Mar 06 2012
Obligatory Rush/Fluke Post
Rush Limbaugh has taken the circular firing squad to new levels: he went into straight implode mode, and took the GOP with him.
Let’s be clear here: Rush Limbaugh was wrong, arrogant and cruel. He deserves the financial reminder that his success is not a license to hurt others. I have no sympathy for the man, and waiting for advertisers to bail before apologizing just demonstrates how much work is required to get him back into “normal” space.
Also to be clear: Ms. Fluke is not a slut or prostitute. She appears to be a fine young women with a healthy social life. What she has been advocating – however – is to be a spoiled, dead beat. She wants people to pay for her life style and that is what is so wrong with her positions. She has the freedom to do as she wishes, and she has the personal responsibility to pay for it herself.
This incident is a classic culture war screw up by the ‘true’ conservatives – a.k.a. social conservatives. We have no business classifying the personal behavior of Ms. Fluke. None!
We do have a right to question her begging others to support her lifestyle. I don’t want to pay for her contraception, her sex change, her pizza, her car, her rent, her dairy products, etc. If in need, I am all for the short term safety net (unless the condition is permanent – e.g., paralysis – then I am all for life time support). But I am not for handouts to the capable. Ms Fluke is not in need of a safety net.
When Rush dove into the personal aspect of her behavior he went beyond the Libertarian, Small Government, Tea Party line. And he deserves the shellacking he is getting. I don’t want left or right preaching to me or my children. I don’t want them searching their lunch boxes or their medicine cabinet.
And this is how too many conservatives play into the liberal left’s hands every cycle. If there is going to be government intervention in our life, then the liberal model is usually preferred than the constrained, Christian doctrine based right social approach. The best answer : No government intervention (support is an option in critical conditions).
Limbaugh did nothing but make Obama more popular in comparison. And he did it in a big way. If Rush ever thought to comment on my daughters’ social life he would have me and my Marine son to deal with. And that is because we males protect their individual rights to explore their version of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. We as a family can work this out.
Chauvinism is not dead, but the religious right can sure make it stink on occasion.
When the Federal Government forces me to pay/subdize someones irresponsible behavior, you damn right I am going to comment on it!
My town is full of Ms. Flukes and their resultant welfare babies.
Lane – no issue. The behavior is only part of the problem, and would be less likely if we did not run to provide financial assistance to dumb moves.
I would rather see support for good decisions! Why do the ones who make good decisions have to be financially punished for those who screwed up?
And this is when conservatives play on their field and not their opponents. Paying for someone else’s decisions is the core of liberal socialism that loses at the ballot box.
See the difference? Grading behavior – lose. Paying for others screw ups – win.
AJ
Agreed,
I work with a young “Hip” young Gal who is the model of this type of behavior, just the other day she was complaining that the “State” would not have paid for circumcision if her illegitimate baby would have been a boy, I curried no favor with her when I asked her how much did the father pay?
The problem for Rush was his “choice” of words. I like him, in general, but he can be quite juvenile and go overboard with use of adjective.
Agreed that Rush fell into the liberal trap… by acting like a liberal. I’m still waiting for the President to call Sarah Palin or Laura Ingraham to let them know he’s in solidarity with them over the vile comments they’ve been subjected to by the insane left.
But Mr. Strata, you are totally wrong about Fluke. She is not some innocent young college student plucked off campus by the Dems. She is a professional protester/agitator/activist. She is 30 years old and apparently registered at Georgetown for the express purpose of making a case against their religious beliefs. She even published a paper making the case that such instituions should offer insurance covering sex change operations.
Layman,
Mr.?
First and foremost, Ms Fluke is a US Citizen with the right to chart her own life’s path. And for that alone she deserves a modicum of respect – don’t you think?
Are conservatives truly incapable of tolerance and respect of our fellow Americans?
AJ:
I agree! I think conservatives are like police, or firefighters, or teachers: we should be held to a higher standard because our philosophy is based on thoughts and ideas – not feelings and emotions. Rush basically had an emotional outburst – and we will all pay dearly for it in the MSM.
I was simply pointing out that the way she was betrayed in the media as some poor little victim is disingenuous. She’s an activist with an agenda – and Limbaugh has given her more publicity then she could have ever hoped for.
As for the Mr. … I teach Tae Kwon do and coach youth soccer and youth basketball in my spare time (ha ha). All my students are referred to as Miss or Mister. It’s a sign of respect.
I agree with Layman1 that probably Ms. Fluke spends more time as a political activist than as a committed student. As for her testimony, it was conjecture, information that was here-say, and IMO had no real legitimacy being sought out in a Congressional chamber/hearing. In fact, the hearing itself was more about political theatrics than anything else, and the republicans just had to put their foot in their mouth and bite on the democratic bait.
OTOH, defaming a young woman, is a cheap shot, saying more about the person verbalizing such garbage than who it was aimed at. Limbaugh was out of line. But, he has oftentimes has been that way in how he interjects himself egotistically into the political fray. And, it is to the detriment of conservatism that he often becomes the face of the party.
you’re right on target here, AJ. There was a solid, intellectually responsible way to take on this issue: do whatever you want, but don’t ask me to pay for it! But Rush – as so many emotional conservatives keep doing these days – had to go for the feel-good over-emotionalized soundbite, the “gotcha”, the “hey, look at me! I can be nasty too!” And it sank him.
You’re exactly right, he did Obama a HUGE favor with his idiotic, classless choice here. And I hold that against him more than anything else. He had a great opportunity to make a principled stand, and he threw away his credibility instead.
