President Obama called the Georgetown University law student who testified at a House contraception hearing last week, thanking her for speaking out about the concerns of American women.
Sandra Fluke told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that the president called her while she was in the green room waiting to go on television. Obama “said I should tell my parents that they should be proud,” Fluke told Mitchell.
Fluke has been subject to some very harsh words from Rush Limbaugh, who called Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute.” And his remarks have set off a firestorm of criticism. Georgetown University President John DeGioia praised Fluke’s testimony and called Limbaugh’s comments “misogynistic, vitriolic, and a misrepresentation of the position of our student.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the comments “obnoxious” and asked her Republican colleagues in the House to repudiate them. House Speaker John Boehner’s spokesman told CNN on Friday that Limbaugh’s comments were “inappropriate.”
The White House confirmed the phone call to TPM.
Watch Fluke’s appearance on MSNBC below:
David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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