The Rush Limbaugh brouhaha
National Review's Byron York has what is probably the most complete and concise account of the Media Matters-created pseudoscandal involving radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and his disdain for phony soldiers.
The next day, September 28, Limbaugh used his program to explain the “phony soldiers” remark at some length. As part of that explanation, he played a tape of the original September 26 program. He cut some extraneous material out — “for space and relevance reasons, not to hide anything,” he told me — and then found himself again under attack from Media Matters for “selectively edit[ing]” the clip. Media Matters did not claim that Limbaugh had cut anything substantive out — he did not — and in fact his cuts were similar to the cuts Media Matters itself made when it published an edited version of the transcript of Limbaugh’s original broadcast. But it was one more dart to throw at Limbaugh.
Just for the record, here are some of the things Limbaugh didn't say:
Senator Harry Reid: “That this war is lost, and that the surge is not accomplishing anything.”
John Kerry: “If you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Congressman John Murtha: “Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.”
Senator Dick Durbin: “If I read this to you and didn't tell you it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have happened by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or some mad regime, Pol Pot or others that had no concern for human beings.”
Democrats in the Senate apparently couldn't get a resolution condemning Limbaugh passed -- like Republicans managed to do with MoveOn.org's "General Betray Us" ad -- so they wrote a letter.
Every senate Democrat who quoted above -- who said something far worse than Limbaugh -- signed the letter.
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I'm still bemused by Tom Harkin, who has claimed Vietnam veteran status not supported by his service, attacking Limbaugh. Is Harkin stupid, does he think we're stupid, or has he no shame?
Lest I be Rushed, let me state for the record that I am a Vietnam era veteran like Harkin. I never served in Vietnam. Unlike Harkin, I never claimed to.