After getting hit in the wallet, Rush backs down, sort of:
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.
No one is talking about recreational sex except for you perverts. You were the ones talking about it, debating how much sex young coeds were having, and begging for videos, you jackass. We’re talking about that women being able to have medical treatment covered under their health care insurance that is part of their compensation from their employers.
He’s just such an asshole.
Randiego
Pretty slick how they’ve twisted this into taxpayers paying for contraceptives and not insurance companies with co-pays, etc.
me
It’s doubly meaningless if he doesn’t repeat it on his show. Most of his listeners will never see it on the web.
Yutsano
Fuck Rush with one of wifey’s rusty pitchforks. Although she’d be irritated that I used such a noble implement on such a disgusting human being. Go back to being a radio DJ Rush. Your shark, she has been jumped.
cmorenc
Rush said:
Yes you did, or you wouldn’t have called her a slut and a prostitute.
This is vastly worse than your regular lame excuse you duck behind when you go far enough over the edge that your own side gets nervous and angry about it to get through that you need to put on at least some face of backing off: that you’re an entertainer. This was indeed about a choice of words, but a deliberately chosen choice of words to accurately convey a very definite impression of the young woman, and your basic attitude toward women generally. The problem here wasn’t miscommunication; but rather that you communicated your idea too well.
How many juries do you think would convict her dad from kicking your nuts off and smashing your face if you had said that in his presence? Even deep in a red state somewhere?
Geoduck
The advertising hit must have been really bad for him to even go that far.
gnomedad
Boilerplate non-apology: double down on your position and then regret your unfortunate choice of words.
Svensker
That’s pretty much the, um, bottom line.
Still, isn’t this a first? Has he ever been forced to back down before?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
as somebody pointed out, Clear Channel is owned in large part by Bain Capital. James Bain must be like the Emperor from Star Wars, or that syphillitic father who tells Robert the Bruce to throw Mel Gibson to the Englsh. He put the Fear in the Vi*gra Kid.
MattF
So, he actually intended to insult all women, not just Ms. Fluke. And he’s sorry about being misunderstood. Well, OK then, and that’s that.
matthew frederick
Limbaugh’s “apology” combined Santorum’s “explanation” with Romney’s word choice “critique.” LINK
bleh
Now you’re just being shrill. That poor Mr. Limbaugh — all the nasty things you and your librul friends have said about him. And for speaking what we all know is the TRUTH, even if he maybe phrased it a little clumsily. Really, it’s Rush here who is the victim, and nobody else. And for you to go piling on is just mean.
(This is so easy I could do it half asleep. No wonder the Republicans win elections…)
Ash Can
Once again from the comments at LGF, this has been a bridge too far for Ann Althouse, and she’s having a bit of a John Cole/Charles Johnson moment (and once again, no link; you all know where to find her). Whether she continues on this path like they did, of course, remains to be seen.
PeakVT
@gnomedad: Bingo.
john f
What happened to personal responsibility and accountability?
Yeah Rush, remember when that was one of the reasons for the GOP pushing for an individual mandate as part of their healthcare reform package back in 1990’s.
john f
What happened to personal responsibility and accountability?
Yeah Rush, remember when that was one of the reasons for the GOP pushing for an individual mandate as part of their healthcare reform package back in 1990’s.
iriedc
Guess his lawyers explained to him that the likelihood of losing the civil suit coming his way was >90%.
JP
In Ms. Fluke’s case it is not about employer insurance. She is a student and is paying the full premium for her health care insurance. No employer is paying anything or is any government. All Georgetown is doing for her and other students is acting as the provider of a group health insurance plan that the students pay for,
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@iriedc: could the discovery on a civil suit get into his sex tourism? Seems like a long shot, but Ken Starr made it to Monical Lewisky’s underwear drawer.
Wile E. Quixote
Yeah, like I want to hear about personal responsibility and accountability from a fucking Oxycontin addict. Seriously, why should the taxpayers have to pay for Rush Limbaugh’s cochlear implants, cochlear implants he only needed because he destroyed his hearing with his addiction to illegally obtained prescription painkillers that can cause hearing damage when taken in large doses.
LT
@Ash Can:
“Once again from the comments at LGF, this has been a bridge too far for Ann Althouse…”
There’s never a “bridge too far” when the depth of your morals is directly linked to the breadth of your spite. She’ll snap back like she’s welded to an atomic bungee cord.
MikeJ
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
No. It has nothing to do with this case. It doesn’t matter. Discovery is not an open ended fishing expedition.
