Actually when looking for comparisons to this, only Maher is applicable. Letterman apologized on air. Maher’s regular act is person attacks on Republican public figures and he is never sorry about it, that is his whole show. But Maher was kicked off of ABC for such antics. And HBO is a paid subscription services with NO sponsors that supplies liberal programming.
In this battle between Rush and the Dems the Dems were able to make her out to be a private citizen who is civil minded enough to voice her concerns on women's health issues, and that Rush savagely attacked her with (assumed) personal accusations to 'silence' her. If that is the premise then he cant win.
As I been posting the Democrats have been waging full scale war, but in this rare case Rush (accidently) put himself in the middle of the kill zone and now he knows what it feels like.
Rush has been doing his show for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week since 1988. He is bound to cross the line, at least once a year. He is only human. That said, who do you want making 50 million a year? Rush or Bill Maher? Forgetaboutit. Rush has sponsors waiting to get a chance, because he makes them a lot of money.