Posted on 03/03/2012 8:32:15 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Rush Limbaugh has posted a statement on his website this afternoon, forwarded by his brother David (one of my friends on line), apologizing for calling Sandra Fluke an insulting name while discussing her claims. It’s impossible to retain the context of his apology by excerpting it, so I hope Rush will not mind me posting it in its entirety:
For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.
I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.
My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.
I think Rush did the right thing in apologizing to Fluke. However, let’s keep in mind that it was Fluke who made her sexual activity a matter of national political debate by insisting that the government pass laws and regulations forcing employers and insurers to provide her free contraception, and apparently as much as she and others demand. It’s Republicans who believe that contraception should remain a private affair, and that employers and insurers should be free to decide whether to cover contraception for their employees and customers or not. Democrats used Fluke to demand that those choices be stripped from private enterprises and instead be forced by the executive branch to entirely subsidize contraception.
That is the argument we should be making, as Republicans and conservatives. If you want your sexual choices to remain private, don’t use the government to force other people to subsidize them. Then we won’t have to turn the sex lives of Georgetown law school students into topics for political speculation.
Update: Along those same lines, does Donna Brazile also now oppose the government mandate to force employers and insurers to have a role in the decision to use contraception? She tweeted this message not too long ago (via Keder):
Agree! The government should have no role in contraception, and shouldn’t force employers or insurers to have a role in it, either. Keep it between the woman, her sexual partner, and her doctor. Well said.
Oh, wait, Brazile meant this in support of the mandate? She seems just as badly misinformed on the issue as her media colleagues … or as deliberately obtuse.
I heard his entire spiel, and I back him 100%. His point was, ond only idiots didn’t get it, is that if everything Fluke said was TRUE, which he made clear it WASN’T, then everything else he said followed. It was done brilliantly, and was extremely funny.
Carbonite is not raising a red flag, but a yellow one. Bob
I don't make fun of Zero's ears ... they make fun of themselves.
I do, however, mock your sub-kindergarten reading level. I bet you never mastered "Dick and Jane" ... and couldn't if you tried.
Exactly. She made *herself* a public figure, and a laughingstock, actually. Bob
Jim from C-Town wrote:
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BS I would have doubled down. Time for a second act in life if my distributor gave me crap. Satellite radio would pay him $300 Million a year.
I would double down. Monday I would call her a gutter slut and pay up to half million for nude photos and $1 million for a sex tape. Of course I would then market the tape for big money. Hey, you know there is more than one, after all, she is a slut!
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I have a feeling Rush was receiving pressure from ClearChannel to issue an apology. Of course Rush could’ve refused and then what would ClearChannel have done? Fire him and lose by far the #1 highest rated radio program on the planet to a competitor?
I can’t wait to hear Rush’s explanation for his apology on Monday.
SeekAndFind wrote:
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Rush’s bean counters must have advised him that the withdrawal of these sponsors might produce a rush (no pun intended ) for the exists and further advised him to issue this apology before the cowardly herd thins to zero and cause his show to have no sponsors at all.
Just guessing....
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The truth is, there are many other sponsors out there that would GLADLY take the place of the cowardly ones that have abandoned Rush.
I just don’t see how Rush benefits from this apology. He knows better than anyone that THE LEFT-WING DOES NOT ACCEPT APOLOGIES FROM CONSERVATIVES. In fact, I can guarantee this apology will only further intensify the left’s resolve to continue hammering away at Rush and even try to get him removed from the airwaves. Hell, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton start organizing protest rallies outside of each radio station in major markets that carry the Rush Limbaugh program.
Rush should’ve stuck to his guns and this whole thing would’ve blown over, just like the Donovan McNabb controversy did.
lodi90 wrote:
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“He pretty much had to say something to end the discussion - it only harms the right at a very important time.”
Yes, Rush had to drop this hot potato because the drama was exposing how incredibly weak the GOP beltway leadership is.
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Sadly, I predict the drama will only further intensify due to Rush’s unnecessary apology because this will only further embolden the left to behave like sharks now that they smell blood in the water.
