Limbaugh leaves the GOP "in a smoking ruin"

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Will Rush Limbaugh's 'slut' comments finally cause Republicans to cut ties?
By Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press | Associated Press – Sun, Mar 4, 2012

Rush Limbaugh has been called the godfather of the GOP, a conservative firebrand whose enormous following by millions of disciples known as "dittoheads" has given him unprecedented clout in the Republican party.

But the talk radio star may have finally forced the party to seriously ponder cutting ties after branding a third-year law student at Georgetown University a "slut" and a "prostitute" for her congressional testimony about U.S. President Barack Obama's contraception policies.

"While Republican leaders owe no apology for Mr. Limbaugh's comments, they do have a responsibility to repudiate them — and him," the Washington Post wrote in a weekend editorial.

"For the good of U.S. political culture — or at least its own political self-interest — the GOP must distance itself from Mr. Limbaugh."

Conservative David Frum, the Canadian-born pundit and former George W. Bush speechwriter, has warned the party for years about Limbaugh's influence.

On Sunday, he described Limbaugh's weekend apology to Fluke, coming in the face of fleeing advertisers and suggestions she has grounds for a libel lawsuit, as "about the most graceless apology ever."

"What is good for Rush Limbaugh is not necessarily what's good for the Republican party," Frum added on CNN's "Reliable Sources."

While Limbaugh may have lost some advertisers, Frum said, "he leaves the party behind him in a smoking ruin."

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Amid the uproar, Obama personally called Fluke, 30, on Friday to console her. He was promptly mocked by Limbaugh for doing so, a day before the radio host issued his public apology.

Meantime, Republicans — both on the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill — issued tepid condemnations of Limbaugh's remarks, suggesting a reluctance to take him on.

Indeed, conservative columnist George Will said Sunday that Republican leaders are scared of Limbaugh, including John Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives.

"Boehner comes out and says Rush's language was inappropriate. Using the salad fork for your entrée, that's inappropriate. Not this stuff," Will said on ABC's "This Week."

"And it was depressing because what it indicates is that the Republican leaders are afraid of Rush Limbaugh. They want to bomb Iran, but they're afraid of Rush Limbaugh."

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But other conservatives have expressed dismay over the damage Limbaugh has likely caused the party.

"We had 2 young women at a dinner party tonight. Both Republican-oriented. Both lost to GOP by events of past week. Thanks Rush," Frum tweeted on Saturday night.

Frum, indeed, warned three years ago that Republicans "would regret conceding so much power to Rush Limbaugh." The piece in New York magazine later caused him to be blacklisted from Fox News, Frum has said.

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But Limbaugh's apology for his "insulting word choices" has done little to douse the flames of outrage, thanks in part for his reiteration of what drives his opposition to health insurers providing birth control coverage.

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Hours after the apology, another advertiser — Carbonite, an online data backup company — pulled its ads from Limbaugh's show.

"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," CEO David Friend said in a statement.

"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."

It's hardly the first time Limbaugh has been in hot water. Last year, the rotund radio star caused an uproar by mocking first lady Michelle Obama's efforts to combat childhood obesity, suggesting she was fat and failing to follow her own dietary advice.

But his vitriolic foray into an already bizarre debate in the United States about birth control, occurring about 50 years after the pill was introduced as part of a bigger argument about religious freedom, isn't expected to do any favours for the party among women.

Female voters made up almost 54 per cent of the electorate in the 2008 presidential election, and are expected to out-number men in November as well. And a recent poll by CBS News and the New York Times found that 72 per cent of women support requiring private insurance companies to provide contraceptive coverage at no cost to beneficiaries.

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