Rush Limbaugh isn’t the only conservative who bashed Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student who advocated in favor of requiring insurance companies to cover contraception. Actress Patricia Heaton, of Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle fame, attacked Fluke via Twitter. 
 
 And now Heaton’s Twitter account has been deleted. Smells like a PR clean-up to us. Perhaps her bosses at ABC were worried that, as with Limbaugh, the nasty remarks would cause advertisers to flee. Maybe Heaton herself was wary of the backlash. Some of her many tweets about Fluke: 
 
 G -Gal: you’ve given yer folks great gift for Mother’s/Father’s Day! Got up in front of whole world & said I’m having tons of sex- pay 4 it! If every Tweaton sent Georgetown Gal one condom, her parents wouldn’t have to cancel basic cable, & she would never reproduce – sound good? Hey G-Town Gal: Plz let us also pay for your Starbucks, movie theater tickets, and your favorite hot wings combo deal at KFC! Anything else? 
 
 More of Heaton’s deleted tweets can be found on Crooks & Liars, Angry Black Girl, and Fanity. ||||| Rush Limbaugh Doubles Down On Sandra Fluke, Offering 'As Much Aspirin to Put Between Her Knees As She Wants' 
 
 (Image Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images) 
 
 ABC News' Alexa Keyes reports: 
 
 The social issues debate re-ignited on Capitol Hill today when senators killed a proposal to throw out President Obama's contraception mandate. Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh was thrust into the center of the debate after he called the woman who was denied the right to speak on the controversial all-male conception panel at a hearing last month a "slut" on his show Wednesday. The issue heated up more today when Limbaugh took his comments even further. 
 
 The conservative radio host's remarks sparked an angry backlash from House Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. But instead of heeding their requests for an apology, Limbaugh doubled down against what he called the "conniption fit" of the House Democrats. 
 
 Echoing Foster Friess, the single largest donor to the pro- Rick Santorum's super PAC, Limbaugh said that he would "happily buy [Fluke] all the aspirin she wants." 
 
 Limbaugh was referencing the comment Friess made in February when he said the "gals" in "his day" put aspirin between their legs in lieu of contraception. Limbaugh then expanded his offer to include the university's entire female student body. 
 
 "I will buy all of the women at Georgetown University as much aspirin to put between their knees as they want," he said. 
 
 Sandra Fluke, a third-year student at Georgetown University Law School, was barred from testifying by Rep. Darrell Issa, the committee chair at the faith-based hearing on Capitol Hill, because he deemed her unqualified. Issa said the panel was supposed to focus on religious freedom and Fluke is not a member of any clergy. 
 
 She eventually spoke to a Democratic hearing spearheaded by Pelosi on Feb. 23, where she talked about the need for birth control coverage. Fluke spoke of one friend in particular who needed contraception to prevent ovarian cysts. 
 
 Rush Limbaugh, though, had a different take on Fluke's testimony. On his show Wednesday, he suggested that the reason Fluke cannot afford birth control is because she is having too much sex. 
 
 "Can you imagine if you're her parents how proud of Sandra Fluke you would be?" he said. "Your daughter…testifies she's having so much sex she can't afford her own birth control pills and she agrees that Obama should provide them, or the pope." 
 
 Fluke testified that without insurance coverage, contraception can cost a woman as much as $3,000 during law school. 
 
 "Three thousand dollars for birth control in three years? That's a thousand dollars a year of sex - and, she wants us to pay for it," Limbaugh said, adding that high school boys applying to college should consider Georgetown. "They're admitting before congressional committee that they're having so much sex they can't afford the birth control pills!" 
 
 The conservative radio host continued: "What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We're the pimps." 
 
 Limbaugh shied away from his word choice towards the end of his show, saying "So, she's not a slut. She's round-heeled. I take it back." Round-heeled, though, is a euphemism for the same thing, an old-fashioned term for a " promiscuous woman." 
 
 On today's show, Limbaugh turned up the heat and suggested that women who use insurance-covered birth control should post sex tapes online: "So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here's the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex. We want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch," he said. 
 