GrandJediMasterYoda wrote:
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Tell me. about. it. And considering this woman is a complete fraud, NOT a student, NOT 23 years old but a 30 years old radical leftist baffles me even more why he is sinking this low. WTF is going on here anyway? Did we suddenly move into a parallel universe where things are slightly askew? Ann Coulter endorsing Romney? Ted Nugent “The NUGE” endorsing Romney? WHAT? What’s next, Mark Levin demanding his listeners vote for Nancy Pelosi?
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We now truly live in a bizarro world where no one seems sane and nothing makes sense anymore. I mean, we now even have George Will, a supposed “conservative”, writing a column last week claiming that Obama cannot be beaten this election and the best we can hope for is a Romney nomination that will preserve GOP control of the House of Representatives and hopefully pull together enough votes to win the Senate. UN-FRICKIN-REAL!
Seaplaner wrote:
Tact and diplomacy are not “kool-aid” my FRiend.
The very instant that I read about this error in judgment, I knew it was a gift of sound-bite ammo for the lefties. Notice how quickly Mister Obama himself jumped on the issue.
One must choose wisely the place and timing of (political) battles, and any notion of making a pitched battle of this is a public relations loser (as Rush says) from the get go.
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Who cares if the lefties use Rush’s words as a sound-bite? He’s not out there running for public office!
>> Sadly, I predict the drama will only further intensify due to Rush’s unnecessary apology
What’s sad is the endless bullshit that will be thrown at Rush for apologizing.
Posted on the companies’ facebook walls. I wonder whether the postings will remain (actually I have no doubt... they won’t):
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Limbaugh was telling the truth. The whore fluke tells congress she expects american citizens to pay her “three year $3000.00 contraceptive bill”, and Rush makes the correct observation that ANY female who uses that much contraception spends more time on her back than on her feet. Gutless companies dumped him because of political pressure. I’ve included quicken loans, sleep number and sleep train in my list of companies who prefer their 30 pieces of silver to the truth.
==
Stand up for the truth.
faucetman wrote:
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I have listened to Rush a very long time. Have been to a Rush to excellence tour, have his books and videos. I still like Rush and usually listen to him, BUT, if you are looking for a hero, look elsewhere. He is not someone you would want in your foxhole. He is basically a coward. Is that as bad as calling a prostitute a slut?
Rush is an establishment Republican. Tea Party guy he is not. He is rich and famous and he likes it that way. He wouldn’t risk that for any cause.
Rush has always said ...don’t worry about the media. You can’t do anything about them. They are just a fact of life and besides “I am equal time”. HARDLY! Just a pimple on an elephant’s a$$ compared to the networks, left wing cable shows (that includes Faux News), thousands of left wing newspapers and radio stations.
A tremendous disservice to his loyal listeners. Protecting his own empire rather than fight our real enemy, the news media. We cry about Obama getting a pass, double standards, and how morons like Harry Reid (cowboy poetry supporter with your money), Nancy Pelosi (If not for Botox, there would be nothing in her head), keep getting reelected.
It is the POWER of the corrupt press. If we don’t change that ..... NOTHING will ever change.
Don’t give me back, what about our heroes Rush, Sean, Mark, & Glenn? Did any of them cover Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s news conference? Cowards all.
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Gotta respectfully disagree with you here... Rush Limbaugh has single-handedly done more for the modern day conservative movement than any other figures since William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan. To this day, many (including myself) credit Rush for the conservative Republican majority that swept into Congress in 1994 for the first time in 40 years and has literally destroyed the liberal media monopoly that had previously had a stranglehold on the American public. He has been an incredibly CONSISTENT conservative voice throughout his entire career and is NOT an establishment Republican whatsoever.
While I HIGHLY question his judgment to issue a public apology to Sandra Fluke, this in no way lessens my respect and admiration for Rush Limbaugh and his innumerable contributions to the conservative movement. He’s absolutely someone we should all want fighting alongside us in our foxhole. I just hope that he’s prepared for an even more intensive assault from the left as a result of his apology than he’s perhaps ever faced before in his 20+ year career.
petitfour wrote:
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Rush is taking a page from Obama’s play book. By apologizing, he is calming the storm in the same way Obama calmed the rioting Muslims. We will see how much the rabid left is like the rabid Taliban in a few days. Will they stop their war against the apologetic Rush? Or will the war continue?
