Limbaugh selectively edited "phony soldiers" clip, claimed it was "the entire transcript"
SUMMARY: In response to Media Matters' documentation of his recent description of service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as "phony soldiers," Rush Limbaugh claimed that he had not been talking "about the anti-war movement generally," but rather "about one soldier ... Jesse MacBeth." Limbaugh then purported to air the "entire" segment in question. In fact, the clip he aired omitted a full 1 minute and 35 seconds of discussion that occurred between Limbaugh's original "phony soldiers" comment and his subsequent reference to MacBeth.
During the September 28 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, in response to Media Matters for America's documentation of his recent description of service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as "phony soldiers," Rush Limbaugh claimed that he had not been talking "about the anti-war movement generally," but rather "about one soldier ... Jesse MacBeth." Limbaugh further asserted that "Media Matters had the transcript, but they selectively choose what they want to make their point." To support this claim, Limbaugh purported to air the "entire" segment in question from the September 26 broadcast of his show. In fact, the clip he then aired had been edited. Excised from the clip was a full 1 minute and 35 seconds of the 1 minute and 50 second discussion that occurred between Limbaugh's original "phony soldiers" comment and his reference to MacBeth, the full audio of which can be heard here .
Prior to airing the edited clip, Limbaugh said: "Here is, it runs about 3 minutes and 13 seconds, the entire transcript, in context, that led to this so-called controversy." After the clip ended, Limbaugh stated: "That was the transcript from yesterday's program, talking about one phony soldier. The truth for the left is fiction that serves their purpose, which is exactly the way the website Media Matters generated this story."
From the September 28 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show, including (in bold) the portion of the original segment cut from Limbaugh's "entire" audio clip:
LIMBAUGH: I was not talking, as Contessa Brewer said here, about the anti-war movement generally. I was talking about one soldier with that "phony soldier" comment, Jesse MacBeth. They had exactly what I'm going to play for you. This is Michael J. Fox all over again. Media Matters had the transcript, but they selectively choose what they want to make their point. Here is -- it runs about 3 minutes and 13 seconds -- the entire transcript, in context, that led to this so-called controversy.
[begin audio clip]
LIMBAUGH: 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 --
[begin Limbaugh edit]
LIMBAUGH: -- 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. And, and my other comment was -- and the reason I was calling for -- was to report to Jill about the fact that we didn't, didn't find any weapons of mass destruction. Actually, we have found weapons of mass destruction in chemical agents that [inaudible] been using against us for awhile now.
I've done two tours in Iraq. I just got back in June and there were many instances of -- since [inaudible] not know what they're using in their IEDs [improvised explosive devices]. They're using mustard artillery rounds. The VX artillery rounds in their IEDs.
Because they didn't know what they were using, they didn't do it right, and so it just kind of -- it, it didn't really hurt anybody but there are -- those munitions are over there, it's just -- it's a huge desert. If they've buried it somewhere, we're never gonna find it.
LIMBAUGH: Well, you know, that's a moot point for me right now --
MIKE: Rush --
LIMBAUGH: -- the weapons of mass destruction. We gotta get beyond that. We're, we're there. What -- who cares if, if -- we all know they were there and, and Mahmoud [Ahmadinejad, Iranian president] even admitted it in one of his speeches here about -- talkin' about Saddam using the poison mustard gas or whatever it is on his own people -- but that, that's moot, right? What, what's more important is all this is taking place now in the midst of the surge working.
And all 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, and your colleagues over there is, is a great threat to them.
[end Limbaugh edit]
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.
[reading from "Morning Update" (subscription required)]
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 audio clip]
LIMBAUGH: That was the transcript from yesterday's program, talking about one phony soldier. The truth for the left is fiction that serves their purpose, which is exactly the way the website Media Matters generated this story. Fiction, out of context, did so knowingly.
What is amazing, is that after all of the examples of how this organization is simply a Democrat Party-Hillary Clinton front group, how they constantly do this, how they take things out of context and embarrass themselves, and get things wrong, they still have credible, so-called journalists and others, members of Congress, Democrat Party, who treat what they say as gospel.
Not one member of the media, not one member of Congress has called our office to ask, "Did you really say this, and what did you mean by it?" The reason this doesn't work, ladies and gentlemen, is that I have a 19-and-a-half-year record on this program of being one of the most devoted supporters of U.S. military personnel in uniform that there is.
And the effort here is simply to discredit people that they consider effective and powerful on the right, ginning up, leading up into the '08 elections. They cannot beat us in the arena of ideas. They cannot challenge what we say and refute it and come out on top, so this is the anatomy of a smear, and I'll show you how it works when we come after the break. We have a bunch of sound bites here from Jim Webb, Jan Schakowsky, Frank Pallone, Democrats and senators, plus the Kerry statement that I read to you. All that coming up right after this.
Time for a "Sense of the Senate"...
The Democrats in the Senate should immediately pass a "Sense of the Senate" resolution condemning Limbaugh for his "Phony Soldiers" comment and for his smears of John Kerry and Chuck Hagel.
This despicable chicken hawk has defacated on America once again. The Senate must play fair, and condemn this filth.
Funny you say that, is this what you had in mind?
Looking forward to see the republicans vote against it in lockstep. The white house already downplayed limpballs comments - it was a puff statement compared to what he said about the betrayus ad.
This is so funny..........................
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/09/30/abc-reported-phony-heroes-three-days-rush-limbaugh-did
Good one, you guys really got'em this time. "I see your true colors shining through....and that's why I love you." You were close to becoming irrelevant with the BO thing now you have taken the leap...E for effort...yay!
Conservatives continue to disgrace themselves...
Can these cowardly chicken hawk conservatives ever take responsibility for anything they say? They spread the filth, and then run and hide under the kitchen table.
