Mona Charen’s words twisted in NBC interview concerning Limbaugh’s comments

Illustrating absurdity by being absurd. That’s what Limbaugh is doing here, and the left-wing media at NBC is all over it highlighting the so-called outrage on the left.

I’m going to be a lot less polite than Mona Charen has been concerning how NBC selectively picked words from her interview to make it look like Charen was not neccesarily agreeing with Limbaugh. NBC tried to warp the news, implying that – even when asking a woman on the right – they could not get anyone to agree with Limbaugh’s point. In a broad sense, Limbaugh’s opinion is what TEA Party folk, constitutional conservatives and proponents of federalism have been saying for years.

True rights exist simultaneously between people, and exercising those rights can not diminish the rights of another. In other words, you can’t take property from someone else – directly or indirectly – in support of what you think should be a human right.

If you get in front of a Congressional panel and demand rights that diminish the rights of others, we’re going to point it out and use your testimony as a perfect example of the problem.

You should be able to watch the NBC News segment below. If not, click here.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Charen’s selectively chosen comments in the piece include, in total…

No doubt there are better ways or other ways that one might have phrased it, but then again, he has a huge 20 million listeners and he didn’t get that way by being milquetoa milquetoast.

This morning, Charen politely pointed out what she said during the interview that was mysteriously left out of the segment.

When the producer asked: “What do you make of Rush Limbaugh’s comments?” I said that his choice of words was crude but that I certainly understood and sympathized with the point he was making. A law student is now a hardship case? She needs the rest of us to provide her with free contraceptives?

Well, said the producer, “What about this contraceptive thing? Aren’t we past all of that?” I said that liberals and Democrats were distorting the issue. The issue is not “access” to contraceptives. With the exception of one stray, unwise remark from Rick Santorum (and he said nothing about denying women access, merely that he questioned whether they were altogether good for women) no one on our side is arguing about access to contraceptives. What the Obama Administration is requiring is that all women — no matter what their income — be provided with free contraceptives. And of course, all entities, even religious institutions with moral objections, are required to provide contraceptives and abortifacients for free as well.

Posted in ,

Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

28 Comments

  1. crystal4 on March 2, 2012 at 9:49 am

    All the people crying about religion being stepped on? are OK with Limbaugh calling women “sluts”????



    • Dimsdale on March 2, 2012 at 12:16 pm

      Did you listen to Limbaugh on this?? He only called Fluke a “slut” etc., and maybe her “friends” at Georgetown.? The left blew this into “all women”.
      ?
      The transcript is here: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/03/01/left_freaks_out_over_my_fluke_remarks
      ?
      What he said can be summed up with this quote:
      ?
      “What does it say about the college co-ed Susan (sic) Fluke who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex. What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She?s having so much sex she can?t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.”
      ?
      Crude, perhaps, but he does have a point.? Why are they asking the government to pay for a non medical, recreational activity?? What about the guys?? If you want to play, you have to pay.
      ?
      Fluke’s dragging the church into her plea was irrelevant, as it would not affect her in the least.? Her “friend” with polycystic ovaries are equally superfluous, as that is a medical condition, not a contraceptive one, and would be covered, by her own…



    • crystal4 on March 2, 2012 at 2:00 pm

      Oooooooohhh! Soooorrry! he only called HER a “slut”,”prostitute”, Round heeled”…and wanted her to post videos of herself having sex. So, then that’s OK…
      #igiveup



    • Dimsdale on March 2, 2012 at 3:52 pm

      Yes, as I said.? YOU said that he called ALL women “sluts”.?? I have shown you to be incorrect.? As Steve’s later post on the costs of birth control note, either she is a really bad shopper, or she is a really “good date” to have spent $3,000 on contraception.
      ?
      Any comments on the church comments etc?



    • Lucinda on March 2, 2012 at 2:13 pm

      ?”Illustrating absurdity by being absurd.” First line of the post.
      ?
      ?
      ?
      ?



    • Lynn on March 2, 2012 at 3:51 pm

      Do you promise to give up?



