Flashback: In 2009 Limbaugh accused Scozzafava of “widespread bestiality”
Rush Limbaugh faces a growing storm of criticism for his “slut-shaming” attack on Georgetown student Sandra Fluke.
His days-long tirade included Limbaugh asking where the young woman got her condoms “in the sixth grade” and suggesting that she was having so much sex that he was surprised she could still walk.
The talk radio host also urged Ms. Fluke to post videos of herself having sex.
If this sounds like a place we’ve all been before, it’s because Limbaugh launched a similarly venomous attack at then-Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, from Governeur, in 2009.
Scozzafava was the GOP’s chosen candidate in the 23rd district special election that year and Limbaugh — like many conservatives — viewed her as too moderate.
“We can say that she’s guilty of widespread bestiality,” Limbaugh said. “She has screwed every RINO in the country.” (Hear the audio below.)
That incident backfired for Limbaugh, too. When asked by a reporter about the slur, Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman laughed and declined to condemn the remarks.
But Democrat Bill Owens quickly issued a strongly-worded statement, calling Limbaugh’s attacks “despicable” and saying that he was “personally” offended.
“Assemblywoman Scozzafava is an honorable public servant,” Owens said.
“Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the right wing special interests that are running Hoffman’s campaign can’t even begin to compete with what she has accomplished over her career.”
Scozzafava went on to endorse Owens and the Democrat won the upset over Hoffman by roughly 3,500 votes. Did Limbaugh’s toxic rhetoric make the difference? Probably not. But it’s hard to believe that it helped.
That one’s easy JDM, evolution enables us to rise above the primordial SEA (not MUD) we’ve come from, well for some that is the objective ;)
Who cares what other people said, Kathy, we’re not talking about other people. I, for one, would not defend myself like this: “Other people say disgusting, low-life things, so I can, too.”
The punishment for Rush in saying disgusting low-life things (yes, Kathy, and anyone else who does it), is that it makes them a disgusting low-life. And that, I think, is punishment enough.
Actually, I’ve been working on a JDM Tolerance Level app for the iPhone and iPad. It is AWESOME!!!! Look for it at the Apple store soon.
($0.99 each download. Use responsibly. Not valid with any other offers. See your online manual for compatibility. Do not poke sharp sticks in your eye. Always drive safely and obey all traffic laws. Do NOT taunt the happy fun ball. iPhone and iPad sold separately)
Hey KHL,
I think you’re missing the point. When you’ve got an iPhone and IPad, you don’t need to tolerate anyone or anything. You’re wired in umbilically to your self-chosen electronic nourishment and that’s all you see and hear and feel.
JDM, You might think that the source was “mud” given this conversation. But to answer your oft asked question once again. No one “thinks” that we evolved we DID we ARE. I think we have been over this and like I said before your church has the same view as most of the rest of us on this issue.
Rush is about money.
So the key to this whole thing will be how this has impacted his bottom line. From that perspective I think he screwed up we will have to wait and see.
Kathy, you ask, “But how much can we dissect him?”
That caused me to think of Rush on a table at the morgue and the thought that anyone might ever have to dissect him was scary.
But to tell the truth, I really don’t care about Rush. I hardly if ever think about him. He is not on any radio stations I can pull in.
Actually, I feel sorry for him because he lives in Florida. He should move to NY and get a job at NCPR so I can find out more about him. Who knows? Maybe I would enjoy talking with him if I were to ever meet him.
Glad to see most here agree RL’s comments were wrong. Equally impressed to see mostly civil discourse in the discussion. However, it does appear some are trying to diflect the culpability from RL by pointing out the transgressions of others, as Dave pointed out. Furthermore, suggesting RL’s apology relieves him of condemnation, enables the man to continue with his inciteful misrepresentations(in this case, possibly slander). As this article reflects, this isn’t a first occurance for the man. How many times does he get to apologize only to turn around and do the same thing? We certainly do have freedom of thought. Thank God and those who fight for that freedom. My thought is the fewer Americans who think and act like RL, the better our country will be.
he must go , it just showes how much trouble we are in,these are our leaders,they influence the masses!god help us all.
ok
I’m a conservative, and I do find fault with what Rush said & has said in the past.
But, if you listen to him, you’ll understand that much of what he says is sarcasm & inflammatory to upset the left. Much like the comment about Scozzafava. What she did was screw the republicans, and the metaphor he used, while not very kind, was pretty accurate.
Although in the case of Ms. Fluke, it’s inexcusable. What he called her, whether it’s sacastic or whatever, is unacceptable. I wouldn’t stand for anyone to call my daughters what he called her, and I won’t stand for anyone else to be called that.
He should be held responsible for his comments, and whatever he gets for it is not enough. I don’t think firing him is the right extent, but he definitely needs to be hit hard in the wallet, which I think with the advertisers exodus is the right approach. Make him earn them back.
Thanks JDM. I agree with your thoughts here. Apologies should indeed be listened to, and considered… whether or not they are accepted.
Rush is not trying to win a debate, Rush is selling. I mean the guy makes somewhere between 20-30 million per year.
newer comments llink missing?
