On the August 1 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh cropped remarks by Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) to falsely claim that Dingell “refuses to condemn” Hezbollah, which has launched hundreds of rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanon in recent weeks. In fact, as the weblog Think Progress noted when the right-wing weblog Power Line and The Washington Times similarly cropped Dingell's remarks, Dingell explicitly stated in his remarks that "I condemn Hezbollah, as does everybody else, for the violence."

Limbaugh aired a portion of a July 30 interview with Flashpoint host Devin Scillian on Detroit's WDIV-TV:

DINGELL: First of all, I don't -- I don't take sides for or against Hezbollah or for or against Israel.

SCILLIAN: You're not against Hezbollah?

DINGELL: I happen to be -- no --

Based on this edited audio clip, Limbaugh claimed that “I guess we could count” Dingell as someone who “refuses to condemn” Hezbollah. Additionally, Limbaugh suggested that Dingell might qualify as “an anti-Semite[]” by the standards of Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Howard Dean, who called Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki “an anti-Semite” because he “believe[s] that Israel doesn't have the right to defend itself and refused to condemn Hezbollah.”

In fact, Dingell did condemn Hezbollah, as the unedited transcript of his remarks (link courtesy of Think Progress) makes clear:

SCILLIAN: The overall majority of your colleagues didn't see it that way, and some would suggest that if -- even though there are obviously a lot of issues with Lebanon and with the Palestinian cause wrapped up in this, that this largely boils down to Israel against Hezbollah, and as Hezbollah is a group that the United States has deemed a terrorist organization, that there's only one side for the Americans to come down on in this fight.

DINGELL: Well, we don't -- first of all, I don't take sides for or against Hezbollah or for or against Israel.

SCILLIAN: You're not against Hezbollah?

DINGELL: I happen to be -- no, I happen to be -- I happen to be against violence. I think the United States has to bring a resolution to this matter. Now, I condemn Hezbollah, as does everybody else, for the violence. But I think that we've got to talk to them, and if we don't -- if we don't get ourselves in a position where we can talk to both sides and bring both sides together, the killing and the blood let [sic] is going to continue.

As Think Progress noted, Power Line first cropped Dingell's remarks in a July 31 posting. The Washington Times followed suit in an August 2 editorial, as Think Progress also noted.

From the August 1 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

RUSH: Let's start with the audio sound type -- sound bites. This is in Detroit yesterday, WDIV-TV, it's a program called Flashpoint with the host Devin Scillian. His guest is John Dingell, who is the ranking Democrat in terms of seniority in the House of Representatives, the ranking Democrat. And they're talking about Israel and the Hezbos [sic], a group that the United States and the United Nations have deemed a terrorist organization and that there's only one side for the Americans to come down on in this fight, and Dingell says:

[begin audio clip]

DINGELL: First of all, I don't -- I don't take sides for or against Hezbollah or for or against Israel.

SCILLIAN: You're not against Hezbollah?

DINGELL: I happen to be -- no --

[end audio clip]

RUSH: Can we go back to July 26th, less than one week ago, Howard Dean in West Palm Beach? Here. Well, across the bridge. We were -- we were saved from him by a moat. But he was over there talking to a bunch of business leaders, and this is what he said:

DEAN [audio clip]: The Iraqi prime minister is an anti-Semite. We don't need to spend 200 and 300 and 500 billion dollars bringing democracy to Iraq to turn it over to people who believe that Israel doesn't have a right to defend itself and refused to condemn Hezbollah.

RUSH: See, and I said to you when he said this, I said “Chairman Dean, then there are a bunch of Democrats that don't have the right to speak in the House of Representatives, according to you, who are also anti-Semites,” and I guess we could count Congressman Dingell as one of them who refuses to condemn them. Now, I know he's from Michigan, and I know that there's a large population of Lebanese-Americans and Muslims there, but it's a terrorist organization -- so deemed by the United States and any other group of people around the world other than fellow terrorist organizations. And this gets no mainstream media coverage, folks. No drive-by media coverage at all. It was obviously covered in Detroit. There's some bloggers who've touched on it. But no drive-by media coverage.

Compare this, though, to Mel Gibson. This guy is the senior Democrat in the House of Representatives and would be a Commerce Committee chairman if these clowns win back the House of Representatives. Mel Gibson is a Hollywood actor. He made some despicable comments, he's now apologized. And he's even asked the Jewish community in his latest statement for help in overcoming his alcoholism. Fine and dandy. Dingell is an elected senior member of the Democratic Party. I'm not excusing Mel Gibson here, but where is all the criticism? Howard Dean himself has defined anti-Semites, and John Dingell is one according to the Democrat [sic] National Committee chairman's own definition. I just wanted to mention this because nobody else is talking about it.