Limbaugh insults America's soldiers, calls them phony

[Guest BewareofNick]

So, first Billo utters racist remarks on the Factor, now Rxush insults America's brave soldiers. Conway, please commence with your defense of herr Dittohead. Is this just another "smear"?

From the September 26 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: Mike in Chicago, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER 1: Hi Rush, how you doing today?

LIMBAUGH: I'm fine sir, thank you.

CALLER 1: Good. Why is it that you always just accuse the Democrats of being against the war and suggest that there are absolutely no Republicans that could possibly be against the war?

LIMBAUGH: Well, who are these Republicans? I can think of Chuck Hagel, and I can think of Gordon Smith, two Republican senators, but they don't want to lose the war like the Democrats do. I can't think of -- who are the Republicans in the anti-war movement?

CALLER 1: I'm just -- I'm not talking about the senators. I'm talking about the general public -- like you accuse the public of all the Democrats of being, you know, wanting to lose, but --

LIMBAUGH: Oh, come on! Here we go again. I uttered a truth, and you can't handle it, so you gotta call here and change the subject. How come I'm not also hitting Republicans? I don't know a single Republican or conservative, Mike, who wants to pull out of Iraq in defeat. The Democrats have made the last four years about that specifically.

CALLER 1: Well, I am a Republican, and I've listened to you for a long time, and you're right on a lot of things, but I do believe that we should pull out of Iraq. I don't think it's winnable. And I'm not a Democrat, but I just -- sometimes you've got to cut the losses.

LIMBAUGH: Well, you -- you --

CALLER 1: I mean, sometimes you really gotta know when you're wrong.

LIMBAUGH: Well, yeah, you do. I'm not wrong on this. The worst thing that can happen is losing this, flying out of there, waving the white flag. Do you have --

CALLER 1: Oh, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying anything like that, but, you know --

LIMBAUGH: Well, of course you are.

CALLER 1: No, I'm not.

LIMBAUGH: Bill, the truth is -- the truth is the truth, Mike.

CALLER 1: We did what we were supposed to do, OK. We got rid of Saddam Hussein. We got rid of a lot of the terrorists. Let them run their country --

LIMBAUGH: Oh, good lord! Good lord.

[...]

CALLER 1: How long is it gonna -- how long do you think we're going to have to be there for them to take care of that?

LIMBAUGH: Mike --

CALLER 1: How long -- you know -- what is it?

LIMBAUGH: Mike --

CALLER 1: What is it?

LIMBAUGH: Mike, you can't possibly be a Republican.

CALLER 1: I am.

LIMBAUGH: You are -- you are --

CALLER 1: I am definitely a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: You can't be a Republican. You are --

CALLER 1: Oh, I am definitely a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: You are tarnishing the reputation, 'cause you sound just like a Democrat.

CALLER 1: No, but --

LIMBAUGH: The answer to your question --

CALLER 1: -- seriously, how long do we have to stay there --

LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes!

CALLER 1: -- to win it? How long?

LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes! It is very serious.

CALLER 1: And that is what?

LIMBAUGH: This is the United States of America at war with Islamofascists. We stay as long -- just like your job. You do everything you have to do, whatever it takes to get it done, if you take it seriously.

CALLER 1: So then you say we need to stay there forever --

LIMBAUGH: I -- it won't --

CALLER 1: -- because that's what it'll take.

LIMBAUGH: No, Bill, or Mike -- I'm sorry. I'm confusing you with the guy from Texas.

CALLER 1: See, I -- I've used to be military, OK? And I am a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: Yeah. Yeah.

CALLER 1: And I do live [inaudible] but --

LIMBAUGH: Right. Right. Right, I know.

CALLER 1: -- you know, really -- I want you to be saying how long it's gonna take.

LIMBAUGH: And I, by the way, used to walk on the moon!

CALLER 1: How long do we have to stay there?

LIMBAUGH: You're not listening to what I say. You can't possibly be a Republican. I'm answering every question. That's not what you want to hear, so it's not even penetrating your little wall of armor you've got built up.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Another Mike, this one in Olympia, Washington. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER 2: Hi Rush, thanks for taking my call.

