A Personal Thank You to Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh has managed to do something good, perhaps for the first time in his life.

He didn't intend it; quite the opposite, I imagine.

But thanks to the aftermath of his vicious personal attacks on a young woman, compounded over several days and capped off with an apology that underlines his fundamental misogyny, he has helped to clearly and finally demonstrate one thing:

The GOP candidates for president are cowards.

Some of us remember the ill-fated campaign of Michael Dukakis. One of the death blows to his candidacy, according to "conventional wisdom", was his response in a presidential debate to a question posed by CNN anchor Bernard Shaw about whether he'd support the death penalty for someone who had raped and murdered his wife Kitty. His professorial, cerebral response was widely considered proof that he lacked passion and real humanity.

Rush Limbaugh has inadvertently taken on the role of Bernard Shaw. He has exposed the fatal character flaws in each of the Republican candidates.

Witness the responses to questions about Limbaugh calling a young woman a "slut" and "prostitute" for speaking publicly about the politics of women's health issues:

Romney: "I'll just say this, which is, it's not the language I would have used," adding that he's more interested in economic issues.

Santorum: Said that Rush, as an entertainer, was just engaging in absurdist humor. No harm, no foul.

Paul: "It sounded a little crude the way it came across to me," Paul said. "I don't know why it has to be such a political football like this, so you have to ask him about his crudeness." In other words, maybe a little offensive in his choice of words. But no real objection to the substance of Limbaugh's attack on a young woman.

Boehner: "The speaker obviously believes the use of those words was inappropriate, as is trying to raise money off the situation," Michael Steel, Boehner's spokesman, told CNN. In other words, there is fault on both sides; move along.

And perhaps the winner in the category of slimy cowards, Gingrich, when asked about Rush's comments, replied: "I'm not paying attention.... "I'm not paying attention," he repeated. "I'm paying attention to the president apologizing to people who killed Americans."

Every one of them, to a "man", was afraid to come to the defense of not just one young woman, but all women who use contraception, for fear of offending Jabba the Rush. Afraid of Limbaugh to the point that they let an insult to their own mothers, daughters, and sisters to pass without reprimand.

They are all unwilling to defend defenseless women against a drug-addled bully. Portraits in cowardice more stark than this are hard to come by.

So thank you, Rush, for making it apparent to all the women and men of America:

The GOP is the party of cowards.