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Thursday, March 08, 2012

Et Tu, Brute?

Rush Limbaugh is no Julius Caesar, but I can’t help but be reminded of Shakespeare’s play and the HBO series “Rome.” When Julius Caesar walks into the forum and the conspirators begin stabbing him, the final killing blow is struck by his “friend” Brutus. One thing you can always depend on is that if you are a Conservative, if you create controversy, if you become a target, if you are wounded, people on your side will finish you off with the sort of smug satisfaction that reminds you of the townspeople in “The Scarlet Letter.”

Exhibit A: Wall Street Journal reporter/columnist Dorothy Rabinowitz:



Before this pitiful exhibition, I was an admirer of Rabinowitz. She has done great reporting, especially on the shameful sex-abuse witch hunts of the 1980s and 1990s which sent many innocent nursery school employees to jail. She exhibited courage when she was younger and she always seemed clear headed before. But the Rush Limbaugh/Sandra Fluke controversy has professional commenters heading for shelter. All I can surmise is that now, when she has won her awards, she is determined to keep her place in the New York literary world and, like Brutus, decided that stabbing Rush was necessary in view of her friends and professional acquaintances.

For whatever reason some on the Right want to appear to uphold some vague standard that is applied only to others …. on the Right. Go to any comedy club and you are assaulted by words that are only found in pornographic novels … or used by “comics” who are lauded and applauded for their “humor.” Open a newspaper or turn on the TV and you will find Conservatives referred to as racists, sexists, bigots and homophobes. Which has more sting in today’s society: being referred to as a “slut” or being called a “racist?” Liberal women are holding “slut walks” for God’s sake and Dorothy Rabinowitz has the vapors over this term when Rush Limbaugh uses it?

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s day they branded people who had children out of wedlock with a scarlet “A;” today we praise them for refusing to live the “Father Knows Best” lifestyle. Can you imagine a TV show today with that name? Liberalism tells us that sex outside of marriage is not only OK, but people who don’t lose their virginity by the time they enter college are strange. There are mainstream websites like The Frisky which give very, very frank sex advice. One article begins with
“I’ve never been afraid to ask for what I want in bed. I guess because during my teenage years I figured out I was/am a perv and I just owned it. But in my decade-plus of hooking up with dudes,…”

So what do YOU call a woman who casually mentions that she is a “perv” and has spent a decade “hooking up?” How “perv” do you have to get with how many men before the term “slut” has any meaning. Or is it a term that no longer applies?  I would really like to know.   Is the term so rarely used that it has shock appeal?  Sluttiness has gone mainstream, and appears to be the main topic of grocery line check out racks featuring Cosmopolitan, among others. 
You cannot tell me that people for whom four-letter words are commonly used adjectives really object to the term “slut” when it’s used to illustrate the point that the unmarried thirty-something Sandra Fluke was demanding that a Catholic institution that opposes contraception should provide her with free birth control.

It is sickening to watch people like George Will, Dorothy Rabinowitz, Bill Bennett and a host of others write Rush’s obituary, all to remain in good standing with the people who openly despise them. These are House Negros on the liberal plantation who loved or feared their masters so much that they worked to keep other slaves in line. These are the Jews in concentration camps that helped the guards.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote in one of his books that people in the USSR were only really free when they were prisoners in the Gulag. People who have nothing more to lose don’t have to kow-tow to those who can take their belongings or status.

Andrew Breitbart understood this and it’s one of the reasons his death was marked by genuine mourning, knowing that we had lost a fearless champion. When Rush dies, we will also feel a void. When these modern Brutuses pass, their passing will be remarked and quickly forgotten, their places taken by others like so many interchangeable parts.

Be Breitbart.

UPDATE:  Thanks for the link Glenn.  Instapundit is by far the best website for Conservative-leaning individuals and I have noted with great satisfaction that Glenn Reynolds has not only NOT joined the anti-Rush chorus, but has stood for genuine equality a great deal better than it’s more vocal supporters.

41 comments:

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

The Rome Series (which I greatly enjoyed) did not have the "et tu" line. That was Shakespeare's invention (although a brilliant one). They also did not have Mark Anthony's Shakespeare actual speech (again brilliantly done in the play) but we know that Mark Anthony spoke at Ceasar's funeral as described below and what he said inspired the Romans throw their furniture on Ceasar's funeral pyre. A great sign of respect given the loss of the furniture (it was intended to speed up his transition to heaven by fueling the flames).

