{"id":13041,"date":"2007-09-28T13:32:50","date_gmt":"2007-09-28T17:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/13041.html"},"modified":"2007-09-28T13:32:50","modified_gmt":"2007-09-28T17:32:50","slug":"right-starts-pushing-back-against-limbaughs-phony-soldiers-flap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/right-starts-pushing-back-against-limbaughs-phony-soldiers-flap\/","title":{"rendered":"Right starts pushing back against Limbaugh’s ‘phony soldiers’ flap"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re just joining us, Media Matters reported yesterday that far-right radio host Rush Limbaugh dismissed U.S. troops who support a withdrawal policy in Iraq as “phony soldiers<\/a>.” Veterans’ groups and sevearl leading Democrats, including the DNC and the DCCC, blasted Limbaugh for the comment, and urged Republicans to repudiate it.<\/p>\n

A variety of conservatives have apparently come up with a defense — Limbaugh shouldn’t have said those exact words, but it doesn’t matter because he was taken out of context.<\/p>\n

Here’s the Weekly Standard’s Brian Faughnan<\/a>, for example.<\/p>\n

Limbaugh’s offhand comment was poorly chosen. It’s clear that there are ‘real soldiers’–real by anyone’s criteria–who oppose the war in Iraq and they’re entitled to their views. But much like the recently manufactured controversies over Bill O’Reilly’s comments, and President Bush’s comment about Saddam having killed “all the Mandelas,” the left is trying to pull a fast-one by taking Rush’s statement out of context.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The argument, not surprisingly, is slowly catching on<\/a> with some conservative bloggers.<\/p>\n

So, is there anything to this? I don’t think so. Let’s go to the tape and consider the context in more detail.
\n
\nLimbaugh had just finished arguing with a caller from Chicago who said he is an anti-war Republican who served in the military. Limbaugh said that was impossible — Republicans aren’t genuine unless they support Bush’s Iraq policy. As for the caller’s claim about military service, Limbaugh said, “Right. Right. Right, I know. And I, by the way, used to walk on the moon!” Limbaugh’s argument wasn’t subtle — the caller couldn’t have worn the uniform because he supports withdrawal.<\/p>\n

The next caller also identified himself as currently serving in the military, and criticized those who disagree with Bush’s policy. We pick it up there….<\/a><\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

CALLER 2: Yeah, and, you know what —<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/b><\/p>\n

LIMBAUGH: The phony soldiers.<\/b><\/p>\n

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

LIMBAUGH: They joined to be in Iraq. They joined —<\/p>\n

CALLER 2: A lot of them — the new kids, yeah.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

CALLER 2: Exactly, sir.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Today, the argument is that Limbaugh was being literal — “phony soldiers” are, in fact, actual frauds, as in the case of Jesse Macbeth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I think the context is clear — the troops are signing up because they want to be deployed to Iraq. If you serve and disagree with the Iraq policy, then you must be a “phony.” (Indeed, there’s a precedent on this. In June, Limbaugh labeled John Kerry a “phony<\/a>.” It wasn’t literal — Limbaugh wasn’t saying Kerry didn’t wear the uniform — but rather, it was the noun Limbaugh chose to describe veterans who dare to disagree with Bush’s policy.)<\/p>\n

For what it’s worth, the story is just now starting to pick up steam. A reporter asked White House Press Secretary Dana Perino about Limbaugh’s comment, and she subtly distanced herself from it.<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re just joining us, Media Matters reported yesterday that far-right radio host Rush Limbaugh dismissed U.S. troops who support a withdrawal policy in Iraq as “phony soldiers.” Veterans’ groups and sevearl leading Democrats, including the DNC and the DCCC, blasted Limbaugh for the comment, and urged Republicans to repudiate it. A variety of conservatives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}