And then they wonder why they got their butts kicked in '06?
Cowardly chicken hawk is an oxyMORON.... Hawks are birds of prey; predators. That they hunt chickens does not make them cowardly. It's how God made them. And if ever you find one under your table, you'd be wise to eat your meal elsewhere. And those of us actually capable of thought don't wonder at all about "06"..... But we sure as heck know it was nothing to do with a mandate on the war in Iraq!
I was a draft-dodger, too. I had a scholarship to go to college, so I went there, instead of Viet Nam, (like John Kerry volunteered to do). The difference between me and limbo is that I'm not running my big fat mouth about soldiers.
I predict that this won't get much play in the media. I could be wrong...I hope I am. This is really more egregious than Bildo's comment, but it won't get as much attention. The main reason is that the Corporate Media Owners have too much invested in Limbaugh's propaganda. If it is revealed that he only "supports the troops" when it serves his political agenda, some of the knuckledraggers might actually sit up and take notice...
Naaaa. I'm dreaming.
Limbaugh could be stopped by the authorities returning from the Dominican Republic, child prostitution capital of the Western Hemisphere, Mecca for rich perverts, with a bunch of Viagra that isn't his -- and STILL whine that it was taken out of context.
A ninety-five second attention span can lead one to miss alot of, pace Sen. Kerry, "nuance."
How does the "edited" section materially effect the "phony soldiers" deal? If he did edit it, he probably did it for time concerns. Nothing in the edited section(and, knowing Media Matters' track record, I am suspicious of it) deals with your latest ginned-up character assassination.
Does Soros pay you weekly or twice a month? Just wondering.
Swami, it's not so much that the section Rush cut out contains any more information, it's that omitting it ties together the parts before and after that section more directly.Makes it appear, as he obviously intended, that he was referring to a specific person.
Ask Rush about it when you pick up your fiver.
PLuh-eeez. You, just like every other Chicken Hawk Liberal, just want to get a hold of a Republican, any Republican, in retaliation for all the mean and nasty things done to Mr. Bill Clinton. And I'm not talking about what Monica did to him. Well, I got news for ya, it’s over! We won. We'll always win. We might lose some battles (upcoming election), but the truth always comes out in the end, and that would be Conservatism. No double standards (well, maybe a little), no holding people back by making them victims, no telling people ...........forget it, you'll never understand. Another reason why you'll always lose.
The last time I heard, the word "soldiers" was PLURAL, meaning more than one.
That extra 's' means a lot. And the excised part isn't irrelevant, it stresses the point about Limbaugh's frustration over these guys. Also, the omission deliberately compresses the transcript to make it look like L. wasn't talking about the big picture.
Sorry dittoheads-- your guy's nailed.
Yes. And there has been MORE THAN ONE fake soldier propped up by the left. But, Rush was referring specifically to one of those fake soldiers, Jesse MacBeth. Anyone who reads this transcript and can't understand that is blinded by their own partisanship.
You I know are paid in used "I'm a Dittohead" pencils.
Oh God! Here we go again...
If MMFA is funded by George Soros, could you please show us some sort of proof?
I'm surprised that you're suspicious of this web site. Is it because you're so used to being fed Limbaugh BS that facts confuse you?
Do you believe everything the lying Limbaugh says, even though he said that troops who aren't in agreement with Bush's policies are phoney troops?
It would be nice to have some links from credible sources, or direct quotes, to back up how your opinion was formulated.
Part of the problem with the whole Soros thing is, "So what?!?" I get that he doesn't even fund MM but so what if he did? This is one of those things of the righties just accusing you of something whether it's right or wrong. Why couldn't Soros fund a freakin website if he wanted? Murdoch is one of the most twisted jerks ever to trash our media traditions and they don't seem to mind him owning so many HUGE outlets and helping swing American elections with blatant propaganda.
This Soros thing reminds me of Old Bush running against Dukakis and accusing him of being a "Card carrying member of the ACLU." huh? A think it's about a five dollar donation to a group that looks out to protect people's civil liberties and they give you a card. Pretty sure my wife has one. It just sounded bad. They just sneer hard enough and all these knuckle draggers say "Yea, yer bad!" The GOP is such a disgrace to this country.
"TheRick" is good enough to ask:
Which brings to mind what Hank Greenspun of the Las Vegas Sun asked of Senator Joseph McCarthy @ a "patriotic" rally in 1951 or thereabouts, following McCarthy's lapsus linguae suggesting that Greenspun was a "Communist" when he meant to say "convict" (as in violating the Neutrality Act by shipping arms and ammunition to Israel for its War of Independence in 1947):
And any "facts" they may (claim to) have will likely turn out being no better than forgeries @ best when all is said and done.
Swami, how's the view with your head up Rush's butt? Just wondering.
Hello! He edited it to get his dimwitted audience galvanized behind him. Thinking people already know the truth.
"[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."
Hmmm...this sounds like he's talking about a general "phony soldier" and not a specific one. Especially MacBeth, who never went to Iraq. He is clearly talking about soldiers who go to Iraq and then see the mess and question the current policy.
But thanks for the laugh I got from your claim that Limbaugh cut out about a minute of conversation to save time on a three-hour show. And Nixon needed the 18 and a half minutes of Watergate tapes to record In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Sure.
people can split hairs till the cows get home...
If Mr. Limbaugh had an _ounce_ of integrity he would resign.
Of course,I do not know him personally... but if he is as his radio persona is then he is a disdainful hypocrite (see Dictionary.com, Hypocrite: a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.)
Plus, daily it is clear that he is in desparate need of a twelve step program.
spell check, dang
You put "Limbaugh" and integrity in the same sentence. Did your keyboard melt?