Baud
I deeply and sincerely regret that I didn’t get away with this.
Soonergrunt
@Ash Can: Part of that is taking responsibility for ones own actions in the past. So I doubt she’s having that kind of epiphany.
Although I NEVER saw Charles Johnson coming back to the light so I could be wrong.
Steve
Wow… there’s a first time for everything, even though by anyone else’s standards this would be one of the weakest apologies ever. Maybe for the next step we can point out that while nothing is wrong with sexual recreational activities, nobody was talking about them but Limbaugh.
Laertes
Christ what an asshole.
Bruce S
Want us to take that lame bit of bizness seriously. Next do the right thing and resign. Shut your foul mouth in public for the rest of your life.
(somehow I feel like this “apology” gives me license to beat this douche-bag senseless with a 2×4 and assert that I meant no physical attack on Mr. Limbaugh.)
Soonergrunt
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It absolutely could get that far. And the fact that he’s apologized doesn’t lessen the potential liability, either.
AxelFoley
Ha, that fat fucker got shook.
That’s how you fuck with the GOP–hit them in their wallets.
Mike G
I look forward to The Human Hindenburg (flaming Nazi gasbag) launching a campaign to remove coverage for erectile dysfunction drugs from all health insurance, since we shouldn’t pay for such recreational activities. Of course, this would alienate the 90% of his audience that uses them.
Liberty60
I’m not saying that Obama is playing the conservative movement like chumps by baiting them into making fools of themselves.
But if he were, this is what it would look like.
quannlace
Default fallback when one of these assholes get called on their bullshit….
“It was just a joke. Can;t you people take a joke? See, liberals are just so damned humorless. And (turning all profound) accusing them of being frivolous in ‘these serious times.’
aimai
@Geoduck:
This. And I wonder if his lawyers think this heads off a law suit.
aimai
scav
Somebody does have a choke chain on that lardbag. mmmmm.
ETA, meaning I find it far too early for advertising to have any real hit. This is being hit by a plank.
Birthmarker
If your employer offers health care benefits, in most cases, you still contribute toward the premiums, even if it is partially subsidized. NO FREEBIE, Rush.
The discussion has lost the plot, IMO. Grrrr.
@Ash Can: Do we even want her?
BTW who does Rush support for president?
Elizabelle
Thank you, Rush, for helping to blow out the bishops’ incense smokescreen of religious freedom and first amendment rights.
You’re a crude jackass who doesn’t deserve the airwaves, but at least you helped clarify the issue.
YellowJournalism
Uh, where’s the apology? I still see him calling her and women like her “sluts” without using the word.
And if this was just an analogy, why the bullshit the next day about sex tapes or if this wasn’t about personal attacks, why say that her parents should be ashamed of her?
Gian
Rush would never live long enough to complete the making amends portion of a 12-step program.
If he started 15 years ago, he still wouldn’t live long enough.
Amir Khalid
Noot’s take on the whole thing is — no surprises — really laughable: This is all about Obama taking political advantage!
MikeJ
@Birthmarker:
You could actually argue that *all* of it is coming out of your end and the employer isn’t really “contributing” anything. Insurance is part of your compensation, and insurance companies should cover it when a doctor writes a prescription without asking t guy in a dress if he thinks it makes the patient a slut.
Kyle
“All I did was call her a slut and a prostitute to millions to radio listeners, and demand she make a sex tape to show the entire country! Chicks – they’re so oversensitive!”
Next week after his advertisers re-up, he’ll be whining about his “martrydom” before the librul tyranny of “political correctness”.
Narcissus
Now Rush’ll go home and take it out on his Real Doll.
aimai
That Ann Althouse piece is almost McCardleseque in its stupidity. She imagines she’s handling a rapier like wit when she ends by self quoting her response to the usual right wing paranoia (this is all orchestrated by Obama) with “Nice of Rush to sit in on Obama’s Orchestra.” This is far too subtle for her audience who will be left, despite the twenty paragraphs of bumpf up abvoe, confused as to who she thinks is doing what to whom. Also, she gets in a lovely dig at the left by accusing us of such unnamed sexual perversities that who knows what we care about.
aimai
RSA
ABC news provides what appears to be Fluke’s testimony [PDF]. It’s short and affecting, with lots of information that’s been buried by Limbaugh’s nonsense.
Hungry Joe
@LT:
Brilliant. Consider that stolen … and I bet I’m not alone.
Spaghetti Lee
I think you all misunderstand. For someone like Limbaugh, who will do or say anything for money and fame, calling someone a slut and a whore is a compliment of the highest order.
