Democrats go after Limbaugh

Source: The Hill

Democrats on Monday called on the chief executive of Clear Channel Communications to denounce remarks by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, whom they say made a “hateful” and “unpatriotic” attack on U.S. troops opposed to the war in Iraq.

At issue is a remark from Limbaugh that characterized such troops as “phony soldiers.” Democrats have seized on the issue, allowing them to hit back at Republicans who similarly latched onto a MoveOn.org ad that referred to Gen. David Petraeus as “General Betray Us.”

“Thousands of active troops and veterans were subjected to Mr. Limbaugh’s unpatriotic and indefensible comments on your broadcast,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in his letter to Clear Channel Chief Executive Mark Mays. “We trust you will agree that not a single one of our sons, daughters, neighbors and friends serving overseas is a ‘phony soldier.’ We call on you to publicly repudiate these comments that call into question their service and sacrifice and to ask Mr. Limbaugh to apologize for his comments.”

Reid added that he is confident that “Republicans join with us in overwhelming numbers,” arguing that “anything less would be a double standard that has no place in the United States Senate.”

The Democratic leader stated that the letter would be available all day to allow other senators to sign on.

Read more: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/democrats-go-after-limbaugh-2007-10-01.html

I don't expect this censure resolution to pass.

Here's the text of my 3 page letter to my congressman who voted for the MoveOn.org censure motion

Dear Rep. Courtney,


Why did you support the fascist censure motion against MoveOn.org?

What you did was vote against the First Amendment rights of every American, regardless if they supported MoveOn.org’s New York Times ad or not. You and the entire Democratic Caucus should have walked out on that vote and held a press conference on the steps of the Capital Building decrying Republicans for wasting tax payer money on grandstanding their blatant hypocrisy about ads and stabbing the troops in the back by not supporting bills that would help get the troops home as soon as possible. Congress has no business condemning a specific group for exercising its First Amendment rights. I’m surprised you did not come to the same conclusion as your colleague, Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME): “I voted against this resolution today because I believe it is the job of the Congress to bring our troops home, not legislate free speech.”

For yours and your staff’s edification I’m attaching the “14 Characteristics of Fascism” by political science professor Lawrence Britt (http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html ). Characteristics #3 and #4 pertain to the censure motion you voted on. I’m also enclosing a copy of Al Franken’s op ed response (“Al Franken: Hyper (and hypo)critical” http://www.startribune.com/562/story/1445784.html or at his campaign web site http://blog.alfranken.com/2007/09/26/hyper-and-hypocritical/ ) to Sen. Norm Coleman’s attack on him for supporting MoveOn.org against the Senate Censure resolution. Al Franken framed the argument against the fascist Republican tactic the correct way. And Slowpoke’s political cartoon “Are you Petraeusly Correct?” http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/09/are_you_petraeusly_correct.html should help you ponder the stupidity of supporting the Republican sponsored censure motion, a motion only directed against MoveOn.org, not against any right wing group that attacked the patriotism of Democrats.

American History should have informed you that censure motions against the First Amendment rights of American citizens are wrong. If you read the First Amendment, the military is not exempted from Americans’ First Amendment rights. Censure motions will not stop negative attacks because what is negative to one side is truthful to another. America’s political system also thrives on attacks and counter attacks. Congress can not stop them, unless you are willing to discontinue the Constitution or remove the Bill of Rights and imprison people for free speech.

I’m not only the secretary of Killinlgy’s Democratic Town Committee; I’m also a proud member of MoveOn.org.

MoveOn members donated millions of dollars to Democratic candidates last year. You specifically received over $300,000 from MoveOn members last year. How will you handle the fascist Republican attacks when you cash our checks next year after voting to condemn us? Republicans are already attacking Democrats for taking donations from MoveOn members in 2004 and 2006. Are you ready for those attacks?

Let’s remember one thing. MoveOn.org is an activist organization. Provocative speech is the tool of all activists and the purpose of provocative speech is to get the majority of us to think outside the ruts we have burrowed into our brains. People hated the abolitionists, suffragettes, civil rights advocates because they forced the “silent” majority to face the injustices they allow to happen in their name.

