posted on September 28, 2007 09:49:18 AM new
Limbaugh: Service members who support U.S. withdrawal are "phony soldiers"
During the September 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq "phony soldiers." He made the comment while discussing with a caller a conversation he had with a previous caller, "Mike from Chicago," who said he "used to be military," and "believe[s] that we should pull out of Iraq." Limbaugh told the second caller, whom he identified as "Mike, this one from Olympia, Washington," that "[t]here's a lot" that people who favor U.S. withdrawal "don't understand" and that when asked why the United States should pull out, their only answer is, " 'Well, we just gotta bring the troops home.' ... 'Save the -- keeps the troops safe' or whatever," adding, "[I]t's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people." "Mike" from Olympia replied, "No, it's not, and what's really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media." Limbaugh interjected, "The phony soldiers." The caller, who had earlier said, "I am a serving American military, in the Army," agreed, replying, "The phony soldiers."
On August 19, The New York Times published an op-ed by seven members of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division. They ended their assessment of the situation in Iraq with the following passage:
In a lawless environment where men with guns rule the streets, engaging in the banalities of life has become a death-defying act. Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence. When the primary preoccupation of average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out care packages. As an Iraqi man told us a few days ago with deep resignation, "We need security, not free food."
In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are -- an army of occupation -- and force our withdrawal.
Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities.
We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.
On September 12, The New York Times noted: "Two of the soldiers who wrote of their pessimism about the war in an Op-Ed article that appeared in The New York Times on Aug. 19 were killed in Baghdad on Monday."
"""
"Phony soldiers" ???
Like bush ???????
The spokeman for the neocon/repugs obviously has NO respect for what the soldiers are doing in Iraq. He has no comprehension of what those soldiers are fighting for...DEMOCRACY....which means FREE SPEECH !
Shows how fat and drugs on Limpbag's brain have done a lot of damage....but the repugs ADORE him !!!
posted on September 28, 2007 11:28:12 AM new
Just for you craw....you've get your head stuck in the shiitaki again. Again you are proven to be one of the millions of gullible dupes (or dopes, take your choice) that call themselves democrats!
The Anatomy of a Smear: "Phony Soldiers" Is a Phony Story
September 28, 2007
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BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: What? Am I going to apologize? It is I who am owed an apology. Greetings, my friends, and welcome. The Rush Limbaugh program. It's Friday.
JOHNNY DONOVAN: Live from the Southern Command in sunny south Florida via New York City, it's Open Line Friday!
RUSH: Oh, goody goody gumdrops, yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yahoo. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the favorite days of the week here, not because it's the end of the week but rather because it's always such an exciting excursion into broadcast excellence, because on Friday, I, El Rushbo, take a great career risk, one of the greatest risks taken in Big Media. And that risk is turning over the content portion of this program, when we go to the phones, to you, lovable people, great people, love you, but you are rank amateurs, you are not highly trained broadcast professionals and specialists as am I. So the rules Monday through Thursday, off the table, whatever you want to talk about, question, comment, whine, moan, feel free. Here's the phone number: 800-282-2882. And the e-mail address, [email protected].
I want to illustrate something for you today, folks. I've done it before. I want to do it again. I call this the anatomy of a smear, and what this is is a great illustration of the liberals and the Democrat Party playbook for '08, which is underway now. The morning update on Wednesday dealt with a soldier, a fake, phony soldier by the name of Jesse MacBeth who never served in Iraq; he was never an Army Ranger. He was drummed out of the military in 44 days. He had his day in court; he never got the Purple Heart as he claimed, and he described all these war atrocities. He became a hero to the anti-war left. They love phony soldiers, and they prop 'em up. When it is demonstrated that they have been lying about things, then they just forget about it. There's no retraction; there's no apology; there's no, "Uh-oh, sorry." After doing that morning update on Wednesday, I got a phone call yesterday from somebody, we were talking about the troops, and this gentleman said something which you'll hear here in just a second, prompting me to reply "yeah, the phony soldiers."
That comment, "phony soldiers" was posted yesterday afternoon on the famous Media Matters website, which is where all leftists go to find out what I say. I have a website, and I have a radio program that reaches far more people than Media Matters could ever hope to, but the critics of this program never listen to this program. They never go to my website. All they do is read Media Matters and they get the lies and the out-of-context reports. They assume it's all true because they want it to be true, and then they start their campaigns. This has led to me being denounced on the floor of the House. Howard Dean has released a statement demanding I apologize; Jim Webb; John Kerry issued a statement, three Congress people went out on the floor of the House last night and said some things, and it's starting to blossom now in the Drive-By Media. So this is the anatomy of a smear, and this is how it starts. The same group is trying to get Bill O'Reilly into problems because of some innocent comments that he made about going to dinner at a restaurant in Harlem. So the illustration begins with just a sample report from MSNBC whose content is produced almost exclusively by Media Matters for America and MoveOn.org. This is this morning with the anchorette Contessa Brewer reporting on the phony soldier controversy, spawned by me.
BREWER: Some leading Democrats are attacking radio talk show personality Rush Limbaugh because he called soldiers who opposed the Iraq war "phony." Limbaugh was criticizing the anti-war movement generally and made the comment to a caller.
RUSH ARCHIVE: It's not possible intellectually to follow these people.
CALLER: No, it's not. And what's really funny is they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and spout to the media.
RUSH: The phony soldiers.
BREWER: Democratic Senator John Kerry is demanding an apology from Limbaugh, whose comments he calls "disgusting and an embarrassment."
RUSH: That's really rich. John Kerry, whose own soldiers, his own personnel, fellow soldiers in those swift boats, at least many of them who said he was lying about his supposed heroics, this is the same John Kerry who went out and insulted the intelligence of the troops, thereby torpedoing his own 2008 presidential candidacy. His statement includes these words: This disgusting attack from Rush Limbaugh, cheerleader for the chicken hawk wing of the far right is an insult to American troops. I was not talking as Contessa Brewer said here about the anti-war movement generally. I was talking about one soldier with that phony soldier comment, Jesse MacBeth. They had exactly what I'm going to play for you. It's Michael J. Fox all over again. Media Matters had the transcript. But they selectively choose what they want to make their point. It runs about three minutes and 13 seconds, the entire transcript, in context, that led to this so-called controversy.
