Bill O’Reilly has Bernard Goldberg. And increasingly, Sean Hannity is bringing on former MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan as a media commentator.

He was back on Fox News last night during coverage of the Mississippi and Alabama primaries in a segment that seemed to be an attempt at a counterpoint to the criticism Rush Limbaugh continues to receive over the Sandra Fluke flap but sold as a discussion of a left wing media takeover. It began with a series of talk radio clips from left-leaning hosts, including Ed Schultz, who Buchanan referred to as “my friend from MSNBC.”

Hannity added about Schultz, “there’s a lot more out on him, which I’m sure people will be able to find, if they’re interested.”

“I prefer the old Crossfire days, Pat,” said Hannity concluding the segment. “I prefer more speech, passionate speech, debate, dialogue.” What Hannity didn’t mention was he used to host a Crossfire-like show, with Alan Colmes for 12 years.

Current TV host Keith Olbermann is once again suspending his “Worst Person in the World” segment, this time in response to the Rush Limbaugh/Sandra Fluke controversy. Olbermann says he is ending the segment “possibly permanently” after conservative commentators responded to Limbaugh’s remarks by pointing out offensive things Olbermann said about women.

“Personally there is overall quality of apples to oranges here,” the Current host said, before explaining his comments and his decision to suspend the segment.

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President Obama didn’t want to comment on Rush Limbaugh losing advertisers or on his apology to Sandra Fluke, but he did talk about Limbaugh’s remarks and why he phoned Sandra Fluke as she waited in an MSNBC green room before an interview last Friday.

At a White House news conference this afternoon, USA Today reporter Aamer Madhani asked Pres. Obama what he thought about the Limbaugh mess:

“I’m not going to comment on what sponsors decide to do or the economics or politics of it. I don’t know what is in Rush Limbaugh’s heart so I will not comment on the sincerity of his apology,” said Obama, adding:

What I can comment on is the fact that all decent folks can agree that the remarks that were made don’t have any place in the public discourse. And, you know, the reason I called Miss Fluke is because I thought about Malia and Sasha and one of the things I want them to do as they get older is to engage in issues they care about, even ones I may not agree with them on.

On “The Daily Show” last night, Stewart took on Limbaugh and mixed in a good amount of Fox News coverage of the situation too:

On his show last night, Ed Schultz says there is just no comparison between his apology — and its aftermath — after he called Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut” on his radio show last May, and Rush Limbaugh‘s apology to Sandra Fluke this past weekend.

“When I made an inappropriate comment last year on my radio show, I took it to a much higher platform. I went to management here at MSNBC and I said ‘I’ve made a mistake, I need to take myself off the air without pay.’ And we moved on. I did restitution. I was off the air for a week,” said Schultz.

Schultz, who was one of the first to reveal Fluke’s story when he interviewed her on his MSNBC show on Feb. 16, adds: “Drawing a moral equivalence between me and Rush is not only inaccurate but it diminishes the outrageous nature of Limbaugh’s prolonged attack on Sandra Fluke.”

Bill O’Reilly and Bernard Goldberg talked about how the media has been covering the Sandra Fluke story and, in their opinion, what’s not being covered, and why: “And because of what happened on this radio show, our attention is focused on that, understandably, and not on these other issues that are at least as important,” said Goldberg referring to Rush Limbaugh‘s characterization of Fluke as a “slut” and “prostitute.”

Earlier on his show, O’Reilly said he’d invited Fluke on his show on Friday, but that she, “has chosen friendly venues where she will not be challenged.”

On  CNN’s “Early Start” this morning, Ashleigh Banfield had some words for Rush Limbaugh: “Shut your cake hole!”

“You can agree or disagree on contraception. That’s not the issue. You cannot call women you disagree with sluts or prostitutes. I was called a slut by Michael Savage, a conservative radio talk show host,” said Banfield.

Banfield is referring to a 2003 incident when she was an MSNBC anchor and Savage hosted a short-lived MSNBC weekend show. On his radio show, Savage called Banfield, “The mind slut with a big pair of glasses that they sent to Afghanistan.”