  2. chelly1222 on March 2, 2012 at 3:16 pm

    And Imus only called them knappy-headed hoes.



  3. sammy22 on March 2, 2012 at 5:15 pm

    Defending the indefensible, way to go.



    • crystal4 on March 2, 2012 at 6:04 pm

      4 advertisers dropped and others considering because of thousands of angry customer calls. But people here see no problem.
      And Lynn if you want me out…just say the word.



    • Lynn on March 3, 2012 at 8:37 am

      Stay, Crystal, I just have to learn NOT to eat before I read your posts.? Most of the time you provide me with my daily laugh. Besides I truly doubt I have the power to silence you.? I think you LIVE to antagonize.



  4. Dimsdale on March 2, 2012 at 9:18 pm

    Should we have to pay for any of her other extracurricular activities, i.e. skiing, which is also voluntary and has health implications.? Roller blading?? Sky diving?? SCUBA diving?
    ?
    What is the difference?



    • crystal4 on March 3, 2012 at 6:23 am

      Missed the point again.
      You are so wrapped up in defending Rush, you never even heard what she said. You are quite content to just follow him without question and follow his lies about what she said. . (She spoke about 2 of her fellow students who used birth control to correct medical problems.) Content to uphold the spin once again.
      Sandra was exercising her 1st amendment rights. You, Rush, and all of you have every right to disagree with her. However now the debate has just evolved into vitriol and ad hominem attacks and you defend that. The days of civil discourse is gone, I just realized. Just vitriol and hate speech from the” leader of the right”? and his fans.



    • Dimsdale on March 3, 2012 at 10:47 am

      Actually, you didn’t listen to her: the use of the contraceptive drugs to correct medical problems would be covered, probably even under the coverage provided by churches if it can be shown (and it can, easily) that the use is for medical, not purely contraceptive use.
      ?
      And my point is precisely on target: there is no difference.?? Risky recreational behavior should be at the cost of the participant, not everyone else.
      ?
      Of course she was exercising her First Amendment rights.? As was Limbaugh.? Either is permitted to display whatever level of competence or stupidity, politeness or crassness, that they choose.? It only behooves us to allow both sides to be heard.
      ?
      As I noted to sammy once, civil discourse died with the 2000 election.



  5. ricbee on March 2, 2012 at 10:36 pm

    Rush seemed to think that Fluke needed a pill everytime she put out,that’s why is cost her so much. According to the Daily Wrap,he’s in big trouble with his sponsors.



    • Dimsdale on March 3, 2012 at 1:39 pm

      Actually, that is the conclusion you have to draw from her faulty total.?



  6. winnie on March 3, 2012 at 12:40 am

    I’m sorry, but any young woman who’s going to Georgetown on a *public interest scholarship* to become a lawyer (or maybe someday a community organizer?) should not be testifying in front of congress on her extracurriculars if she doesn’t want people to think poorly of her.? Yes, it’s assumed that young, college-aged women have sex…It is not assumed they will go stand in front of congress, whine about how expensive it is for bc and then start a media fire storm when Rush calls a duck a duck.? Apparently Fluke has not yet gotten to the word “discretion” in her English vocabulary.
    The desperation of the left during this election cycle is quite fascinating and entertaining to watch.? We’ve gone from race in 2008, to religion and reproductive rights in 2012.? They’re creating a fight where there is none:? contraception AND abortion are both L-E-G-A-L.? If you can’t pay for it, get a job.
    Whoops!? not too many of those out there, are there?? Thanks, Obama!



  7. Lynn on March 3, 2012 at 8:47 am

    Fluke is too young to remember the Women’s Lib era.? “I am Woman Hear Me Roar” was on the radio constantly. Commercials extolling I can ” cook up the bacon” and several other tasks at the same time. If Fluke can’t take the heat, she ought to stay out of the kitchen. Conservative women who speak out get no defense from the MSM. No pity for anything that is said about Fluke, she has all of MSM defending her.



  8. sammy22 on March 3, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    Still defending Rush’s remarks, or at best giving him a pass. Pathetic!



