The former chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers defended a statement by Sarah Palin Wednesday.
Austan Goolsbee attacked comedian and top Obama supporter Bill Maher for past comments about women made by the HBO host.
Goolsbee compared Maher to Rush Limbaugh, who has recently come under fire for comments made about Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student and women’s rights activist.
Politico reports:
Conservatives have alleged that a double standard exists between conservative commentators and liberal comedians after Limbaugh was forced to apologize for calling a Georgetown law student a "slut" and a "prostitute" in an incident that has since become a national imbroglio. Maher, a top donor to President Obama's super PAC, has in the past publicly called Sarah Palin a "a dumb twat" and several other not-so-nice names.
"Pres. Obama says he called Sandra Fluke because of his daughters," Palin wrote on Facebook Tuesday. "For the sake of everyone’s daughter, why doesn’t his super PAC return the $1 million he got from a rabid misogynist?"
Obama did not comment on Maher's remarks when asked during his Tuesday press conference. Maher recently announced he would donate $1 million to Priorities USA, the Obama Super PAC.