'I used a rude word about a public figure who gives as good as she gets,' Maher said. | REUTERS Maher: Rush attacked a 'civilian'

Bill Maher, who has attracted fresh criticism for past comments about Sarah Palin in the aftermath of Rush Limbaugh calling a law student a “slut,” said in an interview that comparing his use of the “c word” to the radio host’s controversial remarks is “ridiculous.”

“To compare that to Rush is ridiculous – he went after a civilian about very specific behavior, that was a lie, speaking for a party that has systematically gone after women’s rights all year, on the public airwaves,” Maher told Jake Tapper of ABC News. “I used a rude word about a public figure who gives as good as she gets, who’s called people ‘terrorist’ and ‘unAmerican.’ Sarah Barracuda.”


Maher added, “The First Amendment was specifically designed for citizens to insult politicians. Libel laws were written to protect law students speaking out on political issues from getting called whores by Oxycontin addicts.”

After Limbaugh began coming under fire last month for calling Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute” for testifying on Capitol Hill about contraception coverage — resulting in a backlash against “The Rush Limbaugh Show” in which companies began pulling ads from the popular program — questions were raised about whether there should be more consequences for Maher, who has called Palin and other public figures derogatory words in the past.

Palin described the controversy surrounding Limbaugh’s remarks as “ the definition of hypocrisy,” charging that plenty of “leftist radicals” are never held accountable for their name-calling, while Maher was similarly blasted by the radio personality on the air.

“You won’t get apologies from people like Bill Maher or all the other leftists who have said some of the most horrible, despicable things about us, and people like Sarah Palin,” Limbaugh said earlier in the month.

Maher, who recently made headlines for donating $1 million to President Barack Obama’s super PAC, told Tapper that his comedy routine that referred to Palin as a “c—t” drew “one of the biggest laughs,” and that “not one person ever registered disapproval.”

“It was a routine where that word came in at just the right moment. Context is very important, and it’s also important to remember that stand-up comedy is the final frontier of free speech,” he said. “Still, I stopped doing that routine, but I would like someone to replace that word if it’s so awful with another one that has the same meaning for a person — not just women, it’s a word you can and lots do, all the British, for example, use [it] for both sexes. It has a very specific meaning.”

Asked about other offensive things he has said in the past, Maher pointed out that taking out of context snippets of his comedy routine from over a decade would “make anyone look bad.”

“In general, this is an obvious right-wing attempt to dredge up some old s—t about me to deflect from their self-inflicted problems. They are the kings of false equivalencies,” he said.

Maher, who tweeted at the height of the Limbaugh controversy that liberals were “looking bad” for not accepting Limbaugh’s initial apology for his comments about Fluke, continued to repeat his defense of Limbaugh’s right to stay on the air, even while maintaining that the radio host’s comment was “disgusting.”

Limbaugh mocked CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and others in the press on his show Thursday for portraying Maher as a “casualty” in the controversy surrounding Fluke.

“Poor guy, Bill Maher, the latest casualty casualty in the firestorm engulfing me! I didn’t say anything about Bill Maher,” Limbaugh said, laughing. “The latest casualty. This is the last thing they thought would happen, that this attention would be focused on them — and that, they don’t want. You know, liberals, ladies and gentlemen, are still in a state of shock and disbelief over the notion that social issues don’t hurt Republicans.”

This article tagged under: Rush Limbaugh

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