Story Time with E 10.11.07: Scandalous – Congressional Dems Question Rush Limbaugh’s Patriotism

Posted by Enrique on 10.11.2007

Last week, talk radio pioneer Rush Limbaugh came under fire from Senate Democrats for saying that U.S. troops and veterans who oppose the Iraq war are “phony soldiers.” Except he didn’t say that. But he did give lefties the opportunity to show their censorious side.

You may familiar with Rush Limbaugh. About 15 years ago, his three-hour mid-day talk show revitalized AM radio. Limbaugh fashioned himself as an alternative to the left-leaning MSM, and reported on current events with a hard right point of view. He is the founder and president emeritus of the Right Wing Noise Machine™. His show pried open a huge market for right-wing news and comment, paving the way for the likes of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Fox News (motto: "America – Fuck Yeah!"). For conservatives, Rush Limbaugh is an icon – he's amassed fabulous power and wealth by virtue of his persistence, his rugged individualism, and only occasionally his illicit prescription drugs. This is the guy that was saying "suck it, libs" before saying "suck it, libs" was passé.

Of course the MSM and their lackeys the Democrats have never forgiven Limbaugh for breaking their longstanding monopoly on information-dissemination. Because of this, Rush has a knack for driving lefties mad – he knows how to bring out the worst in them. Former President Bill Clinton famously criticized Limbaugh in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, implying that Rush had somehow inspired Timothy McVeigh. Can you imagine? It would be like if Dubya criticized his opponents by obliquely suggesting that they support Al Qaeda. (Pfft, right?)

In any case, last week a substantial chunk of the Democrat caucus took to the floor of the U.S. Senate to denounce Rush Limbaugh. Apparently, Limbaugh said that any U.S. serviceperson who opposed the war was a "phony soldier." He said what??? I'M OUTRAGED!

The story so far…

So what the hell did Rush actually say? You can read the transcript here, but why bother with that when you can just check out this chunky quote I pulled for you? In this case, the caller is "Mike from Chicago," who claims to have been serving in the U.S. Army for 14 years, and discusses his support for the war in Iraq:

CALLER: 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, what these people don't understand, is if we pull out of Iraq right now, which is not possible because of all the stuff that's over there, it would 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.

RUSH: There's a lot more than that that they don't understand. The next guy that calls here I'm going to ask them, "What is the imperative of pulling out? What's in it for the United States to pull out?" I don't think they have an answer for that other than, "When's he going to bring the troops home? Keep the troops safe," whatever.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: It's not possible intellectually to follow these people.

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

RUSH: The phony soldiers.

CALLER: Phony soldiers. If you talk to any real soldier and they're proud to serve, they want to be over in Iraq, they understand their sacrifice and they're willing to sacrifice for the country.

A few off-the-top-of-my-head observations:

1. Earlier in the show, Limbaugh had made reference to an ABC News story by Brian Ross about "Operation: Stolen Valor," a Justice Department crackdown on persons who falsely claim to have served in the U.S. armed forces. Charles Gibson introduced the report by saying, "A closer look tonight at phony heroes…" In fact, after Rush lets Mike from Chicago go, he again refers to one of the phony soldiers profiled by ABC, one Jesse Macbeth. Macbeth has recently been sentenced to five months in jail on charges related to lying about his non-existent military service. As the transcript makes plain, Limbaugh was referring to specific phony soldiers – he wasn't generally condemning U.S. troops and veterans who happen to oppose the war.

2. Mike from Chicago is proud that he joined the Army to serve his country, and "not for the money or anything like that." Gee, don't break your arm patting yourself on the back. Why did he say that? Did Mike think the audience would respect him less if he joined because chicks dig a man in uniform? I think that his willingness to immediately disavow an economic motive for his career choice, and to invoke patriotism as his reason for joining, might be revealing of the disturbing nationalist inclination that lives in the cold heart of the military-industrial complex; a "pathological false consciousness," if you will. Or not. Whatever.

3. Even if Rush is referring to the specific phony soldiers in the ABC report, there's a good chance that Mike from Chicago is talking about any soldier or vet who opposes the war. Mike clearly says that "real" soldiers are proud to serve and want to be in Iraq, so I think we can assume that he doesn't believe soldiers who oppose the war are "real." And if that's true, then Mike from Chicago is an ass, no matter how long he's been in the Army. But I think Rush and Mike are using "phony soldiers" differently. If anything, Rush is guilty of not clarifying the point. And you really can't blame Rush if he didn't hear Mike correctly, since he went deaf a few years ago as a result of his painkiller addiction. Or maybe you can blame him...

So when faced with the phony controversy of the phony soldiers, congressional Democrats held an indignation party. John Kerry released a statement saying in part: "This disgusting attack from Rush Limbaugh, cheerleader for the chicken hawk wing of the far right is an insult to American troops." You may remember that John Kerry wasn't too far from being President of the United States. You also may remember that John Kerry is an enormous pussy. Doesn't he have a research staff? A simple reading of the transcript would have shown that Rush wasn't insulting American troops. I know Kerry is allegedly some kind of hero because he served in Vietnam, but c'mon – I served in Vietnam this morning and I still showed up for work on time. Jeez.

Majority Leader Harry Reid jumped into the fray heroically and patriotically, offering this little nugget:

[W]hen we hear things on the radio that are offensive, by and large, we tolerate them. But last week, Rush Limbaugh went way over the line – and while we respect his right to say anything he likes, his unpatriotic comments cannot be ignored.

Jeez, Harry, you can't get through one day without questioning the patriotism of someone who disagrees with you? You're just a less butch version of Ann Coulter. But Harry and his caucus weren't done yet. In addition to outraged and retarded speeches on the floor of the U.S. Senate condemning Rush, 41 Dems signed a letter to Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays, in which they called on Mays to repudiate Limbaugh's comments. Remember that next time you hear lefties complain that The Right is trying to "chill dissent" or "chill free speech" or "chill chilly boo hoo woe is me." I'm happy to say that both of my home Senators, Democrats Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, didn't bother to sign their names to this pathetic smear. They must have read the transcript. On Wisconsin!

If we can learn anything from the story of Rush Limbaugh and the "phony soldiers," it's that politicians are shamelessly dreadful and wretched and cynical and manipulative and wretched and horrible and wretched. But we already knew that, right? I leave you this week with Camille Paglia's take on the "phony soldiers" non-controversy, because she's one of my favorite lefties:

I must confess my own exasperation with the Democratic leadership, who spout tiresome platitudes but achieve little and who stampede off on puerile publicity stunts that alienate potential voters across party lines. The latest example is the near-delusional campaign to turn popular radio host Rush Limbaugh, who has unwaveringly supported the military for nearly 20 years, into an anti-military antichrist. If Democrats are serious about ideology-based government regulation of talk radio, then the party is fast abandoning its fundamental principles, central to which should be constitutionally protected free speech.