Today I read two thought-provoking articles worthy of note. Daily Beast Columnist Kirsten Powers' article "Rush Limbaugh isn't the Only Media Misogynist" gave me pause to examine myself and others on the issue of the "war on women". As I pondered that article, I stumbled on Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty's article "Rush Limbaugh Not the Only Culprit, left guilty of misogyny" with a similar message.
Here's the question generally posed by both Powers and Tumulty:
When are we going to hear similar outrage over the sexism of the left-leaning commentariat?
Maybe David Frum is right about this, in a column on the comparison between Rush Limbaugh’s “slut” comments and the similar remarks that have befouled the careers of various left-wing entertainers:
[Rush] Limbaugh’s place in American public life is in no way comparable to that of David Letterman, Bill Maher or Ed Schultz.I'd love to hear your comments to address this question.
Letterman is not a political figure at all; and while Maher and Schultz strongly identify as liberals, neither qualifies as anything like a power broker in the Democratic Party. I’m sure the Barack Obama re-election effort is happy to have Maher’s million-dollar gift, but I sincerely doubt there is a Democratic congressman who worries much whether Maher criticizes him … Among TV and radio talkers and entertainers, there is none who commands anything like the deference that Limbaugh commands from Republicans: not Rachel Maddow, not Jon Stewart, not Michael Moore, not Keith Olbermann at his zenith.
… That is why no one asks Democratic politicians to repudiate the latest strident statement from an Olbermann or a Moore. There’s no sport in it. It’s too easy for them to say, “Sure.” For Republicans, it’s tough.
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