LIMBAUGH: You bet.

CALLER 2: I have a retort to Mike in Chicago, because I am a serving American military, in the Army. I've been serving for 14 years, very proudly.

LIMBAUGH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER 2: And, you know, I'm one of the few that joined the Army to serve my country, I'm proud to say, not for the money or anything like that. What I would like to retort to is that, if we pull -- what these people don't understand is if we pull out of Iraq right now, which is about impossible because of all the stuff that's over there, it'd take us at least a year to pull everything back out of Iraq, then Iraq itself would collapse, and we'd have to go right back over there within a year or so. And --

LIMBAUGH: There's a lot more than that that they don't understand. They can't even -- if -- the next guy that calls here, I'm gonna ask him: Why should we pull -- what is the imperative for pulling out? What's in it for the United States to pull out? They can't -- I don't think they have an answer for that other than, "Well, we just gotta bring the troops home."

CALLER 2: Yeah, and, you know what --

LIMBAUGH: "Save the -- keep the troops safe" or whatever. I -- it's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people.

CALLER 2: 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: The phony soldiers.

CALLER 2: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they're willing to sacrifice for their country.

LIMBAUGH: They joined to be in Iraq. They joined --

CALLER 2: A lot of them -- the new kids, yeah.

LIMBAUGH: Well, you know where you're going these days, the last four years, if you signed up. The odds are you're going there or Afghanistan or somewhere.

CALLER 2: Exactly, sir.

[BigK]

Hey NeedsToGetaLifeNick,

Read your own published transcript. Caller 1 said; 1) He was a Republican, & 2) He was former military. Mr. Limbaugh did not believe him. It's evident in the transcript, and even more evident if you heard the conversation with the actual voice inflections.

His comment regarding phony soldiers to Caller 2 was a reference to his expressed doubt that Caller 1 was indeed a soldier. Mr. Limbaugh has an extensive record of being supportive of the military.

I don't know if Caller 1 was a Republican or a Soldier, but it's clear that Mr. Limbaugh doubted the truth of those assertions, and then alluded to that doubt in his call to Caller 2.

It's intellectual dishonesty on your part to take words or phrases out of context.

[Guest BewareofNick]

Leave it to a Republican to go for the old "taken out of context" excuse. The Drug Addict did not believe that caller #1 was in the military because he does not support Bush's war. By extension, anyone who says they are in the military and that they do not support the war, MUST be a phony solider. That is an insult to all the brave men and women who have given their lives and who risk their lives daily for this unneccesary war in Iraq. There are plenty of men and women in our military who do not support this quagmire in Iraq. How dare you support this fat tub of lard who never ever served over our brave men and women.

[TampaYankee]

Some are starting to let personal invective tones creep into these exchanges, here and in other threads. This is what eventually gets these discussions closed down. Please keep it civil and respectful. One doesn't have to be disagreeable to disagree. Thanks.

[Guest Conway]

Leave it to a Republican to go for the old "taken out of context" excuse. The Drug Addict did not believe that caller #1 was in the military because he does not support Bush's war. By extension, anyone who says they are in the military and that they do not support the war, MUST be a phony solider. That is an insult to all the brave men and women who have given their lives and who risk their lives daily for this unneccesary war in Iraq. There are plenty of men and women in our military who do not support this quagmire in Iraq. How dare you support this fat tub of lard who never ever served over our brave men and women.

It seems clear to me from reading the entire transcript that Limbaugh is directing his comment toward the previous caller. One whom he believed to be a phony. I don't think that there is anyone (well, except Dick Durbin) who really intends to disrespect the men and women "who have given their lives and who risk their lives daily" in Iraq. Such a person would truly have to have been born without a conscience.

The war, and how we conclude it, is a valuable debate topic in and of itself ion which the various members here can share a variety of ideas while holding different positions. I agree with BigK in that, when one tries to reduce that debate to some silly argument reduced to an out of text headline of a thread, that it is going to be hard to get anyone to take you seriously in a legitimate exchange of ideas.

[Guest PWIT]

Nick, are you listening to Rush?

[Guest BewareofNick]

Nick, are you listening to Rush?