You say he PROBABLY did something then dutifully regurgitate the Limborg line right down to the obligatory Soros BS. The sad truth is ya got no brain just a tape recorder. It must be sad the way you guys desperatly tune into a blowhard drug addict to find out what you think.
Does Rush pay you in pennies, or postage stamps? Just wondering.
" it's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people."
After reading the posts on this website today I must say once again Limbaugh hit the nail, or Left, on the head. OUCH!!
The edited section has absolutley nothing to do with the "phony soldier"story.
Sure it does. The caller called anyone who wanted to get out of Iraq a phony soldier. Rush agreed with him. Then he lets him talk about WMD's for a minute and a half. So for him to say that he was talking about McBeth is completely ignoring the context of those remarks.
If it was me and someone smeared Bush-supporting soldiers, I would correct them in no uncertain terms. Rush didn't do that. So much for "supporting the troops".
If you go listen to the call you will hear that "phony Soldier" was a response to the callers comment that the press finds these so called "soldiers" that come out of the blue - that deals with their authenticity. You are the one attaching an ideaology to the term - not Limbaugh.
NO... here it is again.
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.
This is obviously not about one soldier... no matter how much you may wish that to be so!
Where are all of the Rush defenders that were jumping on the 240+ post thread? Join us here and please, since you think he was taken out of context in that thread, explain why he was taking himself out of context today.
I'm wating for the usual "Rush is irrelevant" posts.
Nerzog,
Under (ab?)normal circumstances, Rush would be irrelevant. Editting his own words. Pathetic!
But with just about 2 million? or so listeners nationwide, that makes Rush a threat to all that is decent about America.
Everything he says to those that follow him, and these people likely watch FOX too, is likely seen as gospel truth to them and are probably candidates to being dangers to themselves?
For curiousity's sake since this has been the right-wing theory since the 1930's, this is for anyone that might know, who was the equivilant to Rush back during the 1930's and the days of Joe McCarthy on the radio?
Because, we are certainly revisiting it again!
In the 1920's, Mussolini was writing articles for the New York Times. Rush can only dream of being that infamous.
How embarrassing for the Rushbots. About 12 of them joined MMFA all at once and repeated the same exact lie on the other Rush thread that Rush had fed them. They were so smug. Now that Rush's lie has been exposed, they are nowhere to be found.
Not so fast, FMP. Copiousconsent still hasn't caught on.Imagine being the slow kid in the Dittohead class ! ;0)
I'm going to check back later tonight to see if he's still clueless.
Copiousconsent may have been put down for his nap, but Oldmarine is filling in on another thread.I guess he's the sucker swing shift.
"Phony Soldier " was a comment in response to a caller's discussion regarding people who clain to be what they are not. Now theres a flap over editing out portions of a conversation that had nothing to do with the context of the discussion. If CNN interviews a guy outside a courtroom who claims to be a lawyer and disagrees with a decision he is a phony lawyer. Not because he disagrees twth the decision but because he is not a real lawyer - not too hard for an educated person to follow.
Now you think you've hit a home run because the transcript of the call was edited when he played it back over the air. (the call is transcripted and audio linked if full at the website) That's no different than MMFA editing the transcript for it's original post.
I am not here to defend Rush Limbaugh - he needs no defense from anyone. Rush Limbaugh is an ENTRERTAINER who makes millions by irritating and poking fun at you lefties. It works because in successful jest there is always some truth . You folks here give him the ammunition of your foolishness as exposed in these threads. I can guarantee you that in two weeks you people will still be angry over this - and he will still be laughing all the way to the bank - and still poking fun at you lefties.
I must admit it is fun watching you guys twist and turn words into the pretzel you want to swallow.
The phony comment regarded soldiers who wanted to get out of Iraq. Limbaugh agreed.
It's really that simple.
>>That's no different than MMFA editing the transcript for it's (SIC) original post.
Hmm.. The original post is here.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200709270010?f=h_top
Seems MM indicates a break in the transcript with [...] They'
re being upfront... and letting you know that something was cut... and providing a link to the entire thing.
Yet somehow that's "NO DIFFERENT" from Rushing FALSELY claiming he's airing "the entire" thing when in fact he cuts out 40% of it?
So to you... being honest and upfront is "no different" from lying and hiding the facts?
You make a big deal out of the dreaded 3:13 excerpt but the point is that all you left nut libs have been TRYING to pretend Rush thinks all soldiers are phony! Are you all that wacked out? No, you can't be! It's so damned obvious that he was ONLY talking about one soldier and /or the phony soldiers your left nut media puts on TV shows!
>>It's so damned obvious that he was ONLY talking about one soldier
Then why did he drag Murtha into it?
>>You make a big deal out of the dreaded 3:13 excerpt but the point is that all you left nut libs have been TRYING to pretend Rush thinks all soldiers are phony!
No, Rush clearly thinks that soldier who agree with Rush are real.
Rush thinks soldiers who don't agree with Rush are phony.
Which companies use Limbaugh for advertising?Now seems like a good time to go after them.If the Left is ever going to make significant strides forward they MUST shut this guy down.BTW, the odds that he will ever apologize for this or for anything,ever,are precisely zero.
Here you go... you can get a list and contact the advertiser form here.
http://www.rushlimbaughonline.com/advertisers.htm
He will not apologize unless-UNLESS Liberals finally call his bluff and REFUSE to let this issue rest.If they finally stand up and say "this ends now" they might just pull it off.However,I won't hold my breath...
No, he will only apologise if advertisers threaten to pull advertising.
He does not give a crap about truth, liberals, soldiers, or anthing other than his own fat ass.
