Was the Limbaugh apology really an apology? As Marie Antoinette said: "Let them have less sex!"
by Charlie Leck
by Charlie Leck
So, Rush Limbaugh apologized to Sandra Fluke. (If you are the only person in America who doesn’t know what’s going on here, see my blog from yesterday!)
In his apology, Limbaugh also went to his trump card: “I’m only an entertainer!” Limbaugh does not really believe that. I don’t believe it! And, I’m sure you don’t believe it.” Limbaugh is a significant leader of the rightist Republican movement in American today and he exerts immense influence on those on the right.
With that in mind, here is how Limbaugh put his apology:
“For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.
“I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit? In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.
“My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.
There you are! You decide for yourself if this is really an apology or a strategic attempt to save the enormous amount of money his corporation is losing over this brouhaha. Advertisers continue to either bale out completely or suspend temporarily their advertising with him. Latest out is Citrix (Go to My PC, GoToMeeting), Quicken Loans, Carbonite and the Cleveland Cavaliers (in the Cleveland metro area).
As David Badash put it on the blog The New Civil Rights Movement…
“Rush Limbaugh is a 61 year old multi-multi millionaire who heads — albeit, unofficially — the Republican Party. And he has now headed it into shame, disrepute, misogynistic attacks, and we are left on the sidelines, watching the implosion.
“Limbaugh has lost many corporate advertisers, and many companies lost by those advertisers, and possibly for the first time in his life he has been forced to apologize for his actions.
“But his apology is not enough, not satisfying, not fulfilling. It is empty, shallow, the excuse-ridden day-late homework assignment of a fifth grader who copied it while looking over his shoulder at someone else’s work.”
“The art of the non-apology apology is often crude: a condescending, second insult on top of the first, really. But you’ve got to hand it toRush Limbaugh. He issued a non-apology apology that was much more finely crafted than what we usually get. But no less insulting to the poor woman he spent several days attacking and defaming, and to the intelligence of anyone who paid attention.
“As I’ve written before, the non-apology apology is issued under pressure in order to make a controversy go away, without actually expressing any contrition or admitting anything untoward happened, attributing problems to the perceptions of others. 'I’m sorry if anyone might have been offended by what I said,' is the prototypical non-apology apology.” [John McQuaid]
And that describes the apology perfectly.
The story of the Limbaugh insult on the Huffington Post drew over 30,000 comments – thirty-thousand is what I said. One commenter put it very simply and hit the proverbial nail on the head: “He is only sorry that a lot of his words came back to splatter him when what he speaks hit the fan.” Indeed! On the same story, Tom from Joisey, I assume on the other side of the issue, added this quizzical comment: “Communists hate other voices. It exposes their tyranny.” Watch your grammar, Tom; for your antecedent (voices) is a plural and you should have said… “They expose their tyranny!” But, I was born in Joisey and I understand.
How truly sorry is Rush Limbaugh? You gotta be kiddin’ me? Following is a post on Rush Limbaugh’s web site (put up only yesterday)…
“So Pelosi arranges her own press conference for the woman, and the woman makes it clear (her name is Sandra Fluke) that she’s having so much sex, she can’t pay for it — and we should. She’s having so much sex, she can’t afford it.
“She gives the numbers: $3,000 worth of birth control pills worth of sex. She’s paying anywhere from $35,000 to $50,000 a year to go to Georgetown, $20,000 room and board, and can’t afford the $1,800 to $3,000 a year for birth control pills and wants us to pay for it. I said, “What does that make her?” She wants taxpayers, the Democrats want taxpayers, to pay for it. They want to create a welfare entitlement program where we provide birth control pills, because pregnancy’s an illness. Pregnancy is a “women’s health issue.” So the woman comes forth with this, frankly hilarious claim that she’s having so much sex (and her buddies with her) that she can’t afford it.
“And not one person says, “Well, did you ever think about maybe backing off the amount of sex that you have? Do you ever think maybe it’s your responsibility for your own birth control, not everybody else’s?” Nobody raises those questions. Amazingly, when there is the slightest bit of opposition to this new welfare entitlement being created, then all of a sudden we hate women! We want ‘em barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, all of these other things. So that’s where we are. And now, at the end of this week, I am the person that the women of America are to fear the most.”
Oh, my! Rush Limbaugh wonders whether the lower income folks ought to “think about maybe backing off the amount of sex you have?”
Readers, don’t be satisfied with the Limbaugh apology. It was truly the classic – CLASSIC – non-apology apology.
My comment to Rush is that he is not a funny man; and he should stop thinking of himself, if he truly does, as a comedian. As Tom from Joisey might say: “Yoooz aint dat funny, Rush!”
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