What Rush has to accept is that two wrongs do not make a right. The left has raised misogyny to an art form. Even a master entertainer like Rush can't top them in that realm. He, therefore, shouldn't even try.

If rush is truely "the leader of the opposition" the opposition (all of whom have mothers, many wives and daughters), really, really, need to do some soul searching.

Well said, Jeff. Rush missed an opportunity on this issue. The absurdity of a woman begging for free birth control was more than enough to make the point. There was no need to verbally assault her, and in doing so, Rush has helped the left wing. Rush is so popular because he is so funny. This was not funny, and was a grave mistake. He needs to do more.

Mr. Limbaugh does not have "conservative views." They are reactionary and destructive. Do you really agree with his hateful language bordering on racist of our president? He has forever espoused a veiled disdain for strong and intelligent women(femi-nazis). So tell us Mr. Jacoby which of his opinions do you agree with? His diatribe and more importantly his adoring audience demonstrate a mean streak that is so off the charts it is hard to make any accommodation for what he spews out to these "dittoheads" every day. I would not call for his removal unless, like in the present case, he continues to be outright libelous. The only reason he is not off the air is that most people recognize that his hate mongering is part of his act. As the late Christopher Hitchens said: "If you present an argument without evidence, it can be dismissed without evidence." So let it be with Limbaugh.

I could take all the liberal outrage about Limbaugh's disgusting remarks more seriously if those same outraged liberals demanded that Bill Maher at HBO and the misogynists at MSNBC apologize for their disgusting slurs aimed at Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann. As Kirsten Powers said on Daily Beast, we should not tolerate crude verbal attacks on women regardless of their political positions.

His "apology" was exactly as expected considering is lack of common decency.

Rush has apologized enough. His monologue on his Monday show was very sincere, well thought out and rational. Someday in the future after leftists have brought this country down for good I hope the mainstream media will find it in their hearts to offer a belated apology for their roll in our demise with their incessant focus on these marginal issues while the world burns down all around us.

My Lord, has Hell frozen over? Jacoby for once has not spouted what I feel is utter nonsense. Maybe there is a God, no holding my breath or betting the rent however.

"I'm no Limbaugh-hater. Far from it. I'm a conservative who shares most of El Rushbo's political views and appreciates his sense of humor." The quote seemed perfectly believable until I got to the last four words. What sense of humor? Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Gingrich have done more to degrade and coarsen political discourse than most but I can believe Gingrich has a sense of humor. His speech to the CPAC convention contained some real wit. Yet his systematic undermining of real political dialogue over the twenty five years or so has left a terrible legacy, and Limbaugh is part of that legacy. Jacoby is inadvertently funny when he gets huffy about the suggestion that only listening to Limbaugh might not lead to a balanced view of political ideas and events. "You can't just listen to Rush.." What a vile and vicious attack! There are people on the Right with great senses of humor. Mike Huckabee comes to mind. William F. Buckley was often as witty as he was wrong (from my point of view). But Rush Limbaugh is about as reliable as an editor at The Daily Worker...and just as predictable.

Wow, I was wondering how long it would take for a Jacoby basher to sign on this morning. You win the trophy today.

No prominent Democrat is afraid of Bill Maher the way that most prominent Republicans are afraid of Rush Limbaugh. Or hadn't you noticed the luke-warm to nonexistent criticisms from the GOP presidential candidates?

I commend Mr Jacoby for doing such a good job of pretending that he doesn't understand that this is simply what Mr Limbaugh does. He's become extremely wealthy by understanding exactly what his audience wants to hear, and sliming semi-anonymous figures from the other side is right in his sweet spot.

After admittedly enabling Limbaugh, Jeff says he shouldn't do what he does.

First, plaudits to Jeff for generally getting this one correct... However, his and some of the commenter's suggestion that Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher are Right/Left equivalents doesn't pass the smell test... Rush is not only a demagoguing 'entertainer' who's success rests much more on his pandering to his audience, he's also an acknowledged leading voice in the Republican Party... Maher, on the other hand, takes Conservatives at their word and uses humor to point out the absurdity(and often the accompanying hypocrisy) of their postions... and other than his recent donation to Obama's superpac, Maher isn't referenced as an opinion leader by anyone on the left...

"Have you no sense of decency sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency?" These words were spoken by Joseph Welch, attorney for the US Army, during the Army/McCarthy hearings in the 1950s after Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis) smeared a young lawyer on Welch's staff. These words could apply today to Limbaugh's smear of the young student who testified before a house committee.

There are two problems with making a 'non-apology.' First and foremost, there is the failure to acknowledge that an act (or expressed sentiment) was wrong, but the second is that any future apology will fail to convince. Ironically, for those complaining about Bill Maher, Maher himself is speaking out in Limbaugh's defense.

So are you saying that it is OK for Maher to use the c-word when referring to GOP women? I smell a double standard here.

So do we allow disgusting speech in inverse proportion to the speaker's political clout? What a strange principle. I would like to see Maher, Chris Matthews, Limbaugh and everyone else avoid sexist language directed at women whose opinions they disagree with.

Jacoby, Why can't you just say that what Limbaugh did was just plain "wrong" instead of couching it in right wing rhetoric and, of course, pointing out the mea-culpa's of the left. While your editorial is trying to convince us that you're taking the moral high ground, your obvious intent is to mitigate the public outcry for Limbaugh's head that's long overdue. You think that your clever innuendo fools us? Your writing is, and always has been, Republican propaganda designed to side track, or distort, rather then educate, inform, or stimulate rational discourse. It's the kind of writing that belongs in the "Daily Sleaze" rather then the Boston Globe.

It's not the same to call Sarah Palin a name, Laura Ingraham, etc., they have power, they can get on Fox News the next day and speak to tens of millions of people about what a slimeball they think Bill Maher or Ed Schultz is. That's satire, mocking the powerful. And both Palin and Ingraham are awful people, who have said hateful and racist things to stoke their shameless base of idiots. Sandra Fluke is not a "liberal activist," she's speaking on behalf of the rights of ALL women, in a month when the GOP and the Catholic church have gone into full-bore attack mode on women. What Rush said is the underlying mentality behind the vicious insanity we've heard from the right-wing this past month on issues like birth control.

My, my, what amazing arguments one can construct in order to justify rabid political speech by liberal "satirists." Your post raises the double standard to a higher order of magnitude.