Just as we were sick and tired of “Linsanity” last week, here at OMT, we’ve had quite enough of this whole business of GOP Party Chairman Rush Limbaugh and his “Slutgate” scandal, stemming from his calling Georgetown law student and activist Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” for having the temerity to testify before a panel of Democratic Congressmen about womens’ access to contraception, after the Republicans blocked her from testifying before a mixed-party committee.
We’re sick and tired of Republicans who are not only dredging up an issue long settled in the minds of the American public, but are also firmly embracing a position in this manufactured conflict that is completely at odds with the feelings of a majority of Americans. We’re sick and tired of all of the media attention that has been given to Limbaugh’s remarks, because all that’s done is give Limbaugh a patina of importance in American politics that the crapulous, ill-tempered, wing-nut doesn’t measure up to.
And we’re sick and tired of Limbaugh himself, that purveyor of deluxe, top-of-the-line ignorance, that self-styled populist and voice of the little guy who at the same time is closing in on $1 billion in net worth, that schoolyard bully of the broadcast booth who is somehow still fouling up our airwaves (they are still ours, if we’re are to believe the FCC) after a performance virtually identical to that of fellow radio dickhead Don Imus, who lost his job for referring to the Rutger’s womens’ basketball team “nappy-headed hos”. Apparently, the only reason that Limbaugh is still on the air is because of the lack of a racial element in his diatribe, a double standard that the blathering talking heads in the mediasphere seem to have overlooked. Maybe if Sandra Fluke had been black, Limbaugh would have been swept away by his enthusiasms and gone on to throw in a derogatory racial slur in addition to his derogatory sexist slurs, and he’d be looking for a new situation right about now. So much for where discrimination against women stands on the outrage scale. That’s something that even Maureen Dowd missed in her otherwise excellent piece in the New York Times.
Limbaugh’s “apology” consisted of the following self-serving statement, issued on his web site:
“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.“
We’re not going to break apart and analyze this cheap and obviously insincere fig-leaf of an apology, if “apology” is the right word for it, and we don’t think that it is. But we are struck at how, once again, Chairman Limbaugh, like his comrade-in-arms, that paranoid schizophrenic, neo-Nazi wolverine Glenn Beck, tries to excuse his inexcusable actions as an “attempt to be humorous”, while illustrating “the absurd with absurdity”.
For those of you who might not have understood what we were talking about last week when we spoke of Republicans having a recessive humor gene, maybe now you’ll get an inkling. It seems that virtually every single time that a Republican is called out for bad verbal behavior, the fallback position is that they were only trying to be funny, that they were dealing in humorous satire, that it was all just a joke. This goes for both politicians as well as on-the-air ignoramuses like Limbaugh, Beck, and their ilk.
If there is anyone out there — anyone over the age of 15, at least — who thinks its funny to call a female law student testifying before a Congressional committee a “slut”, and a “prostitute”, and to cap it all off with “So, Ms. Fluke and the rest of you feminazis, here’s the deal: If we are going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. And I’ll tell you what it is. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch,” then the state of humor in America is in deep trouble.
Rush Limbaugh is no more a humorist than Stephen Colbert is a newsman.
If real humorists and real newsmen were actually doing their jobs, there would be no need for either Limbaugh or Colbert.
And we’d all be better off.