This proves my point as to why Liberals are so freakin stupid. Limbaugh edited the part of the transcript that had nothing to do with the phony soldier part of the conversation with the caller. Idiots!
>> Rush edited part of the transcript
Which he claimed was unedited.
What part of lying don't you get?
I can see on Limbaugh's site (9/28/07) that he left out the section in bold above. However, call me naive, but I don't see how the omitted section has any baring on the context of the phony soldier controversy. I appears to be nothing but fluff conversation surrounding the pertinent points of the phony soldier utterance. Limbaugh says, as you have quoted above 'in context,' and as the section of the call left out has no direct baring on the context of the phony soldier conversation, I don't see an issue in leaving it out. My two cents...
>>I don't see an issue in leaving it out.
I do. Rush's defense is that he was referring to one particular soldier... which he did do minutes later. Beyond the obvious lie (saying "here's the complete transcript my friends" when it was substantially edited), Rush misleads by placing his discussion of one soldier MUCH CLOSER chronologically to his "phony soldiers" comment. By doing so, he makes it seems as if his defense is reasonable, when in fact if you listen to the whole thing it's obviously a bogus defense.
Documented evidence that Rush lies and that he is underhanded and dishonest enough to falsify his own show to cover up his lies. His logic is so insane and stupid and filled with hate and closed minded bigots that if proven wrong would shoot whoever said so and turn around and say, "Now that's the way you win an argument...with a 9mm". How or why anyone listens to this crap and yet the president, vice president and now a SC judge appear on his show as proof that insane people are trying to run the country. Wonder if Hitler had a talk show host as loyal as this barking dog. Cancerous discourse has rewards all its own so laugh loudly was the bigots call. Does anyone doubt the rampant insanity pervading the WH and the SC that members would appear on this show?
"Wonder if Hitler had a talk show host as loyal as this barking dog."
Does the name Joseph Goebbels ring any bells?
Hmmmmmm...
I'm Canadian - love following American politics - but pretty neutral. But I had to sign up to say 'What the hell?!" . There's a thing called the 'Principle of Charity' which you need to follow in an argument in order to be relevant. It means that you have to be able to reproduce what someone really means in order to be able to refute what they have said. Otherwise you are attacking a 'straw man', or replacing their genuine point with something much easier to refute. This is a sign of genuine intellectual dishonesty.
I'm not interested so much in what the consequence of this misrepresentation might be, but in the motive. You seem to be doing nothing more than underlining, in bold highlighter, what this man says about you.
It's all fun to watch , though...
floydmd4885Can anyone figure out what this guy's point is? I read it 3 times and still can't figure it out.
Me either. I doubt even he knows what he's trying to say.
It's always funny to watch a cultist straining to force reality to conform to his beliefs. Rush has already edited his own memories and now he would like to edit everyone else's.
When examining Rush and those like him, you must realize you are dealing with a belief system. Whats depressing is how the troops are just called "kids"...and that's what many of them are. We have battalions of teenagers stuck in a complex and deadly conflict without a clear objective.
Well first off, if you actually listened to Rush this morning, he did not edit the clip. The whole thing is there. go to rushlimbaugh.com and see the video clip from this morning. Why must this site take everything out of context. It's embarasing. All you have to do is go to the source to find out who's telling the truth. Rush was clearly reffering to one soldier, Jesse MacBeth, and he clearly is a "Phony Soldier" in all respect. It's discracefull
In the radio show that Rush did, one where he said he included the "entire transcript", he did not include the entire transcript.
I don't understand why this is so difficult for the Rush fans to comprehend and accept.
This is so embarrassing for the people who really do support the troops and the efforts to combat terrorists. If the idiot in office were not enough shame on our wonderful country, along comes these comments from an uninformed idiot. Please God help us.
The comments omitted had nothing to do with the phony soldiers comment. NOTHING. If anyone is trying to deceive anyone, it's Media Matters. Why doesn't anyone here ask the question of what Mr. Soros stands to gain if the United States becomes socialist as he desires? Why hasn't anyone asked Mr. Soros why, if he is so concerned, doesn't he use some of his millions to say help rebuild the 9th ward in New Orleans? Why? Because people are being totally propagandized and buy into everything he and his organizations say without question. Anyone ever stop to think that Soros is a billionaire and could stand to make MORE money if the US goes socialist? That he may have leveraged his money to make more money by reducing our economic clout? No, no one ever questions that. Just believe what all he and his organizations tell you blindly.
I think you're still missing the point...Rush edited out minutes between his "phony soldiers" comments and his comments about one soldier to MAKE IT FALSELY APPEAR as if the two things happened consecutively.
They didn't.
He lied.
limbaugh is a jerk to put it mildly,and ignorant.first of all "boot camp"is not army language,"basic training" is the verbage and since he never raised his right hand and took the oath he should not be talking about "the right soldier or phoney's.
keep up the great work media matters.
What in the world does the bold text (not played by limbaugh) have anything to do with bolstering your story that he was NOT referring to one soldier. IT DOESNT. How anyone can read this story and agree with it is beyond me. Stop playing politics and admit you got it all wrong. I'll admit Bush has done a horrible job (not with the war) but with all the spending and I can't wait for a Pres with balls to push a conservative agenda down the throats of the liberals. I am so SICK of being taxed to death. What I dont understand is why the liberals arent either. Bring back Ross Perot, LOL.
In the radio show that Rush did, one where he said he included the "entire transcript", he did not include the entire transcript.
I don't understand why this is so difficult for the Rush fans to comprehend and accept.
This story is not about how Rush referred to multiple phony soldiers. This story is about how he lied when he said he was going to give his listeners the entire audio clip. He didn't do that. It seems clear that he didn't do that because removing that audio inbetween allowed him to claim that there was a direct link between his calling soldiers phony with his example of one phony soldier.