Birthmarker
He’ll reload Monday, and continue to spread false info about the discussion having anything to do with the government buying anyone free shoes..
Soonergrunt
@aimai: If they do, he needs better lawyers. The apology has nothing to do with the events excepting that it could used as evidence of consciousness of culpability. The only thing that can head off a lawsuit in this case is a settlement or other vehicle by which Ms. Fluke gives up her right to sue.
I’m not saying anything as to whether or not such a suit would be successful, but only noting just how very easy it is to sue someone in this country, and if anyone has a tort it’s Ms. Fluke.
Soonergrunt
@Narcissus: He’s actually married, but that could still be saying the same thing. I mean, nobody has ever seen this woman in public of which I’m aware.
RD
No doubt Rush will call in sick on Monday.
He needs to get his head together in the back streets of Santo Domingo.
Birthmarker
After a few days, some blue collar guy I deal with will say to me, “I don’t think the government should have to buy people free shoes to exercise in.”
I don’t say this to disparage blue collar workers- I am married to a wonderful one. My point is, that is his audience, and they tend to absorb it without question.
Jilli
I think Eric Boehlert got it right in his tweet –
I want to correx earlier tweets, this was NOT a Limbaugh apology. It was a p.r. statement. If he’s genuinely sorry we’ll hear it Mon show.
Cargo
“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.”
So, you’re pro-choice and pro-gay marriage then, Rush? Good to know.
Mike in NC
Doubt that taxpayers will need to worry about buying free running shoes for Fat Bastard. He can’t even see his feet.
Rawk Chawk
Rush is a psycho pig.
It fascinates me to remember that in 1987, before he went completely over the top wingnut, he actually made frequent statements during his show that called out the Republicans for bullshit. Enough so that I listened regularly.
I believe it was about 1990 that he sold his soul to Beelzebub for an eternal supply of Viagra, oxycotin, and young boys.
Gretchen
@RSA:
That’s the first time I’d read the whole testimony. Nothing at all about recreational or unmarried sex, lots of serious health consequences. And she makes clear that the insurance is paid for by student premiums, not taxpayers of the university, so why does anyone but the students get any say in what’s covered? They can only make her look bad by lying, lying, lying, and there’s no pushback from the press at all! They’re all discussing testimony that didn’t happen, and ignoriing that which did!
Soonergrunt
@Ash Can: She’s already back on the course of propping up conservative ideology.
I just read the last several posts at her site and glanced through the comments.
Her take on the whole thing isn’t that Limbaugh was wrong or that this was so over the top as to be unforgivable or anything like that. Her take is that Rush went off script and that this is damaging to the movement. His “apology” is accepted at face value, especially since Ms. Fluke IS a slut. It was just off-putting of Rush to use that tack, you see.
Dirk
I’m actually surprised how widely his comments have traveled. I was at a dinner party this evening where this came up, what makes it interesting is that the dinner party was in South Africa…
Soonergrunt
From Andy Borowitz on Twitter:
Paul M
He had to say something before the Sunday bobblehead fests. “See, he’s apologized!”
Now move along. Nothing to see here.
trollhattan
Goddamn Limbaugh is interfering my opportunities to slag some more on Breitbart. I wasn’t hardly finished at all, nosir.
He (the still living one) could consider an MI next time he wants some free publicity.
Linnaeus
This is such a BS non-apology.
Soonergrunt
@Birthmarker: Then you need to ask that BC worker if he was born dumb, hit by a car, or does Rush make him that way because that’s not how insurance works and he’s probably getting taken to the cleaners by his insurance plan and how does he feel about that?
Sometimes you need to issue a verbal sucker punch, even to your friends.
SiubhanDuinne
You know, somehow I missed the analogy part.
trollhattan
@Soonergrunt:
What makes that work is using the simile. Golf clap, Andy.
The Sailor
@MikeJ: $60M of taxpayers money says you are wrong.
Citizen_X
I’ll have to remember that one when I get into
fistfightsarguments with dittoheads: “I did not mean as a personal insult when I called your mother a cheap whore.”Soonergrunt
More from Borowitz’s Twitter:
Soonergrunt
@Soonergrunt: Perhaps Ms. Rush will let him chill out for twenty minutes and try again? Maybe somebody will tell him “it happens to other morbidly obese drug-addicts, too” and that he should just relax…
Citizen_X
I also like this:
Yes, you have, Baron Harkonnen. Yes, you have.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I imagine Rachel Maddow and the others pointing out that Rush didn’t seem to know how birth control works pushed some of his buttons, too, also.