And when the body was brought forth into the forum, Antony, as the custom was, making a funeral oration in the praise of Caesar, and finding the multitude moved with his speech, passing into the pathetic tone, unfolded the bloody garment of Caesar, showed them in how many places it was pierced, and the number of his wounds. Now there was nothing to be seen but confusion, some cried out to kill the murderers, others (as was formerly done when Clodius led the people) tore away the benches and tables out of the shops round about, and, heaping them altogether, built a great funeral pile, and having put the body of Caesar upon it, set it on fire, the spot where this was done being moreover surrounded with a great many temples and other consecrated places, so that they seemed to burn the body in a kind of sacred solemnity. As soon as the fire flamed out, the multitude, flocking in some from one part and some from another, snatched the brands that were half burnt out of the pile, and ran about the city to fire the houses of the murderers of Caesar. But they, having beforehand well fortified themselves, repelled this danger.

-- Plutarch

Moneyrunner said...

You are, of course right. I took poetic license in my title. But one thing that all agree on is that Brutus was Caesar’s “friend” and he participated in his killing. In both the play and the movie, he struck the last fatal blow. That’s why I was reminded of it when I survey the many, many times that members of the so-called “Right” kill their own to (1) preen their virtue, and (2) avoid being attacked by the Left. In the end they end up as Brutus, despised by both sides.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I totally agree. Great post btw.

Mitch Mitchell said...

Where can I find a list of Conservative Brutuses (Bruti?) besides the ones you listed? I might scratch them off my list! Now, having said that, I won't ask anyone else to scratch them--I won't treat them the way the left is treating Rush.

Anonymous said...

A list of conservative brutuses?

Anybody cited with approval by David Frum would be a good start.

Narayanan said...

I will start with William Buckley stabbing Ayn Rand and repeating it on numerous other occasions after that

ed said...

The people mentioned may or may not be conservative to any particular degree. But what they certainly are ... are Establishment. And Rush is not. That really is the dividing line.

Unknown said...

I completely agree with Dorothy. She holds Rush to a higher standard, "the difference between Rush and Maher and Stewart, is that Rush has a fine mind..." We should hold ourselves to a higher standard because it makes a difference, even though it seems it goes unnoticed.

Anonymous said...

Dorothy looks like a freakin' cadaver.

Anonymous said...

Nope it's time to stop this nonsense. Breitbart was right. If you let them setup standards for you, standards they refuse to apply to themselves you are doomed to violate those standards. It's really simple to understand this concept. It is one of their favourite tactics.

Anonymous said...

I guess my question is, what do you call a man who's hooked up with lots of women? If you think "slut" is a perfectly appropriate term to refer to a woman who's having sex outside of marriage, with all of its derisive implications, what is the similarly degrading term that you use to refer to her male sexual partners?

Then again, I wanted to know the same thing when I watched CNN debate about whether it was okay to call a female presidential candidate a white bitch. I guaran-damn-tee you they weren't discussing whether it was okay to call her male opponent a black cocksucker, or a black dickface, or a black motherfucker, or even a black bastard, or ANY derogatory term whatsoever. And that's not even getting INTO what they called the Republican woman in that race!

I don't think what Rush said was any bigger of a deal than what liberal commentators have said on dozens of occasions. But I'm not going to be an idiot and say that a man fucking a bunch of women is a stud and a woman fucking a bunch of men is a slut. That's an ugly double standard that does no one any good. (And by the way, we don't have "Father Knows Best", but neither do we have "Mother Knows Best." If anything, I don't think we're encouraged in our society to believe that either parent knows best.)

Bottom line, I don't think this is something that should cause men to scuttle back into their protective "Men are superior, women just can't handle it!" shells, or women to scuttle back into their "Men are assholes who want to oppress us!" shells. This is something that should make us point out the hypocrisy on the left and start making them practice what they preach.

Anonymous said...

I would have to disagree about the higher standard, the above commenter insists on. we are human, we fail. we should celebrate the failures, but to note them forgive them and hope things are learned from them. Rush will have learned something from this, which is good, But we cannot allow a charge of Hypocrisy to destroy any momentum against the left we have.

happyfeet said...

I may not like what you say but I'll defend your right to say it.

This old bitty and her bloated sense of decorum can blow me I think.

Deadman said...

