In the wake of Rush Limbaugh calling a Georgetown law student a "slut,"
CNN hosted the president of the liberal National Organization for Women
who called for Limbaugh to be fired, on Monday morning's 10 a.m. hour
of Newsroom. They did not give such a voice to supporters of
conservative women last year when those women were under attack from
liberals.
When liberal radio host Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a slut last
May, CNN did not host the president of NOW to call for his termination
at MSNBC. In fact, the network covered the outrage over Limbaugh's smear
of Sandra Fluke far more than Ed Schultz's rant last May. A Nexis
search revealed 35 hits for CNN's coverage of Limbaugh's "slut" remark
since March 1, versus just four reports on Schultz in the week following
his comment.
And amidst the Schultz coverage, CNN's female news anchor Randi Kaye
even questioned the virulence of Schultz's smear, saying that there are "mixed interpretations [1]" of the word "slut."
Last year when comedian Bill Maher used an obscene term to describe [2]
Sarah Palin, he was a welcome guest four days later on CNN's prime-time
show In the Arena to bash the Tea Party. Host Eliot Spitzer even lauded
Maher's HBO program as "brilliant [3]."
Costello's interview with NOW president Terry O'Neill was largely soft.
She even began by telling O'Toole "we rarely hear Rush Limbaugh
apologize for anything," and admitted later that "maybe Rush Limbaugh is
waging a war against women."
Costello did offer two half-hearted questions in defense of
conservatives, arguing that Limbaugh is an "entertainer" and doesn't get
politicians elected. But she also teed up O'Toole by flatly asking her
"do you still want the guy fired?"
"Sure. Yes. Yes," the NOW head answered in the affirmative.
[Video below.]
A transcript of the segment, which aired on March 5 on Newsroom at 10:19 a.m. EST, is as follows:
CAROL COSTELLO: Seven advertisers have now bailed on Rush Limbaugh's
radio show, and the National Organization for Women or NOW – they want
him fired. This all started last week when the conservative talk show
host called a Georgetown law student, Sandra Fluke, a slut because she
told Congress insurance companies should cover birth control. Listen.
(...)
COSTELLO: So many people were mad, including those seven advertisers.
Limbaugh released a written apology over the weekend. Here is part of
it.
(...)
COSTELLO: But that is not enough for NOW. Its President Terry O'Neill joins me. Welcome.
TERRY O'NEILL, president, National Organization for Women: Hi, Carol.
COSTELLO: I mean, we rarely hear Rush Limbaugh apologize for anything.
O'NEILL: (Laughter) That is a first. You know, taking Rush Limbaugh off
the air, I'm under no illusions. It's not going to end the war against
women, but he went so far over the line in attacking an individual,
ordinary citizen who all she did wrong was to testify before Congress
about the importance of birth control to women's basic health.
And the way he attacked her personally was so far over the line that
really, he doesn't belong in part of this conversation. And meanwhile,
we are trying to stop the overall war against women, and taking him off
the air will abate a little part of that, but certainly not all of it.
COSTELLO: Well, maybe Rush Limbaugh is waging a war against women, but
you know, other conservatives and – who talk about this birth control
issue say it is a religious liber – and they have a point, right? But
you're focusing –
O'NEILL: No.
COSTELLO: Well – they would say they have a point.
O'NEILL: I do hear where they are coming from. The problem is that the
First Amendment both says that there shall be no abridgement of the
freedom of religion, but it also says there shall be no establishment of
religion.
And, what's going on with this whole religious conversation about
putting birth control in ordinary health insurance plans is this. The
Catholic bishops and the fundamentalist Evangelicals have not succeeded
in convincing women not to use birth control. They have a First
Amendment right to rail against birth control.
COSTELLO: Right.
O'NEILL: They don't have a right to use government to do what they can't do. Which is to take birth control away from women.
COSTELLO: Right. But it's a conversation that we should be having
intelligently in this country, right? So going back to Rush Limbaugh, do
you still want the guy fired?
O'NEILL: Sure. Yes. Yes. Because having that conversation about – about
women's health care and the importance of birth control to ordinary
health care is not advanced. It is not – we are not able to have a
civilized conversation when one of the leading commentators for the
conservative Republican Party, right, is out there using this vicious
language against an ordinary young woman who simply wanted to testify
before Congress. That goes so far beyond the pale that it prevents us
from having that intelligent and thoughtful conversation, you know, that
we need to have about these issues.
COSTELLO: I know that this isn't the first sexist comment that Rush
Limbaugh has made because I've been a victim of Rush Limbaugh myself in
that instance. But I figure he's an entertainer and of course, he might
be a voice of the conservative Republican Party in this country, but he
doesn't get political figures elected, he's an entertainer. Who cares?
O'NEILL: You know Carol, a lot of people say he does get political
figures elected. There are a lot of people who believe he wields an
enormous amount of power. And now his so called apology where he says,
basically, oh I was just joking, that's all. That's really not what he
was doing. In fact, when I – I first read his comments before I actually
heard them and I read them and I thought, I haven't seen that kind of
language since I was in seventh grade.
It seemed very juvenile and not that big a deal, but when a grown man
is saying those things about this law student, really had a very ominous
impact, to tell you the truth.
COSTELLO: Just a last question for you, because Rush Limbaugh's
listeners say that the left isn't being very fair because when MSNBC's
Ed Schultz called the radio talk show host Laura Ingram a slut, nobody
said fire Ed Schultz.
O'NEILL: Oh there was a big flap about that. I mean, that's really not
true. In fact, one of the things that puzzled me when Rush Limbaugh
first came out and said what he said, was where are the conservative
commentators? Now they have come out. George Will has come out and
George Will has questioned some politicians, some very conservative
politicians, for not coming out strongly against Rush Limbaugh. So I
think we do come out sometimes.
Sometimes it's a little slow for both sides accuse each other of that.
But, yeah, no, Ed Schultz got in a lot of trouble for doing that and
appropriately so. My organization has repeatedly come – we have
repeatedly criticized those who use inappropriate language against Sarah
Palin, against Michele Bachmann, as much as against Hillary Clinton or
Michelle Obama. So the tone really matters.