Sandra Fluke

When it comes to discussing religious objections to President Obama’s contraception mandate, MSNBC decided this afternoon that prominent feminist and liberal darling Sandra Fluke is the best person to comment.  Speaking with Tamron Hall on the February 1 NewsNation, Fluke appeared on MSNBC to hype, “the [Obama] administration's process of clarifying how women will have access to this important health care service."

Fluke, a Georgetown Law student who "testified" before a Democratic policy committee -- not a congressional panel contrary to popular belief -- became a recurring guest on MSNBC, and even spoke at the Democratic National Convention last year.  According to Politico, under the new policy announced by the Obama Administration [See video after jump.  MP3 audio here]:

Sandra Fluke, the former Georgetown University law student who became embroiled in a national debate over whether women should receive free contraception from insurance companies, was named on Tuesday as one of 40 candidates for Time magazine's “Person of the Year.”

According to the magazine's website, the award “is bestowed by the editors on the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.”

Saturday evening, via Emerson Marcus and with the Associated Press contributing, the Reno Gazette-Journal, which I hope doesn't try to describe itself as a family newspaper, published an irony-free a 500-word story (HT to a NewBusters tipster) on an appearance by Sandra Fluke earlier in the day "in front of about 10 people at the Sak ‘N Save in north Reno." You can't make this stuff up.

The story is currently the "Most Popular" at the paper's rgj.com home page. The Gazette-Journal seems to have been determined to hype Fluke's appearance no matter what so it could take shots at Rush Limbaugh and employ the "s-word" ("slut") Rush Limbaugh used (and then apologized for having used) to describe Ms. Fluke. It even employed the word in promoting her upcoming appearance in advance in one of two items dated Friday which were apparently meant for Saturday's print edition.

Feminist sensation Sandra Fluke had her 15 minutes of fame extended by a Washington Post puff piece by reporter David Fahrenthold on Tuesday. “Not done testifying” was the headline. Fluke aspires to be an "independent voice," despite the article displaying she was discovered earlier this year in a Google search by Democrats and has campaigned for Democrats ever since.

The official excuse for this extension of fame was “a debate between [no label!] Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and conservative Bill O’Reilly.” The Fox News star proclaimed Fluke should buy her own birth-control pills:

During early Thursday morning's coverage of the Democratic National Convention, CNN’s Piers Morgan interviewed Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), liberal activist Sandra Fluke, and Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards.  It turned out to be a massive pandering to Fluke and nice vehicle for Rep. Israel, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), to disseminate falsehoods that Morgan allowed to skirt by.  

CNN’s Brianna Keilar cued up Sandra Fluke, Obama’s poster girl for “free” contraception and forcing religious institutions to violate their beliefs, to tar Mitt Romney and all Republicans with a derogatory comment made by Rush Limbaugh: “I’m wondering, do you think that Rush Limbaugh – now he called you, and these are his words, ‘a slut.’ Do you think that his views represent Mitt Romney and the Republican Party?”

Fluke took advantage of the opportunity to deride Romney: “I don’t need Mr. Romney to stand up for me. But I do need to have a President who can stand up to the extreme voices in his party and that’s clearly not Mr. Romney.”

All three evening newscasts on Wednesday continued to ignore a super PAC ad by top Obama supporters that accuses Mitt Romney of, essentially, killing a woman. At the same time, CBS and NBC amplified the Obama administration's "war on women" talking point, playing up attacks from Sandra Fluke, who previously tangled with Rush Limbaugh over contraception. [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

NBC and CBS uncritically parroted a vicious new campaign quote from the President: "They [Republicans] want to take us back to the policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st century." NBC's Andrea Mitchell cheered, "Playing a starring role for the first time in the campaign, Sandra Fluke, the former law student who became a lightning rod after Rush Limbaugh denounced her for supporting contraception rights."

The Huffington Post decries attacks on women – at least, those it agrees with. But the outlet has no problem with sexually sliming conservative women.  

The Huffington Post created a video mixing scenes of Republican congresswoman Jean Schmidt celebrating initial, inaccurate reports that Supreme Court struck down the individual mandate with the iconic orgasm scene from the movie “When Harry Met Sally.”

With a program entitled Hardball, MSNBC audiences should expect, well, "hardball" questions of politicians no matter what their ideological leanings, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted on the June 14 edition of Fox News Channel's Hannity. Instead, host Chris Matthews recently and quite openly confessed his eagerness to aid Democrat Elizabeth Warren's campaign to defeat Sen. Scott Walker (R-Mass.) this November.

"Let me help you on this, to the extent I, as a journalist, can help you," Matthews offered Warren on his June 13 program. [see the full video below the page break]

Breaking news! Liberal activist Sandra Fluke will be voting for President Obama! CNN thought this announcement not only worthy of a CNN.com op-ed, but hosted Fluke in person for an interview during the 9 a.m. hour of Newsroom on Thursday.

Fluke was welcomed on cable news after she was publicly defamed by Rush Limbaugh -- and was published on CNN.com -- and on Thursday CNN's Carol Costello hailed her as the "woman who became the face of the fight over whether insurance plans should cover contraceptives." So the religious organizations who were affected by the HHS birth control mandate were not also the faces of the debate?

Rush Limbaugh is probably not shaking in his boots about the latest National Organization for Women “Enough Rush” campaign. MRC-TV correspondent Dan Joseph found seven women outside WMAL radio begging “Get him off the air!”