Gretchen
@The Sailor:
$60 million of taxpayer money for what? Employers join a group plan and charge their employees premiums to pay for it. Government not paying for that.
Soonergrunt
@The Sailor: Link to that assertion. Because insurance has nothing to do with government money even for civil service employees.
scav
So, has all the toothpaste magically been raptured back into the tube yet? Everything all better?
Rommie
Geez, he’s set himself up for marytrdom x eleventy. When the meanie liberals keep yelling at him when he said he was “sorry” and all, the Tears of Justice will be flowing.
We could only hope he’d light himself on fire like a true martyr, but the rhetorical lighting of his money on fire will do.
Pavlov's Dog
Just curious, but what are all the pricks that defended Rush going to say now? Eric? HotAir? Looking at you…
Labrys
The confusion Rush suffers is understandable….he thinks he is being “absurd” when really he is just being a turd.
The rhyming doubtless confused his poor Viagra’d to a fare-thee-well brain cells.
Socrates
Okay, he’s still getting away with saying that “taxpayers” are being asked to pay for Ms. Fluke’s contraception.
That’s a big fat lie, right?
We don’t have that system in the US, right? Even the Affordable Care Act doesn’t have a public option, or single payer. This woman’s insurance would pay, yes? And she pays for her health coverage, right? So how are the “taxpayers” being asked to pay?
Conservatives everywhere are making this argument, but, unless there’s something I don’t understand, it’s patently false. Right?
RD
@Linnaeus:
It’s a big deal because “never apologize” is one of the central tenants of Teatardia.
Rush has failed the purity test.
Monkey Business
Rush Limbaugh:
Rush Limbaugh:
Me:
cathyx
It doesn’t hurt that she’s a law school student. She could sue him and represent herself. Maybe she can get extra credit for it.
Nancy
I’m not reading any wingtard sites, but is anyone trying to say both sides do it and citing Maher, Stewart, etal as examples? Here’s the difference between them and Rush. They never punch down. The satirize and make fun of people at least as powerful or more powerful than they are.
Has Rush ever apologized for the Chelsea joke? For making fun of people with Parkinsons?
I think we should keep the pressure on his sponsors until he is in exile with Imus and Stern. They are no more odious than he is.
jrg
@Soonergrunt: I think (s)he is referring to the Starr investigation.
cathyx
In fact, maybe her professors will collaborate with her on this. That could be quite a team.
Soonergrunt
@Monkey Business: He wouldn’t fit in the back of a VW.
The Sailor
Gretchen & Soonergrunt, I was referring to the cost to taxpayers of the investigation of the Clintons.
scav
@Soonergrunt: Are there no rusty-bladed Cuisinarts?
Jennifer
Thank you for front-paging that point. This should the ONLY point. No matter whether your insurance premium shows up as a deduction on your paycheck or not, you’re still paying for it – it is compensation provided to you by your employer. It’s yours. Not theirs. They aren’t paying for any of it, because your salary or wages are determined in part on how much they’re kicking in to your insurance coverage – if they’re kicking in anything at all. They have an incentive to pay part of your wages via providing insurance, because they don’t have to pay payroll taxes on that portion of your compensation.
Remember John McCain’s big idea for health care savings accounts back in 2008? Remember? Part of his ridiculous plan was to tax employees on the value of insurance coverage provided to them by employers. They seemed pretty clear on who was paying for the coverage back then, didn’t they? Because you would only tax someone for the value of insurance coverage they got through their job if it is part of their compensation.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yup. that’s what all this is about: Obama is forcing you to spend your money (“my hard-earned tax-dollars” per Bill O’Reilly) to force “the Church” to pay for dirty, dirty sex. Call you Democrat senator or Congressgit and tell them: Say no to Obama’s agenda of dirty sex and religion-hating.
PeakVT
@RSA: You want people to read what she said and not take Blimpbaugh’s rendition as being truthful? That’s crazy talk.
trollhattan
@Soonergrunt:
POOR VW. I haz a sad for the innocent car.
Jennifer
@trollhattan: Don’t let it get you down. Just remind yourself, every day from now through the end of your life, Andrew Breitbart will still be dead.
And if you need more, go over to Taibbi’s and check out the 2000+ comment thread chock-a-block with outraged wingers. Funniest thing I’ve seen online in quite some time.