He said phony soldiers. He meant phony soldiers, not one phony soldier. He was talking about phony soldiers that don't toe the line he thinks loyal, patriotic Americans should toe.
"IT DOESN"T"
Why did Rush claim it was the ENTIRE transcript when it wasn't? Why did Rush lie about it?
Unless you come up with a more plausible explanation, I'll repeat the obvious.
Rush wanted to make it appear as if his "phone soldiers" comment appeared next to his comments about "Jesse MacBeth"
In fact, they didn't.
He's misleading you and all his other fans with an outright lie. I'm truly sad that you can't see it.
the only soldier that the left love is Jesse MacBeth and Thomas Beauchamp. With reporters like Elspeth Reeve make it easy to discredit any bad news from Iraq because they are proven liars. If you talk to and vet from Iraq they can tell you of the progress and improvements that the Iraqis are making in their country. 60 years ago the time and other big news papers made a big deal of how bad it was a Europe and how hated the Americans were. This is just a repeat of the libs basking America again and again.
>>the only soldier that the left love is Jesse MacBeth and Thomas Beauchamp.
Any proof of that ridiculous assertion?
There was Father Coughlin, with his right-wing, anti-Roosevelt, pro-fascist and anti-Semitic rants. Roosevelt asked the Pope to please get him to stop. The Pope complied.
The oddest thing, of course, is that whatever the right accuses us of is exactly what they do every day. The invention of stories, etc.
I don't know which is sadder. Rush using edited content to prove a point, the fact that the edited version doesn't add credence to his claim, or Caller 2's made up story that there are IEDs loaded with biochemical weapons but, shucks, the dumb Iraqi insurgents can't figure how to use them.
Is that really how you want to portray the enemy? As stupid but still kicking your ass up and down the sand dunes?
And in case anyone is afraid to say it, I doubt the military credentials of either caller, and I doubt either caller was anything but a "ringer". One to make Democrats look bad, the other to make Republicans look good, or so Rush believes.
Randy
you are correct sir. the tape was edited. this proves what? am i missing something? you sir are a moron. good day.
It proves that Rush was not truthful when he said he was going to provide the entire transcript.
OK, before you simply dismiss me as a "Rushbot" or any similar name, lets put some gray matter to work on this issue, huh?
Now, don't interpret my comments as condoning Rush's editing, I do not, it was wrong, and also quite stupid, as it let him open to attacks from sites such as this. But lets think, the segment he left out did not refute his assertion that he was referring to Jesse MacBeth as the "phony soldier." In fact, the comments made in the segment did not add anything to the context of the segment, they did not deal with Macbeth or any other soldiers, or 'the left' or any of that.
Rush should have included these in his edit, thats for sure. But that does not change the fact that Media Matters is implying that he referred to all soldiers who don't support the war as phony soldiers, when this is a flat out lie.
>>the segment he left out did not refute his assertion that he was referring to Jesse MacBeth as the "phony soldier."
This is the whole point. The seqment he left out.. between his "phony soldiers" gaffe and his discussion of MacBeth... makes it clear that the OCNTEXT of the phony soldiers had nothing whatsoever to do with MacBeth.
>>But that does not change the fact that Media Matters is implying that he referred to all soldiers who don't support the war as phony soldiers, when this is a flat out lie.
Straw man. Media Matters made no such claim.
More distortion from Media Myrmidons. The fact that the Jesse Macbeth part of the transcript was not included in MMFA's 9-27-07 original story proves the dishonesty of this smear site. Jayson Blair would be a good addition to this irrelevant cesspool.
More nonsense by another moron from the Limborg
Good defense of your beloved lie machine. Can't you come up with something more creative than MORON to add to your repertoire?
What he meant is clear no matter WHAT Limbaugh told you to think. Just because in your monumental ignorance you dont understand simple concepts dont mean they are lies. You are stupid. Limbaugh is the pre eminent lie machine of the media. If you werent so ignorant you would know that. I dont care he mentioned some guy I never heard of as a phony soldier there are all kinds of conmen out there. His comments make it CLEAR that he was calling those soldiers who disagreed with the war phony. Nothing you can do about reality, feel free to rail against it anyway. Its stupid but then so are you
Also if you think I am going to sit here and take your insults without returning them then you really ARE stupid
Very impressive. STUPID is much more creative than MORON. Did you even bother to read the transcript MM posted? What is the explanation for the convenient Macbeth omission in the original MMFA story that the lib cable news stations reported?
Its not supposed to be creative. Its not supposed to hurt your feelings its just as worthless as the mindless insults YOU made. Its generic and not meant to be taken seriously. If I tailored the insults DIRECTLY to you they would have edge. The key to successful insults is credibility I am not aiming for successful. OF COURSE I read the transcripts and the adding of this specific fake soldier changes nothing. Do I really have to lead you by the hand here? He said the media never talks to REAL soldiers. So how are you going to claim what he really meant was THIS GUY or the couple of soldiers claiming to be what they arent. Its ludicrous. Please tell me you arent really arguing that he meant the media NEVER talks to anyone but these couple of examples of actual conmen soldiers, the ones I have never heard of, that you guys are dredging up. It is a weak and transparent defense for an indefensible statement. The only way to believe it is if you are comitted to ideological blindness. I knew he would try something this mindless he has no respect for his audience. He knows they have been trained to believe whatever inane bilge that floats to the top of his head. He doesnt even go to the work of making up credible lies. Stop insulting OUR intelligence by pretending it is something we ought to take seriously
Macbeth IS a fake soldier who Limbaugh made reference to in the same transcript that MMFA used. Macbeth plead guilty to falsifying his military record (DD 214) in federal court. He had claimed to have been a tabbed ranger earning a purple heart, and participated in atrocities, killing Iraqis as they left a mosque. The fact that Media Myrmidons omitted this part of the story shows clear dishonesty. Solon, maybe if you took a pamprin you would calm down and feel better.
