October 2, 2007

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RUSH: Here's Harry Reid on the floor of the Senate yesterday, an expert on patriotism, by the way, calling me unpatriotic.

REID:  Rush Limbaugh went way over the line, way over the line.  While I respect his right to say anything he likes, his unpatriotic comments I cannot ignore.  During his show last Wednesday, Limbaugh was engaged in one of his typical rants.  This one was unremarkable, indistinguishable from his usually drivel, [sic] which has been steadily losing listeners for years, until he crossed that line by calling on men and women in uniform who oppose the war in Iraq, and I quote, "phony soldiers." [sic]  This comment was so beyond the pale of decency, and we can't leave it alone.

RUSH:  Except it wasn't made; it wasn't in the middle of a rant; it was two words thrown away in a conversation with a phone caller.  I think tit-for-tat's in order here.  If Harry Reid is going to call me unpatriotic, then, Senator Reid, you may qualify as a phony patriot.  Trying to all of a sudden position yourself now as a supporter of the troops?  Can we go back and listen to some previous Harry Reid sound bites?  He wants everybody to believe he's such a supporter, has such love and adoration for the troops.  Here is Harry Reid in April of 2007 about the surge and the war in Iraq.

REID:  This war is lost and that the surge is not accomplishing anything.

RUSH:  Yeah, that's really inspiring, Senator Reid, that's really patriotic, that's really motivational, that ought to get the morale of the troops up.  That night he repeated the same smear from the Senate floor.

REID:  As long as we follow the president's path in Iraq, the war is lost.

RUSH:  December 16th, 2006, Harry Reid celebrating when he thought Democrats had killed the Patriot Act.

REID:  Think of what happened 20 minutes ago in the United States Senate.  We killed the Patriot Act.  (Applause.)

RUSH:  Here is Harry Reid September 7th of this year talking about General Petraeus.

REID:  He made a number of statements over the years that have not proven to be factual.  It is now not his report; it's President Bush's report.

RUSH:  So attack General Petraeus, attack the troops, tell 'em they can't win, the war is already lost, and now today and yesterday, try to make himself out to be a super patriot.  It's not flying, Senator.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: And let's not forget these other two things about Senator Harry Reid.  He told schoolchildren in Nevada that George Bush, the commander-in-chief, was a loser.  He essentially called Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas illiterate. He was asked what he thought about Thomas, (paraphrasing) "He's not very good; his opinions don't make any sense; they're not written very well," Harry Reid said.  This is a party which cannot survive on the basis of its ideas, the Democrat Party.  Liberalism cannot triumph openly in the arena of ideas.  It can only triumph by destroying, via character assassination and other things, its opponents. They don't dare come join us in the arena of ideas for open debate on issues.  And if they do, it will soon descend into personal assaults and attacks, as evidenced by Senator Harkin on the floor of the Senate saying things about me that he couldn't say about any other senator, nor could I say to a senator were I appearing before some committee testifying about something or other, which, by the way, I would love to see. 

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Read the Background Material...

The Hill: Democrats Go After Limbaugh

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

October 2, 2007

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Cybercast News Service interviewed Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska, about the phony soldier thing, and this is what Ben Nelson said:

NELSON:  What we've got into right now is a situation where MoveOn.org was hammered by the other side, so it's not surprising that now you've got a sort of the return of that in the case of Limbaugh.  Quite honestly, I don't get involved in those unless it's about me, and I consider talk radio entertainment as well as news, and so I just don't pay much attention to it.

RUSH:  It's not about him. He doesn't care.  Here is Daniel Akaka from Hawaii saying we don't need legislation aimed at Rush Limbaugh.

AKAKA:  Well, I feel that any citizen has a vote -- a right to voice their opinion (chuckles), you know, on anything they want, anything they want to do, and I think Limbaugh, although I don't agree with him on many things, has a right to say what he says, and I don't think we need to do legislation to get at him.

RUSH:  That's Senator Daniel Akaka.  I always enjoyed pronouncing his name.  He's always first on the roll call.  "Senator Akaka!" they say.  By the way, Senator Akaka, I love going to your state. It's a beautiful state.  

END TRANSCRIPT

Read the Background Material...

Cybercast News Service: Levin Read 'Part' of Limbaugh's 'Phony Soldiers' Transcript

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200710/POL20071002b.html

Cybercast News Service: Democrats Get Personal in Their Campaign Against Limbaugh

October 2, 2007

Dear Rush,

Mega-dittos from one of the soldiers adopted for your Rush 24/7. I'm writing this from the MWR in Tallil AFB, Iraq. After reading your Friday "phony soldiers" monologue, I had Democrats pegged as stuck on stupid and it's still hard to believe they are THAT stupid to accuse you of besmirching us, given their track records. And come to think of it, they besmirch us yet again at the same time they accuse you because to go by whatever they pass off as "reasoning", to believe that you besmirched us would be lumping all REAL soldiers and veterans with Jesse MacBeth and all other scumbags like him.

