over 20 personal attacks (jokes) on her and her family. One of the big things that those who are rationalizing the comments by Rush seem to be missing is that 99% of women have used birth control so when Rush calls Sandra Fluke a "slut" for using birth control that is covered under insurance, he is essentially calling every woman who uses birth control covered by insurance a "slut".

It is not breaking news that the fringe talking heads make inappropriate comments but when you pigeonhole an entire group you tend to see a backlash. Making this a liberal media issue also completely misses the point. Rush Limbaugh has the most listened to radio show in the US. Unfortunately for Rush and his supporters this means he is also the biggest target. His words are powerful and so are the reactions.

Consider Tiger Woods. Have other golfers cheated on their wives? Sure they have. But none of them will get the airtime for their indiscretions that Tiger did because none of them have the status that Tiger does not because the liberal media has it out for Tiger.

Also consider Ted Nugent. Back in 2007 he made the following statements about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton:

"Obama, he's a piece of sh**. I told him to suck on my machine gun. Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bit**."

After these comments there was no apology from Ted Nugent or President Bush. There was no outcry from ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, or CNN. In fact they don't seem to have even covered it. Instead Ted is considered a "friend of the show" by Sean Hannity and was interviewed by Piers Morgan on CNN.

The point being Rush Limbaugh gets the biggest push back because he is the biggest bully on the playground. Going to the "liberal media" well every time a conservative hero puts their foot in their mouth only diminishes an already questionable paradigm.

The other thing that I find peculiar is how this debate has turned in to a criticism of the President. It has been suggested that calling Sandra Fluke was purely a political move since he did not take similar actions for insults by liberal talking heads. If the President was playing politics with this phone call he would have called a press conference to apologize. Instead he made a private call that became public. It should also be noted that Sandra Fluke was not just the target of Rush Limbaugh. She was also attacked by Patricia Heaton and others on Twitter, Facebook and blogs everywhere. When Bill Maher used inappropriate language to describe Sarah Palin it didn't start a tidalwave of personal attacks on Sarah Palin. The President called to apologize for everything that Sandra has been put through for deciding to give a voice to her side in front of congress not just because Rush Limbaugh's insults.

The media frenzy over this story started long before the President made his call and it is a perversion of the facts to suggest that a private call to a US citizen who testified before congress resulting in a litany of personal attacks could be viewed as political grandstanding. Ironically the one thing that really should be considered a purely political move is turning Rush Limbaugh's personal attacks into a critique on the President.