The original story was on 9/26/07.
Media Matters did include the entire transcript on that occasion.
The entire transcript was up until he talked about the phony soldiers. It's Rush's lie that the stuff that came almost 2 minutes after those comments about phony soldiers changes the meaning of what he said.
Rush said an obnoxious thing about phony soldiers (plural), egged on by a caller. Then he talked about WMD's with the caller. Then he talked about one phony soldier in particular. Talking about one phony soldier doesn't change that he said soldiers.
Rush then edited the actual transcript of the conversation to exclude that intervening conversation to suggest that he was only talking about phony soldiers (plural) so that he could mention the one example.
He disproved that the next day when he mentioned other "phony soldiers" like Dem Rep John Murtha.
How people like you can support him is beyond me. He's lower than low.
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.
= = =
Rushbots, please explain why you think Rush was talking about Jesse Macbeth when he was conversing with caller 2?
Don't the transcripts prove he didn't even mention Macbeth until MINUTES later?
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/09/anti-war-youtube.html This is the story on Macbeth.
Sorry, the link didn't work. If you go to abcnews.com, search Jesse Macbeth, the story is there.
Is there a definitive site or organization that is not biased left or right that has a complete unedited version of the portion of the Rush Limbaugh show in question? Not any link to youtube, or fox, or nbc, or cbs, or cnn, or the AP just somewhere that isn't left, isn't right, isn't wing nutty or kool aidy, or whatever,,,
I think it's pretty wing-nutty to claim the transcripts already available here and elsewhere aren't real.
So Limbaugh cut out the portions which were not germain to the subject matter -- what have IEDs and mustard gas got to do with phoney soldiers -- and he is somehow disingenuous? Media Matters is a hack organization which distorts the facts through selective editing; and then calls Limbaugh disingenuous because he selectively edits for continuity.
All media outlets, Limbaugh, et al, edit out extraneous dialogue for context. Who wants to hear a segue conversation in the middle of the primary subject matter? Media Matters is nitpicking this one to death.
It changes the context. Rush did not qualify his agreement by stating he was talking about one specific person. He just brought it up again later talking about one specific person.
He agreed with the caller who was smearing the troops. Cutting out the WMD part made it look like he was qualifying his agreement, when he did no such thing in reality. It makes a difference.
>>So Limbaugh cut out the portions which were not germain to the subject matter -- what have IEDs and mustard gas got to do with phoney soldiers -- and he is somehow disingenuous?
Yup.. because he claimed "Media Matters had the transcript, but they selectively choose what they want to make their point. Here is -- it runs about 3 minutes and 13 seconds -- the entire transcript, in context, that led to this so-called controversy." That wasn't truthfiul.. it was a deliberate lie, and it was done to case himself in a good light. He cut well over a minute to MAKE IT APPEAR as if his discussion of Macbeth IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED his "phony soldiers" gaff, when in fat it was minutes later.
Here is what Google gives up when "Rush Limbaugh" is googed. 40 articles. Just wanted to read what the othres have to say.
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&um=1&ncl=1121399688&resnum=4&ct=more-results&cd=1&sa=N&start=0
I found this one extra special.
http://www.thespeciousreport.com/news.aspx?newsnum=7070058
[I/Snide Remark]Now you have to admit this guy has a real "Sense of Humor" not unlike those comedians in the House and Senate and the funniest one of course the greatest comedian of all time Rush Limbaugh.[End/Snide Remark]
but sfcretired, you're not addressing the macBeth story that Rush never addressed.Oh yeah, that was just BS.
Sorry Media Matters, I don't see it. I tried, I really did. It is perfectly clear Limbaugh was speaking specifically about one solder only and that solder was Jesse Macbeth. You people have been caught with your pants around your ankles.
It's perfectly clear? That's why he didn't bring it up when the caller made the remark, but after letting him ramble about WMD's? That doesn't make much sense.
It's perfectly clear what the caller meant, and that Rush agreed with him.
Tammy Bruce was spot on. You do use Gestapo tactics. It is truly saddening to see what has become of the American left.
Fascistic is the only way to describe it. To try to destroy someone simply because of his or her beliefs by sophistric means is beyond disgusting.
It's really touching to see all of you scurrying to protect your beloved Rush.
He smeared 70% of the troops as being "phony". If you have that much trouble accepting that, maybe you should stop listening to Rush, instead of denying the obvious truth of the matter. It's much healthier.
Another lie. He did no such thing. He referrred only to the left's erstwhile hero,Jesse MacBeth.
To repeatedly make your dim-witted, crazy-assed assertions depite all the evidence to the contrary is simply proving the point; to wit, the left is a bunch of liars and smear merchants. You cannot win in the marketplace of ideas, so you must resort to personal destruction.
How Clinton-esque.
CALLER: The phony soldiers. If you talk to any real soldier and they're proud to serve, they want to be over in Iraq, they understand their sacrifice and they're willing to sacrifice for the country.
RUSH: They joined to be in Iraq.
Caller says real soldiers want to be in Iraq. Rush agrees. That is Rush calling every soldier who wants us to get out of Iraq "phony".
He didn't talk about McBeth until later. He agreed with what the caller said at the time. What evidence do you have to refute this?
You're kidding right?
More like 99.5 percent of the troops EVEN THE ONES THAT DONT WANT TO BE THERE....
i DOUBT THAT RUSH'S real soldiers think that the ones who "want" us to get out of Iraq are phony. they are covering each others butts and I am sure in a fire fight the "phony" and the "real" are together.
