In my previous article, I noted that “standards of consistency — and decency — don’t matter that much to the Left”. Take the vitriol against Rick Santorum, which is now reaching the point of twisting Bible verses to mean something completely different than what they actually say. (Look closely at the passage in Numbers that you-know-who invokes, concerning the test for an adulterous wife. It’s not abortion, of course — as anyone not desperately scouring for “hypocrisy” in Christianity would know. In fact, it’s pretty amazing to see how — millennia before STDs were ever identified — God indicated just what to look for, in some of them….)
I could write an entire article about that — but circumstances have led me to focus on a different, yet slightly related, incident. I’m referring to the debacle spanning the past two weeks concerning Rush Limbaugh and a contraception activist by the name of Sandra Fluke.
You’ve heard the story: Fluke gallantly goes before Congress, lamenting the woes of being a student at Georgetown University (one of the more expensive law schools in America, by the way), and somehow not being able to afford contraception — to the tune of $3,000. The school is Catholic — and won’t dare cover the Pill under financial aid!
(Funny…I was under the impression that birth control — even spanning a full stint at a law school — was nowhere near that expensive. Don’t Wal-Mart and Target have dirt-cheap plans for that, or something?)
Anyway, it’s all going well, despite a detailed, thoughtful call-out by that monstrous Bill O’Reilly. But then…then Rush Limbaugh enters the debate — Limbaugh … that vile, fascistic, fat—
Wait…he’s thin, now. Sorry…better put aside my Al Franken mantras.
Okay…Rush invoked this simple line of reasoning: aside from the really expensive choice of Georgetown — (kind of makes you wonder if she’d been planning to stir things up…) — Miss Fluke called for a really expensive contraceptive plan. I’m guessing the super-size price isn’t due to simply using the Pill for health purposes (again, easily covered by the Wal-Mart plan). Therefore … Fluke is supposedly over-indulging in birth control. In all likelihood, she’s either lying, so as to rob America via the sympathy card … or she’s taking extra precautions “just to be sure”.
Therefore … by asking Congress to spare no expense to bring “reproductive justice” to Georgetown … Miss Fluke is effectively asking taxpayers to pay her to have safe sex, thereby making her a —
Well, you know. After a firestorm that extended into the weekend, Rush apologized—first on his website, then on the air, noting that he’d fallen to the level of those he so eagerly calls out. And the Left? Did they accept his apology, in the name of tolerance and good will?
Are you kidding? They doubled down, refusing to let things lie. Sandra Fluke also smugly dismissed it, on the grounds that he was only doing it to stop the tide of sponsors leaving Limbaugh over his words. Even Ron Paul carried the tune — as if conservatives needed another reason to not choose him.
(Three things: the number of sponsors people keep reporting is greatly exaggerated — they keep including advertisers on the stations that carry him. Carbonite, the most vocal of the dissenters, took a sharp plummet in stock after it dumped Rush. Finally … new sponsors are coming in. Go figure.)
It took Kirsten Powers to call out the hypocrisy of those on her side—the fact that Bill Maher, Ed Schultz, and Keith Olbermann have gotten away with far worse. As far as I know, Maher has yet to apologize for calling Sarah Palin a “dumb c—”. But you know … he’s a comedian. He’s entitled to it….
(Interesting: Maher himself has weighed in, begrudgingly defending Rush, noting that this refusal to accept the apology was decidedly immature. Last I checked…Maher and Rush are not exactly the best of friends.)
But…what about Rush?
Look, I can’t see into his heart, but I strongly believe the apology was sincere. My colleague Ron Rowe notes that Rush failed to do the smart thing and hold firm, and instead gave fuel to the fire. I agree … Rush didn’t do the smart thing — he did the right thing. He took the fall when it’d be hardest to take — and he did the one thing his Leftist counterparts seem incapable of doing.
He manned up. And that’s all we can ask of him.