Democrats Go After Limbaugh

Democrats on Monday called on the chief executive of Clear Channel Communications to denounce remarks by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, whom they say made a “hateful” and “unpatriotic” attack on U.S. troops opposed to the war in Iraq.

At issue is a remark from Limbaugh that characterized such troops as “phony soldiers.” Democrats have seized on the issue, allowing them to hit back at Republicans who similarly latched onto a MoveOn.org ad that referred to Gen. David Petraeus as “General Betray Us.”

“Thousands of active troops and veterans were subjected to Mr. Limbaugh’s unpatriotic and indefensible comments on your broadcast,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in his letter to Clear Channel Chief Executive Mark Mays. “We trust you will agree that not a single one of our sons, daughters, neighbors and friends serving overseas is a ‘phony soldier.’ We call on you to publicly repudiate these comments that call into question their service and sacrifice and to ask Mr. Limbaugh to apologize for his comments.”

On his show Monday, Limbaugh blasted Democrats for their criticism, saying it is part of a smear campaign aimed at discrediting him.

“If anybody in this country has been trying to demoralize the troops, it is you, sir, and your members of the Democrat Party,” Limbaugh said. “You have waved the white flag of defeat.”

Reid stated that he is confident that “Republicans join with us in overwhelming numbers,” arguing that “anything less would be a double standard that has no place in the United States Senate.”

The Democratic leader stated that the letter would be available all day to allow other senators to sign on.

The letter points to a December 2006 poll that shows more service members disapproved of President Bush’s handling of the war than voiced their support for it.

“From this figure alone, it is clear that Mr. Limbaugh’s insult is directed at thousands of American service members,” the letter said. In remarks on the Senate floor, Reid noted that Limbaugh’s show is broadcast on Armed Forces Radio, indicating that this makes the matter even worse.

The Democratic leader voiced his strong support for the First Amendment but said in this case Limbaugh went “way over the line.”

He blasted the popular talk show host for attacking the “courage and character of those fighting and dying for him and for all of us.”

– By Klaus Marre

Popularity: 2% [?]

Hey Klaus — what was the text of the comment , or don’t you want us to be in a position to decide for our selves our stance on the comment?
Oh heaven forbid!!

Limbaugh, more ravings from the pie hole of a draft dodging, pampered drug addict; everything one could want in a conservative, Republican’t pundit.

Some neocons actually deny the things that bum-boil-deferred non-soldier said, they are so totally and pathetically brainwashed!

For all of you who believe all the garbage you are fed because you research nothing for yourselves:

Rush was referring to Jesse Macbeth, a former soldier turned anti-war activist. Macbeth made false claims about being in Iraq and about taking part in war crimes there. THE TRUTH: He was discharged after only 44 days of military service - HE NEVER SET FOOT IN IRAQ. Macbeth has been sentenced to five months in prison for making false claims to, and collecting $10,000 in benefits from, the Department of Veterans Affairs.

THAT IS WHOM RUSH WAS TALKING ABOUT. FYI several other soldiers in prior months have been convicted of similar scams against the government where they claimed military service, but hadn’t actually served in Iraq.

THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO PERPETRATED THESE SCAMS DESERVE THE LABEL OF PHONY SOLDIERS. THEY WERE NEVER IN COMBAT, BUT CLAIMED THEY WERE. WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THEM???

Again, that’s who Rush was talking about. He has visited our troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere, donated millions of his own funds to causes for military personnel and their families, and supports our brave fighting men and women 1000 times more than the likes of Harry Reid, who recently stated “The war is lost”, Dick Durbin, who compared our troops in Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Stalin’s murderers, and Pol Pot’s hideous mass killers, and the bulk of the Democrats today, who voted against funding our troops without a timetable for withdrawal and defeat.

This is the most incredible waste of time to address a typical MSM out-of-context distortion, but it has to be done.

Why any self-directed, thinking individual even listens to that windbag is a mystery to me. He’s addicted to himself and other mind altering substances obviously!

Josh K: “THAT IS WHOM RUSH WAS TALKING ABOUT.” “Again, that’s who Rush was talking about.”

No, it isn’t, Josh K: it’s just who Limbaugh now *claims* he was talking about. Since Limbaugh and the truth have at best only a nodding acquaintance, you should always check any statement he makes.

Here’s the transcript from Limbaugh’s September 26 broadcast:

=====

LIMBAUGH: Mike in Chicago, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER 1: Hi Rush, how you doing today?

LIMBAUGH: I’m fine sir, thank you.

CALLER 1: Good. Why is it that you always just accuse the Democrats of being against the war and suggest that there are absolutely no Republicans that could possibly be against the war?

LIMBAUGH: Well, who are these Republicans? I can think of Chuck Hagel, and I can think of Gordon Smith, two Republican senators, but they don’t want to lose the war like the Democrats do. I can’t think of — who are the Republicans in the anti-war movement?