Soonergrunt
@The Sailor: Thanks for the clarification.
celiadexter
Sandra Fluke shouldn’t represent herself. She should get the best defamation lawyer around in DC, and I doubt she’d have any trouble finding him/her. When this is over, she needs to own not only a piece of Rush Limbaugh but a piece of Clear Channel. I’ve been a lawyer for almost 40 years — although I’ve never done defamation cases, this one seems like a slam-dunk (unless in fact Ms. Fluke is walking the streets or working for an escort service) case of defamation per se — she doesn’t even have to prove damages. Rush and his handlers should be pretty damn worried, because they put these lies out on the air with tens of millions of listeners. My greatest hope right now is that Sandra Fluke doesn’t decide to be too nice to go after these assholes in court.
Jennifer
@Birthmarker: RE: free shoes. Just ask the schmoe when the last time was that he had to have shoes prescribed by a doctor.
Viva BrisVegas
As a furriner I don’t understand. Is Limbaugh saying that it is the government that is paying for contraception (presumably though forgone taxes)?
I thought the whole big deal was that religious institutions were supposedly being forced to pay for it.
So if the funding originates at government level, why are religions getting in the way?
Which begs the question, isn’t health care part of a remuneration package negotiated between employer and employee? In which case why should the employer have any more control over the non-cash part of that remuneration than the cash part?
Or is the employee health care plan regarded as a gift from the employer to the employee?
Whatever the case it sounds a mightily weird way of doing things.
Rick Taylor
It’s gratifying to see that when hit in the pocket book, he can be strong-armed into making an apology (albeit pathetic one). I’m curious to see who on the right will hail him as a big spirited person who apologizes when he’s wrong (unlike those on the left). I’m guessing now that Limbaugh has been such a great guy, they’ll be speculating out loud how long it will take Democrats to apologize for politicizing matters of religious freedom.
Birthmarker
@Soonergrunt: I do politely correct in most cases. Or I just tell them I am quite skeptical of that. It doesn’t seem to offend in most instances b/c they all kind of like to talk politics.
I do think I offended my ob/gyn when I told him I object to Fox News being on the the waiting room. I paid for the appointment with health insurance.
Mutt
HAR! He must be getting his butt kicked by wealthy wing nuts who, you know, know women. An apology from this drug addled serial adulterer-at best- is as rare as leftover crack…..
Anne Laurie
@Soonergrunt: As a friend of mine used to say, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a crowbar… if you’re not the one going to be cleaning up afterwards.”
realbtl
@Soonergrunt:
I think Rush might fit through the canvas sunroof of my ’63 VW if dropped from, oh, say 30 stories up.
Though I would never subject her (the VW) to that.
burnspbesq
That’s not an apology, it’s a rationalization.
That we have the nerve to call ourselves a civilized society when we allow people like Limbaugh to play a role in our public life is a bit rich.
Soonergrunt
NOTE–Carbonite, the cloud-based online backup firm has dropped their sponsorship of Limpy’s show.
Whammer
Does this mean that all the other wingtards who defended him now need to back off?
gnomedad
@celiadexter:
I can’t believe the FSM would be this good to me. If this happens, I’m having champagne with my popcorn.
scav
@efgoldman: I’m along these lines too, perhaps with a more political tinge. This spontaneous sideshow with fireworks and explosions was not helping an already raucous multi-ringed circus right before Super Tuesday.
gnomedad
@Soonergrunt:
That’s awesome. Those ads were prominent whenever I’ve had the stomach to check out Rushbo’s site..
gnomedad
@pourmecoffee writes:
Linkmeister
Althouse’s commenters don’t seem to agree with her. They’re applauding this weak sauce of an “apology” and slamming Ms. Fluke even more.
The Sailor
@Soonergrunt: Sorry I wasn’t more clear.
jrg, thanks for understanding.
+++++++++++++++
I would not have accepted my current position if it didn’t include benefits. It’s cheaper for them to buy coverage for all of us than it would be for me to buy them as an individual.
It’s part of my employment package. IOW, my pay.
Comrade Mary
@Soonergrunt: Yes, here’s their statement. Awesome.
Soonergrunt
@The Sailor:
Exactly! If I didn’t get health insurance, I would expect to get more money from my employer. I actually had a job like that once. And since I had Tricare (military health insurance) as a reservist, I got an extra $3,500/year from my then-employer.
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
His so-called apology is 70% further justification for what he said, 30% luke-warm apology. Blech….
Litlebritdifrnt
@Soonergrunt:
My employer pays $12,000 a year for my health insurance. The main reason that I have not had a raise in 5 years as any raise that I would have been entitled to was gobbled up by my insurance premium.