Shakespeare, though he put the Greek in Latin (as he put the Latin in English), did not invent Caesar’s words. Suetonius, in his De Vita Caesarum, writes that Caesar uttered “not a word except a groan at the first strike, though some have written that when Marcus Brutus rushed at him, he said [in Greek], “Thou too, child?”:

ad primum ictum gemitu sine uoce edito, etsi tradiderunt quidam Marco Bruto irruenti dixisse: “και συ τεκνον;” (Divus Julius, lxxxii)

Norm said...

Re the double standard between promiscuous men and women. A lock that any key can open is not much of a lock. A key that can open many locks is a master key. Furthermore, for a man to be a stud he must work at the task; superior grooming, dress, charm and lots of effort. For a woman to be a slut, she only needs to be there.

Rhymes With Right said...

You must be listening to a different Bill Bennett than I am -- he has certainly not written Rush Limbaugh's obituary. Indeed, he argues that Rush Limbaugh is going to be fine, for all that he made a poor choice in how to approach the Fluke story.

And lest you call that being "a House Negro on the liberal plantation", that is precisely the same position taken by Limbaugh himself -- so unless you want to classify Limbaugh as a "House Negro on the liberal plantation", you are clearly wrong.

JustOneMinute said...

"If you let them setup standards for you, standards they refuse to apply to themselves you are doomed to violate those standards."

True but beside the point. What about the Rush's own standards, or the standards of the right generally? I have long thought that right wing radio and bloggers do a much better job of (at a minimum) presenting a facade of civility because of the example set by Rush and, e.g., Glenn Reynolds. Lots of "sirs" and 'm'ams" on Rush, for example.

By way of contrast, lefties all aspire to be Lenny Bruce or whatever gutter-mouth comic is currently ruling the comedy clubs, so they deliver the language they deliver. Good street cred and authentic rage/passion, I guess.

Well. If the new standard of the right is that we can do anything Bill Maher can do, I'll pass, thanks.

Are lefties hypocrites for criticizing Rush? Of course (Lefties are hypocrites? Tear out the front page). But Rabinowitz is no lefty, and if she believes Rush ought to maintain higher standards, well, so do I.

And as a practical matter, which debate is more helpful to the right - a discussion about the merits of subsidizing contraception for a future one-percenter lawyer, or a discussion about the suitability of using 'slut' and prostitute' to describe that law student?

Rush switched the topic from a can't miss to a can't win. He also switched the topic to "All About Rush", which may (or may not) eventually serve his own interests. But he hurt the team with this distraction.

Tom Maguire

Moneyrunner said...

To Unknown at 11:06: That “higher standard” position is a trap. It’s a way to get you to bring a knife to a gunfight. That “fine mind” compliment was BS. You may notice that the lesser minds are taking over while your noble minds are getting screwed.

Moneyrunner said...

To Anonymous @ 11:51: I have said nothing about men with multiple sex partners in my comments and am not defending anyone else’s double standard. If you are female and want to call men who casually hook up “sluts” instead of “studs” I’ll have your back. But that has nothing to do with the Limbaugh/Fluke controversy and is a red herring.

Moneyrunner said...

Rhymes With Right: I mentioned Bill Bennett because I saw a clip of him being interviewed on TV and he said that what Rush said was inappropriate. He then downplayed the issue. My point is that even conceding that much is an attempt to put yourself on the side of the people who are going after Rush because of his effectiveness. If you want a lesson on how it’s done, check out the people like James Carville who defended Bill Clinton against the charge of perjury: there was no “Bill should not have done that, but …” His response was “everyone lies about sex, and you bluenoses are pervert for looking into his sex life.”

Sarah Rolph said...

"Glenn Reynolds has not only joined the anti-Rush chorus, but has stood for genuine equality a great deal better than it’s more vocal supporters."

Looks like you left out a "not" here (I think you meant to say Glenn has not only NOT joined the anti-Rush chorus, but has stood...)

Moneyrunner said...

Tom Maguire: You say “What about the Rush's own standards, or the standards of the right generally? I have long thought that right wing radio and bloggers do a much better job of (at a minimum) presenting a facade of civility because of the example set by Rush and, e.g., Glenn Reynolds. Lots of "sirs" and 'm'ams" on Rush, for example.”
Tom, there is no question that Rush and the other Conservative radio hosts are far, far more civil than the Left. But it’s you, my friend who are missing the point here. What the hell, and I used that term deliberately, is so bad about using the term “slut?” I don’t know about your world, but in mine that’s not a term that would get you thrown out of any gathering that I have ever attended.