"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are people who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never did and it never will. Find out what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice that will be imposed upon them. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurances of those they oppress." Fredrick Douglas

The MoveOn.org ad was tame compared to what the Swiftboat Vets did to John Kerry and what the Bush Machine did to Max Cleland in 2002. By voting for this censure motion, Democrats proved that Republicans still control Congress, even though they are in the minority. When they were in power, you didn’t see Republicans sponsoring censure resolutions against the vile groups that slandered Democrats patriotism. This censure motion and how it was mishandled by the Democrats shows what is wrong with the Democratic Congressional leadership and why Congress is at 11% approval rating. Democrats are continually outflanked by the Republicans, whose public goal is to obstruct the Democrats’ agenda so that they can attack you next year by saying that the Democratic controlled Congress is a “Do Nothing” Congress. By joining with Republicans in censuring only a left wing group, you are aiding and abetting the Republican propaganda and strategy of dividing Democrats from their base.

General Petraeus’ motives are even questioned by his boss in CENTCOM. Admiral Fallon, Petraeus’s boss, called the general, after first meeting him, “an ass-kissing little chickenshit” (IPSNews: U.S.-IRAQ: Fallon Derided Petraeus, Opposed the Surge http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39235
). The Admiral must have honed his colorful language during those Army-Navy football games. The reason why Admiral Fallon called General Petraeus that colorful name is because Army Generals primarily advance by “kissing up” to their superiors. The Navy Admirals expect to make enemies on their way up the promotion ladders with their decisions.

Contrary to what the fascist Right Wing pundits say about General Petraeus, the general is a willing political tool. About 6 weeks prior to the 2004 election, General Petraeus voluntarily wrote an op ed (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49283-2004Sep25.html ) for the Washington Post that gave an overly optimistic view of Iraq in order to help George Bush’s reelection chances. And recently in the United Kingdom’s Independent Magazine, Iraqi officials claim that Petraeus has Presidential ambitions, not for 2008 but afterwards.

MoveOn’s provocative ad was framed as a question, not a statement, and unlike the Right wing attacks on Democrats, MoveOn.org backed up their arguments with facts. Nowhere did MoveOn.org call General Petraeus a “traitor”. It was the Republicans who claimed that MoveOn.org called the general a traitor. The MoveOn.org ad was questioning the validity of General Petraeus’ report, a report that was primarily written by the White House. Any military man who is willing to sell lies as truth is a betrayer of the public trust. As I recall from my days in history class, the Nuremburg Trials did not offer “I was following orders” as an excuse for committing or participating in war crimes. Our war against Iraq was a war crime and we are still committing crimes there today.

If you still think that your vote for the censure motion against MoveOn.org was appropriate, will you sponsor a censure motion against Right Wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh? Media Matters reports -- http://mediamatters.org/items/200709270010?src=item200709270010 -- that during the September 26, 2007 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called "phony soldiers" those service members, who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, like the seven members of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division who wrote an op ed, “The war as We Saw It” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/opinion/19jayamaha.html?_r=1&8qa&oref=slogin , in the New York Times. Surely, this defamatory label of our troops is worthy of a censure resolution like the one you voted for against MoveOn.org. If you still support your vote to censure MoveOn.org over its ad, I demand that you sponsor a censure motion against Rush Limbaugh who used the public air waves to attack our troops, who protest this immoral war, “phony soldiers”.

Please stop falling for obvious Republican traps. That is what the censure motions against MoveOn.org were. And start going on the offensive against Republican hypocrisy and obstructionism.

They should ALL be made aware as to how their supporters really feel about the lazy compliance they have shown in D.C.
It is unfortunate that we even HAVE to point these facts out to those who work for the people of the United States of America.
THis is so well written and directly to the point. It is professional in every aspect..I would have also added that the origin of 'betrayus' was coined by Rush Limbaugh himself. Perhaps they would get the slap upside the head they deserve and the sick feeling when realizing they were indeed conned into this stupid GOP condemnation of Moveon.org.

Read my Tagline Senators, and hear, for once, what your people are saying to you.

Your letter needs to be circulated, most certainly.

Take whatever part of my letter you want and use it in a letter to your Reps and Senators who voted for this stupid censure motion.

They are willing to go along with whatever the GOP wants. They are not fighters!

I especially liked this:

"Provocative speech is the tool of all activists and the purpose of provocative speech is to get the majority of us to think outside the ruts we have burrowed into our brains. People hated the abolitionists, suffragettes, civil rights advocates because they forced the “silent” majority to face the injustices they allow to happen in their name."

