One a tip from Ed Kilbane
(From The Daily with a few enhancements)
CHICAGO -- While slamming Mitt Romney for not standing up to the "strident voices" on his side, a top Obama advisor is planning to spend some quality time with one on his own, The Daily has learned.
David Axelrod, President Obama's senior campaign strategist, is scheduled to appear on Bill Maher's late-night talk show within the next few weeks, according to Kelley Carville, an HBO spokesman.
As the controversy over Rush Limbaugh's comments about Sandra Fluke continued, a former Obama White House official today joined Republicans in pointing out that Maher, who recently donated $1 million to a pro-Obama super PAC, has a history of his misogynistic slurs.
Last year, he was rebuked by the National Organization for Women for calling Sarah Palin a "dumb tw*t." He has also addressed her as a cu*t. Somehow the excitement from the media boiled over for Limbaugh but they slid the pot to the back burner for Maher.
Limbaugh assailed Sandra Fluke on his radio show last week for testifying before Congress that insurance companies should fully cover birth control for all women, even if the institution or employer has religious objections.
Obama's response was this:
“I thought about Malia and Sasha,” the president told reporters of his decision to call Fluke last week to offer his personal support. “One of the things I want them to do as they get older is to engage in issues they care about, even ones I may not agree with them on. I want them to be able to speak their mind in a civil and thoughtful way, and I don’t want them attacked or called horrible names because they’re being good citizens, all decent folks can agree that the remarks that were made don’t have any place in the public discourse,” the president said.
"palin is right to point out that bill maher has said some pretty disgusting things about women, comedian or not. they are Rush like," Austan Goolsbee, the former chairman of President Obama's Council on Economic Advisors, and currently a professor at the University of Chicago, tweeted.
After Obama spoke with Fluke, the Georgetown University Law Student called a "slut" and "prostitute" by Limbaugh, Palin challenged Priorities USA to return Maher's donation.
"Pres. Obama says he called Sandra Fluke because of his daughters. For the sake of everyone's daughter, why doesn't his super PAC return the $1 million he got from a rabid misogynist?," Palin wrote Tuesday on her Facebook page.
(Which I suspect privately... Maher would be in agreement with. He misses that mil... he can't stop talking about it.)
In a conference call with reporters today, Axelrod invoked Limbaugh on several occasions.
"He's going to continue to lose independent voters when he walks away from issues like the one involving Rush Limbaugh last week, where he essentially refused to comment on what was a really egregious set of comments by Limbaugh," Axelrod said. "Why? Because he's afraid to challenge a guy who's the de-facto head of his party."
The number of advertisers to pull spots from the The Rush Limbaugh Show hit 43 yesterday -- and even the band Rush had bad news for the embattled talk show host.
The advertisers that ditched the show yesterday include: Freedom Debt Relief, Norway Savings Bank, Portland Ovations, Consolidated Credit, Constant Contact, RSVP Discount Beverage, Cunningham Security and Regal Assets, which said in a statement "Everyone at Regal Assets wants to let Sandra Fluke know that we stand by her side in full support."
Limbaugh brushed off the tally -- which he counts at 28 -- and said at least two advertisers plan to return.
"Everything is fine on the business side. Everything is cool," Limbaugh said on his show. "None of what's happening is out of the ordinary," he concluded. "It's just part of an onslaught to try to convince you that this show's history and our days are numbered. I'm happy to tell you nothing could be further from the truth."
Late Tuesday, the 1970s rock band Rush demanded Limbaugh stop playing their music before and after commercial breaks. A lawyer for the band accused Limbaugh of "using Rush's recorded music as part of what is essentially a political broadcast."
Has it come to this... what's worse...Slut...Cu*t or Tw*t?
