Fox's Carlson did not challenge Huckabee's apparent inconsistencies on "free speech"
SUMMARY: On Fox & Friends, Mike Huckabee criticized senators for denouncing Rush Limbaugh regarding his recent "phony soldiers" comments, saying that "it is not the business of government to infringe upon the free speech of anybody, including a talk show host." But host Gretchen Carlson did not point out that Huckabee supported -- and attacked Sen. Hillary Clinton for opposing -- a Senate amendment that condemned the "General Betray Us" MoveOn.org ad.
On the October 4 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson asked Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee to comment on the controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh's characterization of service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as "phony soldiers." Huckabee replied: "[W]ith all the things the United States Senate ought to be doing -- securing our borders, resolving the situation in Iraq, improving education and health care -- what are they doing? They're worried about what a talk show host says." He added: "Rush Limbaugh has a right to say anything he wants to. Last time I checked, the First Amendment has not been repealed, and while individual citizens can say whatever they want to about Rush Limbaugh, it is not the business of government to infringe upon the free speech of anybody, including a talk show host." Carlson did not point out that Huckabee, while now criticizing senators for denouncing Limbaugh, supported -- and attacked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) for opposing -- a Senate amendment that condemned a MoveOn.org advertisement headlined "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?"
Responding to Clinton's Senate vote against the nonbinding amendment sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) -- which, in the words of the amendment, "repudiate[s] the unwarranted personal attack on General [David] Petraeus by the liberal activist group Moveon.org" and "condemn[s] any effort to attack the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all the members of the United States Armed Forces" -- Huckabee, referring to Clinton, told The Washington Times in a September 25 article: "If you can't get your lips off the backside of George Soros long enough to use those lips to say it's wrong to declare a sitting general ... guilty of treason ... how would you ever expect to have the support of the very military you might have to send into deadly battle?" From the article:
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee gets uncharacteristically angry when talking about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's failure to condemn by name the billionaire backer of Moveon.org's attack on Gen. David H. Petraeus.
"If you can't get your lips off the backside of George Soros long enough to use those lips to say it's wrong to declare a sitting general ... guilty of treason," the 2008 Republican presidential hopeful said, "how would you ever expect to have the support of the very military you might have to send into deadly battle?"
Further, as Media Matters for America documented, Clinton did vote for Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D-CA) amendment, which cited the MoveOn ad, as well as Republican-backed attacks against the military service of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and former Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA).
From the October 4 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
CARLSON: Another thing that was an attack on the GOP base -- what many people thought was the attack on Rush Limbaugh: Some of the other Republican candidates, presidential candidates, have come out and said what they think about it -- specifically [Mitt] Romney and [Fred] Thompson. [Rudy] Giuliani may be stating something later today. I'm going to give you the opportunity to make news this morning, Governor Huckabee, how do you feel about the whole event?
HUCKABEE: Well, with all the things the United States Senate ought to be doing -- securing our borders, resolving the situation in Iraq, improving education and health care -- what are they doing? They're worried about what a talk show host says. I can't think of anything that is a greater waste of their time and my money as a taxpayer, and, frankly, Rush Limbaugh has a right to say anything he wants to. Last time I checked, the First Amendment has not been repealed, and while individual citizens can say whatever they want to about Rush Limbaugh, it is not the business of government to infringe upon the free speech of anybody, including a talk show host.
CARLSON: And I understand you're going to release that statement on your Internet site today, which is, MikeHuckabee.com. Next time you're on the East Coast, towards New York, come and pay us a visit here on our couch, OK, Governor?
HUCKABEE: I'll look forward to it, Gretchen. Thank you very much.
CARLSON: All right, great to talk with you.
FIRST !
Huckleberry thinks free speech is okay for Limbaugh, but not for MoveOn.
Got it!
surprise! surprise! surprise!
Gomer is out of the closet!
CARLSON:"... Next time you're on the East Coast, towards New York, come and pay us a visit here on our couch, OK, Governor?"
Maybe we can get to the root of that Cognitive dissonance regarding your opinions on free speech.
Gee, whoever would have thought it: a hypocritical Republican. What's next? The sun rising in the east? George Bush screwing up foreign policy?
He's a hypocrite, but he's right about this.
Politicians should defend free speech, not work against it.
I find it shameful that politicians think they should interfere in these recent matters. Even if they're not legislating about it, the fact that politicians gather and take it upon themselves to condemn individuals for what they have every right to say is disturbing (in both the MoveOn and the Limbaugh case).