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That is an EXCELLENT analogy! What did Obama’s apology to Afghanistan over the accidentally burned Qurans get us? Escalated violence and SIX DEAD AMERICAN SOLDIERS (and counting)!! Rush’s apology will not only do nothing to calm the left-wing assault on his advertisers, it will only make the left behave even more viscerally and viciously.
Scoutdad wrote:
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As much as an idiot as Fluke is, you can’t attack private citizens like that, even if it is in jest.
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I wholeheartedly disagree with you on this point. As soon as Fluke stepped into the public spotlight by appearing before members of Congress to make outrageous claims in an effort to influence public policy, her testimony exempted her from private citizen status. In other words, everything she discussed in that very public arena makes her fair game for criticism and scrutiny.
stuartcr wrote:
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Maybe they just don’t like the s-word?
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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again... The only people deeply offended by the word “slut” are those who find the definition hits a little too close to home.
Yes, money talks. But I don't think Rush would have apologized over the sponsors. I wonder if the big station AM stations threatened to drop his show from the airwaves. Power folks, what is power? And how do you get a person of principle to submit to that power? What is the one thing Rush loves more than anything?
Am I disappointed in Rush's apology? Yes as a matter of fact I am deeply offended and troubled by it. On Friday when I listened to Rush's rantings in-between client visits, I could not help but consider the two polar opposites he provoked. The idea of using the 'women's health issue' to promote secular, immoral promiscuity verses the moral Christian culture. The very idea of paying for women who have no morality and are not repentant of their ways, is offensive. It should provoke outrage from every corner of Religion.
And so getting up on a Sunday morning to read the immoral and sinful won should give us all pause. Rush chose his words carefully in the apology, we can all read that. And if we can comprehend it, so can the left. It won't surprise me if the apology is rejected. You can't apologize for the truth. I do see this whole conversation within the larger context of the First Amendment, both regarding Speech and Religion.
Mao used to gather up older adults and take them to theaters where they would kneel before the public and their children would rebuke them and shame them. 0bama doesn't need to roundup to theaters people who he thinks are being too powerful. Our media is the theater. 0bama's hand is all over this feigned public rebuke of Rush.
So much this past week gives me deep pause to wonder conspiratorially. Natural causes and business opportunities from unknown sources...really? Do you think Rush would have told us it was a real threat? A neon sign of Lincoln and Boothe, the day after Brietbart's death, even in a symbolic sense that is a pretty dark idea. Rush spent several days on this chick's testimony...bravado in the face of a threat?
...Siam's, gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a
Muddy old river or reclining Buddha
And thank God I'm only watching the game
Controlling it
I don't see you guys rating
The kind of mate I'm contemplating
I'd let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens WE use would not excite you
One other thing that disgusts me about this whole ordeal is Sandra Fluke will now be elevated and enshrined into a figure of greatness by the radical left-wing. Colleges and universities from all over the country will pay her big bucks to speak about the “virtues” of free contraception. The Democrat party will guarantee her a great paying public attorney position somewhere in Washington D.C. And she’ll be forever worshiped and immortalized by the left as “the woman who made Rush Limbaugh apologize”.
The whole thing just absolutely SICKENS me.
Like Wilkow. But don’t have XM anymore. Keep tabs through his newsletters.
I really don’t believe it’s as bad as all that. Rush was a victim of Media Matters. If you want free speech, you have to exercise it.
There is nothing recreational about this woman. She isn’t some college kid so bereft of money because she has to pay for whatever it is that fixes whatever her woman problems are.
She is a 30 year old political activist who enrolled specifically to target the University, politically, for Democrat platform issues. She is an ambitious schemer, just like most other Democrats in that DC sphere of corruption.
I’m saddened to see that Rush backed off and apologized. On hindsight, he should have just laughed her off as an administration plant and been done with it.
These people can’t be reasoned with, cannot be argued with. They should be just ridiculed and then ignored like they are not there. I’m afraid that Rush’s capitulation will be an impetus for the Democrats to PRODUCE other issues like this.
Long time listener (1989)and I too was fuming on Thurs when that’s all he could talk about...glad I missed Fri then ! It was all about him apparently....come on Rush...come back....
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