Rush Limbaugh in now embroiled in a big brouhaha over on-air remarks he made where he allegedly called all anti-war veterans "phony soldiers." A rush to judgement followed with congressional democrats attacking Limbaugh for besmirching heroic soldiers who served their country in Iraq.
If you've read my blogs, you know that I do not admire Limbaugh and I am certainly not one of his dodoheads - oops - I mean dittoheads. I've derisively referred to Rush as "Roach Limburger" and consider him nothing more than a bombastic buffoon who often distorts facts or doesn't even get them right in the first place. Rush is a braggard with a humongous ego. I've described him as a "Texas Blivot" - ten pounds of shit in a two pound bag.
Media Matters, a "progressive" organization dedicated to exposing conservative misinformation, manipulated Limbaugh's remarks to a caller on his radio show so they appeared like Rush condidered ALL anti-war veterans "phony soldiers." There was an immediate rush to judgement which condemned Limbaugh for calling anti-war combat veterans unpatriotic and phony soldiers. Well, I've got to rush to Rush's defense because that was really not what the blowhard did.
Three times a week, I do volunteer work at a nature center. On my way home, I listen to a radio station which broadcasts Limbaugh's program. The only reason I listen to him is that I'm too lazy to change stations. I happened to be listening when a dodohead called in to talk about veterans who speak out against the war. In his "phony soldier" response, Limbaugh was talking only about one particular anti-war veteran, Jesse MacBeth, who claimed to be an Army Ranger, when in fact he was not.
When Limbaugh used the term "phony soldiers" he was referring to outspoken anti-war veterans who falsified their combat experiences like MacBeth, Jimmy Massey, Micah Wright and Amorita Randall. Massey falsely accused his Marine unit of committing mass genocide against Iraqis. Wright claimed to be an Army Ranger, which like MacBeth, he had never been. And Randall, in a New York Times article, claimed being in a Humvee that was blown up in Iraq and being raped twice while in the navy, when she had never served in Iraq.
Clearly, those four, and any other war protesters who falsify their combat experience, are phony soldiers. That did not stop congressional democrats from rushing to condemn Rush on the floor of the House and the Senate. Still smarting from criticism for their reluctance to condemn Moveon.org for its add referring to General Petraeus as General Betray Us, and for the way they, including presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, questioned the general's honesty during congressional committee hearings, democrats pounced on Limbaugh's remarks as proof that they support our troops.
Attacks against Rush on the floor of the Senate took up much of that body's time, time which should have been devoted to dealing with our nation's problems. In long-winded speeches, majority leader Harry Reid and Tom Harkin, among other democratic senators, condemned Limbaugh for calling our soldiers in Iraq "phony" and payed flowing tributes to the patriotism, bravery and sacrifices of our troops. Harkin even suggested Limbaugh may have been high on drugs.
It is interesting to look at the vote on the congressional resolutions condemning the Moveon.org ad. While support for the resolution was nearly unanimous among republicans, the same cannot be said for the democrats. In the House, 79 democrats opposed the resolution, while six chose not to cast a vote. In the Senate, 25 democrats, including Senators Reid, Harkin and Clinton, opposed the resolution, while three, including Senator Obama, chose not to cast a vote.
As much as I dislike him, I must commend Limbaugh for the way he has always backed our troops. Rush has done much more than just mouth his support for the soldiers in Iraq. The congressional democrats, on the other hand, saw the Media Matters manipulation of Rush's remarks as an opportunity for trying to convince us that they really support our troops. However, the congressional attacks against Limbaugh amounted to nothing more than A DISINGENUOUS PHONY EXERCISE in damage control over the alliance between democrats and Moveon.org.
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