This is not the American way, or at least it shouldn't be. Disgusting, vile, unpopular and unpatriotic speech needs protecting, not condemning.
I agree completely. Leave it to the Republicans to assert a censure to a political orginization because it made them look bad.
Leave it to Republicans to start the madness.
Our Government at Work. Trying to censor a Talk Show Host? What are they thinking...... You can't.... It is against our constitution.....
Furthermore he did not lie. MMFA took all his words out of context.
MoveOn.org placed an ad in the NY times betryaing a 4 star General. Is this freedom of speech? Yes it is. But is it smart Freedom of Speeech? NO. They are digging themselves a hole. Just like MMFA is.
Keep beating on Limbaugh and O'Reilly and Hannity and anyone that is conservative, and you will find the hole that Hillary Clinton will find herself in November 2008.
People who believe in freedom of speech (Which is the Constitutional Right of every American) will understand you can't censor it.
Liberals or far left thinkers are in my opinion Communists. And enough is enough. 4 years of G.H.W. Bush,8 years of W.J Clinton and 8 years of G.W. Bush is the end of it.
Vote a new person in the White House that makes American's proud again of being an American. We don't need these people in power any longer.
And then let the chips fall where they may.
God Bless America
Conservatives or far right thinkers are in my opinion MORONS. They cant see that calling what Limbaugh free speech that the government shouldnt bother with while attacking Moveon is blatant hypocrisy. You can spare us how what we REALLY need to do is let the screechmonkey set on the right alone and forget about exposing their lies, hypocrisy and outrageousness. We dont see it that way and never will. Its time to hold them accountable for what they say.
Solon;
Morons? Such socially insensitive speech. Haven't you learned anything from your liberal heritage? It's not polite to call people morons. It might hurt their self esteem. Besides, it reduces your arguments to mere ad homiinem screeches.
Solon;
I would also suggest that there is a quantitative difference between attacking a 'working' General and trying to berate an entertainer like Limbaugh.
There is also a major difference between the Swift Boat ads and the MoveOn ad. Kerry was a political figure who made his military service an important part of his campaign. MoveOn attacked a soldier on duty. One can argue whether or not the Swift Boat ads were fair or true. There is no question that the MoveOn ad was unfair and disgusting to any loyal American.
I find it amusing that right wing idiots think "far left" = "liberal". Only in America, kids.
Sorry, BV, I'm getting bored of trying to help Dittoheads,but I'll take the time for one;
"Furthermore he (Rush) did not lie. MMFA took all his words out of context."
All of the audio and transcripts are here and complete, at this very site. Rush edited the clip, and bullsh*tted you into believing him.
Go ahead, check it out, see if your brain still works.
Besides, you're not abiding by the terms of surrender. I've been pretty generous, try not to be an ingrate;
OK, I'll help you - here is my acceptance of the dittobot surrender. Since some of you continue to whine, and even ask for us to give up, I'm going to make an incredible deal-
In the spirit of the Special Olympics,and second chances, I'm suspending terms of surrender until Sunday, October 7, 2007, 12:00 midnight EST.(that's 9pm West Coast, don't bother with the calculators.
More than 48 hours to stay alive.Until you meet the terms to initiate your argument , no post will be entertained as anything but horsesh*t.
Keep in mind. providing examples of phony soldiers lionized by the mainstream media does not win anything, it only qualifies you to begin the contest.
On your marks, get set, GO DITTOBOTS!
There is no God. There will be no blessing. America is on its own. You belong to a superstitious species called 'man' which has grouped itself into several complex societies based largely on geography, their respective members interdependent on one another for basic survival. You, your society, and your species will survive by using your superior intellect to make the correct decisions regarding your basic survival needs, and to make the correct adaptations when your needs and/or the sources to supply those needs change, regardless of your faith that there is a superior being with an ongoing and tactile concern for the welfare of your group. That is all. The rest of your comments are moot.
But, let the chips fall where they may. I suggest going bowling.
But Neon, the Bible contradicts what you say and the Bible is the absolute truth, it says so right in the Bible.
Hey, I'm still reading it. Don't ruin the ending for me, all right?
I'm up to the part where Jesus won't turn stones into bread to feed the starving, but DOES turn water into wine for a party. What a character...
The Limbaugh debacle would never have started if it wasn't for the congressional denouncement of Move-On.
We just insist on them doing the same for Limbaugh. I heard that show live, and it is exactly how MM says it was.
Limbaugh edited the transcript on his own site and his audio was cut about two minutes (the original is out there) to cut his "phony soldiers" rant while talking to an ignoramus "dittohead" on the phone.