But this is all misdirection. The Left has decided that the terms Rush used were awful, terrible, the worst thing they have ever heard, Rush must be thrown off the air, his sponsors must be boycotted; anyone who agrees with him is a gutter rat. And after that assault, the high profile figures on the Right fell compelled, as you apparently do, that Rush said something that was so outrageous that you can’t step up and defend him.

Can the Right do anything that Bill Maher can? I don’t think that anyone one the Right has, but what did it cost Maher? Nothing! And it added to the amount of slime that has covered Sarah Palin. If you will not fight fire with fire, but fall back to the Country Club Gentleman defense (sniff disdainfully and take him off your invitation list) your lunch is going to be eaten. You may disdain bullies, but take it from me, bullies very often get their way and are never persuaded by sweet reason.

You say: “And as a practical matter, which debate is more helpful to the right - a discussion about the merits of subsidizing contraception for a future one-percenter lawyer, or a discussion about the suitability of using 'slut' and prostitute' to describe that law student?” Tom, where are you going to have that debate? In your room on your website after the alphabet networks and the NY Times hail Fluke as the voice of oppressed women everywhere? We had the chance to have that debate because Rush opened the door. You saw the attacks on him, and decided that discretion was the better part of valor and ran. Worse, before you ran you decided that one more little stab wouldn’t hurt.

It’s not what Breitbart would have done.

Anonymous said...

Moneyrunner, my point was that you were asking what one DOES call a woman who sleeps with multiple men. Weren't you asking that rhetorical question by way of justification for the term? (I don't know why else you would be, so that is a genuine question on my part.) If you were, then that by necessity leads to exploration of why the term might be justified or might be unjustified. Ie, is the sexual standard equally applied? Is it fair or unfair to deride someone for sleeping with people outside of marriage in general, is it more fair or unfair depending on which kind of reproductive organs they have, etc?

It's not a red herring. This is fundamental to the discussion of words like "slut" and "whore" and whether they should be used to refer to people with whom we disagree politically. Barack Obama does have black skin, for example. One could just as easily say, "Well, what else do you call a black guy" as a reason to use a racial slur when we disagree with him politically. We don't do that, because racial slurs are hurtful to people we do like and respect, and because using those slurs detracts from our ultimate point... it makes the conversation about hurting someone rather than about ripping their argument to shreds. And ripping their argument to shreds is what we should be doing, in my opinion.

Moneyrunner said...

Sarah Rolph: Thanks for catching that. Now corrected.

Moneyrunner said...

Anonymous : 7:32 AM: you seem to want to have an argument about why men who sleep around don’t get called “sluts.” I have a suggestion, let’s do that. Now can we stop dragging that red herring around? By the way, Rush did not call Fluke a slut because she disagreed with him. That’s what Bill Maher did when he called Sarah Palin a cunt because he disagrees with her.

Cass said...

If the new standard of the right is that we can do anything Bill Maher can do, I'll pass, thanks.

Well said, sir.

I never thought I'd live to see so many conservatives justifying their actions using the standards of the Left.

Conservatism is founded upon the notion that right and wrong are not infinitely malleable concepts whose meaning is defined by our opponents. Conservatism is grounded in individual responsibility and accountability; in objective standards that don't accept expediency as an excuse for wrongdoing.

Why do you think Rush apologized?

If you believe he didn't actually think what he said was wrong, then I can only think of two reasons for apologizing:

1. Money (lost ad revenue)
2. Moral Cowardice (bowing to criticism one believes to be without merit).

If he didn't really believe he was in the wrong but apologized anyway, conservatives should not defend him.

On the other hand, if he apologized because he genuinely believed he failed to live up to HIS OWN standards, conservatives should give him his due.



We should challenge the relativism that tells us there is no right or wrong, when every instinct of our mind knows it is not so, and is a mere excuse to allow us to indulge in what we believe we can get away with. A world without values quickly becomes a world without value.

― Jonathan Sacks

Moneyrunner said...

Cass : 7:46 AM I don’t know for sure why Rush apologized. I imagine that he was under a tremendous amount of pressure from his business partners and he gave the apology which, if you heard it, was an apology for not adhering to a higher standard.

How sincere? I have no idea. I do not hold Rush out to be an infallible God but in this case he got shafted by the people who are the biggest beneficiaries of his talent. Without Rush, we would still be sitting in fear and trembling of the man in the Oval Office. He had the courage to say “I hope he fails” when all the lickspittles who are now attacking him were cowering in fear, telling us that they like the crease in Obama’s pants.

thisishabitforming said...