RUSH ARCHIVE: It's not possible intellectually to follow these people.
CALLER: No, it's not. And what's really funny is they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and spout to the media.
RUSH: The phony soldiers.
CALLER: The phony soldiers. If you talk to any real soldier and they're proud to serve, they want to be over in Iraq, they understand their sacrifice and they're willing to sacrifice for the country.
RUSH: They joined to be in Iraq.
RUSH: It's frustrating and maddening, and why they must be kept in the minority. I want to thank you, Mike, for calling. I appreciate it very much.
Here is a Morning Update that we did recently, talking about fake soldiers. This is a story of who the left props up as heroes. They have their celebrities and one of them was Army Ranger Jesse MacBeth. Now, he was a "corporal." I say in quotes. Twenty-three years old. What made Jesse MacBeth a hero to the anti-war crowd wasn't his Purple Heart; it wasn't his being affiliated with post-traumatic stress disorder from tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. No. What made Jesse MacBeth, Army Ranger, a hero to the left was his courage, in their view, off the battlefield, without regard to consequences. He told the world the abuses he had witnessed in Iraq, American soldiers killing unarmed civilians, hundreds of men, women, even children. In one gruesome account, translated into Arabic and spread widely across the Internet, Army Ranger Jesse MacBeth describes the horrors this way: "We would burn their bodies. We would hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque."
Now, recently, Jesse MacBeth, poster boy for the anti-war left, had his day in court. And you know what? He was sentenced to five months in jail and three years probation for falsifying a Department of Veterans Affairs claim and his Army discharge record. He was in the Army. Jesse MacBeth was in the Army, folks, briefly. Forty-four days before he washed out of boot camp. Jesse MacBeth isn't an Army Ranger, never was. He isn't a corporal, never was. He never won the Purple Heart, and he was never in combat to witness the horrors he claimed to have seen. You probably haven't even heard about this. And, if you have, you haven't heard much about it. This doesn't fit the narrative and the template in the Drive-By Media and the Democrat Party as to who is a genuine war hero. Don't look for any retractions, by the way. Not from the anti-war left, the anti-military Drive-By Media, or the Arabic websites that spread Jesse MacBeth's lies about our troops, because the truth for the left is fiction that serves their purpose. They have to lie about such atrocities because they can't find any that fit the template of the way they see the US military. In other words, for the American anti-war left, the greatest inconvenience they face is the truth.
RUSH: That was the transcript from yesterday's program, talking about one phony soldier. The truth for the left is fiction that serves their purpose, which is exactly the way the website, Media Matters, generated this story, fiction, out of context, did so knowingly. What is amazing is that after all of the examples of how this organization is simply a Democrat Party Hillary Clinton front group; how they constantly do this; how they take things out of context and embarrass themselves and get things wrong; they still have credible so-called journalists and others, members of Congress, Democrat Party, who treat what they say as gospel. Not one member of the media, not one congressman, nobody has called our office to ask, "Did you really say this? And what did you mean by it?" The reason this does not work, ladies and gentlemen, is that I have a 19-and-a-half-year record on this program of being one of the most devoted supporters of US military personnel in uniform that there is.
The effort here is simply to discredit people that they consider effective and powerful on the right ginning up, leading up into the '08 elections. They cannot beat us in the arena of ideas. They cannot challenge what we say and refute it and come out on top, so this is the anatomy of a smear. I'll show you how it works when we come after the break. We have a bunch of sound bites here from Jim Webb, Jan Schakowsky, Frank Pallone, Democrats and senators, plus the Kerry statement that I read to you, all that coming up right after this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: So we have John Kerry insulting soldiers all over the place. His own troops who served with him said that he lied about things that he accomplished. He insulted the intelligence of the troops. We all know what they did with the MoveOn.org ad to General Petraeus, we know what members of Congress said to General Petraeus, calling him a liar before he even opened his mouth and before they had even read the report that they demanded be issued about the surge back on the 15th of September. What's going on here is their attempt to deflect attention away from themselves and the same issue, because they have eaten it big time on the Petraeus ad in the New York Times. None of it worked out the way they intended. They have blow-black that they didn't figure out. So now it's time for them to try to point out that somebody like me is insulting the troops -- as any of you who listen to this program regularly know has not happened and never would happen. Here's congressional reaction, Senate reaction. Last night on some MSNBC show, Jim Webb was run into out in the hallway. Question: "Yesterday in his radio program Rush Limbaugh called service members who advocate US withdrawal from Iraq 'phony soldiers.' You want to respond to that?"
WEBB: I really regret Mr. Limbaugh saying things like that. You know, we have, uh, political diversity inside the military just like we do in the country. If you look at the -- I believe it was the six [sic--seven] soldiers, uh, who wrote with honor the piece for the New York Times not long ago, I think three [sic--two] of them, uh, now died. [truck accident] Uh, I think, uh, Mr. Limbaugh have to, uh, take a look at -- at that sort of reality. I really react strongly when people politicize the service of our military people.
RUSH: What an absolute lunatic joke to make, after the way General Petraeus was just treated! Politicize the military? Mr. Webb stepped in it. You put a bag of manure in front of a liberal Democrat and they are sure to step in it. He just assumed that what he was told was true, that I called anti-war troops "phony soldiers," when everybody involved in this knows full well I was talking about one genuine convicted, lying, fake soldier, who was undermining this mission, who was doing his best to demoralize the troops. I stand up for the troops! The Democrat Party has been trying to demoralize them. The Democrat Party has been trying to lose the Iraq war, the war on terror. They own defeat. They are invested in it. They have failed to hang defeat around the neck of this president, and the presidency that they've been trying to destroy. They have now really upset their fringe base by all of the top -tier candidates in Wednesday's debate saying, "There's no way I'm going to pull troops out of there before 2013." They are beside themselves now, and so they choose to come after me in an unprovoked and totally out-of-context fashion. It is I who am owed an apology here. Let's go to the floor of the House. A portion of remarks made by Illinois Democrat Jan Schakowsky.
SCHAKOWSKY: Well, Rush Limbaugh is at it again. Unable to defend an indefensible war in Iraq, he's once again resorted to sliming the messenger. In this case, unbelievably, the messenger he's going after are the brace men and women who have served their country in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other wars. Men and women who serve in Iraq differ from Rush Limbaugh in two critical ways. First, unlike Mr. Limbaugh, they actually served in the military. Second, unlike Mr. Limbaugh, they understand that the war in Iraq is making our country less safe and destroying the military.
