John Shearer/WireImage.com; Jemal Countess/Getty ImagesPolitics makes strange bedfellows, all right. But political scandals? Well, if Bill Maher's surprising support of Rush Limbaugh is any indication, those make for the strangest of all.
The left-leaning pundit has taken to Twitter in the wake of the conservative radio host's supreme backlash-inducing rant against Georgetown student and birth control activist Sandra Fluke, and offered up an unprecedented (if slightly begrudging) show of support for Limbaugh.
No, really.
"Hate to defend #RushLimbaugh but he apologized, liberals looking bad not accepting," Maher tweeted yesterday. "Also hate intimidation by sponsor pullout."
Ah, now there's the context we needed.
Though his decision to defend the arch-conservative mouthpiece for calling Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute" seemed out of character, sponsor pullout is a phenomenon with which Maher is all too familiar.
In the wake of the 9-11 tragedy, Maher remarked that some past U.S. military actions were more cowardly than those of the terrorists who flew planes into the World Trade Center and big-name sponsors couldn't pull out of his Politically Incorrect fast enough, ultimately signaling the end of the show.
As for Limbaugh, who apologized for his "inappropriate" "personal attack" on Fluke, his lost sponsor count is up to at least 20 (the exact number remains in dispute and could actually be much higher), and his program has been dropped entirely from two radio stations. To say nothing of his approval rating with '80s pop icons.