JPL
OT..but just as inane..Palin has made her choice for VP
Will he be carrying a gun while campaigning?
Litlebritdifrnt
Holy treacle! I can post from my home PC again! Praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster!
Soonergrunt
@Litlebritdifrnt: That story is the case for many, many people.
burnspbesq
@efgoldman:
Coughlin and McCarthy were found out and run off in a matter of a few years. Limbaugh has been at it for a quarter of a century. That’s a meaningful difference.
4tehlulz
@Soonergrunt: The best part was this was after the apology.
scav
@gnomedad: oooo, I especially like a post-analogy dropping.
RD
@burnspbesq:
FWIW, I have a similar antipathy for jackleg lawyers who talk out of both sides of their mouth.
Birthmarker
@Viva BrisVegas: Viva, Viva. This is the United States. Insanity rules.
The government provides health care for a portion of people. Medicare for the elderly, who presumably don’t need contraceptives. (We all pay into a medicare account during our working lives.) And Medicaid, for children and the indigent. The rest have private insurance or insurance through employers. Or no insurance, which the Affordable Care Act will require you to start having, once it fully kicks in.
In my instance, I am able to keep my employer insurance after retirement til I am old enough for medicare. (I pay a monthly premium for employer insurance both before and after retirement.)
Some religious institutions don’t want to pay for contraception as a preventative/wellness issue.
So no, it is really not an issue of the government giving everyone free contraception. That’s a smokescreen. That’s how we roll, baby. Because our media sucks.
Others here are more qualified to explain than me, so maybe they will chime in.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Soonergrunt:
Shorter Carbonite CEO, do not piss off the fathers of daughters who are on birth control. They tend to get a little ticked off when you call their daughters sluts. Dropping your sponsorship is second only to kicking you in the nuts (as noted above).
Raven
@JPL: No, he’ll be carrying a weapon.
Soonergrunt
@JPL: He certainly understands how Boards of Inquiry and Boards of Review work, and he’s a subject matter expert in Resignation For the Good of the Service.
Soonergrunt
@4tehlulz: Matter of fact, they even referenced the apology in their announcement and stated they were quitting him anyway.
burnspbesq
@Litlebritdifrnt:
You’ve had a raise. The value of what you get from your employer for your services has increased. It just hasn’t hit the top line of your paycheck.
And you’re probably better off that way. If your employer gave you, as additional pre-tax dollars, what it pays for your coverage, could you buy comparable coverage in the individual market out of after-tax dollars? Having become self-employed recently, I’m pretty confident I know the answer to that question.
Thymezone
Not only is Rush’s “apology” not an apology, I think he is just lying. He fully intended to do what he did.
So, whatever. He will still be a billionaire with a following when this is done, and voters will be energized to crush his party of fools like a bug under a steamroller.
Life goes on. We have to thank Rush for doing our work for us.
burnspbesq
@RD:
Don’t waste your time throwing poorly crafted insults st me. I’m good with who I am and what I think, and your chances of changing that are exactly zero.
Felanius Kootea
@Socrates: I asked this earlier. Basically, it’s the only way for Rush to insert himself into the conversation – make a bald-faced lie that Sandra Fluke went to congress to ask the government to pay for her contraceptives because she can’t afford to pay for them.
It derails the conversation by making it about Rush (and other taxpayers) paying for her contraceptives rather than the point Ms. Fluke raised which is that female Georgetown students are fully paying out of pocket for health insurance that does not cover contraceptives under any circumstance, including using the pill to prevent the growth of ovarian cysts, which presumably *doesn’t go against Catholic teaching* because preventing ovarian cysts from growing is not the same as preventing pregnancy.
Forcing the Catholic bishops to view the unintended consequences of their hardline stance (Fluke gave the example of a student who had to have an ovary removed because she couldn’t afford to pay for the pill out of pocket *after* paying for the cost of health insurance that didn’t cover the pill and she emphasized that many of the women whose stories she’s telling are Catholic) would be problematic, so the solution was to try to destroy Fluke. It’s not working.
cckids
@Soonergrunt:
Of course! My spouse owns a tiny (2 employee) business. Both are covered by other insurance; therefore they get more money than if we had to buy coverage. That is just reality, once you get past fast-food & WalMart type jobs.
Maude
People should keep up the pressure on the sponsors.
Rush has to go off air. He said what he said and he confirmed that he did so with the weak tea blather.
It’s the money. Take it away and he goes away.
He has not yet paid any consequence for his words.
I don’t want him to get away with this, It will never be okay.