RUSH: Do these people understand what fools they sound like to anybody who knows the truth about all of this? They haven't the slightest idea how foolish they sound; they don't care. Folks, I do not need, nor do you, lectures from liberals, Democrats, Drive-By Media people on whether or not they served in the military about supporting our troops. It is they who are undermining the troops, smearing the troops, endangering them every damn day -- and they know it, and they have done it purposefully! They are undermining the war effort. They want to be called patriots for doing it. Same on selecting Jim Webb! Shame on John Kerry! Shame on them! They should be speaking out for our soldiers, not throwing in with the anti-war MoveOn.org crowd. They cannot have it both ways, not on this program. There are 170,000 soldiers in Iraq. The least we can do here at home is support them, and on this program they have universal, total support. Here's more from Ms. Schakowsky from the floor of the House.
SCHAKOWSKY: How dare Rush Limbaugh label anyone who has served in the military as a quote "phony soldier," unquote? Could Rush Limbaugh actually face soldiers who have risked their lives and tell them that their beliefs don't matter? Let's pay attention to the 72% of American troops serving in Iraq who also think the US should exit the country within the next year, and more than one in four who say the troops should leave immediately, according to the Zogby poll. I guess they're all a bunch of phonies, according to Rush Limbaugh. Apparently, however, Mr. Limbaugh thinks they deserve to be smeared and belittled unless they happen to agree with him. I understand why Rush Limbaugh cannot debate this war on the merits, but bashing soldiers and veterans who disagree with him is unpatriotic and un-American.
RUSH: Of course, none of what she said is true. She's just ignorant, and I don't need to be lectured to by these people. But, you see, they have taken the occasion of this comment... They don't care whether it's true or not; they just launch on their soapbox. Do you know how much I got under their skin, folks, for them to take to the floor of the houses? Tom Harkin has done this. Let's go back in time, shall we? Let's go back to April 22nd, 1971, John Kerry testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about Vietnam.
VIETNAM VETERAN JOHN KERRY 1971: They told the stories of times that they had personally raped, cut off the ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned off the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Jen-jiss Khan. Not isolated incidents, but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with a full awareness of offers at all levels of command.
RUSH: Lies! Senator Kerry was insulting and smearing members of the armed forces back in 1971, people he didn't even serve with and things that he didn't even see. Does the name Jesse Macbeth rise up again here in this discussion of phony soldiers? Here is John Kerry from December 4th, 2005.
KERRY 2005: [T]here is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, uh, uh, uh, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the -- of -- of -- of -- uh, historical customs, religious customs, whether you like it or not. Iraqis should be doing that.
RUSH: Oh, really? Who is insulting the troops here, folks? And who has a history of insulting of troops? Certainly not I. It is Senator Kerry who in that bite from December 4th, 2005, essential called US troops terrorists, and said if any terrorism ought to be going on over there, the Iraqis ought to be doing it.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I'm in the midst here of illustrating the Democrat Party's '08 playbook, the anatomy of a smear, taking two words that I uttered yesterday totally out of context and misrepresenting the meaning entirely -- on purpose, knowing full well they were doing it. Now the whole Democrat Party, the Drive-By Media -- typically, without verifying, without asking, without checking -- just assumes that what they read on this lying, politically oriented website, has to be true. Even if it isn't true, it serves their purpose to go out and try to nick, harm, impugn, destroy people they fear who are too effective in opposing them. What we're doing here after having illustrated all that, is to show you who the real anti-military people are in this country: who they are and how often they have opposed victory; the unkind, vicious things they have said about uniformed personnel. The idea that they have accused me of this and demand an apology from me is outrageous. It is I who is owed the apology. It won't be forthcoming, but nor will one from me. Let's go back to June 10th, 2005, the Senate floor, Dick Durbin.
DURBIN: If I read this to you and didn't tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have happened by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime, Pol Pot or others, that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that's not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of our -- their own prisoners.
RUSH: And of course it was Senator Durbin who issued, then, a lame apology after the firestorm that his comments caused. Let's go back shortly, not long ago, September the 10th, when General Petraeus appeared before the House committee. Before he had said a word, before he uttered one word -- and this is the day, of course, the MoveOn.org ad came out, calling him "General Betray Us -- here's Congressman Tom Lantos lecturing a four-star general in dress uniform sitting before him.
LANTOS: The fact remains, gentlemen, that the administration has sent you hear today to convince the members of these two committees and the Congress that victory is at hand. With all due respect to you, I must say, "I don't buy it."
RUSH: So he's calling him a liar. So this is typical. This is what's commonplace every day in the halls of Congress inhabited by Democrats. It is the generals; it's the soldiers: they are the liars. They are the reprobates. They are the ones that need to be demoralized. They are the ones that need to lose so the Democrat Party can reap political power once again -- and they have failed. They have failed at every effort to end this war in the defeat that they have sought. They have failed to hang defeat around the neck of George W. Bush, whose presidency they have sought to destroy. These people, ladies and gentlemen, are beyond the pale. US national security is irrelevant to them at this point in time. Their acquisition of power is all that matters. I've been waiting for this to blossom, and it finally did. At the White House briefing today, this afternoon, with the spokesman Dana Pereno, a CNN reporterette asked this question.
CNN REPORTERETTE: Apparently this week Rush Limbaugh used the phrase "phony soldiers" to describe American troops who opposed the Iraq war. Given that the president has commented, uh, last week, uh, on the MoveOn ad, uh, on General Petraeus, and called it "disgusting," is this something that the president would, you know, feel compelled to comment on?
PERENO: It's the first I've heard of that comment. Taking that it is accurate -- I have not heard it myself -- the president believes that if you are serving in the military, that you have the rights that every American has, which is that you're free to express yourself in any way that you want to, and there are some that oppose the war and that's okay.
CNN REPORTERETTE: The phrase "phony soldiers" to describe these --
PERENO: It's not a phrase the president would have used.
