Rush Limbaugh is a misogynist with a history of ugly commentary regarding women which reached its nadir with his three day diatribe against Sandra Fluke whom he classified as a "slut" who needed lots of birth control pills because she has so much sex. He recently compared filibuster reform to rape. Not only has Fox News' Megyn Kelly has never called him out on it; but she joined in the Fluke attacks and slut shaming. But when MSNBC's Martin Bashir, in reacting to Sarah Palin's ludicrous comparison of the national debt to slavery, spoke about the horrors of slavery and, inappropriately, suggested that Ms. Palin be subjected to a particularly cruel and crude punishment, Kelly had no problem attacking Bashir. Can we say "double standard?!"

On November 21, Kelly started off with a LIE. As the chyron set the propaganda message, "Where's the Outrage," Kelly reported that a host on another network, "compared Governor Palin to a slave owner." The reality is that Bashir read from the diary of a slave owner in which the owner, in detail, describes various cruel techniques for punishing slaves including having one slave defecate into the mouth of another. Bashir said that “When Ms. Palin invokes slavery, she doesn’t just prove her rank ignorance, she confirms that if anyone truly qualified for a dose of discipline from Thomas Thistlewood, then she would be the outstanding candidate." He did not compare her to a slave owner but, inappropriately, suggested that she receive the same type of treatment as the slave. Kelly didn't run Bashir's sound bite because it would offend the sensibilities of the Fox audience.

Kelly noted that Bashir "has apologized but no action has been taken by MSNBC or NBC against him yet." Kelly, who, in the shows which I watched, didn't appear to have a problem with a Georgetown Law student being repeatedly called a slut, described Bashir's comment as "vile and disturbing." While Limbaugh went into detail about Fluke's alleged sexual activity, poor Megyn said that the Bashir thing was "so gross" that she didn't "want to cover it." While Kelly, as far as I know, didn't articulate any objections to Limbaugh's insult to Fluke (If she did, they weren't as vociferous as her reaction to Bashir), she described the "insult" and the "injury" as "huge." Her guest, Mediaite's Joe Concha provided validation with his bashing of the "editorial culture" at MSNBC. Given that Fox News specializes in personal attacks (Obama is a racist, Dr. Tiller was a "baby killer" to name a few), his assertion that MSBNC tolerates "these types of vile statement" was rich in irony.

When he accused women's groups of being "hypocritical," (Bashir's comment was rude, not sexist) Kelly's next bit of propaganda was quite clever in that she attacked Gloria Steinem without any basis in fact but, rather, the suggestion that Steinem had said bad things about Palin: "Just google a thing or two that Gloria Steinem has said about Sarah Palin." (OMG, she actually used facts to criticize Palin) Here we have more hypocrisy from Kelly in that defender of women Megyn Kelly didn't seem to care Limbaugh's absolute misogyny. (Just Google Limbaugh and misogyny) Concha provided more validation. Kelly, who ignored Limbaugh's sluts shaming of a woman who wasn't a professional politician, said that Bashir's comment was "beyond the pale." She asked if Bashir's apology is "good enough if you've crossed the line to this extent."

Kelly's hypocrisy isn't just relegated to Limbaugh. She had no problem when Bill O'Reilly, in her presence asked "Does Sharia Law say we can behead [Washington Post columnist] Dana Milbank?" Where was Kelly when Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck talked about killing Michael Moore? 

And speaking of sexist comments beyond Limbaugh's diatribe against Fluke - Did Kelly object when Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller "joked" about US Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's botox.? Was Kelly upset when right wing radio host and Fox contributor (and sometimes host) Laura Ingraham insulted John McCain's daughter, Meghan, as "plus size?" And when O'Reilly and Miller denigrated the appearance of US Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, did Kelly call them out on it? And speaking of Ms. Schultz, a cancer survivor, was Kelly concerned about former US Rep. and Tea Party darling Allen West's comment that Schultz was "vile, unprofessional, and despicable" and "not a lady?" And did we hear anything from Kelly when Fox commentator, Erick Erickson referred to TX legislator Wendy Davis as "abortion Barbie?"

Got hypocrisy?!