I’m not seeing the apology as totally sincere. I think he was probably ordered to do so from his producers since so many of his sponsors are leaving him.

I’m not convinced he’s sincere, in any way. Furthermore, in his ‘apology’, he continues to spread misinformation. He says, “I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities.”

A) American citizens are not being asked to pay for birth control, insurance companies are.
B) Birth control is not a ‘social activity’ (though sex may be).
C) Many, many people take birth control for medical reasons having nothing to do with preventing pregnancy or sex.

Insincere.
The man’s comments about Ms. Fluke were, as with most of his other rants and screeds, obnoxious, repugnant and most of all, disgusting.

No matter what your stance on contraception is, or whether an employer should be compelled to cover contraception if it violates some moral or religious belief, it is beyond my comprehension why anyone would waste their time listening to this repellent blowhard.

See also http://www.fluther.com/140868/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-fight-going-on-between-rush/

She should consider the source and ignore him. He made himself look like a buffoon – and cost himself a pile of money doing so.
She did just fine!

I think Rush Limbaugh is an ignorant, arrogant prick and that was a sorry excuse for an apology. This whole thing is utterly ridiculous. I remain stunned that anyone gives this man a single bit of attention much less any kind of credibility. Why the Republican party listens to this freak show is beyond me.

Anyone notice he did this on a saturday evening, A day he didn’t even have a show? That speaks volumes! It just show’s how insincere he really is.

I’d like to apologize for my ad hominem attack on Mr. Limbaugh in a comment I made recently. Let me present a more insightful criticism…

He is a mound of corn shit.

Also, in my opinion, his position on this issue illustrates what is wrong with private corporate power providing an essential service such as healthcare/insurance.

It was just as mealy-mouthed as I would have expected. Humor? Hah. Poor choice of words? Hah.

Baloney.

Limbaugh has proven over and over again that he is devoid of any empathy or caring for anyone except himself. He is completely clueless about public policy, and cares not who he hurts in making his baseless allegations.

He is all about himself and about pandering to white males like him: people with little education, and on whom education is wasted, anyway. He likes to spout prejudices, the more ludicrous the better. He is fighting a rearguard action on racism and sexism, not necessarily in that order.

He is about as unlikeable a personality as I have ever heard of. He is insensitive and uncaring and proud of it. Well, almost. The only thing he cares about is money, and since he took all the rope he was given and tried to hang himself with it, he has had second thoughts. Now he’ll see what minimum apology he can get away with and still hold onto his sponsors.

Let’s hope it’s too little, too late and that he ends up fired. Maybe his sponsors have been looking for an excuse to dump him. His is a voice that will not be missed by anyone who counts in our society. He’s a bully, and like most bullies, when someone punches back with enough conviction he collapses.

The best that can be said for him, assuming he’s a healthy guy, is that he’d be a good blood donor. Maybe he’d even be a good organ donor, but I kind of wonder if his venality would have made his spleen spray ichor into all his organs, making them all worthless. I suppose he’ll make decent fertilizer, but that is the only good I can see coming from him, truth be told.

Why would that dumbass make any sincere statement now?

I’m sure that his pseudo-apology was ordered by his bosses.

The best we can hope is that it isn’t deemed sufficient to retain enough sponsors to be profitable and his show finally ends.

A venal narcissist like this doesn’t deserve airtime.

I imagine him sitting naked on a toilet, smoking a cigar. He is just so grotesque, I can’t even smile at the image.

Anyone who listens to his show and enjoys it will recognize the apology for exactly the lie that it is. And they’ll laugh that he managed to hold onto his job in such a “clever” way.

Just as he is laughing – I wonder how long it will take for him to joke about this on his show.

His apology is a transparent attempt to keep advertisers from abandoning him while still maintaining his core lie that Sandra Fluke’s testimony was about wanting to have sex with lots of men. It is no apology at all, it is just a more subtle lie. One only needs to listen to her testimony then read Rush’s apology to see this is no apology at all. It is an attempt to keep his original Big Lie alive.

I really prefer he added more cantankerous and hateful language towards describing Ms. Fluke. I know it wouldn’t be fair to Ms. Fluke but oh boy, to miss the chance of his show getting cancelled. Too bad.

I don’t think he needed to apologize.

@MollyMcGuire You think lying about someone and slandering them by name is perfectly OK? Would you affirm publicly that you will not sue me for slander if I spread false stories about you that destroy your character?

@MollyMcGuire Why not?

he shouldnt have called her a slut but I agree with the other stuff

@stratman37 What “other stuff” do you agree with?

Something to th effect of her having so much sex that she needed the insurance company to help with it

@stratman37 You do know that taking birth control pills is as much about regulating hormones, periods, lessening the risks of cysts, than it is about preventing pregnancy?

@stratman37 I’m confused. Please explain how “having so much sex” costs more in birth control. Surely you don’t mean the price of condoms?

