NPR's Nina Totenberg got a much-needed education Friday on the hypocrisy of the media's treatment of conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh's comments about Georgetown University law student and women's rights activist Sandra Fluke.
When the Inside Washington panelist criticized Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for not saying "something less than complimentary" about Limbaugh, Krauthammer smartly responded, "When Obama speaks about Maher’s misogyny as he takes a million dollars for his campaign, then I’d expect Romney to denounce somebody else" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
NINA TOTENBERG, NPR: You have to take a risk when you are running for president, and the risk that he did not take this week that he should have taken was to say something less than complimentary about Rush Limbaugh. It was a perfect opportunity for what is called in the political profession a Sister Souljah moment, to say that “I don't always play it safe, I have real values, you went over the line.” And to make the optics worse, Bain Capital owns Clear Channel, which is the Rush network so to speak. Not that, he’s no longer an active partner of Bain, but the optics of it aren’t great.
TOTENBERG: I didn’t say he should apologize.
KRAUTHAMMER: …for his, or even acknowledge or talk about it, when Obama speaks about Maher’s misogyny as he takes a million dollars for his campaign, then I’d expect Romney to denounce somebody else. But the hypocrisy on the left about this is just…
GORDON PETERSON, HOST: About what?
KRAUTHAMMER: About Rush Limbaugh as if he’s the spokesman of the Republican Party, and as if misogyny is exclusively the province of conservatives and Republicans. It is out there all the time with Maher, with Chris Matthews, and with this guy is it CK Louis, or Louis CK who’s going to be the emcee at the Congressional Correspondents’ dinner? And so when I hear a denunciation on the left I’ll expect one on the right.
Indeed. Nicely said, Charles.