I’m tired of rich people getting away with bad behavior.
Clear Channel needs to get rid of him.
Chet
@burnspbesq: Westbrook Pegler?
ellennelle
tho i’m sure the mass exodus of sponsors made the limpboy blink, he can always get others by simply dropping the price and inserting more ads per hour.
no, methinks what got the dickless wonder by the short and curlies was fluke’s mention that she was considering a lawsuit.
rush would not lose a penny of personal money from lost sponsors, but the lawsuit might mean he’d lose one of his five houses.
that threat is what got his attention. and please note that his faux apology was just about enough to reverse that possibility, to hell with a bunch of wimpass sponsors.
and to hell with the wimpass republicans; have they forgotten who’s boss here?
Martin
@burnspbesq:
That’s a chicken and egg problem. The employer-paid insurance setup has distorted the market strongly against people like you. Undo that, and it would have to achieve a more normal state. And at least part of the benefit of the current arrangement comes due to tax policy, which certainly can be changed. Hell, the main reason why we the employer-paid market go so entrenched at all is due to Nixon’s wage freezes in the early 70s – the government prohibited businesses from raising your wages, so they substituted benefits instead. So the current arrangement needn’t be the arrangement, but the only way to fix it is to fix it for everyone all at once.
The continued irony of the GOP small-government crusade: “Government can’t be trusted because every time we get power, we fuck it up! Look at the mountain of evidence!”
RD
@burnspbesq:
Good for you. I hear Lionel Hutz needs a partner.
Boots Day
@Viva BrisVegas: That’s what is so frustrating about this whole thing: Limbaugh either doesn’t know how private insurance works, or doesn’t care that he’s lying about it. Either way, he has been able to make the discussion about whether “we” should pay for a private citizen’s health care package, when that is not the issue at all.
One thing that I hope comes out of this is that more people learn how little regard Limbaugh has for the truth. He lies in the faces of his listeners, all day every day, and they just lap it up. I think it’s foolish to attack him on the grounds that he’s sexist or reactionary or anything like that, because he laps up that kind of hatred from liberals.
It’s much more effective to just point out: Rush Limbaugh has no earthly idea what he’s talking about. He’s a vaudeville act, a clown show, and no one should take him seriously.
Boots Day
Someone should ask Rush if “we” the American taxpayer should continuing pay for the contraceptives used by women in the military. Maybe they’re just sluts too.
Martin
@Boots Day:
Well… actually it is part of it. On the employer-paid side, the right will argue that even ‘we’ as part of the broader economy shouldn’t pay more for chicken nuggets so that McDonalds can pay for their employee’s coverage. Ok, but if not, does McDonald’s pay for that employee to buy it out of pocket? The only way this works for the GOPs argument if people earn so little money that they can feed themselves but not afford birth control. Anything more than that, and economically they’re paying for it. So yeah, that’s all complete bullshit.
But PPACA does include subsidies and those subsidies do cover birth control. So yes, there actually is some taxpayer support for birth control – either to small employers or to low-income individuals directly.
pseudonymous in nc
This is why you accept the apologies from people like Judge Forward-To-All.
It’s so you have something to point to when telling Limbaugh to fuck off.
@Jennifer:
Oh, you forget that both health benefits and wages are a gift from the beneficent Job Creatorz, and whatever you receive is intrinsically at their whim.
(Seriously, there are people who would love the entire economy to be run on the same basis as the $2.34/hr minimum plus tips for wait staff.)
Svensker
@Comrade Mary:
Isn’t that fantastic? Yay, Carbonite! In fact, I need a backup system that works better than what I got now and I’m gonna check them out.
Viva BrisVegas
@Boots Day:
Which is exactly what he would argue in court if Ms Fluke should sue him for libel.
I doubt very much that she would get past the “entertainer” defense.
lamh35
I espcially love the statment issued by the CEO of Carbonite:
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/carbonite-to-drop-ads-from-limbaughs-show-despite
Steeplejack
I love how Limbaugh bases his “apology” on his (willful) misinterpretation of the original situation. Ass.
Thymezone
@Boots Day:
I pay for my health insurance. It’s none of Rush’s fucking business what I do with it.