...and this:

"Any military man who is willing to sell lies as truth is a betrayer of the public trust. As I recall from my days in history class, the Nuremburg Trials did not offer “I was following orders” as an excuse for committing or participating in war crimes. Our war against Iraq was a war crime and we are still committing crimes there today."

Damned good letter!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

today, and he played a short clip of Reid and then just ranted on for a while.

I've written LTTE's about that anal cyst before, but I think a concerted letter and email campaign is called for. All decent Murikans should want that junkie gasbag off of AF radio at least. Fucker was taking 20 hits of "hilbilly heroin" a day while he was broadcasting to the troops. What a role model!!

To force young, impressionable people under the strains of combat to listen to that chickenhawk, draft-avoiding, lying sack of shit daily is wrong, wrong, wrong.....

My God, the asshat was squirming, flailing and shifting his butt around like a Saint Vitus dancer. Is this what chemicals such as "hillbilly heroin" does to a body or is his butt cyst bugging him again? I was so fascinated watching him that I failed to grasp what he was raving about.

Several years ago Limbaugh said this:
"That media watch group FAIR studied 4,000 hours of my transcripts and found 45 little errors."

Ho Hum.I got the Fair report.
It extrapolated into over 10,000 lies in 4,000 hours.

Rush is the 10,000 lIAR. new name for him. use it.

:hi: :toast:

Thanks.

Forum Name General Discussion
Topic subject Harry Reid slams Limbaugh as ‘unpatriotic’
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1953134#1953134
1953134, Harry Reid slams Limbaugh as ‘unpatriotic’
Posted by Joanne98 on Mon Oct-01-07 03:46 PM

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13075.html

Following up on last week’s reporting, Rush Limbaugh’s decision to blast troops who disagree with him about Iraq as “phony soldiers” continues to reverberate. At last count, two major Republican presidential candidates (McCain and Romney) have criticized the far-right blowhard for his remarks; Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) was scheduled to introduce a House resolution condemning Limbaugh for remark, and Limbaugh undermined his own defense by arguing that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a decorated combat veteran, is one of those who deserves the “phony” label.

Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went after the talk-show host as well. Greg Sargent has a detailed report.

“His unpatriotic comments cannot be ignored,” Reid said, according to prepared remarks sent to us before his speech, which is underway. “During his show last Wednesday, Rush Limbaugh was engaged in one of his typical rants. This rant was unremarkable and indistinguishable from his usual drivel, which has been steadily losing listeners for years — until he crossed that line by calling our men and women in uniform who oppose the war in Iraq `phony soldiers.’ This comment was so beyond the pale of decency that it cannot be left alone.”

In an interesting bit of political theater designed to put GOP Senators on the spot, Reid said he’s leaving on the Senate floor a letter his office wrote to the head of the parent company of Rush’s radio show denouncing Rush’s remarks. Reid challenged GOP Senators to sign the letter, saying that he’s leaving the letter on the Senate floor for the rest of today.

By leaving a letter on the floor for consideration, Reid is apparently shying away from a Senate resolution condemning Limbaugh, along the same lines as the resolution Republicans pushed last week condemning MoveOn.org. I think that’s the right move — not only does Reid want to avoid the tit-for-tat appearance, but frankly, it’s probably not helpful to have competing resolutions every week condemning intemperate political speech.

Resolution or no, Reid ripped Limbaugh this afternoon — and tried to shame his GOP colleagues into action.

The whole Reid transcript is online, but this stood out for me:

“Just as patriotism is the exclusive realm of neither party, taking a stand against those who spew hate and impugn the integrity of our troops is a job that belongs to all of us. I can’t help but wonder how my Republican colleagues would have reacted if the tables were turned – if a well-known Democratic radio personality had used the same insulting line of attack against troops who support the war.

“The letter I read will be available on the Senate floor for the entire day. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle will have every chance to add their names to it, and I encourage all of us to do so. If we take the Republican side at their word that last week’s vote on another controversial statement related to the war was truly about patriotism, not politics, then I have no doubt that they will stand with us against Limbaugh’s comments with equal fervor.

“I am confident we will see Republicans join with us in overwhelming numbers. Anything less would be a double standard that has no place in the United States Senate. I ask my colleagues, Democrat and Republican alike, to join together against this irresponsible, hateful, and unpatriotic attack by calling upon Rush Limbaugh to give our troops the apology they deserve.”