Insulting people, It’s a fine line that most people don’t realize. You want to make fun of people, you don’t want to humiliate them.
You bunch of hypocritical slime ball liberals, You should be ashamed. Look at Mr. Perfect TootightMike calling auto mechanics MORONS in this thread and go back and look at yourselves defending the woman from NPR that said she hoped Limbaugh DIED. Or look closer to home and good old Knuck who stated in clear terms that EVERY MEMBER of the Tea Party was a murdering lunatic like that guy in Norway that killed all those kids. And the staff here, who had edited many, nay posts that didn’t come close to the incendiary, personal attack that was, let it pass, defended the position. And you people have the unmitigated GALL to see yourselves as taking the high ground?!!!!
You people make me sick. Nothing but self righteous bigots out to quash anyone with an opinion differing from your own. It’s okay to write books and make movies about assassinating Bush and label his daughters whores but it’s moonbat stuff to question Obamas credentials. You talk about Republican abuses of power but defend Obamas use of the Espionage Act. You are pathetic, truly. So I’m doing whatever I can to cut every red cent from NPR, the home of the liberal, self righteous bigot.
One of the memes developing now in conservative media – Sarah Palin echoed this yesterday — is the idea that Limbaugh is being held to a higher standard than other, more liberal members of the media.
The facts don’t bear this out. Last May, MSNBC host Ed Schultz apoligized and was suspended from his show for a week after calling conservative Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut.”
David Schuster was suspended from MSNBC for two weeks after he suggested that Chelsea Clinton was being “pimped out” by her mother during the 2008 presidential primary.
In 2010, Keith Olbermann was suspended from MSNBC indefinitely after it was learned that he had donated money to Democratic campaigns.
Last year, public radio producer Lisa Simeone was let go from various high profile contract positions after she advocated publicly for the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Radio host Don Imus was first suspended and then fired by CBS in 2009 after referring to female basketball players as “nappy headed hos.”
This is just a sampling to make it clear that the “Rush as victim” narrative just doesn’t wash.
Historically, media personalities across the political-cultural spectrum have faced serious repercussions when their language or behavior crossed lines.
–Brian, NCPR
Kathy, what make you think we are all Conservatives?
“The “dislikes” on some of the comments from Conservatives on here is very telling.”
Brian,
Thank you for injecting some research into the debate. Still, the argument that other people have done it, therefore it’s OK for Rush does not wash for me. I do agree with TwoCents that it can be a fine line between righteous ridicule and unjustified abuse. But what Limbaugh said wasn’t close to that line, it was miles away from it, and by speaking in that way about a young woman he does not know he defined himself as a classless lout. Anyone who wants to sign on with him, or defend him in this instance, says something about themselves, too.
Will, you are so wrong about those devices. I don’t have an iPhone since as everyone knows the APA blacks out large sections of the Adirondacks from reception. But I did get an iPad for a recent trip overseas as a communication device with the outside world. You can’t use it as a phone but you can skype or even post on blogs from 3rd world war-torn countries. And it has some sort of brain ray that make me drool with pleasure when I use it.
Bret!
where ya been! you don’t call, you don’t write!……..
don’t hold it in so long brother- you’re gonna bust out an anuerism
The state of pleasure you describe, KHL, sounds suspiciously like a coma, or, perhaps, a chemically induced lobotomy.
Before this floor fight ends, I cede my remaining time to the honorable Charles P. Pierce, (D) Waitwaitdon’ttellme:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/rush-limbaugh-sandra-fluke-reaction-7161506?hootPostID=8ab05e20ae59f5c06287c827439f07b2
One of many outtake worthy paragraphs, here:
“…Rush is sui generis, a titan of conservative thought, a giant of recent political history. Which makes all the difference in what he did. He brought all of that power and grandeur and historical importance down on a private citizen and called her a “slut” for three days running on 600 radio stations, slandering her 53 times by one count over that period of time, and said he wanted to see her sex tapes, and now he’s sweating from the balls like the coward he’s always been, and people are running away from him. It’s too late now for y’all to decide he’s just another intemperate voice howling in the night…”
Remember Al Franken’s book?
Will, that would hurt, if I wan’t in a iPad induced lobotomy.
Bret!!! Nice to hear from you. Sheesh! If I knew you’d hold on to it for so long I’d have apologized a long time ago.
Although I don’t think that’s exactly what I said. If it makes you feel better I want to clearly state that I never thought Tea Party members were murdering lunatics like the Norwegian guy.
don’t worry khl, that is most certainly not exactly what you said, and you already did apologize (quite gracefully, i might add). it’s just more of the usual craziness from bret.
Public apologies are stupid, I am sick of them. I have much more respect for the people that say I am not apologizing for Jack S***and if you don’t like it don’t listen.
I mean Rush’s apology is certainly fake, he plans everything he says its not as if he is apologizing personally for anything, its all a game.
Imus is doing great, he simply changed stations, his apology was fake also.
Sarah Palin wants to be Rush, that is her whole purpose, none of these guys actually care about politics, they care about making 20 million per year.