Calouste
@celiadexter:
Indeed. He called her a prostitute, and considering that Ms. Fluke doesn’t live in Nevada, it means he is accusing her of criminal behavior. Slander/libel if there ever was a case.
sophronia
They’re trying to pivot, pivot, pivot. They wanted this fight to be about the chosen lies, Religious Liberty! and Taxpayers Paying for Contraceptives! because those might sound reasonable to the dull-witted. Rush’s remarks turned it into slut-shaming nastyville. It was more than the public could bear. Even the GOP is smart enough to realize that being the No Sex party is a dead loser, so they’re trying to get back to the previous lies.
b1naryserf
If Limbaugh is ever going to sincerely apologize, mark this date:
11/7/12 is when to expect a sincere, tearful Limbaugh apology for being the shitty de facto leader of a shitty political party.
He broke down wonderfully in November 2006 after the shellacking the Confederates took. If it happens in 2012, with both a Presidental and Congressional rout, he could get into meltdown territory, to the point where Clear Channel and the FCC get involved.
Well…as Huey Freeman from THE BOONDOCKS said imagining Oprah as President 2020, “it’s fun to dream.”
22state
First, three separate days of attacks does NOT equal a “choosing of the wrong words.” Many sentences over a several day period is evidence of a deliberate political position intentionally made. This apology is insulting and obviously insincere.
Second, I get that Limbaugh deliberately sets out to say shocking things. But, ignoring him doesn’t work. Many on the Left tried to ignore Pat Buchanan and Pat Robertson and Rick Santorum and their ilk – but they grew like poisonous mushrooms on the body of conservative politics. So, even though Limbaugh likes the attention, people who object to his words need to let his listeners know he’s a cretin who stands outside of society.
Third, I don’t have to accept such a meaningless written apology for days of on-air vitriol. If he says he was wrong on air, admits that the debate is about contraception not prostitution and promises not to call women derogatory names for daring to publicly discuss political issues, I’ll consider accepting the apology.
Finally, I think he only “apologized” so that his fellow Conservatives could get off the hook and give them a “I don’t need to say anything because Rush apologized” excuse. That way, they can try and avoid the whole misogyny parade.
Anya
It’s amazing that several men and one young woman testified about the contraception issue, and the only person who was personally attacked, defamed and misrepresented is the young woman. What does that say about to those who propagate the “both sides do it” crap?
Raenelle
Fuck Rush. I don’t care about him, and I certainly don’t trust his apology. BUT, this was huge. He had to back down. Maybe he’s done that before, but I don’t remember it. It feels like the Germans getting beat at Stalingrad to me. Yeah, there’s still a hell of a lot more left in the war, but the enemy IS, after all, vulnerable.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@aimai: Surely he can afford more competent counsel than those who think his ridiculous statement that he’s sorry his show is bleeding advertisers like a bison slammed with a pipe bomb will affect any litigation.
Villago Delenda Est
This vile sack of Nazi shit should be sued into penury.
Fuck him. The only apology that should be considered is one with nine fucking digits. THEN the Captain Needa apology.
chrome agnomen
@trollhattan:
snort!! slag away, my friend, slag away.
Ben Franklin
@RD:
No one needs a lawyer. You just have to pay them.
JoyceH
Okay, so Carbonite pulled their ads after and in spite of Rush’s so-called ‘apology’ — I confidently predict that Rush’s next step in his campaign to get out from under this with his show and his contract intact will be to check himself into rehab. The flight to rehab will occur late next week. Then if anyone continues criticizing Limbaugh and lobbying for his show to be canceled, his army of faithful and yet tragically mindless followers will whine that we’re picking on a SICK man.
You heard it here first.
Birthmarker
JoyceH–Please, please please, please…
Anya
AOL is not one of the advertisers dropping Limbaugh. If liberals needed more reason to boycott Huffington Post, this is it.
catclub
still getting mobile version
cckids
Shorter Rush “apology”: I’m sorry that you sluts & liberals are too dim to appreciate my humor. Fuck off. Sincerely, Rush.
Lizzy L
That’s not an apology; that’s a whine.
Not enough. Not nearly enough.
UncommonSense
I don’t know how this basic fact got lost, but nobody is talking about taxpayers paying for anything. The ACA mandates that insurers provide preventive care. Obama decided that birth control qualified as preventive care. All this crap about taxpayers paying women to have sex is nonsense.
YellowJournalism
@JoyceH: The statement from the Carbonite CEO showed the major class that Rush will never achieve.
ProFlowers is the lone hold-out, I hear, according to Twitter. Any truth to that?
Dan
Jesus fucking Christ, is there such a thing as recreational sex? Sexual drive is necessary to the survival of the species. I’m fucking NOT SUPPOSED TO ENJOY IT? WHO MADE YOU GOD AND FUCKING RULER OF ALL MANKIND RETROACTIVE TO THE DAWN OF TIME?