Now let us get back to the real issue!!!
Does Obama have the power to mandate that Catholic institutions provide and pay for Contraception and Abortions?
That is where this all started before the Fluke incident.
WWS hey, they let you out…. alll right… Must be hell getting locked in them bars overnight, in this case apparently over the weekend.
Rush didn’t make Obama look good. Nothing makes Obama’s position look good on anything. When your position is ‘take freedom away from Americans’ you can never look good and those that think he looks good on his positions should be living in Syria, or some other such place where ‘freedom’ has no value.
No one needs to discuss or describe Fluke’s activities, she did a very good job of painting a very clear picture of herself. She doesn’t need any help. She did portray herself as a person that feels entitled to do what she wants to do, when she wants to do it and have someone else pay for it. enough said.
Let’s track the numbers, I’ll bet Rush’s listeners will be “UP” beginning this week.
Just did some checking, while some advertisers are leaving, others have announced increased spending of ad dollars on his show. Predictions are that this won’t significantly affect the numbers of listeners.
This John Avlon article Despite Sandra Fluke apology Rush Limbaugh advertisers sign off, gives a run down on what is happening.
It is thought that once advertisers leave their sponsorship they rarely return. Also, in lieu of Limbaugh’s ratings already going down, this is not seen as a positive turn of events for him.
I generally love Rush and agree with him most of the time. He was stupid and he knows it and he has apologized.
Rush admitted he was stupid, lets look at the left. The left and what they did and still do to Sarah Palin and every conservative woman is despicable. Does Obama complain? NO. Does he admonish the dozens of hate spewing a-holes because he stands up for strong woman like he wants his daughters to be and his dear wife is? NO.
The stock market was off over 200 points today. Those who advertise with Rush were really off. I will listen to Rush as I always have, and Carbonite can go to hell. I’m heartily sick of the lefts righteous indignation, they are pigs. Fancy a woman, going on National TV in front of the world, describing how badly she feels and how unfair it is that she can’t have sex for free. It costs her $1000 a year. She has to work during the summer to be able to protect herself while having sex. Really isn’t it heart
breaking?
and PS, the topic wasn’t sex, it wasn’t contraceptives, it was about what the Catholic Church and the institutions they run are going to do now that Obama believes he can order them to kill babies in the name of “freedom of choice”, how ironic!
Ms. Fluke most certainly is a person with no morals if she is really sleeping around so much that she needs $3,000 worth of birth control every year. Rush only called her what she is. One of the big problems in this country today is that so many people are not willing to call sinful behavior what is it. There used to be consequences for having loose morals but now too many people want to live that way with no consequences. They will face the consequences when they meet their Maker.
I think this has moved Rush into the strictly “entertainer” position. We can listen and laugh, but we are responsible for making informed decisions … without Rush. We have so many vehicles for this on the internet. Many times, I am DAYS ahead of Rush in what is or isn’t news, because I read it on a blog. The way that blogs link from one thing to another thing have made Rush almost irrelevant, except for his colorful commentary. We will be fine without him someday. It is the natural order of things. It is not 1994 anymore.
I don’t listen to Mr. Limbaugh. Most talk radio personalities, regardless of their political stripe, come across as pompous jack-asses. If I want to hear a pompous jack-ass I’ll talk to myself.
That said A.J. may I disagree with you on this?
I see at least three problems with your response and the liberal response to this incident:
1. The first problem is “Turn about should be fair play.” If it is perfectly alright in the Progressive playbook book for David Letterman to make jokes about raping Sarah Palin’s daughters then it is OK for Rush Limbaugh to call Ms. Fluke a slut. Especially since Ms. Fluke made public statements about this issue.However, fair or unfair Mr. Limbaugh’s remarks may have been Ms. Fluke at least had placed her self in limelight; Sarah Palin’s daughter had done nothing of the sort. Ms Fluke also setup her case to implicitly call anyone who disagreed with her cold-hearted and unfair. It does conservatives and moderates no good to play by rules that the Regressive (They are not really Progressives) do not use. Republicans have, for far too long been entirely too nice about calling democrats crooks, criminals and liars. This actually make the political debate far less honest. I refuse to be called a racist, homophobe, misogamist, Cretin, NAZI or any of the other names Demonrats so often use.
I’ll moderate my language when the demonrats start sending people like Charles Rangle to jail.
2. What word or words would you use to describe Ms. Fluke? Look up the definition of the word “Slut” and then look up Ms Flukes background as an advocate for what she herself calls “Alternate sex” and then ask your self, “Does the shoe fit?” When we begin to censor people for using words in the proper context and with the proper definition then we have lost freedom speech because we cannot speak the truth. Ms. FLuke may not like the term “Slut” but in a prima facie sense she fits its definition.
So, if she does not want at some people in the world to call her a “slut” then she should stop acting like one. Otherwise wear the term as a badge of honor.
3. This is a primary, basic level freedom of speech issue. Indeed, it is deeper than that. It is about what we are allowed to think. Liberals want to control the terms of the debate. If they are allowed to do that they cannot lose. It is just that simple. Either Mr. Limbaugh, Don Imus, and Chris Mathews have the right to voice their opinions or they do not.
If they do then I do not have to like it. If they do not then none of us do and that includes Ms. Fluke. So are we going to become a society that does not speak or if we do say’s only “Yes Sir” or “Yes Ma’am” to the all powerful governmental elites or are we going to be a people that voice different, often contradictory views? This gets back to the first point. If lieberals want my respect they need to show some respect.
OK now back to my job.