You’d like to think that a guy who presides over nine radio stations could hold his own on a TV show like “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” but I’m not sure Cary Pahigian would fare so well against the 10-year-olds.

In trying to think his way through a reason not to kick Rush Limbaugh off Portland’s WGAN-AM radio, Pahigian describes Limbaugh’s attack on law student Sandra Fluke as “controversial” and claims that clearing him from the Portland air “is a very dangerous road to go down.”

Fair enough. We don’t censor people for saying controversial things.

But what Limbaugh did was call Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” on his radio show and suggest, in a particular display of creepiness, that she make sex tapes to pay for contraceptives. That’s not the stuff of controversy. That’s abuse.

It’s not as if there’s an argument here: No one has seriously called Fluke’s character into question. Instead of facing an issue that is controversial — whether or not contraception should be part of comprehensive health care — Limbaugh used the power that Pahigian’s microphone affords him to attack Fluke personally.

That’s the work of a bully, not of a pundit or an “entertainer” or even a decent human being. A fifth-grader knows that.

The president and general manager of Portland Radio should, too. It’s not free speech that Pahigian is defending. It’s abusive speech.

When we can’t tell the difference, we surely have a dangerous road ahead of us.

Jeff Steinbrink

South Portland

Fathers of daughters: When you enter the voting booth on Nov. 6 with the intention of selecting a Republican candidate, stop; let your daughter’s image flow into your mind and think how you might feel if it was she and not Sandra Fluke who had been maligned.

The outrage is not so much for what Rush Limbaugh said but for the reaction by Republican leaders — there wasn’t any! You should find that terrifying.

Nancy L. Allen

West Bath

After my first hospitalization at the age of 18 for ruptured ovarian cysts and to find out I was also severely anemic, I was referred to Planned Parenthood.

I was a “paying my own way” college student with minimal health insurance. Planned Parenthood helped me take control of my female medical needs by having me start taking a birth control pill.

I guess now according to Rush Limbaugh I am a “slut.” Fourteen years of taking “contraception,” I am proud to say I am no longer anemic, nor do I have to battle ovarian cysts. So I am proud to be a “slut,” according to Rush Limbaugh’s definition of a woman taking contraception/birth control pills. A Catholic slut, for that matter.

I wouldn’t feel the need to give Rush Limbaugh the time of day, but I have a daughter and I don’t want Rush Limbaugh or anyone else calling my daughter a “slut” if she chooses to go on the pill for medical or preventative reasons.

It is no one’s business but a woman’s! Time to end the war on women’s health care!

Joann Goodwin

South Portland

After being treated to the offensive comments unleashed against Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke by Rush Limbaugh, it illustrates how very differently the media treats people when they overstep the bounds of public discourse.

Several months ago, Ed Schultz, a liberal cable host on MSNBC, called Laura Ingraham, a conservative commentator, the same four-letter word used against Fluke. He was suspended from broadcasting for several days and forced to do an on-air apology to keep his job.

Near as I can tell, Rush Limbaugh hasn’t lost a day of income, nor have his employers required him to apologize for trashing a private citizen he knew nothing about.

Other than the fact she wants women to have the right to make their own health care decisions free from political and corporate meddling. There seems to be a double standard about who will be called out in the media and who is free to spread baseless hate-filled rhetoric on our public airwaves!

George Harlan

Old Orchard Beach

Limbaugh right to apologize and critique

Rush Limbaugh’s gratuitous discourtesy to Sandra Fluke made him sound like one of the politicians he professes to eschew. He referred to her as a prostitute after she spoke against an amendment seeking to undo the mandate that “free” birth control materials be provided as part of routine health insurance coverage.

His comments were ungentlemanly, and he certainly did owe her the apology he made. After all, Fluke was only recognizing an existing problem. Having to purchase birth control materials is a financial hardship for college students because it adds to the overall cost of a college education. I believe she estimated the additional cost at up to $2,000 per student, a princely sum indeed.

This is a burden that students cannot afford to bear. Furthermore, as Fluke and many others contend, birth control is a legitimate health care issue. Modern medicine has advanced since the 1950s. Experts now consider pregnancy a disorder almost as serious as elementary school kids arguing with each other at recess.

They’re right. After all, judging by the number of kids born out of wedlock, a resistant strain of pregnancy seems to have evolved that defies prevention, cure or management by the usual means. Indeed, the problem has become so widespread, it is now epidemic — an urgent, if expensive, concern for the entire tax-paying half of the population.

It requires resolve and our continued staunch support of the educational system, but with dedication and the good old American can-do spirit, we will help our students lower their education costs by providing all fecund college women with free contraceptives.

Is this a great country or what?

Paul S. Bachorik

Falmouth

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