Via Greg Hengler. Alternate headline: “No, they’re not giving back Maher’s million dollars.” He had several messaging options here. One: “What Maher said is terrible but we’ve all said things we regret.” That’s my preferred choice but he can’t dig in on that one or else implicitly he’s letting Rush off the hook too and that doesn’t help his war-on-women talking point nonsense. Two: “Fluke is a private citizen whereas Maher’s targets are public figure.” That’s probably his best defense, but as KP noted in her op-ed the other day, it doesn’t explain why sexist nastiness is okay when directed at the latter but not the former. Three: “Maher’s a comedian whereas Rush is the leader of the Republican Party.” This is the one he ended up going with; Burton’s White House roots are evident in that vintage 2009 line about Limbaugh. Problem is, Maher’s “jokes” about the women he attacks are usually sufficiently vicious as to leave no doubt about his true feelings. He’s not Don Rickles ripping on people for funsies; when he calls Palin a “dumb twat,” it’s because he’s searching for language to express his contempt and ended up there. The “clown nose off, clown nose on” defense for comedians doesn’t work when your clown nose is never really on.
Four: He could have been honest and admitted that (a) they could really use a million bucks and (b) they want to stay on the good side of a guy like Maher who’ll spend the next eight months using his media platform to argue on Obama’s behalf provided that they don’t piss him off.
You know, he’s right. You can’t compare the two. Rush makes a handful of controversial statements over the course of his career while Maher issues nasty, vile insults to conservative women on every show, sometimes more than once. I’ve said it before, but it amazes me that any woman would find a guy like that even halfway interesting.
I agree you can not compare a great American like Rush to the piece of crap Bill Maher is. That’s why Rush apologized the other day. He acted like the MSM wachos.