Im beginning to think that posters like BVCB or leatherhelmet or copiousdissent are all in reality staff members of the Colbert Report.
Maybe, except that the Colbert material has a foot solidly planted in intelligence.
No, I'm pretty sure that Rush loads up their breeches with 180 grains of .44 cal b.s. and sends them out via the media to deliver it to the backs of the heads of as many people as possible.
By the way, just so there's no misunderstanding, the preceding is an old world Italian metaphor for distributing knowledge. It was a contemporization ca. 1750 of the traditional "belt" metaphor.
Thanks for introducing me to the new saying, Neon. "Strapping it to my belt" is getting pretty hackneyed.
No prob. Always happy to strap that to your...I mean, fire that info into the back of your head.
I know that I have often found myself lying on the sidewalk in a pool of knowledge after receiving a full metal jacketed info-nugget of yours. And I'm proud whenever I can avenge that benevolence.
Mike, I am truly disappointed in your double standard. Either you believe in free speech for everyone or you are a political hack. You complain about those who were not in favor of voting just for the MoveOn.Org but they did agree to vote for the censure of MOVeOn, the SwiftBoaters and those who so ruthlessly attacked Max Clelland. Then there is the disgusting comment Rush made about a service man who had fought in a very rough war - a comment that you feel should never be confronted.
Seems your attack is very selective and not based on principal at all. Makes you look like a political hack. Surely you see that. If you do not, you are being grossly obtuse about it.
What a partisan hack...of course, this is the same guy to whom we owe the Nixonian "with honor" philosophy to our involvement in Iraq.
I feel that, ideally, Congress wouldn't be wasting its time with any of this stuff...or at the very least, restrict it to attacks on Cleland, Kerry, "phony soldiers," etc., not because they're blasting a particular party, but because they deal in easily documentable LIES. Please feel free to be as mean as you want, but just be truthful!
But, failing that, I at least expect our representatives to be complaining about speech consistently, or they should be exposed by the media as partisan spinners.
MMFA runs everything someone says about it in a negative light but they didn't run this audio........ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlsbjd9-Nt4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fhomepage%2Emac%2Ecom%2Fmkoldys%2Fiblog%2FC168863457%2FE20071002200349%2Findex%2Ehtml
I wonder why?
Because MMFA generally doesn't rely on clips that have been debunked already.The site you linked to was posted several times in the past week or so, and everything on it has been discussed, and exposed as BS. You're about a week behind on this.
The Far Right, once again, has demonstrated hypocrisy to the extreme. The Huckster needs to substitute 'MoveOn' in place of Rush Limbaugh in his quote if he wants to distinguish himself from being just another run-of-the-mill Righty hypocrite.
Betcha he would NEVER do that. NEVER. The Right lives and dies by double standards.
Huckleberry thinks free speech is okay for Limbaugh, but not for MoveOn.
Got it!
That appears to be correct! Thanks for putting it so succinctly.
I denounced the Moveon business on the Senate floor as being just dipping a toe into the pool of government censorship of speech, and what can be said about who. I then also must denounce the stupid stupid democrats who are doing the same thing with Limbaugh and trying to pass resolution on that. It's stupid folks. Very, very stupid. If you want to denounce everything Limbaugh says that is un-true or scurilous, then they'll be spending all of their time, well, just doing that. Drop it.
Make a statement if you would about what he said, and why you think it's wrong. Make a press release of it, and then move on from there. Don't bring this to the floor of the Senate, or the House, we've got more important business to deal with then Moveon.org and what they said, and Rush Limbaugh and what he said.
Rush Limbaugh is on Armed Forces Radio which is paid for by all of us.
Questioning whether this is a wise use of the taxpayer dollar is much more within the scope of Congressional inquiry than is any ad placed in the NY Times.
Congress has a lot going on right now. Debating MoveOn ads, Limbaugh, etc. I am so thankful there is nothing more important going on in the world that might take their attention away from these "Culture Warrior" issues.
P.S. - The above, for those with no sense of it, is sarcastic.
Two Points:
1.) I just love Gretchen's blank, cross-eyed stare in the video freeze provided. Tells me everything I need to know.
2.) Gretchen was very generous in providing a forum where we can ask Mr. Huckabee to explain himself, since she didn't have the wherewithal to do it herself. I recommend going to www.MikeHuckabee.com and sending an email to the general inquiry email address that includes a link to this story and asking Mike if he sees a difference between what Republicans were doing about MoveOn.org and what Democrats are doing about Rush Limbaugh.
I wonder if enough people do it, at least one person will get a response.