RUSH: "Not a phrase the president would have used." She wasn't aware. She had to assume that the reporter was relaying the story accurately to her, but this is how this stuff starts. This is an illustration. This is the way the Democrat playbook in '08 -- and actually it's been underway for a while. The illustration here, folks, is just how partisan supposed "objective" media people are. You know, I've got a website, and I've got a radio show, and I've got a phone, and I have people who answer the phone, and if they read something like this... I've been on the air 19 years, a little bit over 19. Just the blanket acceptance of this -- knowing full well that Media Matters takes things out of context all the time, the blanket acceptance of this -- and then running with it full speed, is an illustration of what I have been drumming into people's heads for years. The Drive-By Media is as partisan as any organization out there. They hide under this notion that they are objective, but they've got an agenda. They have their narratives. They have their templates. When anything fits the narrative, whether it's true or not -- i.e., the Duke rape case -- you go with it. You run with it! You make the mess! This is why they're called the "Drive-By" Media. You make the mess. They drive in. They shoot things up, create all kinds of mess, get in the convertible, head back down the road, and it's left to people like me to clean up the mess that they make -- and they make messes every day, over and over and over again. So the reason for spending this time on this is to illustrate that that is how this happens. This organization is a front group for Mrs. Clinton, as are so many other organizations out there that engage in these kinds of smears. One more sound bite here from the floor of the House. This is Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey. Here's a portion of what he said.
PALLONE: Yesterday House Republicans offered a motion to recommit, condemning MoveOn.org for its advertisement stating that General Petraeus had betrayed us. I'm wondering if they'll show similar outrage over statements made yesterday by conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Yesterday Limbaugh called service members who support a withdrawal from Iraq "phony soldiers." Is Limbaugh serious? I wonder if Republicans who showed so much outrage towards MoveOn yesterday will hold Rush Limbaugh to the same standard -- and I wouldn't hold your breath.
RUSH: You shouldn't hold your breath because there's no standard to hold me to, in the sense that you're talking about. I never said what you think I said, Congressman Pallone, congresswoman Schakowsky, Senator Kerry, or any of the rest of you in the Drive-By Media. I was talking about a genuine phony soldier -- and, by the way, Jesse Macbeth is not the only one. How about this guy Scott Thomas who was writing fraudulent, phony things in the New Republic about atrocities he saw that never happened? How about Jack Murtha blanketly accepting the notion that Marines in Haditha engaged in wanton murder of innocent children and civilians? If anybody owes anybody an apology, the entire Democrat Party, from Hillary Clinton on down, owes the US military an apology. They owe me an apology, and they owe the American people an apology -- and are they owed massive defeat in 2008! They are irresponsible, they are dishonest, they are incompetent, and they pose a great threat to this country -- as evidenced by this small little episode. Now, I can go back and I could get all kinds of resolutions here remind you of them, and I will. There were resolutions praising the patriotism of General Petraeus, condemning the MoveOn ad. Kerry voted no, Schakowsky voted no. They didn't want to praise the "patriotism" because "patriotism" to them is opposing victory. Patriotism to them is opposing the US military. Patriotism to them is lying and taking out of context the words of people who are among the biggest supporters of the US military in this country. When I mentioned the term "phony soldier" -- and they all know this -- I was referring to a genuine phony soldier about whom I had informed this audience the previous day and did so again the following day. That was Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to thank Media Matters for America for making it so easy, ladies and gentlemen, to show how the real conspiracy works. Not the phony baloney, hilarious right-wing conspiracy which is totally made up, but how the left flashes the media, who flash the left in Congress, and voila, you have a totally wrong, false, filled with lies, out of context story that ends up in the mainstream. If you're going to thank Media Matters, you have to thank one man, and that would be George Soros, and you have to thank one woman, and that would be Hillary Rodham Clinton. What the media want is to create a story that fits into their template, their reality.
Then they'll go to their favorite Democrats for a comment, they'll get some stupid comments from them and run and rerun the lies so that two years from now the truth and their lies become one and the same in the minds of people. This is their attempt here. This is because they don't want to debate the issues, because they can't win. They don't want to admit their own failures and failings. They don't want to inform the public. They want to manipulate the news and events to advance their agenda. So a comment that's taken out of context is compared to a paid, printed ad intended to smear General Petraeus, then they ask the White House press secretary about it. This is how it works. I want you to know it and never forget it. Thank you.
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Fake veteran gets 5-month sentence
Man claimed to have helped kill civilians in Iraq
By MIKE BARBER
P-I REPORTER
Jesse MacBeth never was an Army Ranger, much less a corporal, never received a Purple Heart for wounds inflicted by a foreign foe, and neither saw nor participated in war crimes with fellow U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, claims for which he became a poster boy for the anti-war movement.
So, there was likely no way the 23-year-old Tacoma man suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from the horrors of war and other injuries.
MacBeth was sentenced Friday to five months in jail and three years' probation for falsifying a Department of Veterans Affairs claim and an Army discharge record.
At a sentencing hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik on Friday, MacBeth's federal public defender, Jay Stansell, said that if MacBeth didn't have PTSD from a war, he had mental health problems and grew up in a harsh environment, homeless on the streets, surviving by seizing whatever angle or positive feedback he could get.
"I know he lived a war as a child," Stansell said.
Lasnik, weighing a standard sentencing range of between two and eight months for falsifying a VA claim and an Army discharge record, also ordered MacBeth to seek help for mental health problems, especially as they related to committing domestic violence.
MacBeth's is the latest case to be sentenced under "Operation Stolen Valor," which uses the new Stolen Valor Act to go after people posing as veterans, who often festoon themselves with awards and invent tales of long-term injuries, often to fraudulently acquire veterans benefits.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Friedman said the sentence is often linked to how much money a fake veteran bilks from the government, and MacBeth was caught before he took any.
Friedman said the government doesn't fully understand what MacBeth's motivations were. His actions included an effort to document PTSD, Friedman said, "but they were also symptomatic of something else."
Under a plea agreement in May, MacBeth admitted guilt to falsifying a claim for veterans compensation benefits and altering his military discharge record, which was issued after he washed out of Army boot camp after 44 days in 2003.
A thin man who sat quietly looking down through most of the hearing, MacBeth apologized for snookering anti-war groups with his claims of killing unarmed, helpless civilians in Iraq -- which were translated into Arabic and posted on the Internet -- and also to U.S. soldiers whom he defamed.
