After a week during which he called Georgetown Law School student Sandra Fluke "a slut" and a "prostitute" for arguing that contraception should be covered by health insurance, cigar pin-up model and oxycontin aficionado Rush Limbaugh apologized for his idiotic bloviating yesterday. The apology, which really was only an apology for his word choice, came amidst many of his advertisers jumping ship, a full-on internet backlash, and even his Republican pals turning on him. But it seems his rambling mea culpa wasn't good enough for most: more politicians criticized him today, and more advertisers have left his show.
Before the apology, the CEO of Carbonite—one of the few remaining Limbaugh sponsors—said he'd scheduled "an in-person meeting with Limbaugh to impress upon him how offensive the comments were." It seems that yesterday's apology pushed the company over the edge:
No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse.
According to Boycott Rush, who have been leading the charge against Rush, Limbaugh's show only has two sponsors left now (LifeLock and Tax Resolution). Krystal Ball, a former Democratic candidate for Congress who started the boycott push, gave her reaction to Limbaugh's "quasi-apology:"
Rush Limbaugh issued an apology today for calling Sandra Fluke a prostitute and a slut after she testified before Congress on women's health care. This "apology" occurs after three days of Limbaugh slut shaming Ms. Fluke, insulting her parents and saying that Fluke should make a pornographic movie for his titillation.
On the fourth day, after a public outcry and the loss of at least six national sponsorships due to BoycottRush.org and similar efforts, Mr. Limbaugh now regrets his choice of words. This was too little, way too late. Especially since Mr. Limbaugh has a long history of offensive and vulgar comments.
No business should associate itself with such a pattern of repeated, reckless, personal abuse. If Rush wants to continue to have the opportunity to demean women in the future, that is his right. Good companies have many opportunities to promote their businesses without having to subsidize the denigration of women. Sandra Fluke wasn't the first woman to be smeared by Rush Limbaugh, but she needs to be the last.
Slate points out that the problem for many is Limbaugh's "offensive misunderstanding of the importance and uses of birth control" in his apology: "Many women depend on birth control, not for “social activities,” but for their basic health. And it is in light of his abject ignorance of female biology that Limbaugh’s willingness to demean a woman becomes truly outrageous. This apology only brings that ignorance into sharper relief."
Republicans aren't rallying around him either: on CNN's "State of the Union" this morning, Newt Gingrich said that Limbaugh said was "wrong," he's glad Limbaugh apologized, and added pointedly that it's "silly" to suggest that Limbaugh speaks for the GOP. Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul have all also spoke out against what Limbaugh said.
In a statement, NY Rep. Carolyn Maloney thanked the sponsors who listened to the criticisms and withdrew from Limbaugh's show, and criticized Limbaugh's "vitriolic hate speech", ultimately agreeing with Slate's assessment that Rush really just doesn't get it:
I was very glad to learn that Rush Limbaugh has issued an apology today to Georgetown Law Student Sandra Fluke for the vile names that he called her. That is a good start. But Mr. Limbaugh’s apology is filled with some of the same misconceptions that he pushed so viciously in his original attack on Ms. Fluke. For instance, this is not about 'social activities.' This is about women’s access to health care. Period.
For some historical context on Limbaugh's apology, Buzzfeed has a great roundup of the other six times Rush has been forced to apologize for saying something imbecilic and juvenile. From what we can tell, it really must take a whole lot of talent for one man to be able to mock children, transsexual lesbians, people afflicted with Parkinson's disease, the president of the United States, and 51% of the population, and still keep his job.