What was the point of passing the recent "Stolen Valor Act"? Well, anyway, here's a copy of the email I sent to my House Rep, John Carter R-TX; as well as my Senators, Kay Bailey Hutchison R-TX and John Cornyn R-TX. It reads:

October 2, 2007

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RUSH: St. Joseph, Missouri, this is Sarah.  Glad you waited.  You're next on the big program.  Nice to have you here.

CALLER:  Thank you, Rush.  How are you?

RUSH:  Good.  Never better.

CALLER:  I have a son in Afghanistan, a son-in-law in Iraq, and these phony soldiers -- and by that I mean these guys that were not men enough to cut basic or to get through basic -- they make me sick. I'm so angry I'm shaking.  And Harry Reid, to get up there and make us think he cares one whit about our guys, our family members, our loved ones, is just so wrong.  And censorship comes from the government, right?

RUSH:  Right.

CALLER:  And Harry Reid being the leader of the Senate, isn't he coming close to censoring you?

RUSH:  Trying to, via intimidation.  In ways I really don't want to mention, but yeah, you're very perceptive.

CALLER:  Yeah, because, my son and son-in-law are going through things that these, I'm not even going to call them men because they don't deserve to be called men.  They have no idea.  They're doing it because they love this country, they love us, my son and son-in-law would be the men that would -- they would give their lives for you regardless of whether they were on the battlefield or not.  And for Harry Reid to denigrate them like this and to denigrate you because you have done so much for our soldiers -- I'm sorry.  I'm getting emotional now.

RUSH:  So am I.  We're in it together.

CALLER:  And, you know, I'm just so angry.  He has no right to do this.  And, you know, the things that him and Dick Durbin, the things that they have said about our guys, and I'm sorry.  I'm aggravated.

RUSH:  I know what you mean.  Durbin called the soldiers that run the prisons Nazi Gulags, Soviet Gulags, Nazi assassins, and Pol Pot's murderers.  He had to do a quasi-apology for that because there was an outraged reaction to it.  You know, Sarah --

CALLER:  Yes?

RUSH:  -- when you say that your sons would die for me on or off the battlefield, you render me speechless.  Those of us in this country who have a great and deep appreciation for what people like your son and your son-in-law do, know full well they volunteer --

CALLER:  That's right.

RUSH: -- to lose their lives on the battlefield for the country.  That's why we are so offended when their service is impugned or their character is impugned or when they're demoralized or when leaders of their government attempt to sabotage their mission.  I think that the country has a debt of gratitude to you and your family members who served that it can never repay.  I know I can't.

CALLER:  You don't owe me anything because --

RUSH:  Not that we owe you anything.  It's just a simple form of gratitude and wanting to show it, and sometimes it's difficult, beyond words, charitable donations, this kind of thing, to do so.  So the support for what they do, particularly in light of the criticism they get, is something we embrace eagerly.  It's a great honor to have such members of our population and country as your son and son-in-law.

CALLER:  I just ask that people pray for them.  That's all I ask.

RUSH:  Well, I guarantee you that will happen.  What are their names?

CALLER:  My son's name is Vance, and my son-in-law's name is Kevin.

RUSH:  Vance and Kevin?

CALLER:  Yes.  And I love them very much.

RUSH:  How old are they?

CALLER:  Kevin is almost 25, and Vance is 20.

RUSH:  And they've been gone how long?

CALLER:  Kevin has been gone since the middle of January.  I might add about three weeks after his son was born.  My son has been in Afghanistan since April, and I don't even know where he's at.  He's an airborne trooper.  He's airborne.  I'm not exactly sure where he's at.

RUSH:  How often do you hear from either of them?

CALLER:  Infrequently.  I send them packages and letters often.  Every time I do I tell them how proud I am of them.  My son was disheartened after the November election because he felt like the people -- he didn't care about the politicians, he didn't expect anymore from them, but he felt like the people were turning their back on him.  And he wants to know why people pretend that they're not in Afghanistan.  

RUSH:  That's a good point.  The critics say, "We ought to be in Afghanistan. We've diverted to Iraq, we ought to be in Afghanistan." That is an excellent point. We are in Afghanistan, and we are in combat missions in Afghanistan, and we are engaged in successful combat missions, routing out warlords and the Taliban there.  That is an excellent point.

CALLER:  Right.

RUSH:  When I was there on the troop visit, it was pretty quiet.  In the eastern parts, there were some skirmishes.  I heard the gunfire when I was on the base there.  But it was pretty quiet.  The questions I got from the troops, "How come nobody is talking about us in the media?  How come it's all about Iraq?"  "Because you guys are succeeding here.  There's no trouble to report here, so you guys are being ignored right now."

CALLER:  It may not be as quiet there now.

RUSH:  No, it's not.  It's not.  The Taliban is trying to move back in via Pakistan with Bin Laden and his buddies.

