The economy is getting better, so Republicans must shift the focus to contraception. What a brilliant move! Let's alienate women, more than half of the voting population. Actually it's just working out this way, I don't honestly think the RNC is meeting to determine talking points on birth control pills and vaginal probes. But, what is happening is incredibly damaging to the Republican brand. Under the guise of "religious freedom," the party is fighting a war that has been decided decades ago--women have a right to use birth control without shame. I grant the Reps are not trying to take that away, but they are trying to restrict it where they can and whittle down abortion rights until they are non-existant.
Attack 1--some Republican-controlled state legistlatures are forcing women who want an abortion to have unnecessary sonograms so that they will regret their decision. In Virginia they even tried to get an invasive probing signed into law. The idiot governor said he didn't realize that's what the probe would do and now has blown his chance to be considered for VP.
Attack 2--Catholic-affliated organizations seek to deny contraception in their health coverage. You know the details of this brouhaha and I still don't understand the objection to contraception. If you want to prevent abortions, why stop contraception? It just doesn't make sense. Oh, you want to stop all recreational sex, OK, now I see.
Attack 3--Defame the opposition and haul out the slut word. Rush, the real spokesman of the party, called Sanrda Fluke a slut and a prostitute for daring to suggest Georgetown University, a Catholic university, cover birth control. He based this ridiculous claim on a false premise: that Fluke was advocating the government pay for her insurance and therefore, in Limbaugh's twisted mind, pay for her to have sex. Forget that she was saying some women need to take birth control pills for health reasons (a friend lost an ovary because she couldn't afford the pills), Fluke never said she thought the taxpayer should pick up the tab. That seems to be invented by Rush--and also picked up by Bill O'Reilly who defended his fellow blowhard on his Fox propaganda hour. Limbaugh claims he's Jonathan Swift or something and didn't really literally mean what he said. He's just a satirist, just like Bill Maher, oh BTW, he goes on to say, Maher called Sarah Palin the c word and you liberals didn't get your panties in twist. How come Bill gets a pass and you're all over me like a ton of bricks? See how he tries to avoid the issue and doesn't answer the charge that he basically went too far. Yes, Maher was extreme, but unlike Fluke, Palin is a major political figure and Maher is a comedian, unlike Limbuagh who is a commentator. Maher was making a joke and saying in nasty language that Palin is a jerk and Limbaugh was making a wildly ridiculous claim based on incorrect data. (He ain't Jonathan Swift.)
Anyway, Orange Man Speaker Boehner called Limbaugh's remarks "inappropriate"--OOOO! How brave. George Will, with whom I usually disagree, said eating with the wrong fork is inappropriate. Limbaugh is reprehensible. And Rick Santorum called Limbaugh "absurb" and an "entertainer." Sidenote: Santorum gets sick over JFK's affirmation of the separation between church and state, but Rush is just absurd. Ricky also says he views the separation of the two entities as meaning the government does not get to tell the church what to do. But he didn't finish the analogy--namely the church doesn't get to the tell the government what to do either. He left that part out, maybe because he thinks the church SHOULD tell the state what to do.
I've wandered off topic. The upshot--Limbaugh was forced to apologize to Fluke after several advertisers pulled out of his radio show. The apology read like he had dictated it through gritted teeth. We'll see if this damages his standing as much as the anti-sex war is damaging the Republicans.
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