Will this ever end?

Current and former White House aides on Thursday rejected demands by a conservative group that a Super PAC supporting President Obama refund a $1 million check from comedian and talk show host Bill Maher because of coarse comments he’s made about Sarah Palin and other Republican women.  …

Carney said “language that denigrates women is inappropriate,” but it is not the President’s place to be the “arbiter” of every controversial statement.

“He chooses to lead by example or tries to,” Carney said of the president, adding that “he chooses to try to practice that civility himself and he calls on everybody to do just that.”

Earlier on Thursday, Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew charging Maher is a “serially vile misogynist” because of a list of nasty comments directed at conservative women.

Nance noted that since Obama recently reversed his own opposition to Super PACs by giving his public blessing for Democrats to donate unlimited sums to Priorities USA Action, he should direct that the Maher contribution be rejected and tell top White House aides like David Plouffe to stop raising money for the group.

via Fox News.

Two odds things about the White House’s reaction to this:

• If the president wanted to “lead by example” then shouldn’t he give back the money?  Or is Obama setting the example such that when someone goes on TV and calls women all the horrible things as Bill Maher has done, and then when that person donates $1 million to your Super PAC that you’re supposed to keep the money?
• Wouldn’t a far better response by to say that, “Well, the law says that there cannot be any coordination between the campaign and the Super PAC.  As such, it’s not our decision — and would illegal for us to make such a decision — to return the money.  So the next questions is, did Obama just admit to illegal coordination between his campaign and the super PAC?