Democrat Attack on Limbaugh Backfires/$2,000,000 Letter

So the Democrats decided to take on Rush Limbaugh as part of their plan to silence talk radio. They sent a letter signed by 41 Democratic senators to Mark P. Mays, president of Clear Channel, the parent company of Limbaugh's radio broadcast.

Limbaugh was discussing the case of Army soldier-turned-antiwar-activist Jesse Macbeth. This guy falsely claimed to have participated in war crimes in Iraq and to have received a Purple Heart. When in fact, he was discharged after only 44 days of service, he never set foot in Iraq.

So while talking about this guy, Limbaugh used the term "phoney soldier". The Democrats latched on to this and tried to turn it into a smear against any soldier who disagreed with Limbaugh on the war.

Limbaugh has a long history of supporting the military, and no one was going to believe a single statement taken out of context as indicating he had anything but respect for our soldiers, regardless of any particular soldier's view on the war.

Anyway, the Dems sent their letter, and Limbaugh is now actioning it off to the highest bidder. The proceeds will go to The Marine Corps -- Law Enforcement Foundation. A group that pays for the education of children of soldiers or law enforcement officers that have died.

As I write this, the letter is going for over $850,000! No, I just checked again. The bid is now over two million dollars. But, it includes free shipping.

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Should you care to place a bid, nows your chance!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-Harry-...temZ260170172469QQcategoryZ4105QQcmdZViewItem

 

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wow, pretty cool. I would spend $2,000,000 on a letter, that would be an awesome purchase. Tons of fun.

 

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http://mediamatters.org/items/200709280009

The link also contains a full audio clip and complete transcript of the incident in question. It shows Limbaugh releasing a heavily edited version that he claimed was full and complete, among other lies.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200709290002 a followup, showing AP publishing an account of the incident containing inaccuracies favorable to Limbaugh, for the mainstream media to pick up.

L:imbaugh has a long history of dishonestly smearing ex-soldiers who say anything critical of any US war involvement or Republican administration military policy: including John Kerry and Tom Daschle, for easy examples.

 

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dude i have heard the direct quote he called the soldier from a move on ad a phoney soldier. your just blindly following limbaughs bs. limbaugh was not smeared the dems are standing up for the troops please remove your head from another part of your body

 

Are you saying it's out of bounds to question a candidate for public office if he happens to be a vet?

And all your links are from Media Matters. A left wing hit squad with close ties to the Clintons. But that aside, here's the complete transcript from the site you posted:

All Limbaugh edited out was the part where the caller veered off into a discussion about WMD's. It does not change a thing. Read the whole transcript. His meaning is clear.

 

you know there is a difference between liberal and progressive right

 

Rush Limbaugh is obviously a
BIG FAT LIER!

 

The bidders are those Democrats that sent it. If not then there's a phony bidder out there for no one would pay 2 million for that piece of crap but those who wrote it.

 

Nice. Couldn't you have at least spelled liar correctly?

Anything constructive to add? Or did you just pop in to lob misspelled insults?

 

Republigoons will never learn.

 

From the Drudge report:
UPDATE: $2,100,100 TOP BID FOR DEM LETTER BASHING LIMBAUGH...
Largest charity bid in the history of EBAY? Jay Leno's Harley went for $800,000...
TWIST: SEN. REID THANKS RUSH FOR AUCTION...
AND THE WINNER IS: BETTY CASEY...

 

..and Rush Limbaugh doesn't support the troops, only the ones that agree with him.

 

I have to side with Limbaugh on this one. From the transcript:

it seems clear to me that one can interpret "phony soldiers" to mean "those who disagree with the Iraq policy", but some of the implication that suggests that comes from the caller's subsequent statement about who the "real" soldiers are.

Assuming Rush isn't a mind reader, or able to tell the future, the term "phony soldiers" seems to reference either (i) soldiers who seek out the media (which may be a reference to this one particular guy and others who've saought the spotlight or (ii) "these people" who cannot be intellectually followed (I'm not sure who that's referencing, since there's no transcript before that).

Based on the transcript, it's not clear what or who he meant to identify as the "phony" soldiers. Given the tendency to change thoughts mid-sentence (especially on spoken language), even if it did read clearly, it would still seem pretty likely that he misspoke. Even if he really believes that any soldier not supporting the war is a "phony", he's clearly backtracking from that position now publically by refusing to stand up for the position.

Whatever he meant, the honor of those who serve and think Iraq is a mistake seems to me to have been satisfied. After that, attacks on Limbaugh just strike me as petty. The fact that Limbaugh, who is not a clever man, has been able to turn the tables on them by selling the letter and generating positive press for himself is evidence of how stupid an idea the letter actually was.

EDIT: This strikes me as an example of "feigned outrage" which people on both sides of the aisle seem to engage in with increasing frequency. They disingenuously claim to be upset at the dastardly thing the other side said, however questionable that may be, but are secretly gleeful at the statement because it lets them pretend to be morally superior.

 

Any positive press from the right-wing echo chamber is equally stupid. It's obvious he's calling the soldiers who speak out against the war phony. I suppose when they get killed, it's a phony death?

They take one example of an attention-seeking misguided young man, and extrapolate to all our troops, many of whom disagree with being in Iraq.

 

I'm going to ignore the blatantly partisan approaches of Ice and Spider and ask the question that seems more relevant: Do 41 U.S. senators really have so much time on their hands that they whip themselves into a frenzy over something a talk show host says? Aren't they supposed to be tackling real problems? If they need help identifying them, I can come up with a list...

 

Like a resolution condemning moveon.org?

 

No, it's not obvious. Did you read the transcript?

And Limbaugh is not only donating the two million he got for this letter to the families of soldiers who died, but he's also matching that amount out of his own pocket.

Donating four million dollars to the families of fallen soldiers, those who agreed with him and those who didn't, is pretty good evidence of his support of them.

 

It's a public relations move to distract people from the fact that he thinks a certain percentage of wrong-thinking soldiers aren't real soldiers. Do you mean to say that he would not have donated that money unless the Democrats complained about him?

 

He's on the board of the charity! He has supported it for years.

 

Many of those Democrats who signed the letter actually know war firsthand, unlike Limbaugh. I guess they need to be smeared too.