Brent Bozell’s cowardice in the face of Rush Limbaugh continues.
Bozell penned a letter to CNN’s Piers Morgan complaining that he criticized Rush Limbaugh’s three-day parade of sleaze against Sandra Fluke while having Bill Maher, who has used “far more vile sexist language,” as a guest of his show. As before, Bozell can’t bring himself to anything but the most tepid criticism of Limbaugh’s vicious smears of Fluke:
Rush Limbaugh made the regrettable blunder of calling Sandra Fluke, who testified on behalf of the administration’s mandate against religiously affiliated institutions, “a slut.” Let’s all agree Limbaugh crossed a line. He agrees. He issued an apology to Fluke “for the insulting word choices.” This should be sufficient, but it’s not and the skewering continues.
Bozell doesn’t mention the reason Limbaugh’s apology is not considered sufficient — Limbaugh apologized only for using two words, “slut” and “prostitute,” and not the dozens of other attacks he hurled at Fluke.
Also: “regrettable blunder”? Is that the strongest criticism of Limbaugh that Bozell can utter in public? What is wrong with him? Does Limbaugh have something on him that he will unleash if Bozell commits the offense of criticizing him too harshly, even for an offense that cries out for harsh criticism?
Bozell continues:
In the interest of promoting and cultivating a meaningful dialogue based on mutual respect, you and other prominent figures in the media, including other journalists at CNN, ought to report such defamatory personal insults made towards all public figures.
Double standards only serve to make these situations worse. If you are really serious about promoting civil discourse you should treat figures like Maher, Schultz and other liberal pundits the same way you treat Limbaugh.
I think a constructive conversation can be had in the media addressing such a double standard, and you are certainly in a place to do just that.
We suggest that Morgan start that conversation with the issue of Bozell’s own blatant and pathetic double standard.