CALLER:  Right.  And he's on blackout quite frequently, which means, you know, no contact.  But we live our lives one day at a time, and we have to.  Because if I let the fear and worry overtake me, I would be in a ball in the corner talking to an imaginary friend.

RUSH:  Well, that's -- I know.  And this is what we all know.  It's perhaps an unfortunate thing to say, but the strategy, the political strategy, behind the Democrat Party's anti-war movement is, when it comes to elections, there aren't that many members of this population who are military, or military family, maybe two to three million.  And so their attitude is, "Well, we can lose them. We'll pick it up from some other group and still win the election." Remember, this is the bunch that tried to not count military absentee ballots in Florida in 2000.  It's gotta be tough.  I mean your son and son-in-law volunteer, it's always been something valorous and admirable to be a member of the US military.  Now all of a sudden for the first time in American history -- well, it got bad in Vietnam for a while, but never to the extent that I've seen it here.  Now all of a sudden there's a whole political movement out there designed to secure defeat --

CALLER:  Right.

RUSH:  -- wave the white flag of surrender for the whole country and in the process impugn the character and integrity of people like your son and son-in-law who volunteered to do this.

CALLER:  And I will never vote Democrat again, ever.  I don't care who the person is, they will never get my vote.

RUSH:  Well, if it's Joe Lieberman someday, you can vote for him.

CALLER:  No.  Because he's part of the --

RUSH:  They tried to drum him out of the Senate.

CALLER:  Yes, I know, that's what they do, and I've had it with them.  They are less than zero to me.

RUSH:  Sarah, I have to go, but I've really enjoyed talking to you.  Thank you so much, and God bless you and your  family and your son and son-in-law from all of us, okay?

CALLER:  Okay.  Thank you, Rush.

RUSH:  You bet.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: By the way, folks, that last call from Sarah is a great illustration of what I was talking about in an opening monologue in this program, and that is how the Democrat Party, led by Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, MoveOn.org, Media Matters for America, why it's so upsetting, the continued use by Hillary's groups and the liberals in Congress of the troops for political gain, self-aggrandizement is just more of the abuse of our armed forces.  You heard this mother describe what it has been like listening to Democrats while her son and son-in-law are in Afghanistan.  It's just abuse.  We owe them respect, and a lot of Democrats can't even do that.  Just stunning. 

END TRANSCRIPT

October 23, 2007

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Fortney "Pete" Stark of California, from the East Bay.  This is on the House floor during the veto override debate for the S-CHIP program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lTUB5_l0Mg

Rep. Pete Stark's Unbelievable Comments

STARK:  They sure don't care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal war in Iraq.  Where you gonna get that money?  You gonna tell us lies like you're telling us today?  Is that how you're going to fund the war?  You don't have money to fund the war or children, but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we could get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement.

RUSH:  And this was roundly applauded on the fringe-lunatic blogs last week and many Drive-By cable commentators, excited when Fortney "Pete" Stark refused to -- well, that was close.  You just heard an example of an extremely, highly trained broadcast specialist, because when I said Fffffff-ortney, I didn't mean to... (laughing) Boy, was that was quick, folks.  Whoa!  Fortney "Pete" Stark was applauded roundly and held up as an icon for refusing to apologize.  However, today he did.

STARK:  I want to apologize to my -- first of all, all my colleagues, many of whom I've offended, uhhh, to the president, his family, to, uhhh, the troops that may have found in my remarks, as were suggested in, uh, the motion that we just voted on, uh, and I do apologize.

RUSH:  He did apologize.  He apologized to his colleagues. He apologized to the president. Now, look what happened?  In all these dust-ups you've got apologizing -- and he should have.  They were on the verge of a censure motion in the House of Representatives against him for what he said, so he apologizes.  Have I apologized, ladies and gentlemen?  No.  Have I backtracked from anything I have ever said?  Have I backtracked from the Michael J. Fox controversy?  Have I backtracked from the Donovan McNabb controversy?  Have I backtracked? Hell, backtracked?  I moved forward and stuffed it back on their throats here on the smear letter from Dingy Harry.  They backtracked on the General Petraeus ad.  They agreed to condemn, the Democrats did, on both the Senate and the House floors.  For everybody who thinks they are out there ruling the roost and running the show, folks, they are embarrassing themselves each and every day. It's starting to catch up with them. 

END TRANSCRIPT

Read the Background Material...

• VIDEO: Rep. Pete Stark Apologizes for Bush Insult as Censure Vote Falls Short

http://www.breitbart.tv/html/7103.html

• HotAir: Video: Rep. Pete Stark's Nutroots-flavored Rant Update Veto Override Vote Fails

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/10/18/video-rep-pete-starks-nutroots-flavored-rant/

• DrudgeReport: Leader Boehner Calls on Democratic Rep. Stark to Retract Statement, Apologize to American Troops and their Families

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash6.htm