Pretty Women

I stumbled upon this item of "worth" (I use the term very lightly) as I was visiting a website I read quite often and ironically enough, the link was e-mailed to me by a sincere fan.

Rush Limbaugh doesn't understand why women don't like him. Now, of course I'm not saying that if you are a woman that automatically makes you a Rush hater. I'm not like Rush, lumping everyone who falls under a category (in one way, shape, or form), as all being exactly the same as the most extreme person in the group. There are many women out there who are big fans of Limbaugh and I do not mean to discredit them here. Rush is referring to a poll that was recently released, which found that there was a 31 point gap between his positive viewership with men and his negative viewership with women. His response? What could be the problem? After all he is just "a harmless little fuzzball" and "the sweetest, nicest, most generous, compassionate, confident, cocky, I-know-what-I-want-and-I-know-what's-right-and-I'm-going-to-say-what-I-think kinda guy" Well, at least two of those adjectives are correct, so he's not a total liar. We can always give credit where credit is due.

Where to even begin. For starters, you have to understand that his confusion concerning this issue absolutely proves that his many, many, many, sexist quotes are founded in a sincere belief. He doesn't see anything wrong with making these comments. This, of course, leads to his bafflement concerning women's perception of him. Let's see how he handled this issue, shall we?

Rush decides to hold a Female Summit and is very clear about his ground rules. Only female callers will be accepted. Transsexuals need not apply. He only wants to speak with women who have issues with what he says and how he presents himself OR women who know other women who dislike him. He also expresses an interest in receiving constructive criticism on ways that he can better himself. Heck, he might even say he's sorry if you call him out on something just down right mean. Certainly someone will rise to the challenge.

No such luck for Dee. It wasn't just a true honor for her to be talking to El Rushbo, it was a "true, true honor". Double the pleasure, double the fun. She brings up a conservative friend of hers (who happens to be a schoolteacher) that really has no tolerance of Rush's show. Apparently, Rush tends to come off as "pompous". The woman being charged has only listened to the show once, and any idiot knows that to really understand Rush and get what he does so you can fully appreciate the majesty that is his golden microphone, you have to listen for at least six weeks. Really. So since she seems to have failed that litmus test, Rush's response is: "See, now, this is something about which I can do nothing...Here's a woman who's listened to me one time, she thinks I'm pompous. She's a schoolteacher, she's willing to profess her own ignorance by saying I'm pompous after having listened to one day, and she's out teaching kids? This woman is a menace to society." Dee is put on the spot when Rush asks her if she thinks he is pompous and Dee instantly says no but then tries to make a *gasp* point about how Rush talks about women. "Give me an example" Rush says three times. Does Dee say "Well there was that one time that you said 'Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream' and that other time when you said 'Let me leave you with a thought that honestly summarizes my sentiments: I love the women's movement, especially when I am walking behind it'?" No. Instead she says "Oh, well-" as Rush rambles on about referring to women as babes. He ends the discussion with "but as for this pompous stuff, that criticism, irrelevant, that woman's never listened, I'm not pompous, I'm not changing that." Lesson One? You can't judge a person's position and character by only listening to them for one day. You need to allow at least six weeks before you can make any honest assessment. Soo, according to that standard, I do believe President Obama has one more week of being in office before Rush should be able to assert a solid opinion on the President and his policies. Just a theory.

Deborah doesn't fare much better. She and Rush fail to discuss the difference between a catcall and a compliment and how the term "babe" can really come across as demeaning. Rather then decide that maybe he should cut down on the "babe" usage (feel free to interpret that any way you want) Rush blames the women; "I would say they need to lighten up, for crying out loud! Why do I have to change who I am? Why can't they just lighten up? Infobabe! Why can't they laugh? What is the problem with being light and lovable and just smiling now and then? Why must everything be said through gritted teeth and anger?" Lesson Two? Terms like "babe" and "anchorette" are just fine when referring to a female. Women fail to see how awesome labels like those are and come on, no one is exempt. Sarah Palin being a housewife and a babe was "icing on the cake" and she wouldn't remind any man of his ex-wife because she was not shrill. But, hey you! Bill Maher! "Fight attendant?" I don't think so.

