Limbaugh says apology to Georgetown student was sincere, jokes about sponsors abandoning him

WASHINGTON - Radio host Rush Limbaugh said his apology to a Georgetown law student he called a "slut" was sincere but also joked that he, too, got a busy signal Monday when he called the show to join the growing roster of advertisers abandoning it.

As of Monday, nine advertisers had dropped their sponsorship of the conservative commentator's show, including internet services company AOL, ProFlowers and U.S. mortgage lender Quicken Loans.

The student, Sandra Fluke, said Limbaugh's apology over the weekend did nothing to change the corrosive tone of the debate over health care coverage.

Fluke last week testified to congressional Democrats in support of their national health care policy, which would compel her Jesuit college's health plan to cover her birth control.

Limbaugh responded on his show by calling her a "slut" and a "prostitute" for wanting insurance coverage for birth control devices.

Fluke said Monday she had not heard from Limbaugh directly but signalled she had little interest in speaking with him.

AOL and Tax Resolution Services Co. on Monday became the latest advertisers to leave Limbaugh's three-hour show as he sought to stem the exodus of advertisers and fellow conservatives declined to offer him support.

"I should not have used the language I did, and it was wrong," a rarely contrite Limbaugh told listeners.

The issue has been much-debated in the presidential race. The administration of Democratic President Barack Obama wants employers, including institutions such as Roman Catholic hospitals, to be required to cover women's contraceptive needs. Republicans have criticized the policy, but they also have acknowledged it could energize women to vote for Obama and other Democrats in November.

Limbaugh, even as he retreated from his earlier characterization of Fluke as a "slut" and "prostitute," insisted the 30-year-old was trying to "force a religious institution to abandon its principles to meet hers."

"Those two words were inappropriate. They were uncalled for," he said of his initial comments that roiled his critics. "They distracted from the point that I was actually trying to make."

Limbaugh sought to find some humour in the situation of his advertisers cancelling their contracts.

"I called myself to cancel my advertising. I got a busy signal," he deadpanned at the start of Monday's program.