Okay, according to Rabinowitz we need to condemn Rush for saying slut because Rush is smart and funny. Bill Maher can say whatever he wants because he's despicable?

This reminds me a Bill Cosby routine on the British Vs the Colonists. By the rules the British had to wear Red Coats and march in straight lines while the colonists could wear whatever and hide behind walls to shoot the Redcoats who continued walking in straight lines.

We need to stop playing by the rules the other side makes up for us. All these people who act as if slut was the worst four letter word they ever heard come from the lips of man are unbelievable.

Anonymous said...

Whether "slut" is a word that applies to Sandra Fluke is beside the point. What Rush did was ungentlemanly. Even if a woman is a slut, gentlemen simply don't publicly disparage other people the way Rush did. It's bad form and reflects poorly on the person saying such things. That others do it is no excuse. I'm surprised nobody in Rush's circle told him after he first started with that line of commentary that it might be good for a chuckle amongst the boys in the bar or in the man cave, it was inappropriate as a public theme. And that has nothing to do with seeking approval from the lefty hypocrites.

Anne said...

Limbaugh, with his four marriages, is in no position to criticize anyone for failing to live up to the Catholic Church's sexual ideals. Whether Fluke is or isn't a "slut" has nothing to do with the reason the Jesuits don't want to pay for her birth control - in fact if she were a virgin on her honeymoon, that would make using the pill even less acceptable in their eyes. Limbaugh's inflaming the debate with offensive language and pointless judgementalism was totally unhelpful to the people he was supposedly trying to defend, and it is completely correct for conservatives to be annoyed at him.

Anonymous said...

Whether "slut" is a word that applies to Sandra Fluke is beside the point. What Rush did was ungentlemanly. Even if a woman is a slut, gentlemen simply don't publicly disparage other people the way Rush did. It's bad form and reflects poorly on the person saying such things. That others do it is no excuse. I'm surprised nobody in Rush's circle told him after he first started with that line of commentary that it might be good for a chuckle amongst the boys in the bar or in the man cave, it was inappropriate as a public theme. And that has nothing to do with seeking approval from the lefty hypocrites.

Moneyrunner said...

Anonymous : 8:55: You are parodying a stuck up snob aren’t you? I’m never sure in these cases.

Anne said...

The debate Limbaugh inserted himself into is, at bottom, over whether the Catholic Church's sexual ideals are so repressive, antiquated, and misogynistic, that they frankly shouldn't be allowed to run charities in this country. For someone who doesn't even share these ideals to butt in and defend the Church in misogynistic, anti-sex terms, thus inevitably tarring the Church with these attitudes in the minds of the public - it's utterly outrageous.

Moneyrunner said...

Anne: “Limbaugh, with his four marriages, is in no position to criticize anyone for failing to live up to the Catholic Church's sexual ideals.” Limbaugh is not Catholic so their sexual ideals are not his. His point was that Fluke wanted to deny a Catholic institution the right to abide by its own moral code. He did in a very dramatic manner. Instead of knifing Rush, perhaps we could hear a little indignation about the government annulling the “separation of church and state” we hear Liberals kvetching about, until now, when they are very, very quiet.

Anne said...

"His point was that Fluke wanted to deny a Catholic institution the right to abide by its own moral code."

But whether or not she's a slut does not factor into their moral code. At all. All this master key/faulty lock stuff has nothing to do with Catholic thought - where there is a single standard that no one is supposed to be sexually active before marriage, and all women should be treated with respect whatever their sexual past.

Now I suppose if he wants to say, "They don't approve of your sex life, and (coming from a completely different direction) neither do I, honey," that's his right. But if that was his intention, no one seems to have heard that little "coming from a completely different direction" caveat. In fact, if I'm reading you correctly, you also got the impression he was stating the Catholic line, maybe punching it up for dramatic emphasis, but in essential agreement. But that is not the case at all, and he doesn't have the right to words in the bishops' mouths.

JustOneMinute said...

"What the hell, and I used that term deliberately, is so bad about using the term “slut?” I don’t know about your world, but in mine that’s not a term that would get you thrown out of any gathering that I have ever attended. "

Really? Maybe if we meet somewhere I can call your daughter a slut. You'll break my nose and I'll make my point.

Seriously, how many commenters here would just nod along if someone called their daughter/girlfriend/sister a slut?

"And after that assault, the high profile figures on the Right fell compelled, as you apparently do, that Rush said something that was so outrageous that you can’t step up and defend him. "

First, I have been happy to defend the idea that this contraceptive mandate is absurd.

