Harry Reid Takes Credit for Limbaugh Auction

[Eric Blair]

what do you think about the PKK

[Debaser]

So it's ok to call Rush a racist, drug addict. But don't you dare try to imply that he slandered the troops.

Got it!

[Corganist]

Originally Posted by Debaser

So it's ok to call Rush a racist, drug addict. But don't you dare try to imply that he slandered the troops.

At least wait until he actually does slander the troops before you do so.

[Nimrod's Son]

Originally Posted by Corganist

At least wait until he actually does slander the troops before you do so.

i think that's kind of the point

[Debaser]

Originally Posted by Corganist

It wasn't because he was against the war. It's because he thought the guy was full of shit all the way around. The caller was saying he was a Republican and Limbaugh didn't believe him. So when the guy said he was ex-military, he wasn't inclined to believe that either. If the guy had identified himself as an ex-military democrat, then I doubt Limbaugh would have had anything to say about his claims.

please point out to me where exactly that previous anti-war caller was apparently full of shit.

From the September 26 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: Mike in Chicago, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER 1: Hi Rush, how you doing today?

LIMBAUGH: I'm fine sir, thank you.

CALLER 1: Good. Why is it that you always just accuse the Democrats of being against the war and suggest that there are absolutely no Republicans that could possibly be against the war?

LIMBAUGH: Well, who are these Republicans? I can think of Chuck Hagel, and I can think of Gordon Smith, two Republican senators, but they don't want to lose the war like the Democrats do. I can't think of -- who are the Republicans in the anti-war movement?

CALLER 1: I'm just -- I'm not talking about the senators. I'm talking about the general public -- like you accuse the public of all the Democrats of being, you know, wanting to lose, but --

LIMBAUGH: Oh, come on! Here we go again. I uttered a truth, and you can't handle it, so you gotta call here and change the subject. How come I'm not also hitting Republicans? I don't know a single Republican or conservative, Mike, who wants to pull out of Iraq in defeat. The Democrats have made the last four years about that specifically.

CALLER 1: Well, I am a Republican, and I've listened to you for a long time, and you're right on a lot of things, but I do believe that we should pull out of Iraq. I don't think it's winnable. And I'm not a Democrat, but I just -- sometimes you've got to cut the losses.

LIMBAUGH: Well, you -- you --

CALLER 1: I mean, sometimes you really gotta know when you're wrong.

LIMBAUGH: Well, yeah, you do. I'm not wrong on this. The worst thing that can happen is losing this, flying out of there, waving the white flag. Do you have --

CALLER 1: Oh, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying anything like that, but, you know --

LIMBAUGH: Well, of course you are.

CALLER 1: No, I'm not.

LIMBAUGH: Bill, the truth is -- the truth is the truth, Mike.

CALLER 1: We did what we were supposed to do, OK. We got rid of Saddam Hussein. We got rid of a lot of the terrorists. Let them run their country --

LIMBAUGH: Oh, good lord! Good lord.

[...]

CALLER 1: How long is it gonna -- how long do you think we're going to have to be there for them to take care of that?

LIMBAUGH: Mike --

CALLER 1: How long -- you know -- what is it?

LIMBAUGH: Mike --

CALLER 1: What is it?

LIMBAUGH: Mike, you can't possibly be a Republican.

CALLER 1: I am.

LIMBAUGH: You are -- you are --

CALLER 1: I am definitely a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: You can't be a Republican. You are --

CALLER 1: Oh, I am definitely a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: You are tarnishing the reputation, 'cause you sound just like a Democrat.

CALLER 1: No, but --

LIMBAUGH: The answer to your question --

CALLER 1: -- seriously, how long do we have to stay there --

LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes!

CALLER 1: -- to win it? How long?

LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes! It is very serious.

CALLER 1: And that is what?

LIMBAUGH: This is the United States of America at war with Islamofascists. We stay as long -- just like your job. You do everything you have to do, whatever it takes to get it done, if you take it seriously.

CALLER 1: So then you say we need to stay there forever --

LIMBAUGH: I -- it won't --

CALLER 1: -- because that's what it'll take.

LIMBAUGH: No, Bill, or Mike -- I'm sorry. I'm confusing you with the guy from Texas.

CALLER 1: See, I -- I've used to be military, OK? And I am a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: Yeah. Yeah.

CALLER 1: And I do live [inaudible] but --

LIMBAUGH: Right. Right. Right, I know.

CALLER 1: -- you know, really -- I want you to be saying how long it's gonna take.

LIMBAUGH: And I, by the way, used to walk on the moon!

CALLER 1: How long do we have to stay there?

LIMBAUGH: You're not listening to what I say. You can't possibly be a Republican. I'm answering every question. That's not what you want to hear, so it's not even penetrating your little wall of armor you've got built up.

if anything Rush is full of shit. Democrats want defeat? pure demagoguery.

[Nimrod's Son]

Originally Posted by Debaser

please point out to me where exactly that previous anti-war caller was apparently full of shit.




if anything Rush is full of shit. Democrats want defeat? pure demagoguery.

of course he is. he's one of the worst examples of blind ideology in the media right now.

however i will research this "walking on moon" claim

[Corganist]

Originally Posted by Debaser

please point out to me where exactly that previous anti-war caller was apparently full of shit.

I didn't say the caller was full of shit. I said Limbaugh thought the caller was full of shit. Limbaugh thought the caller was not acting as Republican as he claimed to be, and the questioning of the guy's military status followed from that. He didn't believe the caller when he said he was republican, and thus he didn't believe him when he said he was military either. It wasn't that Limbaugh was kneejerkingly saying that "real soldiers = pro war." He was kneejerkingly saying "real Republicans = pro war." It's still an inaccurate statement, but it's not nearly the offensive "all real military people LOVE the war" statement you want it to be.

if anything Rush is full of shit. Democrats want defeat? pure demagoguery.

Sure it is. But that's no reason to trump up some issue of him slandering troops and then make a Congressional issue out of it.

[Debaser]

actually i do agree that bringing up in congress was stupid.

[Debaser]

Originally Posted by Corganist

It wasn't that Limbaugh was kneejerkingly saying that "real soldiers = pro war." He was kneejerkingly saying "real Republicans = pro war." It's still an inaccurate statement, but it's not nearly the offensive "all real military people LOVE the war" statement you want it to be.

the next caller:

CALLER 2: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they're willing to sacrifice for their country.

LIMBAUGH: They joined to be in Iraq. They joined --

CALLER 2: A lot of them -- the new kids, yeah.

LIMBAUGH: Well, you know where you're going these days, the last four years, if you signed up. The odds are you're going there or Afghanistan or somewhere.

CALLER 2: Exactly, sir.

I think its not a stretch to consider that is Rush agreeing that "real soldiers" support the war.

[Corganist]

Originally Posted by Debaser

I think its not a stretch to consider that is Rush agreeing that "real soldiers" support the war.

It might not have been a stretch if Limbaugh hadn't brought up Jesse MacBeth as part of this same exchange.

Was the caller making a distinction between "real" and "phony" soldiers based on their support for the war? It's reasonable to think so. Does that mean Limbaugh and the caller were on the same wavelength? I don't think that's clear whatsoever. I think it's much more plausible that Limbaugh and his caller were talking past each other and offering some fairly different points of view, but neither one of them seemed to know it. I think it's fairly evident that Limbaugh was talking about actual phonies the entire time, even though the caller wasn't.