MacBeth said he felt bad for what he did.
"I'm sorry not only for lying about everything and discrediting anti-war groups, but also for defaming the real heroes, the soldiers out there sacrificing for their country," MacBeth said. "I was trying to pull a fast one, to make money to get off the streets."
MacBeth fooled peace groups and alternative media to become something of an anti-war star over the past four years.
He claimed he witnessed and participated in war crimes in Iraq with other Rangers, slaughtering hundreds of unarmed men, women and children.
In a widely distributed Internet video translated into Arabic, Macbeth said. "We would burn their bodies ... hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque."
Lasnik noted that the case operated in two arenas, one in the courtroom where he was sentenced specifically for the crime of falsifying records, and another "in the blogosphere and elsewhere where he became a symbol."
"Too many people with a political agenda grabbed ahold of Mr. MacBeth's story and ran with it because they wanted to believe it. Any sober look should have lead people to believe it was all a made-up rant," Lasnik said.
"They tried to make him a poster boy for their point of view, and I think that is outrageous," Lasnik said.
Yet, while MacBeth's actions embarrassed the anti-war movement, it cannot be argued, as other quarters of the blogosphere assert, "that all reports of abuse by Americans in Iraq are incorrect," Lasnik cautioned. The military justice system has brought to light and dealt with such reports, he said.
Operation Stolen Valor is a year-old federal law enforcement effort that has resulted in a dozen cases under investigation in the Pacific Northwest, with fraud totals of more than $1.4 million. Eight cases have been filed and are in various stages of prosecution.
The act allows authorities to pursue phonies they previously could not touch. In the past, authorities rarely could act unless they caught someone wearing an award.
"As a Vietnam veteran and the father of a decorated Army officer currently serving, I feel very keenly the damage done by Jesse Macbeth and these other fakes," U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan said.
REPORT FRAUD
The Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General operates a confidential public hot line to report crimes involving the VA or its programs. Call 800-488-8244, send a fax to 202-565-7936, e-mail [email protected] or write to VA OIG hot line, P.O. Box 50410, Washington, D.C., 20091-0410.
Learn more about the case against Jesse MacBeth at goto.seattlepi.com/r1006.
------------
Winter Soldier Syndrome
By Michelle Malkin
The tale of Army Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp, the discredited "Baghdad Diarist" for the discredited New Republic magazine, is an old tale:
Self-aggrandizing soldier recounts war atrocities. Media outlets disseminate soldier's tales uncritically. Military folks smell a rat and poke holes in tales too good (or rather, bad) to be true. Soldier's ideological sponsors blame the messengers for exposing anti-war fraud.
Beauchamp belongs in the same ward as John F. Kerry, the original infectious agent of the toxic American disease known as Winter Soldier Syndrome. The ward is filling up.
U.S. military investigators concluded this week that Beauchamp concocted allegations of troop misconduct in a series of essays for The New Republic. "The investigation is complete and the allegations from PVT Beauchamp are false," Major Steven Lamb, a spokesman for Multi National Division-Baghdad, told USA Today. The New Republic is standing by Beauchamp's work. But Michael Goldfarb, online editor and blogger at The Weekly Standard who first challenged Beauchamp's writing, reported Monday that Beauchamp had "signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in the New Republic were exaggerations and falsehoods -- fabrications containing only 'a smidgen of truth,' in the words of our source."
To illustrate the soul-deadening impact of war, Beauchamp had described sitting in a mess hall in Iraq mocking a female civilian contractor whose face had "melted" after an IED explosion. "I love chicks that have been intimate -- with IEDs," Pvt. Beauchamp claimed he said out loud in her earshot. "It really turns me on -- melted skin, missing limbs, plastic noses." Beauchamp recounted vividly: "My friend was practically falling out of his chair laughing. The disfigured woman slammed her cup down and ran out of the chow hall."
It wasn't true. After active-duty troops, veterans, embedded journalists and bloggers raised pointed questions about the veracity of the anecdote, Beauchamp confessed to The New Republic's meticulous fact-checkers that the mocking had taken place in Kuwait -- before he had set foot in Iraq to experience the soul-deadening impact of war.
Military officials in Kuwait tried to verify the incident and called it an "urban legend or myth." Beauchamp's essays are filled with similarly spun tales. How much of a bull-slinger was Beauchamp, an aspiring creative writer who crowed on his personal blog that he would "return to America an author" after serving (which he told friends and family would "add a legitimacy to EVERYTHING I do afterwards"? The very first line of his essay "Shock Troops," which opened with the melted-face mockery, was this: "I saw her nearly every time I went to dinner in the chow hall at my base in Iraq."
"Nearly every time." At "my base in Iraq." Complete and utter bull.
Defenders of The New Republic, a left-leaning magazine infamously duped by another young and ambitious fabulist, Stephen Glass, say the Beauchamp saga has been 1) blown out of proportion; 2) perpetuated by sloppy, rumor-mongering bloggers; 3) used as a distraction from the troubles in Iraq; and 4) exploited by "chickenhawks" who deny that war atrocities happen.
But the truth is, you won't find a single Bush Kool-Aid drinker among the military bloggers, embedded independent journalists and active-duty troops who prominently questioned the Beauchamp sham. They know it ain't all going swimmingly overseas. But unlike Pvt. Beauchamp, they're committed to telling the whole truth about the war, not just approximations and embellishments that will score easy magazine gigs and future book deals with elite New York City publishers. The doubters of Scott Thomas know atrocities when they see them. But, unlike the TNR editors, they know steaming bull dung when they smell it.
Ever since John Kerry sat in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and accused American soldiers of wantonly razing villages "in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan," the Left has embraced a small cadre of self-loathing soldiers and soldier wannabes willing to sell their deadened souls for the anti-war cause. Think Jimmy Massey, the unhinged Marine who falsely accused his unit of engaging in mass genocide against Iraqis. Think Jesse MacBeth and Micah Wright, anti-war Army Rangers who weren't Army Rangers.
Winter Soldier Syndrome will only be cured when the costs of slandering the troops outweigh the benefits. Exposing Scott Thomas Beauchamp and his brethren matters because the truth matters. The honor of the military matters. The credibility of the media matters. Think it doesn't make a difference? Imagine where Sen. John Kerry would be now if the Internet had been around in 1971.
