Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the criticism that Rush Limbaugh faced — and the loss of advertising — after he insulted Sandra Fluke was “very encouraging” to her.

“I try very hard to stay out of the politics,” Clinton told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell in an interview aired today. “As a woman and as someone who can vaguely remember being a young woman and as a mother,” she added nonetheless, “I thought the response was very encouraging. The response from the public, the response in particular from women [of different backgrounds], the response from advertisers.”