Rush Limbaugh: Do Democrats want uproar to continue?
Conservatives see 'media-generated histrionic' over vulgar comments Rush Limbaugh made about law school student Sandra Fluke. Liberals see a ripe opportunity to pin wings of GOP candidates to the wall.
In this January 2009 file photo, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh talks with guests in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Limbaugh apologized on Saturday, to a Georgetown University law student he had branded a 'slut' and 'prostitute' after fellow Republicans as well as Democrats criticized him and several advertisers left his program.
Ron Edmonds/AP
Rush Limbaugh remains in big trouble. Advertisers – 11 at last count – are pulling spots off his radio talk show because of the reaction to his calling Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute.” Opponents are mobilizing on social media for a long campaign to try to convince even more sponsors to drop his program. Ms. Fluke herself has rejected as insufficient Mr. Limbaugh’s attempts at apology.
But here’s our question: At this point, is it even within Limbaugh’s power to apologize enough? Has the political uproar reached a state where Democratic officials just want it to continue?
That’s certainly possible. Over at the liberal Plum Line blog, Greg Sargent writes that it’s hard to overstate what a huge gift Limbaugh has handed the Democratic Party.
“Dems will do all they can to ensure that Limbaugh continues to loom large over the presidential race,” writes Sargent.
He points out an interview Obama campaign senior strategist David Axelrod gave CNN in which Axelrod accused Mitt Romney of not showing enough outrage over Limbaugh’s comments.
“I was kind of shocked when Governor Romney, all he had to say was, ‘Well, that isn’t language I would have used’.... I thought that was a cowardly answer,” Mr. Axelrod said on camera.
Republicans and Democrats were already fighting a bitter battle over the Obama administration’s move to mandate that employer-provided health insurance cover women’s contraception. By throwing gasoline on an existing propane fire, Limbaugh got himself into even deeper trouble than normal, according to Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo editor and publisher.
“It’s because this lined up so closely to a party political gambit that Limbaugh’s been far harder pressed to handle this controversy than he has with ones in the past,” writes Mr. Marshall Tuesday.
Meanwhile, conservatives are beginning to hammer at what they see as the hypocrisy of the left’s shaming of Limbaugh.
Sure, Limbaugh used words he should not have, in this view. But some on the right are asking this: Where’s the outrage when liberals do something similar?
“Excuse me for being fed up with the media-generated histrionics,” writes Mark Corallo Tuesday on National Review Online.
Mr. Corallo notes that after conservative firebrand Andrew Breitbart died recently, Rolling Stone columnist Matt Taibbi wrote, “I couldn’t be happier that he’s dead.” This comment did not attract nearly as much attention as did Limbaugh’s words.
Comedian Bill Maher, who recently said he would give $1 million to the "super political action committee" associated with President Obama, has repeatedly used obscene gynecological references to refer to Sarah Palin, writes L. Brent Bozell III, founder of the Media Research Center, in a Fox News opinion piece.
“Limbaugh has been singled out and condemned across the national media.... How many of these outlets have condemned Bill Maher with equal vigor for his attacks on Palin?” writes Mr. Bozell.