Sandra Fluke Nominated for TIME Person of the Year, Right-Wing Flips

TIME magazine editors have announced their list of 40 people nominated as the "Person of the Year," including billionaire Sheldon Adelson, President Obama, former Gov. Mitt Romney, Malala Yousafzai, and others. But one of the nominees caught the attention of FOX News anchors immediately—former Georgetown Law student and women's rights advocate Sandra Fluke.

Earlier this year, Fluke was not allowed to testify at a Republican-led House hearing about insurance coverage of birth control; the panel consisted entirely of men. She spoke out against the revocation when she was invited to a Democrat-led hearing, saying that being a woman made her more than qualified to testify about women’s reproductive health. Fluke was then attacked by Rush Limbaugh, who called her a "slut" and a "prostitute". TIME cited Fluke's ability to "[weather] the [media] attention with poise and maturity and [emerge] as a political celebrity," as a prime reason for the nomination.

Members of the right-wing media have since slammed Fluke and the magazine's decision to include her on the list. Fox News political contributor Andrea Tantaros called Fluke "a terrible person to elevate," and conservative radio show host Lars Larson bemoaned her nomination.

"Now we've got Sandra Fluke saying my country can buy me birth control for three years of law school at Georgetown—of all places," Larson said, calling Fluke "a poster child for the Santa Claus presidency of Barack Obama, the food stamp presidency of Barack Obama."

Media Matters outlined the full extent of the right-wing attacks against Fluke, calling out conservative outlets like the Daily Caller (which said Fluke was "the silliest, most solipsistic candidate they could’ve possibly picked"), Breitbart.com (which said she is "the condom rights advocate turned Georgetown Law School martyr"), and Jim Hoft of the Gateway Pundit blog (who said the nomination will "put her up there with Adolf Hitler and Yasser Arafat.")

Sydney Hofferth is a Communications Intern for Campus Progress. You can follow her on twitter at @squidhoff10.

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