"The Stranger" said
To try to destroy someone simply because of his or her beliefs by sophistric means is beyond disgusting.
You couldn't be more right, Stranger. It is terrible to try to destroy someone simply because of their beliefs using dishonest means.
What Media Matters is doing is not an example of that though.
The people who support Rush who have come here have been doing that WRT Media Matters.
The Swift Boat veterans did that. Bush and Rove did that to John McCain and other Republicans who dared to believe differently from him.
Destroying someone simply because they believe differently than you do is a trademark behavior from many on the right. I'm a true conservative, and I hate that so many on the right have been acting that way. I applaud Media Matters' efforts to stop that misbehavior, or at least to point it out whenever they can.
Nothing the Swift Boat Vets put out has been refuted....NOTHING.
It was Kerry who smeared the Swift Boat Vets
Rove did nothing to McCain
Boo hoo. As if your side hasn't does this for decades. What was McCarthyism all about, if not punishing people for their ideology?
Limbaugh’s ‘phony soldiers’...what could be more phony for soldiers than preempting to the point of continuously blowing themselves up for the only excuse left to do anything?
The ‘phony soldier’ brainwashes an automistic zombie into gunning down 33 trapped, helpless school kids in Virginia, waves the background checks, and has the university health services appear to be the ones responsible for psychiatrically abducting, drugging and detaining under commitment without in loco parentis knowledge or consent. And then has the same conman lawyer buy off the victim’s families who bought off the survivors and victims’ families from 9-11.
The phony, armchair soldier is sitting at the controls of multispectral resolution spy satellites that can measure diurnal temperature variations so accurately they can literally see and pinpoint every IDE and EFP on any road in Iraq or elsewhere; and then let the fratricide unfold for 8 years. That’s hangin’ phony. What’s worse is that the only way to accurately time and conceal the precise detonation coincidence with a passing U.S. military vehicle picked out from busy highway traffic at speed, is to use the same spy satellite to push the button, from the same control room.
This is why Mike Regan and Bush-Limbaugh abhor the idea of a draft, because volunteer military in their sense means the republicans and their terrorist buddies get to pretend they are hiring people for their thing, and employees are easier bump off than U.S. conscripts. They can’t handle the concept of competition because they’re cheating, coward traitors, who make the last mistake anyone in the service need make–the mistake of appearing before summary firing squad detail, or ones pending without limitations, indefinitely.
This BS story created by MM and the defense of it is approaching Dan Rather-like retardism.
The only thing phony is this story by Media Matters. MM selectively choses comments and make a story out of it. The cool aid drinker i.e. left wing radical liberals eat this stuff up. I do not understand why MM hates America and it's military so much.
You're doing exactly what Rush did... if a soldier doesn't agree with Rush, that soldier is a "phony." If Media Matters doesn't agree with Rush, they "hate America"
Is it any wonder the majority of Americans have rejected your war?
This article demonstrates how MM is nothing more than Hillary's goon squad. It is a political operation disguised as a journalistic endeavor. The SEC should be all over this.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=%7b1072D713-D071-4FD4-AD26-FB4C0F7B4D90%7d
Where did all these new trolls come from?
I don't recognize most of the aliases in this thread. Rushbots.
I went to that link to FrontPage Magazine, but it's not much more than a bunch of lies and innuendo.
I have read David Brock's book, and he renounced the methods he used to use to help prop up the right.
Much like my motives here at Media Matters, he wants the right to stop the baloney and fight fair.
Media Matters is is simply doing for liberals the exact same thing Brent Bozell is doing for conservatives. Where's the problem?
>>The SEC should be all over this.
The Securities and Exchange Commission?
Why?
http://www.sec.gov/
What I want to know is where are all the links to all of the stories from the left-leaning media singing the praises of Jesse MacBeth? Where are all the stories repeating his tales without investigating their honesty?
The facts are that there were not mainstream media reports on this guy, and there were never supporters using him as a point man.
Rush Limbaugh used him fraudulently to try to claim that he was a point man for the left. He was not.
DEMOCRATS ARE NOTHING BUT A CRIMINAL PARTY OF PERPETUAL FRAUD.
Just look at all the bed wetters tripping over themselves out of desperation to smear those that are telling the truth about their despicable traitorous leaders.
"He smeared 70% of the troops as being "phony""
And how does this petulant leftist Brab come up with this 70%. Because this stupid brain dead imbecile can only repeat the lies and bogus polls his masters tell him. This democrat would like for us to believe his nonsense that 70% of our armed forces are democrats.LOL Just like these airheads think that leftists went from less than 20% to 70% over night.
Delusions of Grandeur along with BDS is has rotted what little brains of those who call themselves democrats. That is what they are , Democrats , not AMERICANS. Just like so called Journalists claim they are journalists first and even that is a lie. They are neither journalists or Americans , their are just downright dirty despicable democrats, plain and simple.
Like SOLON who seems to be one the main dopes here trying to pull his "TRANSFERENCE" on smarter people than himself. With 90% or more of the MSM being democrats , repeating accusations by their partners accusing Republicans of doing the very thing democrats "ARE" doing , the desperation shows.
It's a known fact that democrats are liars and engage in voter/election fraud and this site is undeniable proof of it. The Party of PERPETUAL FRAUD 24 HRS A DAY , 7 DAYS A WEEK..............
Truth hurts doesn't it losers .......deal with it.
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1075
It's a bit dated (2006)..
U.S. Troops in Iraq: 72% Say End War in 2006
You said "truth hurts".. let us all know whjat part of you is in pain.
"And how does this petulant leftist Brab come up with this 70%. Because this stupid brain dead imbecile can only repeat the lies and bogus polls his masters tell him. This democrat would like for us to believe his nonsense that 70% of our armed forces are democrats."
