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The Left & Limbaugh:Misrepresenting the Man Rather than Engaging his Ideas

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The more I read about the manufactured outrage of the left against Rush Limbaugh for allegedly smearing the troops by calling some critics of the war “phony soldiers,” the more I realize how great is their smear of this outspoken conservative. As Christopher G. Adamo put it on The American Thinker, “Limbaugh’s attackers have intentionally mischaracterized his criticism of such individuals as an assault the U.S. armed forces, asserting that he derided any troops who oppose the war as ‘phony soldiers’” (Via Instapundit).

Rush made very clear the “soldiers” he was calling phony in the very radio program where he first uttered the expression. ABC had just aired a special on phony soldiers with which the talk show host was familiar. Byron York observes:

The fact that Limbaugh, on the original September 26 program, brought up the ABC report, unbidden, to explain the “phony soldiers” remark suggests that that indeed was what he had in mind at the time he said it. That’s also supported by the fact that he had recorded a commentary on the story the day before, and that he printed out and re-read that commentary on September 26 as he explained “phony soldiers.” It was clearly on his mind.

Let me repeat, that expression was clearly on Rush’s mind when one soldier called it to deride the media for selecting troops “who come up out of the blue.”

Within moments of uttering it, he made clear that he was referring to individuals like Jesse Macbeth who invented stories out of whole cloth but which fit the anti-war movement’s narrative of our mission in Iraq. Many of Rush’s critics make much of the fact that there was a two-minute delay between Rush’s first uttering the expression, “phony soldiers” and his clarification.

Perhaps in that time, Rush realized how others would spin his mark. For when he uttered it, it was just an expression that was on his mind. Importantly, as York put it, the talk show host brought up the ABC report “unbidden,” mentioning Macbeth’s name long before Media Matters accused him of sliming troops who support withdrawal.

But, Limbaugh’s critics won’t be assuaged. They believe they know what that conservative was thinking better than he does. As Tom Maguire puts it:

Limbaugh’s critics are certain that he could not possibly have had that in mind when he mentioned “phony soldiers”, even though the caller was alluding to soldiers that “come up out of the blue” and even though Limbaugh went on to cite a specific phony soldier, Jesse MacBeth, two minutes later?

The critics focus on the two-minute gap as if it means everything. And Media Matters doesn’t even include the references to Jesse Macbeth on its audio clip of Rush’s show.

Despite all this, Democrats continue to misrepresent Rush’s remarks, attacking a straw man of their own creation. But, we gay Republicans are all too familiar with such misrepresentations, people who define us not as we are, but as they wish we were. Maybe this incident will make that broadcaster more sympathetic to our situation.

Even without his support, we’ll manage just fine.

In the end, all this really shows is how far some on the left will go to denounce their ideological adversaries. They’re not interested in an honest discussion, but in undermining any conservative who gain a popular following.

I wonder if their continually misrepresention of those who challenge them is a sign of insecurity about their own ideas.

Comments

  1. In the end, all this really shows is how far some on the left will go to denounce their ideological adversaries.

    I respectfully disagree.

    What this kerfuffle clearly shows is how pathetically desperate the liberal left is. Not to mention vacuous. It’s a classic liberal distraction. People were looking too closely at them so, naturally, it was time to point out how much of a racist bigot O’Reilly supposedly is and how unpatriotic Rush is supposed to be.

    We were looking too closely at Hillary and other candidate’s laundered money scheme and the “Betray-us” ad went over like a wet fart in church. Not to mention the colossal failures of the liberal led congress. And let’s not forget that the day before Media Morons Against America threw the bullshit at the fan, Rush reported on the IBD piece which highlights how George Soros funded James Hansen, illegal immigrant rallies and the legal defense of terrorists.

    They naturally and arrogantly hoped like hell that enough people would be too damn stupid to know any better and thought they could get away with the smear. Unfortunately, the only ones who bought it are the devout Soros tit suckers like Ian, gil etc.

    I mean seriously. If anybody didn’t know any better, they should have known something was up when Kerry popped off about it. Not to mention Harry Reid, who has never worn a uniform but has a record of smearing our soldiers, became the head cheerleader. Hell, gReid couldn’t even put together a majority in the senate with his candy a$$ed letter to Mark Mayes. And let’s not forget the fact that Senate POS had no problem with the “Betray-us” ad.

    Long story short, it doesn’t take much to realize that this was nothing more than a distraction from the total failure and corruption of liberals. It will come back to bite them square in the a$$ if not already.

    As Rush says “If you put excrement in front of a liberal, they’ll step in it”. They have done exactly that.

  2. Stories like this are also a convenient excuse for the MSM not to have the least amount of curiosity of how a federal fugitive managed to come up with $800,000 to donate to Hillary 2008, nor any curiosity about whether she is actually returning the donation.

  4. Kevin, you f***ed up again. Rush is not dope user in the common criminal usage of the term, i. e. marijuana, coke, heroin, etc. Over the counter and prescription drugs are not illegal but can be, as in the case Rush, habit forming.

    How about this as an axis of evil, Reid, Schumer, and Pelosi.

    Little Green Footballs has a a clip from a 1992 speech of Al Gore, criticizing the first George Bush for ignoring warnings of Saddam Hussein´s ties to terrorists and his quest for materials for weapons of mass destruction.

  8. FYI…Kevin…Rush did get addicted to Oxycotin..and I believe just yesterday we saw that there are some major lawsuits being filed against the maker of this drug as they led Drs. to believe it was the “dream” painkiller. It would get rid of severe pain without addiction. Wrong…turns out it is highly addictive and many Drs. like the ones who no doubt originally prescribed oxy to Rush did not realize the danger and degree of addiction. Rush does have and has had a long running spinal problem. I used to listen to him on WABC when he was going through a very painful time and having to stand up to do his show. So the pills were given to treat a very real problem. And yes..he get addicted…went to rehab (which seems to absolve everyone else but Rush) and is drug free. In fact on today’s show he has made public to a newspaper in West Palm papers that show he has been drug tested for a couple of years now and has NEVER failed a test. It is so much easier to slime someone just by spewing lies that fit your preconceived notions instead of getting the facts.

  13. Let me get this straight. Conservatives have for several years branded those of us who strongly oppose the occupation and work to end it as at best, unpatriotic and at worst, traitorous. So, we’re supposed to believe that unlike the caller he responded to, Rush actually thinks those military folks who strongly oppose the occupation and work to end it are not “phony soldiers” at all but “real” ones? Even if they are at best unpatriotic or at worst traitorous?

    Riiiiiight!

    Not to mention that they may be akin to suicide bombers or merely simpletons.

  15. #14

    Perhaps if you dealt more with the truth in the real world instead of trying to keep lies straight, you wouldn’t be so confused.

    And yes, it is pathetic and sad to see soldiers lik VoteVets lie on a regular basis. It’s pathetic that they themselves use phony soldiers. It’s pathetic that even liberals who are taught about honor will still resort to lying, cheating and exploitation to push their agenda.

    Better find someone else to fabricate a smear about, Ian, because nobody’s buying it and nobody’s distracted from the liberal corruption.