-------
Jesse Macbeth: I admit it, I'm a filthy liar
8-month sentence for man who lied about Iraq fighting
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE -- A man who lied about being a soldier in Iraq has been sentenced in federal court in Seattle to eight months in prison.
Twenty-three-year-old Jesse MacBeth of Tacoma pleaded guilty in June to making false statements to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
MacBeth stoked opposition to the Iraq war last year by claiming he committed atrocities while serving as a Ranger in Iraq. He was never a Ranger and never set foot in Iraq. He only made it through six weeks of Army basic training before he was released for issues related to performance and conduct.
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.George S. Patton
posted on September 28, 2007 11:37:19 AM new
Does ANYONE here really EVER believe ANYTHING mingo posts? Over and over again her posts have been proven to be nothing more than LIES.
She's all into deceiving voters/fellow posters/anyone who believes her garbage.
They should have learned by now. tsk tsk tsk Some will never learn.
posted on September 28, 2007 11:47:28 AM new
I also want to mention that the wacko site, media matters, isn't ONLY attacking and lying about many different issues.....but they've also gone after Bill O'Reilly.
He's been talking about it and PROVING them to be the LIARS they are....and they even got CNN and a couple other liberal media joining in on the LIES put out by media matters.....a soro's supported website. tsk tsk tsk
People have also spoken out about the lies that media-matters have been posting on their website....for all the ignorant fools like mingo to repeat.....
They have no problem posting lies....after all....they support the dem party and they'll do anything to convince anyone gullible enough to believe their lies. mingo's only one of those fools....believing ANYTHING they lie about.
And this 'attacking' any libertarian/conservative hasn't JUST started with media-matters.....they've been doing the same thing since 2000.
====================
Media Matters vs. Bill O'Reilly
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
By John Gibson
George Soros is after Bill O'Reilly, and he's enlisted the help of CNN and NBC.
This is the fabricated flap over some benign remarks Bill made on his radio show. But it has been turned on its ear by George Soros' Media Matters, a Web site that was funded by Soros and is dedicated to discrediting conservatives and folks like Bill who don't toe the Soros line. They do this by the purposeful misinterpretation of one's words.
It isn't just Bill. Media Matters has done it to me, too.
NBC News has been using Media Matters as a script service for some time now, with certain anchors over there just lifting misinterpretations wholesale from the Web site and sending the Media Matters words directly to the teleprompter.
Yeah, great journalism at a place with names like Russert and Williams. And now CNN has joined in.
Why? O'Reilly is the big kahuna of cable news, and neither of those networks can break out of tenth place in a three-network race unless they bring him down.
Remember the name Soros. His Open Society Institute has just released its 2006 report on the way it has spent Soros' money: $74 million this year.
Did you know that in addition to funding groups to try to kneecap Bill O'Reilly and me, Soros' stooges have also cut a $720,000 check to the so-called NASA whistleblower who claimed the U.S. government was covering up global warming?
The Investor's Business Daily has outlined all of this in a series of recent editorials after checking the records. Soros money has also funded lawyers to defeat President Bush on his efforts to track terrorists' cell phone calls and matching airline passenger lists with names of known terrorists.
As the IBD asked its readers: Do you feel safer now that you live in Soros' world? I would think not.
I also think you would want to think about the way George Soros has funneled his millions into the bank accounts of groups dedicated to sliming and destroying people. Soros' money is behind MoveOn.org, too, and you've seen what they do.
Soros doesn't like Bill and Soros doesn't like me. I can't speak for Bill, but as for myself I am proud to be on the Soros hit list.
As for NBC and CNN, they should be embarrassed. It's the real journalists inside those two places that need to stand up and revolt.
posted on September 28, 2007 11:50:20 AM new
Linda, we all know dingo condition is the product of self prescribed illegal drugs, creating her delusional mind set/
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.George S. Patton
posted on September 28, 2007 11:57:37 AM new
Sadly, Bear, I believe some here do/have believed her - I've seen them agree with her lies/garbage. Even though several times her LIES/deceptions have been pointed out.
This is the NEW liberal/progressive left and how they're willing to do or say ANYTHING.....and now the MSM has joined sides with the LIARS. People who are ignorant will believe them....at least some of them....they're too busy to even notice the crap they spew.
posted on September 28, 2007 12:41:07 PM new
linduh drools her usual:
""Linda_K
posted on September 28, 2007 11:37:19 AM new
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Does ANYONE here really EVER believe ANYTHING mingo posts? Over and over again her posts have been proven to be nothing more than LIES.
She's all into deceiving voters/fellow posters/anyone who believes her garbage.
They should have learned by now. tsk tsk tsk Some will never learn."""
WHERE IS THE PROOF?
YOU have NEVER shown proof. Never.
BUT I have shown YOU to be a liar WITH PROOF....you told etex you never respond to me...an obvious lie.
YOU quoted White HOUSE spokeperson and said it was a DEMOCRAT...someone ELSE entirely!
posted on September 29, 2007 06:40:44 PM new
Plop. splat, thud.
That my friends is the sound of dingo, falling face first into a fresh pile of shiitake again, when confronted with the true facts of the allegations against Rush.
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.George S. Patton
posted on September 29, 2007 08:15:08 PM new
Why anyone is surprised by what that pompous gas bag Limbaugh says is beyond me. What's further beyond me is why anyone gives a crap.
posted on September 29, 2007 08:27:52 PM new
Well, the neocons care very much what their drug crazed spokesperson says so it's kinda fun to poke holes in that inflated bag of stench.
OK, OK, it's TOOOOOOO easy but....fun,too!
And : They can refute it all they want but I heard a tape of him saying it.
I personally believe the liberals FEAR talk hosts like Rush because he NAILS them on their lies, each and everytime they try to SMEAR someone. He points out the TRUTH....and that's something the wacko left just can't handle. They run from 'truth' like vampires do from crosses.
They can't stand ANY of the very successful talk show hosts who point out their lies - their failing attempts at smearing others - it's not JUST Rush.
And they certainly can't get a successful liberal talk show that compares to the ones who point out their pathetic methods of trying to make 'anything' stick. Not too successful at doing even THAT.
posted on September 30, 2007 09:47:01 AM new
Since he WASN'T doing any such thing.....sybil again proves she lives in total DENIAL of the truth.....
