The folks on the Left are beside themselves today--thinking that by dint of a truncated quote, they will succeed in shutting down Rush Limbaugh and taking him off the air. Before lining up next to the folks from Crooks and Liars, FireDogLake, Media Matters, ThinkProgress, Huffington Post, and the rest, at least read the full transcript. In Limbaugh's comments after the exchange quoted by the left, he makes clear he is referring to people like Jesse MacBeth--a 'phony soldier' the left would understandably like to forget.

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.

It's also clear and undeniable that the political left has eagerly stood behind fakers who spout tales about Iraq that are at times false, or ridiculous, or both. From Jesse MacBeth to Scott Thomas Beauchamp, liberals and anti-war moonbats have suspended logic and reason to embrace people because they liked what they had to say, regardless of whether the tales made sense, or their credentials were as they claimed.

Limbaugh is big enough to defend himself and his healthy ego. But his attackers ought to render his comments honestly and own up to their own embarrassing record.