Fact vs. Fiction in the Limbaugh "phony soldiers" controversy

[NNN0LHI]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200710060005?f=h_top

FACTS vs. FICTION

FICTION: Limbaugh's comments referred to only one soldier

FACT: During his September 28 broadcast, responding to criticism of his comments, Limbaugh claimed that rather than speaking generally of soldiers who support withdrawal from Iraq, he was "talking about one soldier with that 'phony soldier' comment." Later in the program, he asserted, "verybody involved in this knows full well I was talking about one genuine, convicted, lying, fake soldier," referring to Jesse MacBeth, 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. But as the September 26 transcript makes clear, Limbaugh actually referred to "phony soldiers," plural. Responding to the caller's statement that supporters of withdrawal "like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media," Limbaugh responded, "The phony soldiers" .

FICTION: Limbaugh's comments occurred during a discussion about Jesse MacBeth

FACT: On the October 2 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, while purporting to give viewers "some background" on Limbaugh's comments, co-anchor Megyn Kelly reported: "Rush originally used this term 'phony soldiers' when he was talking about a guy named Jesse MacBeth. ... Limbaugh was making the point that this guy was basically a 'phony soldier,' and he was trying to say that sometimes people on the left use 'phony soldiers' like this to make their points." But contrary to Kelly's assertion that "Rush originally used this term 'phony soldiers' when he was talking about" MacBeth, Limbaugh did not mention MacBeth on the September 26 broadcast of his radio show until 1 minute and 50 seconds after he used the phrase "phony soldiers." After Limbaugh used the phrase, the caller he was speaking with went on to discuss the purported presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, with Limbaugh responding. Limbaugh then thanked the caller for calling, and the caller is not heard again on the broadcast. Only after this did Limbaugh bring up MacBeth on his September 26 show.

FICTION: Limbaugh's comments referred to a group of actual military imposters

FACT: During his September 28 broadcast, following his repeated assertions that he had been referring to "one soldier," a caller asked, "But you did say 'soldiers' in plural, though, didn't you?" Limbaugh replied: "Yes, because there have been a number of these people, but they were not active duty -- I was not talking about anti-war, active duty troops. I was talking about people who've been exposed as frauds who never served in Iraq but claimed to have seen all these atrocities, ." Limbaugh repeated this explanation during his October 2 broadcast, describing MacBeth as "the man I was referring to and others like him as 'phony soldiers.' " However, this explanation is inconsistent with his statements earlier in his September 28 program -- noted above -- that he had been talking about "one soldier." Indeed, the transcript (subscription required) of the September 28 broadcast that is posted on Limbaugh's website shows him asserting: "I was talking about one soldier with that phony soldier comment, Jesse MacBeth ."

FICTION: Limbaugh played the "entire" segment to explain his remarks

[acmavm]

1. And people with traceable brainwave patterns would believe

anything that lying turdhearse says because??????????

The story (to me anyway) would be if he ever told the truth.

[sufrommich]

2. His rabid listeners will fall behind him and parrot his talking points

knowing there is not a grain of truth to it. He,and his troglodyte followers, believe any soldier against the war is a "phony soldier",and that is exactly what he meant when he said it. All this backtracking on his part is an attempt to paint the attack on dissenting soldiers as something entirely different than what it is. It's worked for him countless times,and sadly,will probably work again. He always crouches his attacks in ways that leave him some wiggle room lest he gets called on it,it's a cynical way to preach hate to his right wing audience without being responsible for his slimy message.

[BOSSHOG]

3. May I add to your subject line ?

all the while telling anyone who will listen that they are independent thinkers.

they are so cute that way.

[Ilsa]

4. Walter Williams is defending the pigman in his latest op-ed piece.

The latest attack from the left alleges that Rush referred to our fighting men, who disagreed with our Middle East policy, as "phony soldiers." The truth of the matter is that Rush was referring to people like Jesse Macbeth, who became the poster boy for the anti-war and anti-military movement. Macbeth passed himself off as an Army Ranger and a Purple Heart recipient. He said he participated in gruesome war crimes with other U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. An investigation proved that none of his claims was true; he wasn't an Army Ranger or a Purple Heart recipient, and he didn't serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, he was kicked out of the Army after 44 days of boot camp.



Last September, Macbeth was sentenced to five months in jail and three years' probation for falsifying a Department of Veterans Affairs claim and his Army discharge record. Macbeth, idolized by the anti-war movement, is truly a despicable person. On a video translated into Arabic, for Middle East consumption, he said, "We would burn their bodies . . . hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque."



False misrepresentation of oneself as a soldier has become so widespread that Congress enacted the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 to prosecute people posing as veterans. In fact, a Sept. 29 ABC News report by Charles Gibson did an expose on people such as Macbeth, and they were called "phony war heroes."



The members of Congress who are attacking Limbaugh know all of this, but they're trusting that the average American doesn't so they can pull the rope-a-dope. By attacking Limbaugh, they hope to breathe some life into the Fairness Doctrine, which was repealed by a unanimous vote by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1987. The doctrine, said the FCC, "restricts the journalistic freedom of broadcasters and actually inhibits the presentation of controversial issues of public importance to the detriment of the public and the degradation of the editorial prerogative of broadcast journalists."

http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles/07/attackingtalkradio.htm

Have I mentioned today how much I despise these people?