Insincere, and I hope advertisers see it that way, too. He’s a piece of shit and I was happy to see people jumping ship from his show, both listeners and sponsors. It’s obvious that his half-assed apology came about only AFTER the sponsors started protesting. Money talks, and when he was hit in the pocketbook he had to humble himself just a bit and apologize. His wording showed he didn’t mean he was really sorry.

That wasn’t an apology. It was a justification.

He’s not sorry for what he said, he’s sorry he got himself in trouble for saying it.

The funniest thing is that some men actually think that women need more birth control if they have more sex. For men who do not understand how this works (and it would appear that this applies to @stratman37 as well as Rush Limbaugh) you take one pill per day, whether you are having lots of sex, a little sex, or no sex.

If you want the pill to work at all, you need to have been taking it every day for at least a month. Then you keep taking it every day onwards. It’s not like you can say “I think I’ll have sex tomorrow, so I will take a pill today.” That will not work. In fact, if the pill is your chosen form of birth control, then you will be on it if you think you might have sex at least once within the next two months or so.

point taken

I do not think this woman’s character was destroyed or even hurt. She has gotten publicity which is very good for her cause. She is a 30 year old political feminist activist—not a nineteen year old college student. When you went to college, did you expect the college to provide you with birth control? You guys just might listen to MSBNC too much.

@MollyMcGuire My college had a clinic that did supply birth control. Free.

Was it a Catholic one?

@MollyMcGuire Georgetown Law School does offer insurance that covers contraception – to its employees.

How did Ms. Fluke’s testimony get so taken out of context? ::shakes head::

Apparently a lot of people on fluther have strong hatred for Rush. It didn’t start with this episode.

What did he say that was so offensive that you want to destroy him? Your hatred is out of proportion to what he said. I guess you have proven that you don’t believe in free speach.

Certainly liberal talk show hosts have said worse about Republicans. Certainly people here have said worse things about Rush than he said about the women.

I guess Republicans aren’t allowed to have a sense of humor.

This whole episode was planned by the Democrats. They create a fake problem like access to birth control and wait for Republicans to say something that they can missinterpret and act outraged about. They know that their liberal lakies like those on fluther will dutifully get outraged. There you are, created problem generating the desired results. Pavlog’s dog.

Well, it takes people’s attention away from government spending and everything else Obama is doing.

We can only hope the economic collapse comes sooner than later so we can get it over with.

@Rock2: “What did he say that was so offensive that you want to destroy him?“_

I don’t want to destroy him.

@Rock2: “Your hatred is out of proportion to what he said. I guess you have proven that you don’t believe in free speach.”

Ouch. I didn’t see that coming. Say whatever asinine thing you want. Make a ton of money saying asinine horseshit. I don’t care. How does this have to do with free speech? “Limbaugh is full of shit” does not equal “Limbaugh should not be allowed to shit into his microphone.”

@Rock2: “I guess Republicans aren’t allowed to have a sense of humor.”

Humor only works if it has somehow related to reality. Let’s try this…“Why did you ass-rape your sister?” Where is the part of this joke that’s funny? It might be suggested that it’s not a joke at all. That’s what Limbaugh sounds like to someone who reads.

@Rock2: “This whole episode was planned by the Democrats. They create a fake problem like access to birth control and wait for Republicans to say something that they can_missinterpret and act outraged about.”

This is great. So, it’s the Democrats’ fault because they know the Republicans can’t resist saying stupid shit about birth control?

@Rock2: “Well, it takes people’s attention away from government spending and everything else Obama is doing.
We can only hope the economic collapse comes sooner than later so we can get it over with.”

This is the type of “hope” I see more often. It’s a kind of apocalyptic fetish that isn’t going to help anyone. Do you really feel that we’re on the brink of a significantly-larger economic collapse? And if so, are you convinced it has anything to do with the current administration?

@tom_g
Your comments are awfully hatefull for a guy who doesn’t want Rush dead.
Were you upset when Rep Gracen from Flordia said: “Republicans want you to die quickly”?
I didn’t think so.

Are you trying to tell me that calling a woman a slut is equivalent to “Why did you ass-rape your sister”? (What kind of mind thinks up that stuff). I don’t think so.

Republicans occassionally make a misstatement but no matter what they say, Democrats will take it out of context and use it against them. (Like you for instance).

Yes, I think the current adminstration has a lot to do with the economic mess we are in. Don’t tell me, you think it is all Bush’s fault. (how lame).

I am slightly perplexed by this birth control controversy in the United States. To the best of my knowledge, the cost of birth control has not cropped up in any other part of the world recently. After all, it’s not as if contraceptives are ground-breaking medical advances; therefore they should not cost an arm and a leg (no pun intended).
So here is my question:
1. In the United States, what does a one month supply of birth control pills cost if you are not insured?
2. If you are insured, what does a one month supply of birth control pills cost your insurer?
3. If the government has to foot the bill, what does a one month supply of birth control pills cost the American taxpayer?