Poor Rita tried to explain to Rush that sometimes he talks down to people. Rush didn't take kindly to that either, saying he just means to inspire his listeners and that he has the utmost respect for their intelligence (which he displays by posting links to his sources on his website, knowing that most people will just see the link and assume "well then his point must be true" rather then follow the link and see that more often then not, the information provided actually disproves El Rushbo and that he just pulled out some words that sounded good and then went bananas....I will report on my favorite incident of this, concerning Todd Palin, oh so soon). However, in a glimmer of hope, Rush does say this: "I will try to be more conscious of talking down, because I really don't want to" followed by "I have nothing but love, admiration, and respect for all the people of this country." Except for Liberals of course, We're all suffering from a mental derangement. Oh, and remember when Rush said this? "She comes to me when she wants to be fed. And after I feed her--guess what--she's off to wherever she wants to be in the house, until the next time she gets hungry. She's smart enough to know she can't feed herself. She's actually a very smart cat. She gets loved. She gets adoration. She gets petted. She gets fed. And she doesn't have to do anything for it, which is why I say this cat has taught me more about women, than anything in my whole life"

Thank God for Kaisha. She reminded us of the infamous word coined by Rush: "feminazi" Apparently, it has made it's way into a textbook in Kaisha's Gender Studies class and she's not happy about it. Neither is Rush. "What can I do to counter the rot that is in the textbook?" The "rot" he is referring to is this: "I prefer to call the most obnoxious feminists what they really are: feminazis. The term describes any female who is intolerant of any point of view that challenges militant feminism. I often use it to describe women who are obsessed with perpetuating a modern day holocaust: abortion" One idea he poses, is a bit of a revolt against the Liberal Collegiate System. We should just "let these women get out of school and grow up." And seriously, "These books, to say that we conservatives demean women? It's exact opposite of the truth". Hold on a second, Rush. Remind us what a feminazi is again? "A feminazi is a woman to whom the most important thing in life is seeing to it that as many abortions as possible are performed. Their unspoken reasoning is quite simple. Abortion is the single greatest avenue for militant women to exercise their quest for power and advance their belief that men aren't necessary. Nothing matters but me, says the feminazi: this is an unviable tissue mass. Feminazis have adopted abortion as a kind of sacrament for their religion/politics of alienation and bitterness." Right. Lesson Three: Rush doesn't say anything negative about women. Liberals just tell you that what he is saying is negative but it's just not true. Save yourself! Don't seek out an education! Remember what happened to "The Man Who Knew Too Much"?

Denise ends up being beside herself that she's actually talking to Rush. She gushes and fawns and helps Rush reach the conclusion that the problem with women's perception of him must be....peer pressure. "It sounds like a lot of women simply fall to peer pressure to not like me, and it's easier to just go along with the crowd than it is to stand up and be an individual." Denise didn't get to chat long because her compliments were one too many, but Rush was sure that if they had let her go on, she would have made her point. He can definitely tell one thing about her: "This woman likes a lot of foreplay."

The grand finale is named Janet and she has three ideas for Rush: 1.) Make women believe he cares more about them than their own husbands do, 2.) Project an air of vulnerability, and 3.) Stop saying that abortion is the sacrament to Liberalism. Not terrible ideas, but Rush fails to see the benefit. She's trying to emasculate him! Don't you see Janet? He can't lie. He's incapable. How could he change the very heart that defines his character? Hey! Remember when Rush said this during the election? "Okay, we got a poll out there, ladies and gentlemen, we always have a new poll to report. Get this one. This is an ABC News poll: "Unmarried women -- often dubbed the 'Sex and the City' vote -- overwhelmingly support Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., over Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in key battleground states, according to a recent poll. Single, divorced, separated, and widowed women voters in 14 battleground states favor the presumptive Democratic nominee over his Republican rival by 61 to 29 percent, according to a Democratic poll commissioned for Women's Voices Women Vote Action Fund , an advocacy group for unmarried women voters." Now, as a healthy, red-blooded American male, I have a question. I never heard of this Sex and the City vote. This is my first time hearing the term. But if single, divorced, separated, and widowed women -- in other words, women without men -- support Obama over McCain 61-29%, does this prove that when men are around, women get smarter and that when men leave, women get stupid? I mean, we could look at this data any way you want, folks, is what I'm trying to say here. So women who get divorced get dumber 'cause there's no smart guy around to keep 'em in line politically. Married women are obviously smarter. Married women are obviously more conservative. Single, divorced, widowed, separated women, no man around, the brain goes south. I can analyze this any way I want to. Screw the Drive-Bys, their stupid polls."

So what results can we come up with, after this, our first Female Summit with Rush Limbaugh and how should women react? Well, women could get angry. After all, Rush did say, "Women love validation. They love vindication. They love revenge". Or we could nod our heads and admit that he makes a point. He was pretty spot on when he said that "Women were doing quite well in this country before feminism came along". Why can't we accept that he just wants to bring us back to the good old days? I just can't decide. Rush? What have we ultimately learned?

"Our preliminary report -- and there will be a much more detailed report before our next Female Summit -- it appears that women who have hated me have been led to me by other men and then have changed their opinion, which means something I have always known, that women do want to please their men."

Couldn't have said it better myself.