“Michael Savage didn’t like giving the voice to some of the Arab instigators in the Middle East,” said Banfield this morning. “That made me a slut.”

Nine years later, Banfield asks, “What does it take? What year is this, Limbaugh? It ends now. Cut it out!”

Before last week, the name Sandra Fluke had only entered the discussion in a column by TIME humorist Joel Stein, before her testimony on Capitol Hill Thursday, Feb. 23

MSNBC covered the testimony that Thursday morning, including talking to Sandra Fluke. They reported on it throughout the day. The following Tuesday, Megyn Kelly reported the story on Fox News: “It hasn’t seen a lot of media coverage so far,” said Kelly, “but there was a congressional hearing late last week that’s now getting some attention.” The next day, on his radio show it got a lot more attention courtesy of Rush Limbaugh. On his radio show, he called Fluke “a slut” and “a prostitute.”

The following day, on MSNBC’s “Ed Show” Ed Schultz , had the first interview with Fluke reacting to Limbaugh’s comments. (Schultz, you’ll recall, served a suspension for calling Laura Ingraham a slut, twice, on his radio show last May.) On Friday, Fluke was interviewed by Matt Lauer on the “Today” show, and returned to MSNBC, on Andrea Mitchell‘s show. Just before her interview with Mitchell, Fluke had taken a call of support from Pres. Obama.

By then Limbaugh doubled, then tripled down, for the next two days talking about the amount of sex Fluke must be having. By Saturday, he’d apologized. But by then, the Fluke story was factoring into the GOP primary and it certainly would come up on the Sunday morning public affairs shows.

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On “Saturday Night Live” last night, a creepy, bizarro-world version of Fox News anchor Shepard Smith interviewed “Mitt and Ann Romney,” as well as their “kids.”

It was, well, creepy.

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Also, CNN’s “James Carville” stopped by “Weekend Update” to talk about Rush Limbaugh:

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Rush Limbaugh apologized to Georgetown Law School student Sandra Fluke today several days after he called her a “slut” on his radio show. Fluke had appeared before Democratic lawmakers last month at a hearing on women’s health.

On his show Wednesday, Limbaugh called Fluke a “slut” concluding that her testimony amounted to her asking to be paid for sex. Limbaugh continued to press his case against Fluke on his shows Thursday and again Friday. Today on his website he writes, “My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.”

Fluke appeared on MSNBC on Ed Schultz‘s show Thursday night and with Andrea Mitchell on Friday. Just before the Mitchell interview, Fluke took a phone call of encouragement from Pres. Obama.

On the other side of the cable news spectrum, on Fox News, Fluke continued to be a target. On his show Friday night, Bill O’Reilly asked, “Let me get this straight, Ms. Fluke and I’m asking this with all due respect, I am. You want me to give you my hard earned money so you can have sex? Is that what you are asking for? Good grief!”

Here’s Fluke’s opening statement at the Congressional hearing Feb. 23. Take a listen and decide for yourself if you think that’s what’s she’s asking for:

After several media appearances by Sandra Fluke in the past 24 hours, President Obama called the Georgetown Law School student this afternoon, shortly before she appeared on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

“He encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of American women,” Fluke told Mitchell.

Fluke was the subject of a strongly-worded rant from Rush Limbaugh Wednesday after her testimony in front Democratic lawmakers last week. As a Catholic institution, Georgetown does not cover birth control. Fluke said birth control would cost her up to $3,000 a year.

Limbaugh said, “What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute.”

Fluke was interviewed by MSNBC’s Ed Schultz last night and by Matt Lauer this morning on “Today.”

Neither Fox News or CNN have covered the story as extensively as MSNBC, which has reported Fluke’s story on every hour of daytime programming today, according to TVEyes. CNN’s Dana Bash reported on Limbaugh’s comments on “CNN Newsroom” this morning. FNC’s Trace Gallagher reported on Fluke’s testimony during “America Live with Megyn Kelly” on Tuesday.

Watch Mitchell’s interview with Fluke after the jump.

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