Nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh defended his recent distortion of Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) comments from the December 4 broadcast of CBS's Face the Nation by falsely claiming he “simply rebroadcast what he [Kerry] said.” On Face the Nation, Kerry said: "[T]here is no reason ... that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the -- of -- the historical customs, religious customs." Limbaugh, however, went beyond “simply rebroadcast[ing]” Kerry's comments -- he falsely claimed Kerry called American troops in Iraq “terrorists.” Limbaugh also defended Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, who appeared on CNN's The Situation Room on December 6 and joined Limbaugh in claiming Kerry “compared American troops to terrorists.”

Several other conservative media figures have picked up the falsehood and repeated it, including Fox News host Sean Hannity, nationally syndicated columnist Oliver North and Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal.com editor James Taranto.

Limbaugh's defense of himself and Mehlman was prompted by a statement from Kerry spokesman David Wade, read by CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer after Mehlman's appearance on The Situation Room: “Ken Mehlman's filthy and shameful lie about a decorated combat veteran is disgraceful. Political hack Ken Mehlman and draft-dodging, doughnut-eating Rush Limbaugh have something in common. Neither of them know anything about how to make American troops safe. John Kerry will continue to speak out about how to succeed in Iraq and protect brave American troops.” According to Limbaugh: “He [Wade] called Mehlman a political hack for repeating what Kerry said.”

From the December 7 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: I wanna go back to this Wolf Blitzer bit again -- this Kerry statement from David Wade. I want you stop and think about it now. This is a guy who ran for president last year. This is a guy who wanted to be president of the United States. This is how he deals with critics. What's he gonna do to terrorists? What's he gonna say? Is this what they teach you when you go to the debate society at Yale or Harvard -- wherever it was he went.

Don't defend what you say. Don't -- don't explain what you said. Don't tell anybody how -- how -- how your critics are wrong. Just go out and make some little -- this is sixth-grade level. Doughnut-eating draft-dodger? I mean this is an honor to be called a doughnut-eating draft do- -- I'm moving up with these people. Used to be “right-wing extremist.”

[...]

So, when, when you say that they are shamelessly demoralizing the troops and our cause -- unbelievable -- it's not unbelievable. You just went back to the Swift Boat site and you looked at all of it. Kerry's as consistent as he can be. I, I was, I was, I was telling somebody last night, you know, laughing about this comment, ah, that -- his response to my -- and look it -- what, what did we do?

When we played Kerry's comments from Face the Nation, what did we do? We simply played his words. We simply rebroadcast what he said. Simply rebroadcast what he said, and then we went back and got the audio from 1971 -- April of '71 -- testifying before the Senate, when he invents this laundry list of atrocities supposedly committed by Vietnam troops - U.S. GI's in Vietnam.

[...]

He's being totally consistent with this remark that he made on Face the Nation on Sunday. We simply play it back, and he has a cow. He [Wade] called Mehlman a political hack for repeating what Kerry said.

As Media Matters for America documented, Kerry's statement -- which is supported by reports from the International Committee of Red Cross and the United States Institute for Peace, as well as news accounts -- was distorted by right-wing bloggers and conservatives in the media, who claimed that Kerry called American troops terrorists. Limbaugh repeated this falsehood at least twice; on the December 5 and 6 broadcasts of his radio program. Mehlman twice claimed Kerry “compared American troops to terrorists” on the December 6 Situation Room.

This falsehood continues to spread through the conservative media. In his December 9 nationally syndicated column, North wrote:

When their leader was not calling our troops losers, their party's nominee, Sen. John Kerry, was characterizing U.S. soldiers as terrorists. Speaking to Bob Schieffer on CBS' “Face the Nation,” Kerry accused U.S. forces of “terrorizing kids and children,” in Iraq."

“And there is no reason,” Kerry said, “that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the -- of -- the historical customs, religious customs,” he explained.

So let's get this straight. American soldiers are terrorists, but there is no need for them to be, because the kind of late-night terrorism which Mr. Kerry apparently condones, is the kind of terrorism that “Iraqis should be doing.”

Taranto reiterated this falsehood in his December 9 “Best of the Web Today” column. In a footnote, Taranto described Kerry as: “The haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way thinks American servicemen are war criminals and terrorists. But he supports the troops!” Taranto's “Best of the Web” columns feature a running “joke,” whereby any mention of Kerry is marked by an asterisk (*), which is linked to a footnote. Each footnote begins by describing Kerry as: “The haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way ...” Taranto first began including these footnotes in his columns during the 2004 presidential campaign. They continue to appear more than a year after the November 2, 2004, general election.

On the December 8 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Hannity once again repeated the distortion:

HANNITY: My question is simple: Did John Kerry and Howard Dean cross a line, yes or no?

ARIANA HUFFINGTON (syndicated columnist): No, no. I don't believe they crossed the line at all.

HANNITY: Wow. Wow.

HUFFINGTON: Finally, I think -- let me just -- you asked me to answer the question. Let me answer it.

HANNITY: Go ahead.

HUFFINGTON: I believe that they are speaking the truth. I believe that when Howard Dean --

HANNITY: Our troops are terrorists.

HUFFINGTON: -- says that it is like Vietnam, when John Kerry says that we are --

HANNITY: Our troops are terrorists.