Rush Limbaugh opened his syndicated radio show on Monday by reiterating the weekend apology he had made to Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student whom the outspoken host had called a "slut" and "prostitute" for her testimony about contraception the week before.
"I descended to [the left's] level when I used those two words to describe Sandra Fluke," Limbaugh said. "I've always tried to maintain a very high degree of integrity and independence on this program. Nevertheless, those two words were inappropriate. They were uncalled for. They distracted from the point that I was actually trying to make, and I again sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for using those two words to describe her. I do not think she is either of those two words. I did not think last week that she is either of those two words."
He added: "It was way beneath me, and way beneath you. I was wrong. I genuinely apologize."
Limbaugh claimed he was not forced into issuing an apology to Fluke, despite calls from prominent conservatives—including House Speaker John Boehner and GOP candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum—to do so, as advertisers of his show fled in droves.
"The apology was sincere and heartfelt ... pure, simple, heartfelt," he said. "All the theories, all the experts are wrong."
Limbaugh's comments came a day after a seventh advertiser, ProFlowers.com, pulled its advertising from his radio show, following Quicken Loans, Sleep Train, Sleep Number, Citrix Systems Inc., Carbonite and LegalZoom. An eighth, AOL, announced on Monday that it would stop advertising, too.
"At AOL one of our core values is that we act with integrity," Maureen Sullivan, an AOL spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement. "We have monitored the unfolding events and have determined that Mr. Limbaugh's comments are not in line with our values."
[ RELATED: Twitter users lobby Limbaugh advertisers to drop business (or not) over Fluke controversy ]
But Limbaugh told listeners that pressure from advertisers did not lead to his apology.
"I reject millions of dollars of advertising a year, much to the chagrin of my ad sales team," Limbaugh said, "including General Motors. I made the decision [after the government bailout] not to accept [GM advertising] because you, the audience, comes first."
"We're going to replace those that leave," he said. "Fine, we'll replace [you]."
On Saturday, Limbaugh posted an apology to Fluke on his website.
"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," the statement read. "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."
Earlier Monday, fellow radio talk show host Don Imus dismissed Limbaugh's apology to Fluke as "lame," and suggested he sit down with her. "He's a fat, gutless loser," Imus said, "and if I'm running a radio station, he's not on it ... until he does that."
But in an appearance on "The View," Fluke said Limbaugh's initial comments were "personal enough, so I'd rather not have a personal phone call with him."
The National Organization of Women still wants to see him fired.
"When one of the leading commentators for the conservative Republican Party 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," NOW president Terry O'Neil said in an interview on CNN.
"I'm not going to wait for apologies from the left," Limbaugh said, "for saying despicable things they say about us, about people like Sarah Palin. Don't expect apologies, they're never going to apologize."
"Talk about a double standard," Limbaugh intoned, after several callers complained that it was unfair he was forced into an apology. "Rappers can say anything they want about women [and] it's called art. And they win awards."
He added: "Forget about the double standard going away—it never will."
Commentary:
The sad thing about this whole matter is that this stunt is being used as a stepping stone for the Presidents re-election campaign. Georgetown University, a strict catholic school and one of the tougher schools to be accepted into, is something Ms Fluke was completely aware of before attending any classes there. No health insurance company should be forced to purchase any sort of contraceptives for college students attending schools and engaging in sexual activity afterwards. Each individual should held accountable for their own actions regarding sexual activity and not be dependent upon government for help with that.
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, unfortunately made a poor choice of word selection(s) when attempting to discuss the Sandra Fluke matter, now every advertiser in their own brother is skipping town. Let's see how the profits of the companies start declining since they've decided no longer to be a sponsor on Rush's radio show. I personally used one of the advertised services on Rush's program, Pro-Flowers.com and for the most part received good service. I wouldn't have used them in any other case, as Rush's radio show would be the only place I'd hear the commercial for the company.
Since Rush is being held to a double standard, why is that rap singers are allowed to get away with singing about being disrespectful towards women in their songs, nothing really bad happens to them? The only singer in recent memory who put foot in mouth was Kanye West when he foolish tried taking Taylor Swift's limelight away from her during an awards program.
We all have the freedom of speech in this country across the fruited plane, occasionally poorly selected words are mentioned on a current event of the day, does that really mean that the person who said them shouldn't be given an opportunity to redeem themselves? We live in a country currently where expressions of opinions on hot topics of the day, are so scrutinized, it's a crying shame no one feels comfortable to express themselves.
The citizens of this country really need to wake up and stop being so anal about what some people express either on radio, tv, or as a quote across some newspaper wire service. Some people like Rush have a unique talent of using satire when discussing hot topics of the day, while others may not be as talented. The sponsors of Rush's radio show who departed like flies, I wonder how that will work out for you in the long run.
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