Sigh, yes. It's like an Oxycontin addiction. You know its bad for you but you just can't stop.

Conway, my dear, I could believe that Rush was referring just to that caller had he not said "The phony soldiers". This was clearly in context a reference to any soldier who does not support Bush's Folly is a one of "The phony soldiers". Rush dishonors all our brave men and women by saying what he did and he owes them an apology the same way Bill O'Reilly owes black people an apology.

[Guest Conway]

I guess we'll have to disagree on that point.

[Guest PWIT]

Sigh, yes. It's like an Oxycontin addiction. You know its bad for you but you just can't stop.

Then I am disappointed you failed to mention that this had been a running topic on his show starting two days prior when they were discussing a report on ABC about a 'phony soldier'. Someone who was arguing against the war and as his credentials on the matter was claiming to have a purple heart from Iraq. Problem was he turned out to have been kicked out of boot camp before completing 6 weeks. Now maybe you missed those 2 previous days of listening to his show, but in the clips of his show that I listened too there were references back to those discussions.

In full disclosure, I do not listen to Rush, but after this discussion surfaced I did go listen to the discussions and feel you offered a portion of the transcript that out of context made the point you wanted.

[Guest BewareofNick]

I'll just let the Rude Pundit respond for me: (but I will say this, if it takes listening to Rush for more than two days to allegedly understand the context of what he was saying, he MUST be, as Tom harkin speculates, back on the Oxycontin)

One secret you don't hear about Rush Limbaugh is that the chair he sits on in his studio has actually merged with his ass, that the fat of his buttocks and upper thighs draped over the sides of the seat like fleshy globs of melted marshmallow, in essence swallowing the chair. Now, conveniently, wherever he goes, he can sit. Yeah, it's rough on his back, but, in the long run, it's less walking and standing, so the joints in his worn out legs get a break. That chair is the longest, most successful relationship he's ever had.

A man has to have mighty big things shoved up his ass in order to call any soldier who served time in Iraq "phony" because he or she wants the war to end. But Rush Limbaugh is the right man with the right ass at the right time. We know how this is gonna go: It was taken out of context, it's a smear. He'll do the O'Reilly dance. Limbaugh's gonna say that he didn't believe a caller, Mike in Chicago, was the military man he claimed to be. And he really meant people who fraudulently claimed they were soldiers, like, as he mentions, the strange story of Jesse Macbeth.

But here's the thing: read the context and the entire transcript. "Mike" is trying to get Limbaugh to say when the war can end. He says he used to be military and he's a Republican, to which Limbaugh responds, "And I, by the way, used to walk on the moon." When the next caller, who sports wood for the war, says that he's been in the military for 14 years, Limbaugh says, "Thank you, sir." Yep, Rush has amazing radiographic psychic powers to know which people on the other end of the phone are telling the truth about their lives.

But Mike in Chicago doesn't live up to Rush's paradigm - and here's the nutzoid right's warning to Republicans: Rush tells Mike in Chicago, "You can't possibly be a Republican" and that "I don't know a single Republican or conservative, Mike, who wants to pull out of Iraq in defeat." That's how you know now if you're a real Republican, according to Rush: you gotta want to kill more American soldiers and Iraqis. Oh, and apparently there's a qualitative difference between Chuck Hagel's withdrawal desire and Harry Reid's.

Then, because bugfuck insane just isn't far enough for Rush, he says, "[A]ll of these anti-war Democrats are getting even more hell-bent on pulling out of there, which means that success on the part of you and your colleagues over there is a great threat to them." Get it? Democrats want the troops to fail in whatever the hell the troops are doing. They, actually, want more troops to die because that'll mean they lost.

Phony soldiers, phony Republicans, traitorous Democrats. It's funny, really, in a Duke Cunningham gets raped in prison kind of way, to watch the implosion of the bloviating right. Between Limbaugh's degradation of soldiers who aren't bloodthirsty enough for him and O'Reilly's discovery that black pimps don't beat their ho's at restaurants, we're witnessing the desperate gasping for air of a movement that was degraded from the start, but has now become about as valid as a serial rapist giving fashion tips to high school girls.

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