.....I'll again point out the methods that the liberal/dem party are now taking.....on a daily basis. They have no choice but to continue on with their smears of the successful ones.
I hope the voters wake up and see their 'dispictable' methods of playing politics. tsk tsk tsk
--------------
I want to illustrate something for you today, folks. I've done it before. I want to do it again. I call this the anatomy of a smear, and what this is is a great illustration of the liberals and the Democrat Party playbook for '08, which is underway now.
The morning update on Wednesday dealt with a soldier, a fake, phony soldier by the name of Jesse MacBeth who never served in Iraq; he was never an Army Ranger. He was drummed out of the military in 44 days. He had his day in court; he never got the Purple Heart as he claimed, and he described all these war atrocities. He became a hero to the anti-war left. They love phony soldiers, and they prop 'em up.
When it is demonstrated that they have been lying about things, then they just forget about it. There's no retraction; there's no apology; there's no, "Uh-oh, sorry."
========
He's right again. Those like mingo/sybil just continue repeating their LIES.....hoping to FOOL others with their sick, sad, pathetic LIES.
posted on September 30, 2007 10:11:14 AM newSOME will believe ANYTHING they want to be TRUE. tsk tsk tsk
===============
Phony Soldier Charged With Making Up Claims of Atrocities in Iraq
Sunday , May 20, 2007
SEATTLE —
A man who tried to position himself as a leader of the anti-war movement by claiming to have participated in war crimes while serving in Iraq is facing federal charges of falsifying his record.
Jesse Adam Macbeth, 23, formerly of Phoenix, garnered attention on blogs and in some alternative media after he began claiming in 2005 to have been awarded a Purple Heart for his service, which he said included slaughtering innocents in a Fallujah mosque. His story was contradicted by his discharge form, showing that he was kicked out of the Army after six weeks at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003 because of his “entry level performance and conduct.”
A complaint unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle charged him with one count of using or possessing a forged or altered military discharge certificate, and one count of making false statements in seeking benefits from the Veterans Administration.
Macbeth’s public defender, Jay Stansell, declined to comment.
Organizations that opposed the war, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, posted videos or statements containing Macbeth’s claims on their Web sites. In one videotaped interview, a skinny, stuttering Macbeth, dressed in a camouflage jacket, described slaughtering hundreds of people in a mosque: “We would burn their bodies ... hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque,” he said.
****************Iraq Veterans Against the War and other organizations removed the claims after learning they were false.*****************
“He approached us in early 2006, posing as a war veteran. He seemed very emotionally distressed about his experiences,” said Amadee Braxton, a spokeswoman for Iraq Veterans Against the War, based in Philadelphia.
Macbeth claimed in an application for benefits to have served from May 2001 to June 2004, to have been shot in Iraq and to have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, LaMont E. Stokes, an agent with the VA’s Office of the Inspector General, wrote in the charging papers. He also collected more than $10,400 in benefits to which he was not entitled, Stokes wrote.
Stokes said he interviewed Macbeth in a Tacoma jail, where he has been serving a sentence for fourth-degree assault, and that Macbeth admitted falsifying the documents because he was homeless and wanted to “sucker” anything he could out of the government.
===================
THESE are the nutcases the wacko lefties CHOOSE to believe....without ANY proof..and then they continue to REPEAT their LIES.
Shame on them. Shame on those who continue to believe their LIES.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on September 30, 2007 11:24:12 AM new
Edited because my brain cannot remember to change my ID before I post.
[ edited by coincoach on Sep 30, 2007 11:29 AM ]
posted on September 30, 2007 11:30:48 AM new
Limbaugh is a blowhard, bully and a liar. There are so many examples of his lies, but here are 2:
Here is another example of Rush selectively omitting facts from a story:
In Chapter 16 of "The Way Things Ought To Be" Rush talked about how Willie Horton brutally raped a woman after he was allowed out of a Massachusetts prison on a furlough program while Michael Dukakis was governor. Rush, of course, refers to this as the "Dukakis furlough program" and blames Dukakis for the whole affair.
What Rush failed to mention was that the furlough law he is talking about was passed when Dukakis was not even governor of Massachusetts. It was signed into law by the REPUBLICAN governor (Francis Sargent) who preceded Dukakis. Dukakis' biggest involvement with that law was that he repealed it. But you would never hear Rush mention this. He doesn't want you to hear the whole truth.
9.) In chapter 24, Rush said this about the media, "How about the myth of heterosexual AIDS? Despite endless predictions of an epidemic, it has not happened, yet each year we are hit by The Media with alarming new predictions."
Well once again the facts show Rush is wrong. All statistics show that the percentage of heterosexual victims of AIDS is growing. And in most of the countries where AIDS is in epidemic proportion (Haiti, as well as several African nations) the vast majority of victims are heterosexual.
Rush, like most conservatives, wants us to believe that AIDS is primarily a homosexual disease because the conservatives have always held that AIDS is God's punishment for being gay. When some child or hemophiliac gets AIDS, the conservatives are sympathetic, but as far as they're concerned, homosexuals deserve what they get.
posted on September 30, 2007 11:43:43 AM new
As usual, another liberal comes in and doesn't address THIS topic...but takes it off on to everything else they can so that the LYING of the left isn't discussed.
posted on September 30, 2007 11:58:16 AM new
A DOOZY!
linduh, """As usual, another liberal comes in and doesn't address THIS topic...but takes it off on to everything else they can so that the LYING of the left isn't discussed.
tsk tsk tsk"""
The TOPIC, bozo, IS Limbaugh....YOU brought up what a CALLER said.....
posted on September 30, 2007 12:08:37 PM new
And a link for CC, so she can get updated with who is getting hiv/aids and whose getting it at much lower rates.
She has mentioned heterosexuals many times when defending gay men from being the MAJORITY of those STILL passing aids around to others.
She's in DENIAL....like most liberals. FACTS don't matter....let's try and make someone look like they've lied when they havent'. And the FACTS can be read by ALL.
The most recent FACTS as reported by the CDC on percentages of who is contacting aids. 14% compared to 55% is NOT to be ignored when defending the behaviors of gay men.
And Dukakis???. Have to go back to 1988 to make a point about an article that is in the NEWS NOW????
