Rush Limbaugh Defines A Real Vs A "Phony" Soldier

[BVS]

I think it's a mistake to criticize soliders for being honest.

pwnd

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I think it's a mistake to criticize soliders for being honest.

I think perhaps it's implied in that criticism that somehow they're being dishonest. That's a mistake too.

 

[swizzlestick]

Jesse MacBeth is a phony soldier and he was out there with made up atrocities.

To get back to the topic: Isn’t Jesse MacBeth the person Rush called a phony soldier? Am I missing something here? Why is the left demanding Rush apologize for calling Jesse MacBeth a phony soldier? I thought that Jesse MacBeth was the guy who made all the false claims about our military that wound up on Arabic web sites and network television. I don’t recall as much media coverage of the TRUTH. From what I have read, Rush’s statement was taken out of context and passed around the media and the democratic party as the truth. The truth for the democratic party is nothing more than fiction that serves their purpose.

 

[AEON]

I think perhaps it's implied in that criticism that somehow they're being dishonest. That's a mistake too.

I think the dishonest part is the press attibuting the entire morale of the Armed Forces to any Private First Class they can find who wants to complain.

 

[swizzlestick]

I think the dishonest part is the press attibuting the entire morale of the Armed Forces to any Private First Class they can find who wants to complain.

Ditto

 

[Irvine511]

I think the dishonest part is the press attibuting the entire morale of the Armed Forces to any Private First Class they can find who wants to complain.

and, likewise, attributing the entire morale of the Armed Forces to any Private First Class who's really excited about shooting arabs.

opinion in the Armed Forces is, as it is everywhere, nuanced, and increasingly anti-war.

 

[Irvine511]

To get back to the topic: Isn’t Jesse MacBeth the person Rush called a phony soldier? Am I missing something here? Why is the left demanding Rush apologize for calling Jesse MacBeth a phony soldier? I thought that Jesse MacBeth was the guy who made all the false claims about our military that wound up on Arabic web sites and network television. I don’t recall as much media coverage of the TRUTH. From what I have read, Rush’s statement was taken out of context and passed around the media and the democratic party as the truth. The truth for the democratic party is nothing more than fiction that serves their purpose.

this is Limaugh's current story, that's true, and this is how the right wing echo chamber -- led by Fox News -- is attempting to spin the story. but the truth is that Rush did mention MacBeth, along with Rep. Murtha and Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp.

[q]"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."[/q]

and he kept it plural. soldiers. and i'd love to see this "poster boy" status of MacBeth on left-wing blogs. if you can provide examples, please go ahead.

 

[swizzlestick]

this is Limaugh's current story, that's true, and this is how the right wing echo chamber -- led by Fox News -- is attempting to spin the story. but the truth is that Rush did mention MacBeth, along with Rep. Murtha and Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp.

I don’t go to left-wing blogs, so you got me there. And I never said he was your poster boy. Nor do I do watch Fox News or read right-wing blogs. I too was appalled at the context of what he said. However, I read the transcript and read several news stories about the incident and came to the conclusion on my own that what he said was taken out of context. This is a smear tactic through and through. I’ll ask again. Why is the left demanding Rush apologize for calling Jesse MacBeth a phony soldier? Is he not a phony soldier?

I have no idea where you got Murtha and Beauchamp. Maybe you can find it on some of your left-wing blogs?

 

[phillyfan26]

How can you reach the conclusion that it was just MacBeth when it was plural?

He deliberately insulted any soldier who criticizes the war in the media. That is crystal clear from the context.

 

[Irvine511]

Why is the left demanding Rush apologize for calling Jesse MacBeth a phony soldier? Is he not a phony soldier?

again, if you read the transcripts, you'll see that Rush was talking about soldierS who criticize the war as "phony" soldiers.



oh, and i think this is a massive waste of time. nearly as big a waste of time as the "Petraeus/Betray Us" nonsense.

all it does is give the Republicans what they want: the chance to change the subject.

we've been subject to their abysmal policies for 7 years and the worst president in any of our lifetimes. thousands have been killed in a foreign policy disaster -- and we're getting all upset about name calling?

grow up, all of you. and DON'T let the president shirk everything off to the next president, who'll likely be a Democrat, and DON'T let them try and create some neo-stabbed in the back narrative where we think that Cindy Sheehan single-handedly defeated the US Army in Fallujah just like Jane Fonda defeated US troops in the Mekong Delta.

