Public Eye
September 28, 2007 11:35 AM

Limbaugh's Loose Lips

By
Matthew Felling
Topics
In The News
(AP)
As discussed in this space last week, there's a lot of inappropriate things said and done that are trumped up into Major Media Controversies. Left-leaning groups and right-leaning groups – the screaming monkeys on both sides – are always trying to publicize things and raise their profile on the nation's agenda. So you weigh their claims see if the event meets the threshold for attention.

Bill O'Reilly's insipid observation about African-American restaurants earlier this week seemed like a media diversion that – given all the other events this week – didn't tip the scales into an actual problem.

But some things are outrages despite being spotlighted by ideological groups.

Take what was said by Rush Limbaugh this week, as reported on Talking Points Memo – inspired by the liberal group Media Matters -- yesterday:
In a conversation on Rush Limbaugh's radio program, a listener named Mike said that antiwar people never talk to "real soldiers," adding that they take their cues from soldiers who are against the war and "talk to the media."

To which Limbaugh rejoined: "The phony soldiers."
According to the account, Limbaugh also later added:
"What is the imperative in 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, `It's gonna bring our troops home. Save the troops. Keep the troops safe. Or whatever. It's not possible intellectually to follow these people."
Maybe it's because my father was a Marine. Maybe it's because my brother has been deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq in the past few years. But suggesting that a soldier who has qualms with the military's operations in Iraq and chooses to vocalize those reservations is phony ... well, it tips this reader's scale.

It's too early to know how much is going to be made of this story, but it'll be interesting to see how the coverage of Rush belittling some soldiers compares to MoveOn.org's ad criticizing General Petraeus. (Labelled a "misstep" here.) He might not generate the media buzz he once did, but Rush still ranks as the number one most influential talk show host… and is heard on the Armed Forces Radio Network.

Regardless of how zealously (or not) they support our military engagement in Iraq, each and every soldier deserves our respect – a sentiment echoed in polls commissioned surrounding the Petraeus testimony. Are their wounds or scars "phony" if they take issue with our foreign policy?

Coincidentally or not, I see a small left-generated online campaign has begun to urge the Armed Forces Radio Network to remove Limbaugh from its airwaves. And the network's website today indicates that "there was a hard drive failure yesterday" at the site.

Stay tuned.

Update: (12:27pm) In writing this post, I reached out to a few sources. Al Jazeera's Josh Rushing -- the former Marine press liason who now serves as a correspondent for the English-language Al Jazeera network.

His thoughts? "It's ... exactly the kind of rhetoric that is devestating to the hope of having a fruitful dialog about Iraq.

"It assumes that all service members think the same way, undermining the idea that our military represents a cross section of our society with a wide representation of the views on the subject."

Add a Comment See all 48 Comments
by mattcat25 October 1, 2007 2:48 PM EDT
Rush Limbaugh is against our Soldiers serving in Iraq and isn''t a "real american".
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by actornaught October 1, 2007 2:30 PM EDT
therealextex and Rush are both lying scumbags.

If rush was only referring to one person, why did it take him 2 minutes, and a couple transitions, between saying "phony soldiers" and "Jesse MacBeth", and then why did he edit out almost the entire "context" on his website and his later diatribe about it, lying every bit about it??

http://mediamatters.org/it
ems/200709280009?f=h_latest
Reply to this comment
by therealextex October 1, 2007 1:54 PM EDT
All of you who actually listened live to Rush''s show- the whole show- on the ''phony soldiers'' day, please raise your hand.

As I thought- only ME! Rush was talking about Jesse Metcalf and Scott Beauchamp BY NAME!
Now all of you stupid libs who insist on saying that "Rush called soldiers who disagree with the war phony soldiers" PROVE IT! None of this ''it''s clear from the text stuff''- just show the quote that identifies phony soldiers with anti-war soldiers. You can''t- because he said nothing of the kind.

And ABC, CBS, and NBC should be ASHAMED for taking the word of MediaMatters that he did!
Reply to this comment
by mattcat25 October 1, 2007 12:36 PM EDT
"This absurd and scurillous campaign is going boomerang on the Democrats and their partners in the media.?

The logic of this statement is elusive, what does Right Wing Wacko Rush Limbaugh%u2019s attack against all Military Personnel serving in Iraq that may have a differing opinion on the mission, agenda, and mismanagement of the Bush Administration have to do with the Democrat-ic Party?

Rush Hudson Limbaugh is attempting to threaten, shame, and segregate those troops that may from a first hand experience be against the Republican War Scheme, or they oppose the manner in which the Bush Administration have implemented it.

In typical Limbaugh style, %u201Cthe back lash from the back lash will be a severe%u2026.back lash?%u201D
My fiends%u2026

Reply to this comment
by geno8808 October 1, 2007 1:10 AM EDT
This absurd and scurillous campaign is going boomerang on the Democrats and their partners in the media.

MSNBC devoted an entire evening to this completely contrived story. How embarrassing is that?
Reply to this comment
by actornaught September 30, 2007 2:56 PM EDT
Rush is a lying scumbag. His claim to only referring to one person is total BS, and to "defend" himself, he''s used a heavily editted version of the "context".

http://mediamatters.org/items/200709280009?f=h_latest
Reply to this comment
by watcher269-2009 September 30, 2007 6:24 AM EDT
It is People like Rush that are prolonging this illegal war and who never had the balls to sign up themselves. It''s time to remove this Un-American Loud mouth from the air waves. Or better yet, put a gun in his hand and send Him to Iraq and see what his comments are then. Frickin'' JackA**.
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by stevencee September 29, 2007 6:15 PM EDT
Obviously, Limbaugh is blind to his abject hypocrisy,(as if his "all drug users need prison time, uh, except for me" exposure wasn''t blatant enough), for if ANYONE is the "phony" in this dialogue, it is HIS smarmy, "I''ll talk tough, but hell if I, or anyone as smart/wealthy as me, will put my *** on the line" and enlist, or at the least, URGE his listeners/dittoheads to do so, cause "Uncle Sam Wants (& needs) You"!

His un-American, hateful divisiveness, & abuse of free speech, along with his tough-talking cowardice & true disrespect for our brave soldiers (ALL of them, not just those who swallow his malarky, is truly repugnant.

For any commentator, caught in as many lies as he, to have even a shred of credibility, speaks volumes to the unfortunate dumbing down of so many Americans.
Reply to this comment
by smoyerjx September 29, 2007 4:27 PM EDT
It''s quite the comedy to watch the misinformed so foolishly froth and foam-at-the-mouth. Doh!




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by memekiller September 29, 2007 3:38 PM EDT
What''s your point? That Rush would never impugn the reputation of a veteran''s service based on politics? The only reason you''re trying to claim this example is a fraud is because the media is running with it, but there are many other examples. For instance, in Rush''s defense, he called an active service man and Vietnam veteran "phonies" by name because they disagreed with him politically. That''s beyond question. He coined the term "Betrayus" for Senator Hagel, another Vietnam vet. he also said, "I want to respectfully disagree with the president on the last part of what he said. I am going to challenge the patriotism of people who disagree with him because the people that disagree with him want to lose." Immediately preceding the "phony soldiers" (plural) comment, he berated a veteran, Republican and Rush listener as being a "phony Republican" for disagreeing with him on one issue: the war. He said Hacket, an Iraq Vet, was a "staff puke" who only joined the military to "pad his resume" -- he served, you see, but as a Democrat, his service was -- how do you say it? -- phony? Yes, that''s the word.
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