Bloggers are buzzing about Rush Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" comment and Senate Democrats' attempts to smear the radio host. Right-wing bloggers are outraged at the gruesome attempt to twist Limbaugh's words and defame a patriotic supporter of our troops--and agree that Limbaugh should be defended.
What exactly did Limbaugh say? He referred to one soldier, Jesse MacBeth, as a "phony soldier," using the same language as an ABC News headline. MacBeth was indeed a "phony" as Limbaugh describes on his website:
He told the world the abuses he had witnessed in Iraq, American soldiers killing unarmed civilians, hundreds of men, women, even children. In one gruesome account, translated into Arabic and spread widely across the Internet, Army Ranger Jesse MacBeth describes the horrors this way: "We would burn their bodies. We would hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque." Now, recently, Jesse MacBeth, poster boy for the anti-war left, had his day in court. And you know what? He was sentenced to five months in jail and three years probation for falsifying a Department of Veterans Affairs claim and his Army discharge record. He was in the Army. Jesse MacBeth was in the Army, folks, briefly. Forty-four days before he washed out of boot camp. Jesse MacBeth isn't an Army Ranger, never was. He isn't a corporal, never was. He never won the Purple Heart, and he was never in combat to witness the horrors he claimed to have seen…
In short, a phony soldier. This is the exact conversation that took place between Limbaugh and a caller:
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 like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and spout to the media.
RUSH: The phony soldiers.
CALLER: The 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.
RUSH: They joined to be in Iraq.
Now, Democrats have twisted Limbaugh's words to put him on par with the MoveOn.org "General Betray Us" ad and have viciously attacked him on the Senate floor, although many Republicans and Clear Channel president Mark Mays have come to Limbaugh's defense. Read the Fox News report for the details.
Michelle Malkin is particularly outraged at the Democrats' attempts to defame Limbaugh and limit free speech. She says:
Here is what this phony fiasco is really all about: It's about the MoveOn.org Democrats trying to save face in the aftermath of the disastrous "General Betray Us" smear…They want to shift attention away from MoveOn.org, its bully tactics, and its thug brethren at Media Matters. They are making a pathetic attempt to equate the "Betray Us" attack-which was deliberately timed for publication and maximum p.r. damage to our military command when the world was watching our top general in Iraq testifying in Congress-with a radio talk show host's ruminations about anti-war soldiers who have faked their military records/history.
Hot Air is also on the issue. In response to Harkin's and Reid's attempts to smear Limbaugh, Bryan says "the phony soldiers phenomenon, and its cousin the liberal soldier who puffs up his record to make himself seem more authoritative in matters of war and peace, has become pernicious. The entire Democrat party and its ideological allies are evidently swooning from it. Call it Winter Soldier Syndrome. Or call it Harkin's Disease."
And Little Green Footballs agrees.
Power Line notes that Harkin was an "odd choice for attack dog," considering his own, shall we say, "inflated" record of service. And there's more on that from Ace.
Over at NRO, Peter Wehner wrote:
The problem, of course, is that that the charge leveled against Limbaugh is obviously false; his phrase "phony soldiers" applied to Jesse Adam Macbeth--and the phrase itself was clearly based on the news headline….The Left in America clearly wants to take Limbaugh out, and for obvious reasons: he is a deeply influential conservative voice and during the last 20 years he has changed American politics and the American media in profound ways. The Left hates him--but they have found no way to stop him.
And lastly, thanks to Gateway Pundit, view this enlightening montage of reprehensible antiwar comments from the Democratic leadership. As far as insulting the troops, this is the real McCoy.
