This morning, President Obama placed a phone call in support of Georgetown University third year law student, Sandra Fluke, who has been at the center of an unintended firestorm. On February 16th, Congressman Darryl Issa (R-CA) banned Fluke from testifying in front of a congressional committee as they held a discussion on birth control. His reasoning? “As the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience, he believes that Ms. Fluke is not an appropriate witness.”

Rush Limbaugh, a man who looks and sounds chronically constipated, but somehow, has made himself vastly wealthy by doing nothing but fling feces, has reached an even deeper low. On Wednesday, Limbaugh called Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute.” On Thursday, he doubled down, saying that he should be entitled to video tapes of women having sex if the women insisted that their insurance companies should cover their birth control. This of course, from a man who was caught with Viagra (a drug that’s only used for sex and is covered by all insurance companies).

After being publicly slandered, a call from the President, which occurred as she was waiting in the green room before being interviewed by MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, was a welcome relief for Fluke. From the Huffington Post:

“He encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of American women,” she told Mitchell, who received permission from the White House to discuss the exchange between Fluke and Obama. “What was really personal for me was that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud. And that meant a lot because Rush Limbaugh questioned whether or not my family would be proud of me. So I just appreciated that very much.”

“He did express his concern for me and wanted to make sure that I was ok, which I am,” she said. “I’m ok.”

Later, White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney elaborated on the motivation for the call.

Obama, said Carney, felt that, “the kinds of personal attacks that have been directed her way have been inappropriate.”

“The fact that our political discourse has been debased in many ways is bad enough,” he added. “It’s even worse when it is directed at a private citizen who is simply expressing her views about public policy.”

The response from the right has been, as usual, wishy-washy. In a single sentence, House Speaker John Boehner condemned the words used by Limbaugh and took a political swipe at Democrats, saying through a spokesman, “The speaker obviously believes the use of those words was inappropriate, as is trying to raise money off the situation.” Of course, when a politician objects to the other side raising money off of an issue, it’s code for admitting defeat. It’s too bad that Boehner, the nation’s leading Republican wouldn’t take a stronger stance, but Limbaugh is still a very powerful man in Republican politics.

That might be changing. Limbaugh is starting to see backlash from his sponsors. Sleep Train, the mattress store, has already pulled their advertising. Look for other advertisers to follow in the next few days. Several movements, including this Facebook  page, are calling for the boycott of all of Limbaugh’s sponsors.

However, as of today’s show, his sexist attacks have continued. Nearly his entire show has been dedicated today to destroying the credibility of Sandra Fluke, the woman whose only sin was to ask to practice her first amendment right and speak in front of Congress.

Here’s one of the audio clips, from Rush’s radio show today:

The real question is, why does Rush still have a job? Many many talk show hosts have been fired or reprimanded for much less. A month ago, a sports talk radio host was fired for saying sexist comments which were offensive, but less so than Limbaugh’s. Michael Graham was fired for saying that Islam was a “terrorist organization,” words that easily could have come from Limbaugh’s mouth. Don Imus was fired for a racial slur, yet Limbaugh has a long history of racial slurs. So why the double standard?

Limbaugh, unlike the fired talk show hosts, serves a larger purpose. His show is carried on over 600 stations. There are 302 radio markets, which means on average, he is carried on two stations in every city. In some cities, he’s carried on four or more stations. He is THE voice of the Republican party, or at least the party the Republicans are trying to be. His appeal is to white men, men who may feel victimized in a society that is progressing to be multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and far more open. Not coincidentally, that is the target demographic of the Republican party.

As the nation has become more inclusive, Republicans are becoming more exclusive and the strategy is working for them. Since 1975, Republicans have been moving further and further to the right while Democrats have stayed in basically the same place on the political spectrum. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), a relative moderate, felt unwelcome in today’s Republican party, so she quit. Counterintuitively, their agenda is not about attracting more voters. It’s about attracting passionate voters, and that’s where Limbaugh and his incendiary words come in. It’s also about pushing a largely corporate agenda of no taxes and cheap labor, goals that can be accomplished better from Congress than from the Executive Branch. We often say that Obama is playing chess while congress is playing checkers. The reality is, that Congress’s corporate sponsors are playing that chess game and they are winning.

It’s doubtful that Limbaugh or most of those in charge really give a damn about birth control or even abortion. I even doubt that most of them are racist. The only color they recognize is green. Limbaugh’s listeners, however, do care about those issues and as long as he can placate enough of his listeners, the Republican party will maintain enough of a base to win enough offices to ensure that their corporate agenda will gain steam.

If you’d like to join the boycott of Rush Limbaugh’s sponsors, on facebook, please follow this link; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-Rush-Limbaughs-Sponsors/243320752426530

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