What a pill.
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh continued his three-day on-air barrage against Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke Friday — even after she received a call of support from President Obama.
The National Organization for Woman has called for Clear Channel to take Limbaugh’s hot air off the air.
Fluke spoke at a Democratic House of Representatives event last week calling for religion-affiliated institutions, such as Georgetown, to cover contraception in their health plans.
She said some female Georgetown students paid up to $1,000 a year for contraception since the university health plans did not cover it, according to the Washington Post.
Limbaugh began baiting Fluke Wednesday. She must be a “slut” and “prostitute,” he said, if she required so much costly contraception.
On Thursday, in the face widespread outrage over his remarks, Limbaugh upped the ante, calling Fluke “a woman who is happily presenting herself as an immoral, baseless, no-purpose-to-her life woman. She wants all the sex in the world whenever she wants it, all the time, no consequences. No responsibility for her behavior.”
Limbaugh also suggested that Georgetown establish a “Wilt Chamberlain scholarship” for women. And, if that wasn’t enough, he said “If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it.”
What did Limbaugh have in mind? “We want you post the videos online so we can all watch,” he said.
On Friday, President Obama called Fluke to give her a boost, just as she was about to appear on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell's Reports."
At his daily briefing Friday, White House spokesman Jay Carney called Limbaugh’s remarks “reprehensible and inappropriate.” He added, “It is disappointing those kinds of personal and crude attacks could be leveled against someone like this young law-school student who was simply expressing her opinion on a matter of public policy, and doing so with a great deal of poise.”
Fluke went on to tell Mitchell that she was touched that the president said her parents should be proud of her.
But that was just more bait for Limbaugh.
He said later Friday that if his daughter publicly stated she was “having so much sex she can’t pay for it and wants a new welfare program to pay for it,” he’d “go into hiding.”
He also mocked the president’s phone call, saying, “Oh that’s touching … what a great guy.”
NOW President Terry O’Neill fired back at Rush in a statement Friday.
“Bigoted bully Rush Limbaugh has been rewarded for his hostile, hate-filled speech for far too long,” she wrote. “The National Organization for Women calls on Clear Channel Communications to pull the plug on Limbaugh’s gilded microphone immediately.
Limbaugh’s targeting of Sandra Fluke was way out of line, even for him … Clearly, Limbaugh is not just having fun here. He is trying to shame a young woman for coming forward, speaking her mind and standing up for women’s rights. This is how bullies try to chase all women from the public square.”
The subject of contraception has become an increasingly fraught one of late, as church affiliated employers, such as the Catholic Church and associated institutions, have condemned the Obama Administration for what they say would be forcing them to act against their beliefs by paying for contraception via health insurance.
