Reacting to the sale of the progressive Current TV channel to Qatar-based news agency Al Jazeera, Republican shock jock Rush Limbaugh rhetorically asked listeners on Friday whether hosts Joy Behar and Jennifer Granholm will now be forced to wear burkas and headscarves to cover their faces.
"If they do, it might help raise audience levels," he said.
He went on to suggest, like many fellow conservative pundits have this week, that Current chairman Al Gore, the former Vice President of the United States, has abandoned his principles and somehow gotten in bed with polluters and terrorists, despite the fact that Qatar has been a crucial U.S. ally since 1972.
"Do the females on Al Jazeera wear burkas?" Rush asked. "I have never seen the Al Jazeera network, I've seen individual reports."
To Limbaugh's critics, it's probably not surprising that he's never watched Al Jazeera English, the channel's mostly online-only offering in the Americas.
The network has won over 50 journalism awards since 2006, including the prestigious Columbia Journalism Award for 2011, bestowed upon individuals or organizations that perform outstanding work in the public interest.
And just for the record, the network's female reporters do not cover their faces.
As for Granholm and Behar, their futures aren't yet clear, although Granholm told The Detroit News she would likely "go back to teaching at Berkeley, and do public speaking and writing and sitting on boards, etc."
This audio was published to YouTube on Friday, January 4, 2013, embed courtesy of The Daily Rushbo.
