He didn't tell the truth, that's the problem. Fluke never mentioned her own contraceptive needs a single time. Not a single time. She never mentioned the cost of her own contraception. Not a single time. She never mentioned that she had taken, was taking, or was going to take contraceptives. Not a single time. She never mentioned her own sex life. Not a single time.
Fluke was sent out by the Democrats as an "expert" on women's contraception, and she was primarily going to make up things talk about women who needed oral contraception for medical reasons, but had it denied for because it was contraception. She wasn't an expert and wasn't allowed to testify before Congress. So the Democrats allowed her to speak (not under oath) to them, and the media covered it. Rush reported that Fluke talked about her own sex life and sex and contraceptive needs. She didn't.
Other specific women and women and general were the entire premise of her testimony; most of it were other specific women. Right after the introduction, Fluke said:
"When I look around my campus, I see the faces of the women affected by this lack of contraceptive coverage. [I]n the last week, I have heard more and more of their stories. On a daily basis, I hear yet from another woman from Georgetown or from another school or who works for a religiously-affiliated employer, and they tell me that they have suffered financially and emotionally and medically because of this lack of coverage.“And so, I’m here today to share their voices, and I want to thank you for allowing them – not me – to be heard.
Fluke talked about other women (who may or may not exist). When Fluke talked about the Georgetown policy later, she didn't say what she thought about it, she said what another woman thought about it:
“As one other student put it: ‘This policy communicates to female students that our school doesn’t understand our needs.’
Rush blew it. People who said Fluke talked about her sex life aren't sticking to the facts. Fluke never mentioned her own contraception; Fluke never mentioned her sex life, the cost of her contraceptives, whether she was on contraceptives, whether she's straight, or anything.
Here's what Fluke said. I ask: Where's the "Fluke is a slut" part? Fluke said:
(1) one woman (not Fluke) felt embarrassed and powerless when she 'learned for the first time that contraception was not covered on her insurance and she had to turn and walk away because she couldn’t afford that prescription';
(2) a married female student told Fluke that she had to stop using contraception because "she and her husband just couldn’t fit it into their budget anymore;"
(3) 'women employed in low-wage jobs without contraceptive coverage can't fit contraception into their budgets;'
(4) a friend has polycystic ovarian syndrome, and her birth control prescription is 'technically covered by Georgetown’s insurance because it’s not intended to prevent pregnancy', but the *gay* friend was denied coverage because the insurance company decided that she really wanted birth control to prevent pregnancy;
(5) a woman said doctors believe she has endometriosis, but that can’t be proven without surgery, so the insurance won't cover birth control pills for endometriosis;
(6) another woman told Fluke that she also has polycystic ovarian syndrome and Georgetown quit paying for it last August;
and (7) one woman (a really bright woman, apparently) allegedly knew about Georgetown's unwillingness to cover birth control, so when she was raped she didn't seek medical attention because she thought Georgetown didn't cover women's health issues.
Then she said that when 'we' women came to Georgetown we expected women to be treated fairly and to care for all of 'our' medical needs.
So . . . where is the "I'm a slut" part of the testimony? And Rush went into great detail about Fluke - how, based on her statement, she was having sex with three guys a day, and how she was a prostitute, and how she said she was having sex with so many guys she couldn't walk . . . and on and on for four days. But Fluke never said any of those things. Rush made them up. And he presented them as factual statements that she made. And people believed them. And based on those statements (which she didn't make), Rush said she was a slut and a prostitute.
As part of his apology today, Rush came out and noted that Fluke's presentation was about the medical issues of women at Georgetown, and contraception. Which it was (whether or not it was factual). It was never about the amount of sex, and it was never about Fluke's own sex life. Rush made every single word of that up.
At the same time you have to look at the ten second passage of Rush commentary that aroused all the furore. Rush hypothesizes that Fluke was a slut — and then backs off the hypothesis, calling her by some lesser term. Round heeled, if I read it correctly. This was not a piece of studied discourse over many minutes. A clarification might have been called for, but not the “apology” or letting the matter hog his entire subsequent show.
How can they not afford a $9 pack of pills, but can afford to go to school at Georgetown? Fluke is full of it! They could get the pills for free at the County Health Dept. if they are considered impoverished.