Secondly, I didn't need the left to tell me that I was offended by his language. Are they being hypocritical and using it as a convenient tool? Of course, but so what - I think his language was wrong even if they pretend to think so too.

Third, why would I defend his use of language that I find appalling? I wouldn't defend Bill Maher and I don't feel any urge to defend Rush's right to be as much of a jerk as Bill Maher.

"If you will not fight fire with fire, but fall back to the Country Club Gentleman defense (sniff disdainfully and take him off your invitation list) your lunch is going to be eaten."

Non sequiteur, since Rush started this particular fight about "slut" and moved off the contraception issue.

"We had the chance to have that debate because Rush opened the door. You saw the attacks on him, and decided that discretion was the better part of valor and ran. Worse, before you ran you decided that one more little stab wouldn’t hurt."

Uh huh. No one was debating the contraception issue until Rush chimed in? Please. This issue had been national news since the end of January and I had been grinding on it interminably but I am not going to defend 'slut' and 'prostitute'.

"You saw the attacks on him, and decided that discretion was the better part of valor and ran. "

Is that your typical level of ignorance and evaluation, or did you give up coffee this morning?

Another possibility is that I thought it was wrong and said so and that I am not inclined to defend every stupid thing any righty says.

"It’s not what Breitbart would have done."

Groan. My Ouija board says that Breitbart picked his own battlefields and didn't just run willy-nilly into any fray, however poorly considered. But I'm sure you know best.

Anonymous said...

@Moneyrunner 9:22 - Since when is a gentleman the equivalent of a stuck up snob? Whether one is a stuck up snob has nothing to do with gentlemanly behavior. Even a stuck up snob can still comport himself well in public. Do you really think it is appropriate behavior, let alone a useful or productive activity, for a man to stand and point his finger at a woman and loudly and publicly call her a slut, even if thinks it to be true? If so, then we disagree on that point. If that makes me a stuck up snob in your world, so be it.

RebeccaH said...

I still think our side can refrain from falling to the schoolyard level of name-calling and obscenities, such as the left use. But the English language is a wonderful instrument, finely tuned for slicing and dicing (just ask my Southern mother and aunts). All we have to do is quote the left's own words back to them and point out their crudeness, boorishness, and total ineffectiveness -- in other words, confront them with the truth about themselves. That's what Breitbart did, and although I don't think he was some saint, I don't recall him using a lot of gratuitous namecalling and swear words either. But he always beat them at their own game.

Be Breitbart.

Moneyrunner said...

Dear Tom,

“Third, why would I defend his use of language that I find appalling? I wouldn't defend Bill Maher and I don't feel any urge to defend Rush's right to be as much of a jerk as Bill Maher.”

Appalling? Let’s see, Rush called a thirty year old unmarried woman who wants a Catholic university to provide her with $3000 worth of free birth control a “slut.” And you know very well that he was using hyperbole to make his point. Bill Maher calls Palin a cunt and context there is that he hates her. In your universe Limbaugh and Maher are the same brand of jerk. Please don’t come into my foxhole. And I promise you I won’t ask you to cover my back.

And by the way, call my daughter a slut because you hate her and you are a jerk. Call her that because she wants you to pay for her birth control I would begin to wonder if you are right.

JustOneMinute said...

"Let’s see, Rush called a thirty year old unmarried woman who wants a Catholic university to provide her with $3000 worth of free birth control a “slut.” And you know very well that he was using hyperbole to make his point. Bill Maher calls Palin a cunt and context there is that he hates her."

Let's see - Maher, a comedian, hates Palin because he disagrees with her politics. And Rush disagrees with Fluke, and calls her a slut, but we know he doesn't hate her because, hmm, he was just acting like a comedian. Well, I lack your deep psychological insight into these distinctions.

"In your universe Limbaugh and Maher are the same brand of jerk."

I only have one type of jerk in my universe? No 'gradations of wrongdoing' where I come from? I deplore my lack of nuance.

"And by the way, call my daughter a slut because you hate her and you are a jerk. Call her that because she wants you to pay for her birth control I would begin to wonder if you are right."

Well, again, I lack your nuance. Feel free not to call my daughter a slut regardless of how good you may consider your reasons. FWIW, I wouldn't call your daughter one either. It's not language I would encourage from a hip-hop artist, or a heroic comic of the left, or Rush.

Tom Maguire

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Seems appropriate to post this today.