Media double standards

2012

2012-02-18-Sheppard-Maher-Santorum-Obama-wife-vibrator-supposed-joke

Bill Maher Jokes About Rick Santorum's Wife Using a Sex Toy
By Noel Sheppard
newsbusters.org, 2012-02-18


Can you imagine the media firestorm if a conservative made a sex joke about Michelle Obama on television that also demeaned her husband?

On HBO's Real Time Friday, during a sketch deriding Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's views about sex, host Bill Maher joked about the former Pennsylvania Senator's wife using a vibrator (video follows with transcript and commentary):

BILL MAHER: I just want to return to Rick Santorum for a moment because, you know, some of the comments he's made over the last few years came to light now that this is a big issue about women. He said the danger of contraception in this country, the whole sexual libertine idea he's against. He said birth control is not okay because it's a license to do things in the sexual realm. In the sexual realm. Sounds like a Cinemax movie.

He said if you take out one part that's not for purposes, if you take out one part that’s out that's not for purposes of procreation then you diminish this special bond between men and women and all of a sudden it becomes deconstructive to the point where it's simply pleasure. Exactly. So this guy really does not like sex. And to prove it we got a hold of some of his recent tweets. Would you like to see some of his tweets? Okay, here are some of Rick Santorum’s recent tweets.

“If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for America.”

“Just heard Abba’s ‘Dancing Queen’ at the super market. Is there no place where I can be free of this demonic jungle music?”

“If you must breastfeed make sure your baby is blindfolded.”

“Women should have to eat bananas with a knife and fork.” I'm telling you this guy is repressed.

“Note to self: Find out what that skank Adele means by 'Rolling in the Deep.'”

“Wife spends forever in the bathroom. Since when do Lady Gillettes buzz?” Oh, Rick. These tweets are out of control.

“If people thought about gay sex as much as I do, they’d understand how disgusting it is.”

And “Who knows a good prayer to stop dreaming of Thor poster?”

So, in Maher's demented world, because Santorum views sex as something special between a husband and a wife, that means he hates sex so much that his wife needs sex toys.

And this passes for acceptable humor at HBO.

You think that would be the case if Barack Obama were Republican and Santorum Democrat?

No, I don't think so either.