Right wing radio host Rush Limbaugh grudgingly apologized for his “choice of words” regarding Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who testified in support of the birth control mandate. The problem words were “slut” and “prostitute.” By implication, Limbaugh is not sorry at all about his choice of thoughts about uppity women and birth control.

Likewise, Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney has no problem with the general idea that Congressional testimony and bodily autonomy turn women into filthy whores, but he doesn’t think Rush hit on le mot juste. “I’ll just say this, which is, it’s not the language I would have used,” Romney said.

Given that the GOP has decided to refight the election of 1910–birth control and the gold standard!–we know that this delicate subject is going to come up again. So, what’s the classy way to impugn a lady’s virtue when you don’t like her politics? Hillman judge Rick Hertzberg helpfully suggests some more decorous synonyms: “ ‘Strumpet’ has a jolly, Falstaffian feel, consistent with Limbaugh’s purportedly “humorous” rotundity.”

[Photo credit: Boston Bill, Creative Commons.]