Rush Limbaugh's "Apology"

by Luis Vicente Gutiérrez

Speech in Congressional Record, March 7, 2012.

Rush Limbaugh's "Apology"

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HON. Luis Vicente Gutiérrez

OF ILLINOIS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

{time} 1020

RUSH LIMBAUGH'S "APOLOGY"

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.

Mr. GUTIERREZ. Here's how sorry Rush Limbaugh is for his attacks on a law school student who dared to give her opinion about access to contraception coverage. He's so sorry that a full transcript of his tirade, including the words he "apologized" for, was available yesterday under the heading "Most Popular" on the home page of his Web site.

He's so sorry that the verbatim document of his March 1 rant, in which he repeated his name-calling of Sandra Fluke and mocked Democrats for criticizing him, is right on his Web site today under the title "Left freaks out over Fluke remarks." Also on Limbaugh's "Most Popular" list today is "Democrats Are Desperate: Obama Calls Sandra Fluke, the 30-Year-Old Victim." I don't mean was on his Web site, before he decided to apologize; I mean it's there today. Just click on the link.

And this Monday, Limbaugh talked at length about the discoveries his staff had made about Ms. Fluke. Apparently, in Rush Limbaugh's world, part of apologizing is researching and criticizing the person you're apologizing to. I want to give you a sample of Limbaugh and his crack research team's eye-opening discoveries:

Here's Limbaugh, verbatim, on March 5: "This woman, well, we've looked her up. I mean she's a full-fledged activist for women's causes. And she has been to Berkeley, she's traveled all over the place. Cornell, she graduated from the women's studies courses there. She's a full-fledged feminist activist."

America, I join you in being shocked at the discovery of these facts. Sandra Fluke has traveled all over the place. She's even taken women's studies courses at Cornell. Women's studies? No wonder she gives her opinion in public and thinks that women should have some say over their health and reproductive choices. I mean, what would you expect from somebody who went to Cornell?

There's more. You see, I did my own research, Limbaugh. It shows that Toni Morrison, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Mae Jemison all went to Cornell, too. And what do these three troublemakers have in common? It's obvious. They're women, women who somewhere in their lives, most likely at Cornell, the same place that brainwashed Sandra Fluke, got the idea that they could accomplish anything they wanted to and speak about it in public and have their opinions respected.

Morrison--Nobel Prize. Ginsburg--the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Mae Jemison even got that great crazy idea she could be the first black woman in space. Shocking.

Mr. Speaker, here are the facts. A glance at Rush Limbaugh's Web site makes it obvious that he continues to spew nonsense and that he's not the least bit sorry for what he said. It makes plain that he deeply resents women who speak their mind. Those who do are "full-fledged feminist activists" who deserve only his scorn.

There are, however, some things to visit Mr. Limbaugh's Web site for. If you want a bumper sticker calling Obama, the President of the United States, a socialist, or a T-shirt promoting Rush Limbaugh for the Nobel Peace Prize, then his Web site is the place for you. But if you want a sincere apology from a man who is sorry that he called a decent young woman a "slut," you're looking in the wrong place.

Now, the truth is that what a radio talk show host thinks about Sandra Fluke really doesn't matter, except for one important point: the Republican Party respects and fears Rush Limbaugh. The three leading Republican contenders for President of the United States won't take him on. Three men who are so tough that they compete daily with each other to say the most disparaging things about President Barack Obama, three tough talkers who promise to keep us safe from terrorists, these tough guys are struck speechless and cowardly by a man sitting behind a microphone in his mansion out in Palm Beach, Florida.

When a talk show host calls a decent American woman a slut and a prostitute, that's sad and wrong. But when Mitt Romney, the Republican Party's frontrunner for President, is asked about it and all he can say is "it's not the language I would have used," then it's a leadership crisis. I guess Mitt Romney would have said she was a "lady of the night." What he should have said was, "Rush Limbaugh, you're dead wrong. Stop it."

It's time for all Americans to say enough is enough. And it's time for anyone who wants to be a leader--even Republicans who are terrified of Rush Limbaugh--to stand up for treating every woman with decency and respect.

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