 Limbaugh's comments today came on the same day of the rejection of the "Blunt Amendment," which would have repealed Obama's controversial contraception rule. 
 
 The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee drafted a petition today to ask Republican leaders to denounce Limbaugh's "repulsive attacks on women," DCCC spokesman Jesse Ferguson said. 
 
 "When it comes to Limbaugh," Ferguson said, "expect the unexpected. But what should be expected is for Republican leaders to stand up and say they don't want him to defend them anymore." 
 
 More than 75 Democratic House Members signed a letter to House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday urging him to condemn Limbaugh's remarks. Read the DCCC's letter to Speaker Boehner here. And here is the list of signatures the petition has received so far. ||||| Photograph by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images. 
 
 For three days last week, Rush Limbaugh ridiculed Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student who had argued that health insurers should be required to cover contraception. Then, on Saturday, under pressure from his advertisers, Limbaugh apologized. The apology addressed Limbaugh’s personal language about Fluke, whom he had called a “slut” (and from whom he had jokingly demanded “videos of all this sex posted online so we can see what we are getting for our money”). But it didn’t recant or rebut any of the ideas Limbaugh put forward during his rants against Fluke. And those ideas are worth examining, because, whether you love or hate Limbaugh, his impromptu monologues are a useful indicator of what many conservative Americans think. Let’s look at the questions he raised. 
 
 William Saletan Will Saletan writes about politics, science, technology, and other stuff for Slate. He’s the author of Bearing Right. 
 
 
 
 1. What’s the problem with contraceptive insurance: socialism or promiscuity? In his apology, Limbaugh said his objection was to socialism, not sex: 
 
 It is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. … If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit? In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone's bedroom. 
 
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 But that doesn’t square with what Limbaugh said during his Flukefest. “I will buy all of the women at Georgetown University as much aspirin to put between their knees as they want,” he joked Thursday. Later that day, Limbaugh repeated: “I'd buy all these women aspirins, put 'em between their knees, like Andrea Mitchell does.” On Friday, he reminded his listeners: “I offered to pay for aspirins.” 
 
 Limbaugh was jesting, but the undercurrent seemed real. Does he object to paying for pills, or just for pills that facilitate sex? 
 
 2. How much sex is too much? Fluke said birth control could cost a student more than $3,000 during law school. From this, Limbaugh somehow inferred that “she and her coed classmates are having sex nearly three times a day for three years straight, apparently.” In truth, Limbaugh has no idea how often Fluke has sex. But I can tell you exactly how many times Limbaugh used the phrase “so much sex” during his three days of attacking Fluke. The number is 23, and it rises above 30 if you include related phrases such as "sex-crazed coeds,” “sex-addict frequency,” “having sex so often,” “having sex so damn much,” “repeated, never-ending, as-often-as-she-wants-it sex,” and “sex anytime, as many times and as often as they want, with as many partners as they want.” If frequency reflects obsession, Limbaugh is obsessed with sexual frequency. Which raises the question: How much sex, in his view, is too much? 
 
 3. Is contraception a sex enabler? Limbaugh accused Fluke of asking the public “to pay for the things that make it possible for her to have sex.” He called this “thousands of dollars in taxpayer dollars to satisfy the sexual habits of female law students,” and he rejected the idea of subsidizing such “personal sexual desires and habits.” Referring to a woman who sought contraception, Limbaugh scoffed, “Here's a woman exercising no self-control. “ 
 
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 4. What consequences should a woman face for having sex? Twice on Thursday, Limbaugh criticized the idea of a “woman [who] wants unlimited, no-responsibility, no-consequences sex.” On Friday, he faulted people who want “sex without consequence” and “behavior that people want to engage in with no consequences.” What exactly did he mean? Does he think pregnancy is the proper consequence of sex? Does he think it’s wrong to block that consequence? Rick Santorum thinks so. Does Limbaugh agree? 
 