    • socialenemy on March 3, 2012 at 12:57 pm

      Damn right we’re defending his first ammendment rights to say whatever the hell he wans on HIS show that YOU do NOT have to listen to until less you CHOSE to. Funny how neither you or Crystal have bothered to speak on the fact that contraception is perfectly affordable via the above post from Target and how this young womens whole argument is standing on thin ice. If che can’t afford $9 a month a target then she is wasting her money some place else since she’s on a public scholarship, perhaps she should learn to be more CONSERVATIVE with her money.

      Notice, not a single insult.



  9. sammy22 on March 3, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    I am not defending Ms. Fluke and I know perfectly well that contraception pills are not expensive. What I have commented on is on what Rush said and on the “rush” to defend his remarks. I find them offensive, I have yet to read that other people on this blog, other crystal4, find them offensive.



    • Lynn on March 3, 2012 at 1:22 pm

      Well Sammy, People call them as they see them. When I was in high school, many a girl was called a whore, slut or worse, if they “put out”. Both girls and boys made the comments openly.? I’m not perfect, but I rarely spoke a “discouraging word and the skies were not cloudy all day” (from Home on the Range) . I never said anything to anyone who spoke their mind, it was their right. Rush may have made a poor decision by using the word on the radio, but he will suffer the consequences for his actions. I will defend anyone for saying their opinions, but they may suffer the consequences of making me sick. I have no bully pulpit except RVO.



  10. Dimsdale on March 3, 2012 at 1:29 pm

    Why can’t we be defending Rush’s RIGHT to say his remarks, just as I (and you) respectFluke’s right to say hers.?
    ?
    Of course, we have a right to remark about either.



    • crystal4 on March 3, 2012 at 7:52 pm

      I have a right to go on air if wtic would let me and call you (Dimsdale) anything I want. I can say you are a pimp , etc. Then you have a right to sue me for defamation of character.
      BTW, what’s your real name? 😀



    • Dimsdale on March 3, 2012 at 9:53 pm

      I am sure you could call in and do that.? Knock yourself out.? My full name is Dimsdale Q. Piranha.? If I were a pimp, I would be paid a lot more than my teaching job!



  11. sammy22 on March 3, 2012 at 3:09 pm

    Rush can say what he wants to say: it is his right of free speech. Neither I nor crystal4 disagreed with that.



    • Dimsdale on March 3, 2012 at 9:55 pm

      I only said that you were assuming that I was defending him, which I am not.?? Only his right to say whatever he can say within the rules of the airwaves.? Ever listen to Florida talk radio, by the way?? It is outrageous!
      ?
      I heard he apologized by the way.? His wife probably made him do it!? 😉



  12. winnie on March 3, 2012 at 4:06 pm

    …and the beat goes on.? This THIRTY YEAR OLD law student is now considering suing Rush.? She’s nothing but a shill for Obama…nothing but a useful idiot (see?? I didn’t even have to call her the other “s” word).
    Can’t wait to see how this plays out with Rush’s “freedom of speech”.?
    ?



  13. JBS on March 3, 2012 at 7:12 pm

    Wow, I go away for a day and . . .
    Facts: Fluke put it out there (NO pun) and Limbaugh called it. First Amendment all the way. Like it or lump it. Analogy: MLB pitcher throws a pitch over the plate, swing and a miss, and the ump calls it! Steeerrrriiiike!
    Fluke will look worst than she is (now a useful tool) if she sues. Slander is a verbalized lie or . . . sad, what a sorry thing this woman has done.
    (Hint: with all of Limbaugh’s money, wouldn’t he consult a lawyer(s) BEFORE jeopardizing himself?)



square-brian-williams

The website's content and articles were migrated to a new framework in October 2023. You may see [shortcodes in brackets] that do not make any sense. Please ignore that stuff. We may fix it at some point, but we do not have the time now.

You'll also note comments migrated over may have misplaced question marks and missing spaces. All comments were migrated, but trackbacks may not show.

The site is not broken.