@rock,

Please read the attached paragraph off a well-known website. The author is George Will whose conservative credentials are unimpeachable. http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/03/quote.html

or this (or just the first four paragraphs)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/opinion/sunday/dowd-have-you-no-shame-rush.html?ref=opinion

Think about this, have you seen anyone, anywhere, in the press or on the web, actually defend what he said, much less the way he said it? Do you know anyone who has used contraceptives while covered by a medical plan? My wife of 28 years did when she was in college and if anyone, including Limbaugh, called her a slut, I would rip his testicles off and shove them down his throat.

Think about this. Divorce the substance (do you think that an employer should be responsible to pay for contraception?) from what he said? What he said about her was disgusting.
Don’t get into the “liberals do it too” meme, don’t disguise the issue here? What he said about a witness testifying at a Congressional hearing was disgusting.

SRM

So, Mr. @Rock2. Are you a Tea Party conservative? Do you believe in cutting the government to something like half its size? Do you believe that government workers are slackers, in general?

There’s a difference between free speech and insulting speech. Rush Limbaugh is an expert at coming up with insults and putting down anyone he seems to despise. He’s very good at calling names and otherwise entertaining his lumpen audience by saying the things they don’t have the guts to say in public.

Of course, everyone knows they are thinking it. There is some real hatred going on in this country, and it is only natural that people with progressive views should take strong offence at the kind of behavior Limbaugh exhibits.

Anyway, he is free to speak how he wants, and his sponsors are free to dislike the impact his words have on people. I have no idea why they ever wanted to be associated with him, but I guess it’s never too late to disassociate yourself with a hateful person who behaves like his brain is being rotted by alcohol.

Free speech is being brought up now? Has anyone in this thread suggested that Rush didn’t (or shouldn’t) have the right to say what he did? Not that I can see. Just that he’s an asshole for having said it, ignorant for not understanding her testimony in the first place, and that we hope he loses his show and/or lots of money over it. How does that equate to denying him his right of free speech?

@wundayatta
First of all I find your avitar offensive. Did you think about how offensive it is befor you used it?

“Of course, everyone knows they are thinking it. ”
Fantastic, you know what everyone is thinking. Maybe the polling people should just come to you for information.

“There is some real hatred going on in this country, and it is only natural that people with progressive views should take strong offence at the kind of behavior Limbaugh exhibits.”

Is the reverse true?

There is some real hatred going on in this country, and it is only natural that people with conservative views should take strong offence at the kind of behavior progressives exhibit.”

If you pressure his advertisers to drop him because of something he said then you are not granting him free speach.

@Rock2 “If you pressure his advertisers to drop him because of something he said then you are not granting him free speach.” [sic]

That is absolutely not true. He is still free to say whatever he wants, he just won’t be paid for saying it. Just because you are free to say whatever you want doesn’t mean there are no consequences for doing so.

@Rock2 Well that was pretty gratuitous. Is this how you always try to make a case? Getting side tracked on irrelevant issues? Actually, I find it is pretty common among conservatives. One of the reasons they tend to be an offensive lot. You just provide a more eggregious example than most. Of course, that’s why people around here don’t pay too much attention to your “arguments.” You don’t argue. You obfuscate. Just like your hero.

Not that it matters, but since you opened the topic—I find your avatar… well, to tell the truth, I didn’t really notice it. Is it supposed to be something?

Oh dear. Sand is flying all over this sand box. It’s time to turn around, lean over, and send the sand flying between my legs, the way a dog does it.

Is the reverse true? Nope. Conservatives don’t have a legitimate, evidence-based view of the world. They simply are not mentally equipped to take offence at liberal behavior—especially since liberals are always nice people. Which is why they tend to get hammered so much. They are unwilling to fight back against the unethical tactics conservatives use.

Conservatives think that nothing matters except winning. So they do well for a while. But eventually, like Rush, they go to far. Eventually, people start to see who they really are, and that’s when people finally take the wool out of their eyes and start doing the right thing. You would do well to distance yourself from your hero. He is not good people.

@Rock2 The more you talk, the more you are proving how delusional Rush Limbaugh ditto heads can be. Please attack me. Please keep posting. Yes, we Democrats DO have a sense of humor, and you are stimulating mine.

Political extremists, Republicans have them, Democrats have them, I dont listen to any of these types of people, they usually have there facts mixed up and grossly over exaggerated because they want to win at any cost and hatred is self damaging apparently.

@thecaretaker I sometimes how many Germans used that sort of logic to dismiss the rise of fascism. Yes, both political parties get critical and nasty at times, but I do not know of any Democratic talk show hosts that use such vile attacks and demonization as Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and the many other far-right hate mongers on the air. If you know of such, please post links. I will campaign to shit them down as well Because this sort of hate mongering is Balkanizing America, and that is the death knell of democracy.

The difference is if Limbaugh was a Democrat, other Dems would pounce, pound and pommel him to dust. Yeah, Dems have shame. : )

I would say that his apology is nothing more than a Fluke.