One of “Saturday Night Live’s” funniest 1970s gags involved the Point-Counterpoint debates between fake newscasters Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin, punctuated by Aykroyd’s trademark line, “Jane, you ignorant slut.” What made the line so hilarious was its over-the-top outrageousness. Serious people debating important issues simply did not resort to horrific name-calling like that.

That was then, this is now. Conservative radio shock jock Rush Limbaugh raised the outrageousness bar to new heights last week. Over a succession of days, Limbaugh quite seriously described a Georgetown University law student, Sandra Fluke, as a “slut” and a “prostitute” for her congressional testimony in support of requiring insurance companies to cover the cost of contraception services at her university.

Limbaugh was condemned — deservedly so — by politicians from the left and right. Major advertisers withdrew sponsorship. Then, and only then, did Limbaugh stop to issue a halfhearted apology. He said the entire issue of discussing “personal sexual recreational activities” before Congress was an act of absurdity that deserved to be mocked. “I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke,” added Limbaugh, presumably with a straight face.

There are lots of ways to poke fun at absurdity; this wasn’t one of them. As Fluke said on ABC’s “The View” on Monday: “This was not someone who made one accidental statement. This was three days of significant portions of his three-hour show. He insulted me and the women of Georgetown (University) . . . over 53 times.”

Limbaugh is hardly the only figure worthy of condemnation when it comes to degrading women to score political points. Liberal commentators such as Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher and Chris Matthews have uttered explicit attacks on politically active women that far exceeded the boundaries of civility.

Some are too vulgar to be quoted. The weapons of choice invariably involve sexual gratification, women’s reproductive organs and derogatory words such as “aborted” and “bimbo.”

Limbaugh reassessed the damage Monday and apologized again on air. He noted how commentators on the left had used gutter language to score political points, and “I ended up descending to their level.” He then erased any semblance of goodwill by using the Fluke issue to launch a lengthy diatribe against President Barack Obama’s “socialist agenda,” etc., etc.

The saddest aspect of this devolution to nasty name-calling is that it distracts the nation from very real and urgent problems. Fixing them will require sustained dialogue and cooperation across the political spectrum. What’s the likelihood of that happening while each side hurls rhetorical excrement at the other?

This is what substitutes for debate today. Stop, please. Treat these gutter tactics like recreational drugs, and just say no.