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):
RUSH LIMBAUGH: Even after last week, I was supposed to be banished and finished and gone forever. Conservative talk radio was supposed to be dead and buried -- the last remaining opposition to Obama, by the way (plus some brave, courageous conservative bloggers). The conservative media at large, Obama's not so much concerned about them. Now, last week all this was supposed to work. Finally, the dream was to have come true! And instead what's happened? (chuckling) What's happened is... Here. Grab audio sound bite number five. What has happened? We've got the polls. We've got the White House in panic. Gasoline prices! Talk radio, Limbaugh, were supposed to have been finally taken care of, banished and gone forever. No more serious opposition to Obama.
And instead here is Wolf Blitzer on CNN yesterday...
LIMBAUGH: "The latest casualty from the firestorm engulfing" me is not talk radio; it's their own Bill Maher. They're lamenting, "Oh, no, what's happened here? Now everybody's focusing on Maher and some of the other truly base, disgusting, vile everyday stuff coming from Democrat media people." That's now being looked at. That now is being examined. None of this was supposed to happen.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
LIMBAUGH: It's kind of funny to ponder the question: "Will Bill Maher be the first casualty in the war on women?" Ha! Who woulda thought, folks? But there's old Wolf Blitzer (mumbling), "The first casualty... the latest casualty ... firestorm ... is Bill Maher!" So this mythical war on women takes out Bill Maher, perhaps.
That would be funny, wouldn't it?
For his part, Maher actually did an interview with ABC's Jake Tapper Thursday to try to easy the pressure that's apparently on him:
BILL MAHER: To compare [what I said about Palin] to Rush is ridiculous – he went after a civilian about very specific behavior, that was a lie, speaking for a party that has systematically gone after women’s rights all year, on the public airwaves. I used a rude word about a public figure who gives as good as she gets, who’s called people “terrorist” and “unAmerican.” Sarah Barracuda. The First Amendment was specifically designed for citizens to insult politicians. Libel laws were written to protect law students speaking out on political issues from getting called whores by Oxycontin addicts.
Actually, once one becomes an activist he or she ceases to be a civilian or a private citizen and is therefore entitled to the same scrutiny as any public figure.
That's been part of the lie in this since the controversy started: somehow Sandra Fluke, a 30-year-old women's rights activist, was entitled to say whatever she wanted about healthcare with complete immunity from criticism.
Sorry. That's not what happens once you step into the public square.
But I wouldn't expect a dunce like Maher to understand that.