 

[maycocksean]

again, if you read the transcripts, you'll see that Rush was talking about soldierS who criticize the war as "phony" soldiers.



oh, and i think this is a massive waste of time. nearly as big a waste of time as the "Petraeus/Betray Us" nonsense.

all it does is give the Republicans what they want: the chance to change the subject.

we've been subject to their abysmal policies for 7 years and the worst president in any of our lifetimes. thousands have been killed in a foreign policy disaster -- and we're getting all upset about name calling?

grow up, all of you. and DON'T let the president shirk everything off to the next president, who'll likely be a Democrat, and DON'T let them try and create some neo-stabbed in the back narrative where we think that Cindy Sheehan single-handedly defeated the US Army in Fallujah just like Jane Fonda defeated US troops in the Mekong Delta.

Preach it, brother.

 

[maycocksean]

To tell you the truth, I wish the Right WAS right about how things are going in Iraq. It would mean the blood and treasure spent there wouldn't have been for naught.

The problem is, unfortunately, that the Right is wrong.

No amount of "surging" is going to solve the political debacle in Iraq. . .a debacle that we should have seen coming. Can we decrease the level of violence, temporarily? Quite possibly. But real success in Iraq would have to come from resolving the Shiite/Sunni issues in the country.

When I look at what's happened in Iraq, to me it's like a semi-truck that's gone over a bridge and into deep canyon. You can argue about whether to try to recover the truck or put it back together, but the reality is that truck is pretty much fucked no matter what you do.

 

[maycocksean]

And the decision to go into Iraq was like deciding to drive the truck off the bridge and planning for it to land squarely in the canyon, and then keep on driving. Just like in the movies.

 

[U2isthebest]

And the decision to go into Iraq was like deciding to drive the truck off the bridge and planning for it to land squarely in the canyon, and then keep on driving. Just like in the movies.

That may be one of the greatest descriptions I've ever read for this bloodbath masquerading as a war.

Similie can solve anything.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200709290002?f=h_top


A September 28 Associated Press article about comments made by Rush Limbaugh on his September 26 radio show -- in which, as documented by Media Matters for America, he called service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq "phony soldiers" -- reported: "In a transcript of Thursday's show posted on his Web site, Limbaugh said the comment followed a discussion of Jesse Macbeth, who was sentenced to five months in prison earlier this month for collecting more than $10,00 [sic] in benefits to which he was not entitled." In fact, the "phony soldiers" comment did not "follow a discussion of Jesse Macbeth"; Limbaugh did not mention MacBeth on the September 26 radio show until 1 minute and 50 seconds after his "phony soldiers" comment, as Media Matters noted.

On the September 28 broadcast of his program, Limbaugh claimed that his September 26 "phony soldiers" comment was a reference to Jesse MacBeth, an anti-war activist who pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for pretending to be an injured Iraq war veteran. However, as Media Matters noted, at no point during his September 26 radio show prior to making his "phony soldiers" comment did Limbaugh refer to MacBeth, or indeed any specific soldiers whom he considered to be fake.

 

[CTU2fan]

So if MacBeth lied about being a war vet than he really would be a phony soldier...except Rush wasn't talking about him. I suppose he could have been thinking about him and got a bit fuzzy - you know, the oxy etc.

Or he's lying - but Rush wouldn't lie [/sarcasm].

 

[AEON]

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

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.

***After responding to another unrelated point the caller makes, he then goes back to the 'phony soldier' subject. The gap was about 1 minute and 35 seconds before he says the following***

LIMBAUGH: It's just, it's frustrating and maddening, and it is why they must be kept in the minority. Look, I want to thank you, Mike, for calling. I appreciate it very much. I gotta -- let me see -- got something -- here is a "Morning Update" that we did recently talking about fake soldiers. This is a story of who the left props up as heroes. And they have their celebrities.

One of them was Jesse MacBeth. Now, he was a "corporal," I say in quotes -- 23 years old.

What made Jesse MacBeth a hero to the anti-war crowd wasn't his Purple Heart. It wasn't his being affiliated with post traumatic stress disorder from tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, though. What made Jesse MacBeth, Army Ranger, a hero to the left was his courage in their view off the battlefield.