I was using RedKing's figure of 70% who want the USA to get out of Iraq. If that figure is inaccurate, you're free to demonstrate it.
Meanwhile, anyone with a room-temperature IQ should be able to figure out that disagreement with Bush or the war does not mean one is a Democrat. If that were the case, roughly the same percentage of the country would be classified as "Democrat". That would put you clearly in the fringes of society, and that surely can't be the case, can it?
No, most soldiers can easily disagree with the war not because of any political preference, but because they can see that the war is illegal, unjustified, counterproductive, and deadly to many of their brothers and sisters in the field. They can see all that from their own perspective. So in no way am I claiming that 70% of soldiers are Democrats.
In fact, I'll gladly concede your 20% figure. That only shows that half of soldiers are not Democrats and still want us out of Iraq. Either you're saying they're cowards, or you're admitting that the war is a disaster. Your call.
As a rising radio host, I understand how a radio show works. The question is... do you?
The time between the comment, and his explanation are simply explainable by someone in a neutral position. If people would take a moment to keep from villifying him... they would be able to see the simple logic.
He finished the phone call.
simple as that. He didn't cut the caller off. As soon as the caller was done... he simply revisited the topic, using Jesse as an example to explain his remark.
I simply cannot see why this is an issue. He explained his comment a minute and a half later. He took a few seconds to finish speaking with his caller before revisiting. That is not a massive atrocity. He is 100% correct when he called Jesse fake... as he obviously lied about his credentials. He was also correct in saying there was no retort from those who supported what he said before his cover was blown.
>>He is 100% correct when he called Jesse fake.
That is true. But it has absolutely nothing to do with the conversation he had with caller 2, which had nothing to do with MacBeth ("out out damned liars!)
He agreed with the caller. The caller said that any real soldier wants to be in Iraq. Rush agreed. That was the context of the "phony" remark.
Now, anyone who actually objects to a caller calling our troops "phony" because they disagree with the war would surely say so. Rush didn't. He agreed with what the caller said. And if he didn't realize what the caller meant, then he could just say so afterwards, and chastise the caller for smearing our brave soldiers.
But he didn't. Instead, he doctored the transcript. Funny about that. Maybe you can learn a lesson from this, that when you disagree with the anti-troop sentiment his caller expressed, you should actually voice that disagreement instead of dishonestly editing the evidence.
It would be so much more persuasive, don't you agree?
VERY well said!!!
Of the three troops I personally know, two oppose the war. I guess that means they're phonies, huh?
Thanks very much!
As I've said before, if I was running a show and some caller smeared war-supporting troops, I would tear that caller a new one. Attacking our soldiers for their political views is over the line. That's a matter of principle.
Rush and his zombie followers don't seem to see it that way, for some reason. I wonder why?
To quote Mr. Oxycontin himself, it's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people.
First they claim that you can only understand Rush's comment "In Context."
Then Rush presents "the context". . but EDITS it. And lies about doing that.
If understanding 'the context' was the key, why did he falsify it? And lie about it?
And why do these zombies defend him?
Nice try MM but this is weak. The guy Rush is refering to IS a phony soldier and any realistic discussion of this needs to up front about that, you were not. To say that Rush is extending that judgement to "all soldiers who oppose Iraq" is really weak from the context of this conversation. You guys are really creeping me out. I'm picturing are you geeky libs sitting there listening to everything all day. Yeech!
Boy, you have really misunderstood all 120 comments. Rush referred to "Phony soldier" at least a minute an d ahalf before bringing up - for th efirst time in the broadcast - MacBeth. So you're simply mistaken.
Media Matters of course is aware that ABC News on September 24th ran a report by Brian Ross on "phony veterans". Rush was talking about the same type of "soldiers". And of course Media Matters is aware of the report by CNN in which Juan Williams was referred to as a "happy negro", which is a slur along the lines of being called an "Uncle Tom". I must have missed Media Matters reporting on those topics.
>>Rush was talking about the same type of "soldiers".
Not to caller 2, he wasn't.
He did bring up that topic about 2 minutes later. In an unrelated context.
I'll give you a B- for effort, but an F for accuracy.
Are you referring to the comments Boyce Watkins made on CNN?
What makes you think CNN agrees with Watkins? Does NBC agree with Ann Coulter every time she's on as a guest?
>I must have missed Media Matters reporting on this.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200709280007
The Senate majority leader, Homosexual Harry, just stood on the floor of the Senate and repeated MMFA's "phony soldiers" lie. Limbaugh just challenged Homosexual Harry to repeat his charges on Limbaugh's show tomorrow. We all know Homosexual Harry lacks the cojones to do so.
It was absolutley obvious to me that Rush was refering to MacBeth and others like him. Of all of the nuanced and thinly veiled BS being thrown around out there, you guys picked this? Talk about a waste of cyberspace! After your obvious distortion, you would have been better off "swallowing this foot, rather than inserting another in your mouth" trying to defend your gibberish.
The caller was referring to anyone who wanted to get out of Iraq as "phony". Rush agreed with him. His comments about McBeth a minute and a half later don't change that one bit.
There is a difference in editing for content verses conTEXT. You are being wholly disingenuous to attack Rush for this edit. The removed portions 1. Do NOT alter the context, and 2. Are available for anyone who wants to listen to them on his website. Rush is a great supporter of our military and your smear has zero chance of causing harm to that well-established reputation. The fact is that DURING the call in question, following the plural reference to phony soldiers, and PRIOR to your site making a big deal of it, Rush put the comment in context (that word again) using the EXAMPLE of Jesse MacBeth. There are many more like Jesse out there, so the use of the plural, in context (word again), was justified.