Allow me to indulge..

Given that this blog was created to express my thoughts about diet and exercise (and really my personal journey), you would think the title for this post would be related to food.. it isn't.

I usually don't like making statements about politics or anything of that nature in a public place.  Usually, it just isn't worth the hassle.  However, the whole Rush Limbaugh controversy has been eating at me the last few days.  I think most of us can agree that Rush's 3 day rant against Sandra Fluke was idiotic, misguided, and absolutely dishonest.  There isn't much that he said that can actually be defended by any person with a moral compass and a couple of brain cells.

Yet, the right wing pundits (including El Rushbo) have mounted their own defense.  You see, David Letterman made a bad joke about Sarah Palin's daughter one time, this other time Louis CK called Palin a cunt, and this other time Bill Maher called Palin a twat.  The crux of their argument is that since these folks used similar slurs against women, than it is pretty much alright for Rush to do it.  Really, these folks are trying to call "the left" out on their hypocrisy. 

Give Limbaugh a bit of credit.  The explanation of his "apology" on Monday's show was brilliant.  For his followers and fellow right wing pundits, he did a very good job of spinning the controversy.  Fluke's testimony in front of congress had very little to do with herself.  She relayed stories about fellow female students she had spoken with and their struggles to have their insurance cover birth control even when it was deemed medically necessary and not for contraception.  As we all know, Rush turned this into an outright attack on Fluke (needs to rehashing) and her sexual activities.  Yet, this is what the heart of his apology was:

Against my own instincts, against my own knowledge, against everything I know to be right and wrong I descended to their level when I used those two words to describe Sandra Fluke.  That was my error.  I became like them, and I feel very badly about that.

 His apology was that he used the wrong words to attack Sandra Fluke.  Not that he attacked her or misrepresented her testimony, but that he used the wrong words.  To double down of the insincerity, he implied that he "sank" to the level of the other side when he chose those words.  He spun the apology away from what he really did and sent people scrambling to find evidence of what the other side did that was bad.

His sycophants and fellow right pundits ate right out if his hand.  They have now framed the argument in terms of hypocrisy rather than what it actually is.  "I know you are, but what am I?" is now the official argument of the Rush Limbaugh supporters crowd.  Nice job, Rushbo.  You totally "blame-shifted" the apology and steered away from your smear campaign and let people focus on "two" words rather than the entire smear campaign and tirade that you spewed against Sandra Fluke for 3 days on your radio show.

Now many of his supporters have rushed to his aide and found all sorts of evidence that the left has used the same or worse words against women as evidenced by the previous mentions of CK and Maher.  I actually think that there could be a valid conversation based on this if it wasn't used to deflect responsibility.  What if Hannity came on his radio show today and said:

Let me start off by saying that Rush Limbaugh's attack against Sandra Fluke was misguided and totally inappropriate.  Much has been made about the language that Limbaugh used while attacking Fluke and that misses the heart of argument.  However, this is a chance for an open discussion about the kind of language that it used against women on a regular basis.  No one should use that language whether they are conservative, liberal, moderate, or somewhere else on the scale.  It is unacceptable to talk about a woman in those kinds of terms.

Not many on that side of the aisle would do that sort of thing, but I think it it would make for an interesting conversation or statement.  It would condemn Limbaugh while at the same time pointing out the misogynist tendencies that many of us have.   Condemn everyone for using that kind of language.  Put a spotlight on everyone.  Don't go around finding examples of left wingers using nasty words against women to defend Rush.  It takes away from the other words (that were far worse) that he said.