Joan Walsh: After Limbaugh, 2012 Elections Now about Character

At Salon, Joan Walsh argues that the 2012 presidential elections are now turning around questions of character, when not a single one of the Republican contenders for the presidency found a way to rebuke Rush Limbaugh for his "obscene jihad against Sandra Fluke":

Most GOP primary voters Tuesday were male; most voters in November will be female. (Especially if Santorum’s the nominee; he lost women to Romney in Ohio; unmarried women overwhelmingly, 45-28.) Everyone’s talking about the dangerous gender gap that’s opened up for the GOP, with women flocking to the Democrats as this assault on their rights continues. I think we’re also seeing the emergence of a profound character gap. The notion that neither Romney, Santorum nor Gingrich could find a way to rebuke Limbaugh for his obscene jihad against Sandra Fluke is troubling. That none of them could find a way to express the appropriate revulsion is proof that hate has poisoned not only their party’s brand, but their moral center.  It’s another GOP election night, but the only winner is President Obama.

Walsh is right, of course.  Republicans have long claimed character and virtue as their unique field of expertise.  Their current leaders have demonstrated neither, as they allow a rabble-rousing hate-monger to attack a young woman who dared to give testimony to a Congressional hearing that Mr. Limbaugh found objectionable.