These two things are connected, though you may not see it at first.
Last week, for three days in a row, one of the most widely distributed extremist conservative political talk radio hosts in America, Rush Limbaugh, decided to slander and slam a private citizen, 30 year old, third-year Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke. Fluke had been asked by House Democrats to testify at their hearing on female contraception, which she proudly did, after initially being denied a chance to do so by House Republicans. Fluke probably would have slipped back into obscurity after her testimony, as a private advocate for women's rights and women's health care, if it weren't for Mr. Limbaugh.
Instead, last week, on one of the largest free public radio platforms in the world, Limbaugh attacked Ms. Fluke for standing up for her principles. Limbaugh brazenly slandered Ms. Fluke as a "slut" and a "prostitute" saying that she should be forced to make and distribute sex tapes if she wanted to receive contraception, and even questioning the honor and loyalties of her family.
At about the same time Limbaugh was spewing his misogynistic bile, former Nebraska Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey changed his mind, and decided he would, in fact, run for U.S. Senate from Nebraska. Within days of Kerrey's decision, GOP candidate and current Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning began running a campaign ad slamming and smearing Mr. Kerrey as a carpetbagger. Sadly, this wasn't new behavior for Bruning, as his cowardly big money backers had already run a smear campaign against Kerrey in January. This was weeks before the former Senator had ever made his decision to run again. [As we noted internally at that time, the extremist Republicans must be incredibly scared of Kerrey, if they were willing to spend campaign funds against Kerrey even before he got into the race.]
Both the attacks by Limbaugh, and those against Mr. Kerrey are examples of the desperation, gutlessness and complete lack of class that have come to typify modern extremist Republicans, driven by the unlimited funds of their corporate masters.
We feel it's critical to make a STRONG note that not all Republicans are as craven and arrogant as those we've been describing here.
Many Nebraskans - even many Republicans - seem willing to give Mr. Kerrey a fair look, as opinion pieces in the usually very conservative Kearney Hub and North Platte Telegraph displayed over the weekend. Further, Nebraskans who aren't acting like puppets controlled by the Super PACS of the right, know that Kerrey has continued to own property and businesses in Nebraska - and has continued to pay Nebraska taxes - throughout the time he worked in New York as President of New School University.
For those Nebraskans who remain as independent individualists, we hope they investigate ALL the Democratic and Republican candidates running for office - and ignore the garbage and lies being spread by outside, big-money interests. They are the REAL carpetbaggers here.
As for Mr. Limbaugh, he is already feeling some significant heat for his hubris, as seven major advertisers have pulled their ads from his show, and others are still considering doing so. Limbaugh did release a weak apology on his website Saturday - and then proceeded to slander Ms. Fluke further in the so-called apology.
We hope that Limbaugh's employer treats him no differently than MSNBC treated liberal talker Ed Schultz when he used the same insult against another female right-wing talk show host in 2011 – by giving him a minimum of a one week unpaid suspension. Since Ms. Fluke is technically a private citizen, unlike Schultz' target, we'd recommend at least two weeks for Limbaugh to cool his heels, shut his mouth, and think about how professionals are supposed to act.
As we've warned you several times already, hold onto your hats, folks - this is only March. The election is still nine months away, and we've got a feeling the motley crew behind these attacks have no other plans besides spreading hate and lies.
***Full disclosure*** Members of our staff include an alumna of Georgetown, and an employee of Premiere Radio Networks, who is also Mr. Limbaugh's current employer.
