Obama Backs Limbaugh Students in The Fray with Birth Control

Election-year struggle over the administration of birth control policy increases Friday, with two figures may be – a Georgetown University law student and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh – takes center stage in political conflicts and attract a lot of official Washington to the field.

On Friday, a day after Senate Democrats beat back Republican challenges to the new policy, President Obama called Fluke Sandra, Georgetown students who attacked the burner from Mr. Limbaugh, to thank him for his public support regulatory mandate contraceptive coverage.

Calls by Mr Obama to Ms Fluke, an activist on issues that have been banned by the Republicans of the House who heard the testimony last month, provided new fuel to the dispute that has spilled into Congress and into the campaign and has been a major source of contention between the two parties . Republicans have tried to use the issue to mobilize conservative and Catholic voters who see contraception as a violation of the mandate of religious freedom.

But in Ms. Fluke and he has drawn scorn from conservative commentators, the Democrats may have found a symbol for what they called “war on women” Republican who could spell more trouble for the Republican Party is showing signs of a problem with women voters.

The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said the President told Ms. Fluke that he stood by him in the face of personal attacks on right wing radio. Obama believes, Mr. Carney said that Mr. Limbaugh’s comments about Ms. Fluke is “unfortunate attack,” and Mr. Carney called them “disgraceful.”

Ms. Fluke, 30, also drew support from the president of Georgetown University, which unlike in the past the university’s refusal to provide insurance coverage for contraception.

University president, John J. DeGioia, said in a statement: “One need not agree with his substantive position to support her right to respect freedom of expression. However, some of those who disagree with his position – including Rush Limbaugh and commentators throughout the blogosphere and on various other media channels – respond with behavior that can only be described as misogynistic, spicy, and the misrepresentation of the position of students. “

Obama called him just before he appeared on MSNBC.

“He encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for talking about the problems of American women,” he told the program host, Andrea Mitchell. “And what’s really personal to me is that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud of. And that means a lot, because Rush Limbaugh questioned whether my family will be proud of me.”

The storm began after Ms. Fluke took public campaign for contraceptive coverage in Georgetown, a Jesuit university in Washington, as the Republican Party and Catholic Church leaders criticized the Obama administration’s mandate contraception. Mr. Limbaugh then called her a “whore” and “whore”, drew criticism from Democrats.

On Friday, the House speaker, John A. Boehner, called Limbaugh’s comments “inappropriate.” Says Rick Santorum, former senator running for the Republican presidential nomination has been pushed into the spotlight of social conservatism, Mr. Limbaugh CNN that it “made sense.”

But, he adds, “the entertainer can make sense.”

In a radio show on Friday, Mr. Limbaugh said Ms. Fluke was used as a political pawn by the Democrats for fundraising and other purposes.

“The Democratic Party desperately,” said Mr. Limbaugh. “This is all they have, is to go out and try to discredit their critics, to doubt and discredit those who disagree with them.”

Democrats are trying to capitalize on the group action, circulating a call for support for Ms Fluke associated with fundraising appeals.

“Personal attacks on students – and all women – can not be ignored,” said one attraction of the Democratic senatorial campaign committee. “Stand with us, and condemned the heinous attack Rush Limbaugh’s.”

Ms. Fluke, a third-year law student, there are new people to the cause. He served as president and secretary of the Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice, as vice president of the Alliance of Women Law, and as an editor at The Georgetown Journal of Gender and Law. In their capacity, Ms. Fluke, a graduate of Cornell, had run-ins with the university’s access to contraception.

A week after he closed the hearing House, House Democrats gave him a platform at an informal Democratic event in which he testified that a fellow student Jesuit university to pay him as much as $ 1,000 per year for contraceptives that are not covered by student health plan.

In the event Wednesday, Mr. Limbaugh said: “What makes it? This makes her a prostitute, right? This makes her a whore” Those comments and others whipped up a frenzy of cancellations, but on Thursday, Mr. Limbaugh held land, stating: “. If we are going to pay for contraception you and thus you pay to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to send video online so that we can all watch.”

Mr. Boehner condemned those comments Friday, but also criticized Democrats operating funds derived from the latest Limbaugh imbroglio.

“The speaker obviously believes that the use of inappropriate words, such as trying to collect money from the situation,” said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.

Some advertisers also expressed concern. On Friday, as the complaints about Mr. Limbaugh’s comments are attached, a handful of companies said that they had stopped their ads on “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” at least temporarily. One company, Quicken Loans, writing on Twitter, “Because of continued inflammatory comments – along with valuable feedback from clients and team members -. QL has stopped advertising on the Rush Limbaugh program”

On Thursday, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, House minority leader, said in an appeal fund that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “women’s health rapid response fund” has collected $ 1.1 million and close to 500 000 signatures “on our petition against Republicans’ despicable attack on women’s rights. “

By Friday afternoon, the campaign committee has raised $ 1.6 million since February 24, a day after Representative Darrell Issa hearing in this matter. Two drive has netted 600 000 petition signatures; 152 000 Democrats signed a petition on Thursday alone.

Republicans criticized such efforts, but the Congress of the Republican National Committee launched their own campaign funds for what he calls “the Obama administration’s decision to trample the religious freedom of Christian charity -. Forcing them to provide free birth control”