President Barack Obama’s senior campaign adviser, David Axelrod, slammed Republican presidential rival Newt Gingrich on Sunday for insisting that Obama was wrong to apologize for Koran burnings that led to the death of six U.S. troops in Afghanistan. 
 
 “The thing about not having any responsibilities is that you can say irresponsible things,” Axelrod said on ABC’s “This Week.” “And the speaker avails himself of that opportunity all the time.” 
 
 Axelrod said that the military commanders on the ground believed that an apology was appropriate and necessary given the circumstances. 
 
 “The reality is that the president has in his hands the fate of all those service people over there and that’s foremost in his mind,” Axelrod said. “The commanders on the ground felt that a high level apology was warranted and necessary for the security of those troops and the president acted on their recommendation.” 
 
 Read more about: Barack Obama, Afghanistan, David Axelrod, Newt Gingrich ||||| Ron Paul on Sunday dismissed Rick Santorum’s suggestion that he's staying in the Republican presidential race to help rival Mitt Romney. 
 
 “It sounds like he’s trying to concoct a conspiracy,” Paul said on CBS’s "Face the Nation." 
 
 Paul rejected the idea that Romney would ask his son, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, to serve as his running mate. 
 
 “I think the media has fed on that because they keep saying ‘Is there a deal, is there a deal?’” Paul said. “Obviously not. He wouldn’t do it, I wouldn’t’ do it.” 
 
 Paul suggested that Santorum’s comments were an attempt to attack his candidacy. 
 
 “That’s just Santorum trying to be talking about something,” Paul said. “He didn’t have any issues to attack me on so he had to go after me on something as silly as that.” 
 
 Read more about: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rand Paul ||||| Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich on Sunday called President Barack Obama's apologies for the burning of a Quran in Afghanistan "embarrassing." 
 
 "When the president of the United States says I apologize, he is basically taking on blame," the former House speaker said on CNN's "State of the Union." 
 
 Gingrich said he didn't think Obama's apology saved lives, and set a "terrible precedent" of a commander in chief failing to stand up for his troops. 
 
 “He has apologized so many times around so many countries. It is frankly embarrassing to have a president who thinks that apologizing for the United States is a good policy," Gingrich said. "I don’t believe the president of the United States has an obligation to apologize. I think the commander in chief has an obligation to step up and say, ‘I am proud of our troops. I think our troops are doing the best they could to help Afghanistan.' ” 
 
 Read more about: Barack Obama, Afghanistan, Foreign Policy, Quran, 2012 Presidential Campaign ; Newt Gingrich ||||| Newt Gingrich says Rush Limbaugh was right to apologize for calling Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a "slut." 
 
 "He made a mistake, and I think he did the right thing," the Republican presidential contender said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." 
 
 The former House speaker had used the controversy to attack President Barack Obama, saying he acted "opportunistically" when he called to check in on Fluke amid the controversy. Limbaugh had called Fluke a "prostitute" and a "slut" after she testified on Capitol Hill, calling for expanded access to contraception. 
 
 But while Gingrich said Limbaugh was right to apologize, he brushed off a question about whether the controversy will hurt the GOP. “The Republican Party has four people running for president, none of whom are Rush Limbaugh," he said. 
 
 Read more about: Newt Gingrich ||||| Ron Paul said on Sunday that Rush Limbaugh offered an apology for his comments about Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke to keep advertisers on his radio show who were threatening to leave as a result of the controversy. 
 
 “I don’t think he’s very apologetic, I think he’s doing it because people were taking their advertisements off his program,” Paul said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” 
 
 Still, Paul said that the underlying issue is important politically. 
 
 “I, as an OB doctor, certainly endorse the whole idea of birth control,” Paul said. “But this is something different. This is philosophically and politically important.” 
 
 “Does the government have a mandate to tell insurance companies what to give,” Paul continued. “So they’re saying that the insurance companies should give everybody free birth control pills.” 
 
 “That strikes me as rather odd,” Paul added. 
 
 Read more about: Rush Limbaugh, Ron Paul, Sandra Fluke ||||| The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee isn't buying Rush Limbaugh's apology for calling a Georgetown law student a "slut." 
 
 "I know he apologized, but forgive me if I doubt his sincerity, given that he lost at least six advertisers," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." Limbaugh apologized Saturday after criticizing Sandra Fluke on the air for her position on access to birth control. 
 
 “Rush Limbaugh in that apology said he was trying to be humorous," said Wasserman Schultz. "I don’t know any woman in America … that thinks that being called a slut is funny.” 
 
 The DNC chairwoman also took a shot at GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his response to the controversy. 
 
 "The bottom line is that the leading candidate on the Republican side for president couldn’t even bring himself to call Rush Limbaugh’s comments outrageous and call him out and ask him to apologize," she said. 
 
 Romney has come under attack from the left for his tepid response to what has become a political firestorm. Asked last week about Limbaugh's comments, Romney said, "I'll just say this, which is it's not the language I would have used." 
 
 Read more about: DNC, Rush Limbaugh, Debbie Wasserman Schultz
– Today's talk show theme: Pile on Rush Limbaugh. The conservative talk show host took a bipartisan drubbing worthy of a gold-stuffed piñata, reports Politico, as both sides lambasted his slut comment and subsequent apology. A sampling: Debbie Wasserman Schultz: "I know he apologized, but forgive me if I doubt his sincerity, given that he lost at least six advertisers. Rush Limbaugh said he was trying to be humorous. I don’t know any woman in America … that thinks that being called a slut is funny.” Ron Paul: “I don’t think he’s very apologetic, I think he’s doing it because people were taking their advertisements off his program." Newt Gingrich: "He made a mistake, and I think he did the right thing," in apologizing. Eric Cantor: “I don’t condone that type of language in any arena, including the political arena. It was insulting, and Rush has said as much." Elsewhere on your Sunday dial, it was the parlor game of guess-the-vice-presidential nominee and the usual back-and-forth: Cantor on a Romney-Cantor ticket: "I am not open to that. This is about Mitt Romney and making sure that he is put into office." Paul on a Romney-Rand Paul ticket: "I think the media has fed on that because they keep saying ‘Is there a deal, is there a deal?’ Obviously not. He wouldn’t do it, I wouldn’t’ do it.” Gingrich on President Obama's apology over the Koran burnings: "He has apologized so many times around so many countries. It is frankly embarrassing to have a president who thinks that apologizing for the United States is a good policy. I think the commander in chief has an obligation to step up and say, ‘I am proud of our troops.' ” David Axelrod on Gingrich's criticism: “The thing about not having any responsibilities is that you can say irresponsible things. And the speaker avails himself of that opportunity all the time.”