CALLER 1: I’m just — I’m not talking about the senators. I’m talking about the general public — like you accuse the public of all the Democrats of being, you know, wanting to lose, but —

LIMBAUGH: Oh, come on! Here we go again. I uttered a truth, and you can’t handle it, so you gotta call here and change the subject. How come I’m not also hitting Republicans? I don’t know a single Republican or conservative, Mike, who wants to pull out of Iraq in defeat. The Democrats have made the last four years about that specifically.

CALLER 1: Well, I am a Republican, and I’ve listened to you for a long time, and you’re right on a lot of things, but I do believe that we should pull out of Iraq. I don’t think it’s winnable. And I’m not a Democrat, but I just — sometimes you’ve got to cut the losses.

LIMBAUGH: Well, you — you –

CALLER 1: I mean, sometimes you really gotta know when you’re wrong.

LIMBAUGH: Well, yeah, you do. I’m not wrong on this. The worst thing that can happen is losing this, flying out of there, waving the white flag. Do you have —

CALLER 1: Oh, I’m not saying that. I’m not saying anything like that, but, you know –

LIMBAUGH: Well, of course you are.

CALLER 1: No, I’m not.

LIMBAUGH: Bill, the truth is — the truth is the truth, Mike.

CALLER 1: We did what we were supposed to do, OK. We got rid of Saddam Hussein. We got rid of a lot of the terrorists. Let them run their country –

LIMBAUGH: Oh, good lord! Good lord.

[…]

CALLER 1: How long is it gonna — how long do you think we’re going to have to be there for them to take care of that?

LIMBAUGH: Mike –

CALLER 1: How long — you know — what is it?

LIMBAUGH: Mike –

CALLER 1: What is it?

LIMBAUGH: Mike, you can’t possibly be a Republican.

CALLER 1: I am.

LIMBAUGH: You are — you are –

CALLER 1: I am definitely a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: You can’t be a Republican. You are –

CALLER 1: Oh, I am definitely a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: You are tarnishing the reputation, ’cause you sound just like a Democrat.

CALLER 1: No, but –

LIMBAUGH: The answer to your question –

CALLER 1: — seriously, how long do we have to stay there –

LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes!

CALLER 1: — to win it? How long?

LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes! It is very serious.

CALLER 1: And that is what?

LIMBAUGH: This is the United States of America at war with Islamofascists. We stay as long — just like your job. You do everything you have to do, whatever it takes to get it done, if you take it seriously.

CALLER 1: So then you say we need to stay there forever –

LIMBAUGH: I — it won’t –

CALLER 1: — because that’s what it’ll take.

LIMBAUGH: No, Bill, or Mike — I’m sorry. I’m confusing you with the guy from Texas.

CALLER 1: See, I — I’ve used to be military, OK? And I am a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: Yeah. Yeah.

CALLER 1: And I do live [inaudible] but –

LIMBAUGH: Right. Right. Right, I know.

CALLER 1: — you know, really — I want you to be saying how long it’s gonna take.

LIMBAUGH: And I, by the way, used to walk on the moon!

CALLER 1: How long do we have to stay there?

LIMBAUGH: You’re not listening to what I say. You can’t possibly be a Republican. I’m answering every question. That’s not what you want to hear, so it’s not even penetrating your little wall of armor you’ve got built up.

[…]

LIMBAUGH: Another Mike, this one in Olympia, Washington. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER 2: Hi Rush, thanks for taking my call.

LIMBAUGH: You bet.

CALLER 2: I have a retort to Mike in Chicago, because I am a serving American military, in the Army. I’ve been serving for 14 years, very proudly.

LIMBAUGH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER 2: And, you know, I’m one of the few that joined the Army to serve my country, I’m proud to say, not for the money or anything like that. What I would like to retort to is that, if we pull — what these people don’t understand is if we pull out of Iraq right now, which is about impossible because of all the stuff that’s over there, it’d take us at least a year to pull everything back out of Iraq, then Iraq itself would collapse, and we’d have to go right back over there within a year or so. And –

LIMBAUGH: There’s a lot more than that that they don’t understand. They can’t even — if — the next guy that calls here, I’m gonna ask him: Why should we pull — what is the imperative for pulling out? What’s in it for the United States to pull out? They can’t — I don’t think they have an answer for that other than, “Well, we just gotta bring the troops home.”

CALLER 2: Yeah, and, you know what –

LIMBAUGH: “Save the — keep the troops safe” or whatever. I — it’s not possible, intellectually, to follow these people.

CALLER 2: No, it’s not, and what’s really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.

LIMBAUGH: The phony soldiers.

CALLER 2: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they’re willing to sacrifice for their country.

LIMBAUGH: They joined to be in Iraq. They joined —

CALLER 2: A lot of them — the new kids, yeah.

LIMBAUGH: Well, you know where you’re going these days, the last four years, if you signed up. The odds are you’re going there or Afghanistan or somewhere.

CALLER 2: Exactly, sir.

Rush is obviously eating too much junk food.

Now I know why Rush is a doper,he can’t, won’t admit he is ever wrong, and he will drag every right-wing nut that believes him down, rather than say he is wrong. I hope he crashes soon.He is a disgrace to this country.

Thanks for sharing

I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well.