In the light of the debate about contraception being included in healthcare plans, we now have the highest-rating radio talk show host in America calling a student a “slut” and “prostitute” for asking that her university’s health plan cover contraception. Cue America up in flames.

Yes, this really happened.

Sandra Fluke, a law student at Georgetown University, fell into the national spotlight when she was denied the opportunity to speak at a Washington DC hearing convened by a Republican politician to discuss contraception and healthcare law (stay with this, it gets more interesting).

Fluke would have been the only woman to speak at that hearing, the panel instead made up of religious leaders. In some kind of response, Democrat leaders held their own Congressional hearing in which Fluke spoke eloquently about how the $3,000 bill for contraceptive pills was a financial challenge that many students could not meet – some requiring the Pill for other healthcare needs, as you do. Georgetown’s student healthcare policy does not cover contraception.

You can watch Fluke speak here.

Cue outrage from Rush Limbaugh who, in a series of tirades, said among other things:

“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… Okay, so she’s not a slut. She's ‘round heeled I take it back.”

(“Round heeled” is a Rush-era slang for promiscuous).

Limbaugh missed the point that Fluke had not and was not asking for government subsidised health care. This was about private insurance.

The following day, Limbaugh continued, offering to buy all Georgetown University female students “as much aspirin to put between their knees as possible. “ This was a reference to comments by a financial supporter of Presidential candidate Rick Santorum who recently said aspirin was a cheap alternative to contraception.

Limbaugh continued: “If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it, and I'll tell you what it is. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.”

There’s a detailed timeline of Limbaugh’s comments here.

It should be noted again – Limbaugh is the highest-rated radio broadcaster in the US. He is a flag waver for the Republican Party. Some claim he embodies the very notion of American conservatism. His program has big name multi-million dollar advertisers.

Yet, one by one, they began pulling their commercial support from Limbaugh. President Obama, noting the available political opportunity, called Fluke to offer his support.

Limbaugh offered an apology, of sorts, claiming he was not making a personal attack on Fluke. But advertisers, perhaps making the only kind of point that Limbaugh understands, continued to flee any association with the broadcaster.

The heat spills over to the upcoming Presidential election. Republicans are currently being hammered in polls. Obama, the worst President ever according to many Republicans, is significantly leading all conservative alternatives.

Limbaugh may represent an isolated and out-of-touch element of the American right but blundering over social issues – Republican leaders struggled to defend Fluke or castigate pin-up Limbaugh – will cost Obama’s opponent at the ballot box with women – and men. That’s before there’s any discussion about the economy.