I can admit it. I’ve enjoyed reading posts and commentary surrounding the debacle that has become the Rush Limbaugh Show.
For those who have been vacationing in the Arctic for the past month, let me recap briefly. The conservative talk show host who is broadcast on some 600 stations throughout the country came under immediate fire in early March for his attacks on Sandra Fluke, a 30-year-old college student who argued that birth control should be covered by her insurance. That argument, the commentator said, made Fluke a slut and a prostitute. He even went as far to say that she should make adult films free for us all to view since she was in essence getting paid for her dirty habit of sex.
It took a couple of days, but the self-appointed spokesperson for the right-wing of the GOP issued an apology, of sorts, saying that he chose his words poorly. The entire argument coincided with Washington’s sudden interest in women’s reproductive health.
Despite Limbaugh’s apology, advertisers pulled their spots immediately and a few days later more followed suit, no doubt encouraged by a massive Facebook campaign.
Limbaugh has said on his show that he’ll weather the storm and that no one is losing money because of the way syndicated radio advertising works. More than likely, he’s right. He’ll be around for years to come and will offer his views on the evils of Democrats and liberals for the foreseeable future.
That’s his right and changing his opinions will be as likely as getting Rick Santorum to be a groomsman at a same-sex wedding ceremony.
Blogs and commentators opposing Rush have called him a hypocrite for attacking reproductive medicine because of a Viagra incident at an airport a few years back, when he was stopped with the drug that had not been prescribed to him.
Viagra, of course, is not the same as contraceptives and while it’s related to sexual health, it has a very different purpose.
Comparing Viagra to birth control is a lazy argument and is comparable to the GOP saying women’s reproductive health is suddenly a priority since arguments about the economy are weakened by constant numbers to the contrary.
What better way to stir up some news coverage than to push social issues back out onto the center stage?
Somehow the pro-life branch of the Republican Party has managed to convince at least some in its ranks that subsidized birth control is a bad thing. Yet, aborting unwanted fetuses or overwhelming the foster care system with unwanted children is just as bad.
They fail to explain how both can be correct.
I am not advocating abortions and I am not saying we should deny a woman’s right to choose. In all honesty, I don’t know where I stand on the abortion issue but I do know that a woman is more qualified to make that call than I.
Delaying childbirth until one is ready to raise a child, spacing one’s children and limiting the size of one’s family are respectable decisions that can create healthier, more stable households. Even though birth control has other benefits, using it just for family planning is a good reason for sexually active American women to use birth control at some point in their lives.
A recent study found that unintended pregnancies account for 90% of abortions, which is a statistic most sane people would use to advocate for birth control.
The world of talk radio is a treacherous place and it can be difficult to decipher what is real and what is shared simply for the ratings that will ensue.
Limbaugh had Elton John perform at his fourth wedding and has had guest voice-overs on the liberal animated show Family Guy. So he can’t be all bad, can he?
But he’s also gone after people with Parkinson’s, pondered if environmentalists were somehow behind the huge BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and now, of course, women who want to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies.
But what else would you expect from the man who once said, When a gay person turns his back on you, it is anything but an insult; it’s an invitation.
No Rush, in this case as in many others you are entirely wrong.