And as long as we’re on the subject, I thought I’d highlight this post from Right Wing Nut House’s Rick Moran (who once graciously described me as part of the “sane left“). Rick and I agree on practically nothing, but I was delighted to see that he recognized Limbaugh’s comments for what they were.

I watched the video and am more convinced than ever that Limbaugh knew he had goofed when he said “phony soldiers” (plural) and in the context of the moment the comment was made, Limbaugh was clearly referencing and agreeing with the caller’s sentiment that all soldiers who come forward and make known their opposition to the war are not “real soldiers” (caller’s words). <…>

Limbaugh’s inclusion of Murtha in his little gang of “phony soldiers” is telling. If the talk show host was only talking about “phony soldiers” why include someone whose only sin appears to be opposition to the war in Iraq — an opposition that led the Congressman to jump the gun on the Pentagon and condemn Marines — some of them entirely innocent — for the Haditha incident?

Limbaugh’s explanation just doesn’t hold water. It is entirely plausible that the polarizing Mr. Limbaugh issued a blanket condemnation of military people who are opposed to the war rather than singling out individuals like Jesse Macbeth when he uttered the words “phony soldiers.”

And just for good measure, it’s also worth keeping in mind that when Limbaugh sought to defend himself, he selectively edited the audio recording of his show and the transcript.

If his comments were harmless, Limbaugh wouldn’t be trying to pull one over on his foolish fans.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13075.html

but I can't help but feel rather empty about this. One week it's moveon, now it's Limbaugh. Yes, our Dems certainly are good at condemning people's speech, whether it's the hate filled monkey shit that comes out of Limbaugh's mouth of an advocacy group daring to call out a general on his bullshit. How about doing more to stop this war Dems, instead of just playing attack dog whenever somebody insults a member of the military?

Flame all you want, but Limbaugh's fans are so brainwashed anyways that Congressional condemnation of him isn't going to change their minds. Limbaugh is a pig, we all know that. The lines are pretty much drawn and set as far as he's concerned. I'd just like to see a little more out of our congress than empty showmanship like this.

If they only put as much effort into stopping the war funding. :banghead:

Cowards.

while we argue about rush the senate passed a funding bill for 150 billion

Yeah, like anyone is scared of ol' Pumpkinhead.



Limbaugh quickly responded, and as noted at the Drudge Report website, threatened Reid to "say it to my face, Senator."

(snip)

Limbaugh added, "He's gotta be a nut. I cannot believe that they are actually going this far with this. I did apologize today to the troops, Senator Reid, for you, and for Media Matters for America. If anybody in this country has been trying to demoralize the troops, it is you, sir, and your members of the Democrat Party. You have waved the white flag of defeat."

"You want to come on this program and call me unpatriotic, come on this program and call me unpatriotic," the conservative host added. "You want to call me a liar, you want to tell me that I did not say what I said, you come on this program and you tell me to my face that I said what I did not say. Stop hiding behind your special protections as a senator and spewing the talking points of an embarrassing, partisan hack media group called Media Matters for America. Hillary Clinton didn't serve in the military, by the way, Senator Reid. She just voted against General Petraeus. Barack Obama did not serve in the military, Senator Reid, and he didn't even show up to vote in support of Petraeus. John Edwards didn't serve, and after voting to send our troops to war, he has undermined them ever since. It is unconscionable for an esteemed United States senator to launch an all-out assault on a private citizen, which is a lie from front to back, in order to cover your own actions and words, which have been the true demoralization of the US military -- and if anybody owes the military of this country an apology, Senator Reid, it is you. It is Jack Murtha. It is Dick Durbin. It is any and all who have joined your effort to secure defeat of the United States and the United States military in not only Iraq, but the war on terror. Sir, have you no decency left? Have you no shame whatsoever?"

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Democrats_Republicans_pundits_play_tit_for_1001.html

My God, this guy is full of shit! Ironically, he hasn't had the guts to say what he's said, in the comfort and security of his radio studio, to spew his own insults to anyones' faces.

Fuck Rush Limbaugh.

over Rush's rants. Plus Limbaugh lies, finger points, uses personal attacks, etc.

I'd love to see Reid take Rush on but it ought to be on neutral turf with timed mikes.

He doesn't even think the Dem ones should be there.

they shoulda been done that long ago! :eyes: