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Rush Limbaugh Phony soldier remark
09/28/07
My friend Chris brought this up (Media Matters) and asked me to comment. (Do they have one guy who monitors Rush or do they take turns?)
Follow up:
During the September 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq "phony soldiers." He made the comment while discussing with a caller a conversation he had with a previous caller, "Mike from Chicago," who said he "used to be military," and "believe[s] that we should pull out of Iraq." Limbaugh told the second caller, whom he identified as "Mike, this one from Olympia, Washington," that "[t]here's a lot" that people who favor U.S. withdrawal "don't understand" and that when asked why the United States should pull out, their only answer is, " 'Well, we just gotta bring the troops home.' ... 'Save the -- keeps the troops safe' or whatever," adding, "[I]t's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people." "Mike" from Olympia replied, "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." Limbaugh interjected, "The phony soldiers." The caller, who had earlier said, "I am a serving American military, in the Army," agreed, replying, "The phony soldiers."
I really don't know what to make of it. Is he saying that people are pretending to be soldiers, or that some soldiers are more "real" than others because of their proximity to danger? Or, is Limbaugh saying that one can determine soldiers' authenticity by their political opinion?
Number one is understandable but unlikely. Number two is rude and irrelevant. Number three is the most troubling. Obviously, soldiers have diverse opinions. On the other hand, it sounded like a throwaway comment- not something really thought-out.
I've said before that people who are closer to something should have a little more credibility, but that the opinions of soldiers on subjective matters shouldn't be given any more weight than those of civilians. For example, a soldier would better know how the population feels about Americans or how business is conducted, but not whether we should have invaded in the first place.
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11 comments
Hugh Hewitt on his show when he has some lefty who says they are in the military he starts asking them questions about their unit. Most times they are shown to be frauds by their answers.
The left has always had people claiming to be soldiers to discredit the military. One of John Kerry's associates in the Winter Soldier debacle was one such. And of course there have been other cases in recent years of anti-war types claiming they served when they didn't.
Never trust Media Matters: they're liars. Limbaugh's comments were too clear for them to get it so wrong.
CLEARLY, said - inna nutshell, that if you're serving your country in harms way in Iraq, and you don't agree with my (Limpballs) thoughts on the war...
...well, then, you're not a "real" soldier in harms way, on your fourth tour of duty, away from you kids, career, and loved ones fighting for - as most recently re-confirmed by Alan Greenspan, "for OIL"...
You're a "phony soldier"... LOL... That's rich... If you don't agree with Limpballs, and your serving in Iraq, you're not a real soldier, you're a "phony soldier". LOL! IDIOTS! Now watch these same cretins who were hand-wringing, and teeth gnashing, and all puffed up with self-righteous indignation over the Moveon ad for the last two weeks, trip over themselves to defend Limpball's comment. Conservative idiots sure are (unintentionally) funny.
And wha? These "phony soldiers"... they'll lose a phony arm or leg from some phony IED, eh Rush? What an effen idiot. Conservative idiot AM hate-jock radio, sometimes it's hard to tell the hate jocks from the religious zealots speaking in tongues on the next station to the right, their babble is equally nonsensical.
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Nope - absolute nonsense and spin. The entire audio - in context- is posted along with accompanying text on Media Matters. There's no mention of "Jesse MacBeth", that BS. Complete spin.
Clearly, Limpballs is say that if you don't agree with his asinine opinions and don't like fighting "mostly for OIL" (Alan Greenspan) then you're a "phony soldier". That's what he said, that's what he meant. Listen to the audio.
nguirado is correct.
Limbaugh is a classic example of what's wrong with conservatism in America - a deferred draftee warmonger who has never fired a shot in anger in his life, aka a hypocrite.
Your comments are spin. Any logical person could listen to Rush's comments and understand what he meant and we could all do without all the profane tripe you add in your posts. The phony soldiers that he was talking about have been well documented. They were phony. No spin. Having been in the military, I can tell you that a lot of soldiers, even though they are there, couldn't tell you much about the war as a whole, but could only describe what their particular focus is at the time. Wars
at the strategic level are planned and monitored by division and army staffs. I doubt that the people you reference are working at those levels. So, they don't see the whole war, and can't comment on the execution of the entire war with any accuracy. Maybe both of you should learn to think on your own, and stop getting your talking points from left leaning websites(In the case of Media Matters it's
not just leaning, it has fallen all the way into the leftist abyss). I find it humorous that you accuse right wingers of being unwilling to listen to your point of view when you do such a poor job of presenting yourself and your viewpoint in anything other than a deameaning, partisan, and
unintelligble way. Those of us who don't drink the kool-aid of either side get a little tired of all of the hate and spin.
and disabled veterans and complain about
the glacial pace of concern from an
indifferent VA and the rest of the American
population, you will see how fast these
right-wing bigots turn on them. Just like
Vietnam!
· http://www.nelsonguirado.com/index.php/Military/2007/09/28/rush_limbaugh_phony_soldier_remark " Its pretty sad actually that anyone lets Rush get under their skin. I am quite disappointed in the Senate for writing the letter. All it did was create an opportunity for Rush to get more publicity. That's what its all about. He's a proven Hypocrite. Remember how he used to say that white collar drug abusers were the worst sort of people and the law should come down on them hard?
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