MY NEW HERO
Sandra Fluke
I’d imagine that the last place Sandra Fluke wanted to find herself is in the middle of the controversy surrounding the Rabid Right’s decision to demagogue reproductive health care. To her credit, despite being publicly savaged by Rush Limbaugh in the most vile and disgusting manner possible, Ms. Fluke has comported herself with a grace and dignity particularly notable for being an elegant counterpoint to Limbaugh’s piggish immaturity.
I can’t imagine that I would have been able to muster the preternaturally dispassionate composure that Ms. Fluke has, but I love the way in which she’s handling herself. Her firm, polite, and understated refusal to accept Limbaugh’s limp, ineffectual “apology” displays a degree of refinement and maturity that Limbaugh couldn’t muster if his life depended on it.
Ms. Fluke, and those advising her, clearly understand that bullies cannot be destroyed by frontal assaults. They recognize that the only way to effectively destroy a bully like Limbaugh is by appealing to our better angels. It takes time and patience, but in the final analysis she (and all of us who value decency and polite discourse) will triumph grandly.
It’ll be a great day when Rush Limbaugh signs off his radio show for the last time and is consigned to the one thing a narcissist such as himself most fears: anonymity.
Well played, Ms. Fluke. You have a brilliant future before you.