 5. Is pregnancy prevention a legitimate medical need? Twice, Limbaugh mocked the notion that women need birth control to avoid a “killer disease.” His tone was jocular, but he was essentially repeating an argument made by Catholic bishops: that pregnancy isn’t a disease, and therefore, contraception isn’t health care and shouldn’t be covered by universal health insurance. “This is a matter of personal choice. It's an elective activity,” Limbaugh protested. “They want to create a welfare entitlement program where we provide birth control pills, because pregnancy's an illness.” He also compared contraception to Botox, joking that “Botox-filled” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi had probably told Fluke: "Have you heard what Botox costs? I can relate!" Does Limbaugh think contraception is as frivolous as Botox? If not, how seriously does he regard it? 
 
 6. What responsibility should men bear? “Where are the guys here? Do they not have a role?” Limbaugh asked. “There are men involved, and that would mean there's some responsibility on the part of the men. Do they not have condoms? … What about these deadbeat boyfriends? … Where's their responsibility?” 
 
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 These excellent questions were lost in the outrage over Limbaugh’s “slut” remark. Let’s give him credit for raising them, and let’s press him for answers. If he doesn’t want the government paying for birth control, what steps would he take to enforce male responsibility? A DNA database would make babies traceable to their fathers. Would Limbaugh support that? If not, how would he hold deadbeat boyfriends accountable? 
 
 You raised good questions, Rush. You’re on the air three hours a day. Let’s hear your answers. 
 
 William Saletan's latest short takes on the news, via Twitter: ||||| Bill O'Reilly waded head-on into the furor surrounding Sandra Fluke, the law student called a "slut" by Rush Limbaugh for advocating for insurance coverage of contraception, on his Friday show, relentlessly attacking Fluke and echoing Limbaugh's argument that she simply wants taxpayers to pay for her sex life. 
 
 Limbaugh — who also called Fluke a "prostitute," said that he wanted her to make sex tapes so he could watch, and told her her parents should be "embarrassed" by her — has been making similar claims all week, and has been condemned by politicians, pundits and even some of his own advertisers, who pulled their commercials from his show in the wake of his comments. 
 
 None of this seemed to trouble O'Reilly, who, while not mentioning Limbaugh and while not making his points in quite the extreme way Limbaugh did, sided firmly with the radio host in excoriating Fluke. 
 
 "Let me get this straight, Ms. Fluke, and I'm asking this with all due respect," he said. "You want me to give you my hard-earned money so you can have sex?" (Fluke is actually calling for her university's private insurance plan to cover birth control.) 
 
 O'Reilly went on, saying that, since Fluke wanted society to cover her "activities," the government should also have subsidized his college football uniforms, since an injury might "cost society a lot." He also said that perhaps taxpayers should pay for gym memberships for men so they could stay physically fit. 
 
 O'Reilly cast Fluke's viewpoints as an attack on American freedom, concluding that "the progressive colossus is demanding payment for Sandra Fluke so that she can go through Georgetown Law School with an active, healthy social life."
– Patricia Heaton apparently agrees with Rush Limbaugh when it comes to Georgetown student and birth control advocate Sandra Fluke. The Everybody Loves Raymond actress tweeted a series of attacks aimed at Fluke last week, then deleted her Twitter account, Mediabistro reports. Some of the highlights, as preserved for posterity by Crooks & Liars, Angry Black Lady, and Fanity: "If every Tweaton sent Georgetown Gal one condom, her parents wouldn’t have to cancel basic cable, & she would never reproduce – sound good?" "G-Gal: you’ve given yer folks great gift for Mother’s/Father’s Day! Got up in front of whole world & said I’m having tons of sex- pay 4 it!" Hey G-Gal! Change major to Health Sciences, then look at pix of people w/syphilis, gonorrhrea [sic], herpes, and chlamydia! Instant birth control! "Hey G-Town: stop buying toothpaste, soap, and shampoo! You'll save money, and no one will want to sleep with you!" "Hey G-Town Gal: Plz let us also pay for your Starbucks, movie theater tickets, and your favorite hot wings combo deal at KFC! Anything else?" Want more on the topic? Click to read six questions for Limbaugh on sex and contraception.