Rush needs to go

Rush Limbaugh is by most objective measures an awful human being. But he outdid himself this week, and his sponsors need to be boycotted until he is off the air. And, frankly, I think this could be a controversy that could have major repercussions for the Republican Party as a whole. Here is a description of the controversy from Rush himself.

To briefly summarize, a Georgetown (Jesuit/Catholic university in Washington, DC whose health insurance policy doesn't cover contraception) law student named Sandra Fluke testified before Congress about the hardships faced by classmates who need hormone therapy for conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome. Rush responded by saying:

"What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We're the pimps."

Let's forget for the moment that Rush seems to think that you'd need to pay more for contraception if you have more sex, which is true for condoms but not for most forms of contraception. Ms. Fluke was testifying about the medical conditions of her friends and colleagues and the health implications for them if Republican policies were put in place. Rush responded with the most blatant case of slander in the history of the world.

He is a monster. He has no place in civil discourse and has no business broadcasting across the country. This is not a matter of an off-color joke that got out of hand. He has continued to slander Ms. Fluke for the rest of the week. He also said to Ms. Fluke "and the rest of you Feminazis, if we're going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch." He also offered to pay for "as much aspirin to put between their knees as they want," echoing comments by Santorum big-money supporter Foster Friess, previously discussed here.

THE FOLLOWING LINKS CONTAIN SEXUALLY EXPLICIT IMAGES! DON'T CLICK ON THESE LINKS AT WORK! DON'T CLICK ON THESE LINKS AT WORK! By the way, someone really needs to educate Rush, Friess and the rest of their ilk that just because you keep your knees together doesn't mean you can't get pregnant. DON'T CLICK ON THESE LINKS AT WORK! DON'T CLICK ON THESE LINKS AT WORK!

Rush's comments betray the true feelings of many (though not all, I'll grant) who oppose Obama's plan to ensure quality preventive health care for all Americans. An ongoing boycott of Rush's advertisers can allow the huge majorities of people in this country who use and/or support the use of contraceptives to rake Rush and his ilk over the coals on this issue, which is more fundamentally important to many women than any other issue of the campaign.

Rush is constitutionally incapable of apologizing or ever admitting he is wrong. He will continue to insist that Ms. Fluke and women like her are "sluts" and "prostitutes" because they use contraception, and given his status in the conservative movement, millions of conservatives will continue to defend him. By keeping the issue in the news, Rush will take the Republican Party down with him.

Here's a list of sponsors of Rush's program:
Carbonite
Lending Tree
LifeLock
ProFlowers
Sears
TaxResolution

Please comment if you know of other sponsors.