When the president announced that his administration was adopting rules requiring that insurance companies provide birth control without charge as preventative care the radical right saw an opportunity to foment outrage among their constituents with the type of wedge issue on which they count to bring out the vote in a presidential election year. They were running out of these types of issues. In the past a commercial showing blacks taking jobs away from whites or a constitutional amendment stopping godless sodomites from getting married was enough to bring out the army of voters to assure a competitive GOP race. But something happened on the way to 2012. You see the country just isn't racist, bigoted, or hateful enough for this type of easy cheap theatrical stunt to work anymore.
So, the GOP took the issue of contraception coverage (something insurance companies support) and turned it from an issue of women's health into a question of religious freedom. You see the administration wasn't allowing large employers who were affiliated with a religious institution to be exempted (although the churches themselves are). Suddenly, all of the presidential candidates and the white male congressional leadership (well, ok, I guess you could consider Boehner to be orange) was practically falling over themselves to portray the president as someone who was going to force you to give up your religious beliefs and send you to reeducation camps if you disagreed.
Of course, once again, they overplayed their hand. Rick Santorum went so far overboard, saying JFK wanted to make him throw up and accusing Obama of promoting a phony theology, that he not only blew a double-digit lead in Michigan, ultimately losing to Mitt Romney, but he even lost the Catholic vote.
In possibly the stupidest move of any, House Oversight Committee chairman Darryl Issa held a hearing on the opposition to the contraception requirement and heard from a panel of all male religious leaders. The Democrats on the panel had requested that Ms. Fluke testify in the hearing. Issa refused stating she was unqualified on the issue (odd since she was the only one there with ovaries).
The resulting scene of conservative old men, many in clerical collars, was a made for social media event. Fresh off their rebuke of the Susan G. Komen foundation's decision not to fund Planned Parenthood, progressives flooded Facebook and Twitter with outrage against the completely out of touch GOP leadership. As Republicans were introducing legislation exempting any employer from covering contraception or anything else the didn't want to cover because of moral objection, the Democratic leadership was winning the day by simply showing the stupidity of the Republican leadership doubling down on an issue they had already lost.
Nancy Pelosi convened a hearing at which Ms. Fluke was finally allowed to give the testimony not allowed by Issa. She told of her friend who suffered from a painful and dangerous condition in which her ovaries became enlarged due to cysts forming on them. The condition would have been easily treated with birth control pills. However since they were at Georgetown, a Catholic institution, birth control was not available at the campus health center or covered under their student health coverage. Her friend's condition went untreated, resulting eventually in her friend losing her ovaries. Pretty compelling story.
Enter Limbaugh. Raging in his usual bloviating, drug-addled style, Limbaugh went on the offensive. Labeling Ms. Fluke a slut and a prostitute, Limbaugh attacked her unmercifully. After receiving the expected criticism from the usual corners, he went further saying that she should film her sexual conquests so that he could make sure he was getting his money's worth for paying for her contraception. He went on in this fashion day after day and he will next week too. You see for Rush Limbaugh, being an asshole means never having to say you're sorry.
Rush has suffered some repercussions because of this. A few advertisers have dropped their sponsorships. There were some timid rebukes coming from Republicans. But the advertisers will be replaced and Rush need not worry about the GOP coming down too hard on him. After all they count on this sniveling wretch to get their true message out to the faithful.
But, you see, this unlike the other previous methods discussed was not a rallying cry to conservative church goers to get out the vote. No, this was something much more sinister. Limbaugh's audience for this hideous attack was not his listeners. It was a warning to any woman who dares speak out for her own rights and her own body to do so at your own risk. The message was clear: stand in our way and risk being labeled a slut, a prostitute, a whore, a pornographer. Your reputation will be left in the dust and you will be subjected to public ridicule in the worst way imaginable.
This is nothing new. How long have women been told to stay in their place? Every woman who has challenged their repressors has been labeled the same way. Many have turned back or been cowed by the unrelenting attacks. But change has been brought about by those who were strong enough to stand up to the assaults and suffer the barbs, enduring for the cause. And as they stood up more and more stood with them.
So we now are all called to stand with Sandra Fluke, our sister who had the audacity to dare to speak the truth to power. We must remain strong for her and for our mothers and sisters who have fought and continue to fight these battles. But most of all we must stay strong for our daughters who will bear the consequences of our decisions today for good or for bad.
So it is the time to stand together and say that we will no longer be intimated by the Rush Limbaugh's of the world.
So STFU Rush Limbaugh.
No comments:
Post a Comment