The controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on Sandra Fluke appear to be moving from the front page, but the story is hardly finished. In fact, according to Media Matters’ count, 45 advertisers — and counting — have now canceled their ads from the Republican host’s radio show.
What’s more, it seems Limbaugh isn’t quite done sharing his thoughts on women. Adam Clark Estes reported this morning that he’s got a new target, author Tracie McMillan, who’ll be chatting with Rachel Maddow on tonight’s show:
Less than a week after calling Sandra Fluke a “slut” on the air, Rush Limbaugh ran his mouth again on Tuesday, calling investigative journalist Tracie McMillan a “babe”, an “authorette” and, more broadly, one of “these single white women.” What makes the talk show host’s poor choice of words even worse is that he was discussing McMillan’s book, as he was trying to prove that the right wasn’t waging a “war on women.” From McMillan’s point of view, this seemed an inopportune time to use diminutive terms in dismissing the in depth reporting and critically acclaimed work of a female author.
“It’s been really interesting to have somebody be that openly dismissive of my work strictly based on the fact that I’m female,” McMillan told The Atlantic Wire. “There’s no other way to think about it except that Rush Limbaugh just doesn’t think women count.” McMillan went on to explain how her book approaches some difficult issues about the food that feeds America and the conditions for the workers that produce it, however Limbaugh didn’t seem willing to engage in that debate. Instead, he focused on her being a woman.
When complaining about the author, Limbaugh told his listeners, “What is it with all of these young single white women, overeducated — doesn’t mean intelligent.”
I’m not altogether sure what the host was trying to say with this — I seem to have lost my far-right decoder ring — but the larger point seems to be that Limbaugh doesn’t care for McMillan’s work, which immediately leads him to complain about her being a young woman. It’s almost as if this guy has a hangup regarding gender. As for the larger point, Steve Kornacki noted yesterday that Limbaugh is “poisoning” the Republican brand. I suspect that’s probably right, and given recent events, I also suspect Limbaugh doesn’t care.
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