Joseph made trouble with the tiny group by asking if they’re protesting Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke a “slut,” will they also be calling for an end to the Ed Schultz show after he called Laura Ingraham a “slut.” They refused to compare the two:

Remember the Left's campaign to get Rush Limbaugh off the air in the wake of his comments concerning Georgetown University law student and women's rights activist Sandra Fluke?

According to an article published in the Washington Post Thursday, the heat on the conservative talk radio host has turned "down to a simmer":

Exhibit A on why liberals seldom go into police work -- Ed Schultz's chat with a like-minded caller to his radio show yesterday about the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin.

To the caller, it was "cut and dry" that Zimmerman murdered Martin during their confrontation in Sanford, Fla., last month. (audio)

"It took the networks nine months before one of them made a mention of" the time that MSNBC anchor and left-wing radio host Ed Schultz slammed conservative radio talker Laura Ingraham as a "slut," and it was just "one story" compared to "46 [stories] in ten days" on the Limbaugh/Fluke controversy, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted on the March 23 Hannity.

The Media Research Center founder and president appeared as a guest on the "Language of the Left" special to unveil some numbers that the MRC had crunched contrasting the liberal media's obsession with Limbaugh with their silence on left-wing media personalities like Schultz and HBO's Bill Maher, who called former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin a c**t. The liberal comedian donated $1 million to an Obama Super PAC, and yet the media have been silent on the matter, failing to press the president on whether his Super PAC should give the money back. Watch the full Hannity segment in the video embed below.

Comedian Bill Maher, host of HBO's panel show "Real Time," appeared in Thursday's New York Times, pleading for a cease-fire in the current culture wars over insensitivity: "Please Stop Apologizing."

It's quite a convenient argument for Maher, given that he's been under fire from conservatives lately for his vulgar and demeaning descriptions of Sarah Palin, delivered last year both on his HBO show and in his comedy act (and refused to apologize). Conservatives have argued there is a media double standard against conservative figures, noting that radio host Rush Limbaugh was excoriated for calling a Georgetown law student a "slut," but that Maher suffered no censure for his far more vile comments about Palin (you can read them in this Reality Check from Rich Noyes of the MRC).

What makes Maher's appearance in the Times galling is that the paper has yet to inform its own readers of Maher's previous comments, even though conservatives have spent weeks making them an issue. Not even a front-page Times story that included details of Maher's $1 million donation to a pro-Obama SuperPAC roused the Times to mentioning his attacks on Palin.

Back on Feb. 7, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow appeared on the "Today" show to talk with Matt Lauer about criticism of the new Obamacare rule mandating health insurance coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations and contraception.

"Is there traction to this?" Lauer asked. "Is this an issue that's going to last well into the election or the campaign or is this going to be something that's going to fizzle out?" (video after page break)

As NewsBusters has been reporting for weeks, the Obama-loving media - quite contrary to what they did when George W. Bush was in office - are doing their darnedest to downplay the seriousness of the exploding prices people are paying at the pump.

Doing its part Wednesday was CNN Money which actually published a piece with the laughable headline, "Rising Gas Prices Aren't as Bad as You Think."

CNN's Piers Morgan on Monday actually asked Karen Santorum if her husband Rick is "anti-women?"

Without batting an eye, Mrs. Santorum gave an answer that would put this entire issue to rest if her husband were a Democrat (video follows with transcript and commentary):

In the wake of President Obama calling Georgetown University law student and women's rights activist Sandra Fluke to discuss Rush Limbaugh's remarks, Bristol Palin, the daughter of the former Alaska governor, posted a question to the current White House resident Sunday.

"Mr. President, When Should I Expect Your Call?"

As NewsBusters has been reporting for weeks, the Obama-loving media have concocted the fallacy that Republicans are suddenly in a war on women.

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer on PBS's Inside Washington Friday called this "a classic example of liberal echo chamber elite cocooning" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh asked a great question on his program Thursday.

"Will Bill Maher be the first casualty in the war on women? Ha! Who woulda thought, folks?" (video follows courtesy Daily Rushbo with transcript and commentary):

You have to wonder whether HBO's Bill Maher is losing his mind, trying to draw attention to boost ratings, or really believes he can say anything he wants about conservatives and liberals will support him.

After ridiculing Alabama and Mississippi voters Tuesday as being "toothless," Maher took to Twitter with an even far more vile comment about Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum (serious vulgarity warning):

Feeling pressure in the wake of the Rush Limbaugh-Sandra Fluke controversy, Bill Maher recently said he could say disgusting things about Sarah Palin and other women because he's on HBO and doesn't have sponsors.

Apparently the White House doesn't completely agree, for according to Politico, David Axelrod, one of Obama's right-hand men, has cancelled an upcoming appearance on Maher's Real Time:

CNN's Soledad O'Brien told her critics on Monday to "stop tweeting" her and that the particular debate over Obama's past was over. Then on Tuesday she hosted birth control activist Sandra Fluke and simply rolled out the red carpet for her guest to knock her own conservative critics.

Fluke slammed her critics for spewing "misinformation" and silencing women "regarding their own health care." CNN host Soledad O'Brien pointed viewers to Fluke's CNN.com op-ed and teed her guest up with easy questions like "How have the last couple of weeks been?" [Video below the break.]

Appearing as a panel member on Sunday's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, as the group discussed Rush Limbaugh's "slut" comment, the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman - also of MSNBC and formerly of Newsweek - asserted that Mitt Romney missed out on the "riskless opportunity" of having a "Sister Souljah moment" by not telling Limbaugh to "stuff it." Fineman: