Illinois delegate Barbara Brown explains the appeal behind her anti-Rush Limbaugh “Sluts vote” campaign buttons.
[Photo by Dave McKinney]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Sluts vote.
That coarse slogan has suddenly turned gold.
At a frenzied pace, Illinois delegates at the Democratic National Convention have been scooping up buttons emblazoned with the phrase that honors Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke.
The Illinois woman selling the buttons at $3 a pop or two for $5 is Democratic State Central Committeewoman Barb Brown, who is the circuit clerk in downstate Randolph County.
Earlier this year, Fluke was derided by conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh as a “slut” for maintaining that birth control pills should be covered by health insurance.
“For someone like Rush Limbaugh, the insensitive brute that he is, to refer to this young woman — who was just exercising her freedom and speaking out about a policy concern she had — as a ‘slut’ was the most degrading thing I ever heard in public life,” Brown told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“We are all with her. We are sister sluts if that’s what it takes to make the point,” Brown told the Chicago Sun-Times.
During the two hours that delegates met for their breakfast meeting Monday, Brown said she sold 100 of the buttons after selling 100 or so the night before.
“It’s just been an amazing response,” she said.
The buttons even got attention at an airport she was flying through to get to downtown Charlottee – from a security screener.
“At some point, he said, ‘Ma’m, I don’t understand your button,’ and I explained to him what they were. And he said, ‘That’s going to affect how I vote,'” Brown said. “I thought, perfect, there couldn’t be anything better than that.”
