Limbaugh's Non-apology, Title X and Planned Parenthood

Rush Limbaugh issued a non-apology to Sandra Fluke (sort of) in response to the loss of advertisers he has faced since the row over his offensive mischaracterization of Ms. Fluke and her testimony regarding women's reproductive health. His apology is facetious and still deeply wrong regarding her argument for health coverage of the contraceptive pill. He writes:

“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.”

 As I stated earlier, this is absolutely wrong, because the mandate is for insurance companies to cover contraception, not taxpayers.  And what annoys me about this duplicity is that taxpayers have been paying for family planning services for low-income people for over forty years under Title X (about 25% of those grants going toward the right wing's favorite foe, lately, Planned Parenthood).  Which gets me to thinking (oh, these are dangerous times in which we are living!) if this whole disinformation gambit on Limbaugh's (and the rest of them, congress-critters included) part isn't really presaging an attack on the "real" problem: the access of lower-income women to family services at all.  


Gee, Rush.  Thanks for the information regarding where the GOP War on Women is heading.  Good job.