Without regard to consequences, he told the world the abuses he had witnessed in Iraq: American soldiers killing unarmed civilians, hundreds of men, women, even children. In one gruesome account translated into Arabic and spread widely across the internet, Army Ranger Jesse MacBeth describes the horrors this way:

'We would burn their bodies. We would hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque.'

Now, recently, Jesse MacBeth, a poster boy for the anti-war left, had his day in court, and you know what? He was sentenced to five months in jail and three years probation for falsifying a Department of Veterans Affairs' claim and his Army discharge record.

He was in the Army. Jesse MacBeth was in the Army, folks, briefly -- 44-days before he washed out of boot camp. Jesse MacBeth isn't an Army Ranger. Never was. He isn't a corporal. Never was. He never won the Purple Heart and he was never in combat to witness the horrors he claimed to have seen."

You probably haven't even heard about this, and if you have, you haven't heard much about it. This doesn't fit the narrative and the template of the drive-by media and the Democrat [sic] Party as to who a genuine war hero is.

Don't look for any retractions, by the way, not from the anti-war left, the anti-military drive-by media or the Arabic websites that spread Jesse MacBeth's lies about our troops, because the truth of the left is fiction, is what serves their purpose. They have to lie about such atrocities 'cause they can't find any that fit the template of the way they see the U.S. military.

In other words, for the American anti-war left, the greatest inconvenience they face is the truth.

END TRANSCRIPT

 

[Irvine511]

^ thusly supporting the contention that Rush wan't talking about MacBeth, he was talking about any soldier who speaks out against the war.

 

[AEON]

^ thusly supporting the contention that Rush wan't talking about MacBeth, he was talking about any soldier who speaks out against the war.

To me it seems he was referring to soldiers like MacBeth...those with made up backgrounds who speak to the press about war crimes and atrocities they've witnessed...only to discover they got kicked out of bootcamp.

 

[Irvine511]

To me it seems he was referring to soldiers like MacBeth...those with made up backgrounds who speak to the press about war crimes and atrocities they've witnessed...only to discover they got kicked out of bootcamp.

he mentions MacBeth *after* that comment. and he uses the plural. and he never mentions lies and fabrications. he just mentions soldiers that talk to the media.

 

[CTU2fan]

Phony = not lock-step rah rah Bush rah rah War rah rah kill. [/Rush]

Clearly to Rush, Jesse MacBeth is a phony soldier. But just as clearly he isn't the only one, and the fake/phony label, in Rush's view, applies to any veteran critical of the war. To suggest otherwise is a glaring mis-representation.

 

[BonosSaint]

Of course, Caller 1 during the same broadcast is basically called a phony Republican.

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.

 

[AEON]

Well - I'm quite certain you could pull a ton of transcripts from Rush and make him into a goofball.

However, the little I know about him - I believe he is patriotic and generally very supportive of the troops.

And please don't think for a second that most soldiers are buying this "we suddenly care about the soldiers" poop coming from the Left.

 

[phillyfan26]

What's patriotic about him?

And when did the Left not care about the soldiers?

 

[BVS]

What has Rush done, that is so much more supportive than the "poopy" left? Please do tell.

 

[BonosSaint]

Actually that piece of transcript came right before the phony soldier caller. I didn't have to search very far.

 

[diamond]

Well he hasn't called soldiers "nazis" and "terrorists" as some left minded politicians have.

Have you been living in a cave or what?

dbs

 

[BVS]

Well he hasn't called soldiers "nazis" and "terrorists" as some left minded politicians have.

Have you been living in a cave or what?

dbs

What politicians have said this?

 

[Irvine511]

Well - I'm quite certain you could pull a ton of transcripts from Rush and make him into a goofball.

However, the little I know about him - I believe he is patriotic and generally very supportive of the troops.

And please don't think for a second that most soldiers are buying this "we suddenly care about the soldiers" poop coming from the Left.

1. this is what i expect from Rush -- i'm not at all shocked nor surprised at what he said
2. Rush is in this to make $$$ -- he gets $30m a year
3. absolute offensive garbage -- go to any and all anti-war rallies and you'll find just as many "i support our troops / support our troops by bringing them home" signs as any others; unless you're suggesting that the only way to support our troops is to continue the funding that gets them killed and maimed and disabled for life

 

[Irvine511]

nevermind.