[ edited by Linda_K on Sep 30, 2007 12:11 PM ]
[ edited by Linda_K on Sep 30, 2007 12:20 PM ]
posted on September 30, 2007 12:21:36 PM new
As usual, linduh comes in and doesn't address THIS topic...but takes it off on to everything else she do can so that her LYING isn't discussed.
posted on September 30, 2007 12:48:07 PM new
I was not addressing the AIDS issue per se in this thread, just using it as an example of one of Limbaugh's lies. But since you brought it up:
Rush said "How about the myth of heterosexual AIDS? It has not happened..." The rate of heterosexual HIV/AIDS is on the rise. The majority of cases in Haiti and many African countries are heterosexual. We are not alone in this world, you know. I have never said that the majority of HIV/AIDS are heterosexual or are not homosexual in this country. It is your lack of tolerance and mercy that irks me. Your lack of reading comprehension is truly tiresome.
posted on September 30, 2007 12:52:23 PM new
But since YOU brought it up, CC. YOU brought it up rather than discussing how the liberal left continues to LIE and SMEAR those who speak the truth.
The anti-war left SO wanted this story to be true....and once it was proven they had ANOTHER PHONY LIAR they were supporting....they/you just can't face it.
It's hard for me to believe even YOU support the LIES mingo posts here. She's been proven over and over to be WRONG.....yet you'll go off on other issues to avoid ADMITTING she was WRONG....she LIED>
tsk tsk tsk
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on September 30, 2007 01:48:32 PM new
Go off on other issues? We are discussing Rush Limbaugh and I gave my opinion. He consistently lies and exaggerates to whip his audience into a frenzy and I gave 2 examples. You glommed onto the HIV lie, but I notice you did not comment on the Dukakis furlough lie. Sorry, but I find Mingo's posts to be much more accurate than your wild-eyed posts.
[ edited by coach81938 on Sep 30, 2007 01:53 PM ]
posted on September 30, 2007 08:29:54 PM new...I find Mingo's posts to be much more accurate than your wild-eyed posts...
So do I.
edited to add, 60% of the posts on this board's first page are Linda's, and of those 20-odd posts, only a handful have more than 3 replies. Even her lap dogs don't begin to yap except to give Mingo a hard time.
posted on October 1, 2007 10:30:07 AM new
Linda_K
posted on September 30, 2007 09:47:01 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since he WASN'T doing any such thing.....sybil again proves she lives in total DENIAL of the truth.....
.....I'll again point out the methods that the liberal/dem party are now taking.....on a daily basis. They have no choice but to continue on with their smears of the successful ones.
I hope the voters wake up and see their 'dispictable' methods of playing politics. tsk tsk tsk"""
posted on October 1, 2007 12:53:12 PM new
I guess Linda did not learn her lesson the last time she brought up all the HIV facts. If she cared to look at the data there are so statistics about HIV regarding the sexual orientation of the person contracting the disease. Linda worked in the health care industry (at least she claims) but she is the most ignorant one about the HIV statistics on the CDC website.
"In my experience, those who do not like you fall into two categories: the stupid, and the envious. - John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester
posted on October 1, 2007 12:55:13 PM new
The only one lying about the "phony soldiers" comment is Limpbra himself:
On the September 28 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh defended his September 26 statement in which he characterized service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as "phony soldiers," asserting that he had been taken out of context and that he was referring to just one "phony soldier," Jesse MacBeth, who pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for falsely claiming to be an injured Iraq war veteran. However, as the blog Crooks and Liars noted, in the same broadcast, Limbaugh expanded the group of "phony soldiers" to include Vietnam veteran Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) and Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp, who is currently serving in Iraq. In asserting that he was originally "talking about a genuine phony soldier," Limbaugh went on to state: "And by the way, Jesse MacBeth's not the only one. How about this guy Scott Thomas who was writing fraudulent, phony things in The New Republic about atrocities he saw that never happened? How about Jack Murtha blanketly accepting the notion that Marines at Haditha engaged in wanton murder of innocent children and civilians?"
According to Murtha's biography on his congressional website, Murtha joined the Marines in 1952 and volunteered for service in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.
From the September 28 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: But this is how this stuff starts. This is an illustration -- this is the way the Democrat playbook in '08 -- and actually, it's been under way for a while. And it's -- the illustration here folks is just how partisan the supposed objective media people are. You know, I've got a website, and I've got a radio show, and I've got a phone. And I have people who answer the phone. And if they read something like this -- I've been on the air 19 years, 19 and a half -- well, a little bit over 19. Just the blanket acceptance of this -- knowing full well that Media Matters takes things out of context all the time -- the blanket acceptance of this and then running with it full speed is an illustration of what I have been drumming into people's heads for years.
The drive-by media is as partisan as any organization out there. They hide under this notion that they are objective, but they've got an agenda, they have their narratives, they have their templates. When anything fits the narrative, whether it's true or not, i.e. the Duke rape case, you go with it. You run with it. You make the mess. This is why they're called the drive-by media. You make the mess. They drive in, they shoot things up, create all kinds of mess, get in the convertible, head back down the road, and it's left to people like me to clean up the mess that they make. And they make messes every day, over and over and over again.
So, the reason for spending this time on this is to illustrate that that is how this happens. This organization is a front group for Mrs. Clinton, as is so many other organizations out there that engage in these kinds of smears
The -- one more sound bite here from the floor of the House. This is Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey. Here's a portion of what he said.
PALLONE [audio clip]: Yesterday, House Republicans offered a motion to recommit condemning MoveOn.org for its advertisement stating that Gen. [David] Petraeus had betrayed us. I'm wondering if they'll show similar outrage over statements made yesterday by conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. Yesterday, Limbaugh called service members who support a withdrawal from Iraq "phony soldiers." Is Limbaugh serious? I wonder if Republicans who showed so much outrage towards MoveOn yesterday will hold Rush Limbaugh to the same standard. And I wouldn't hold your breath.
LIMBAUGH: You shouldn't hold your breath because there's no standard to hold me to, in the sense that you're -- I never said what you think I said, Congressman Pallone, Congresswoman [Jan] Schakowsky [D-IL], Sen. [John] Kerry [D-MA], or any of the rest of you in the drive-by media. I was talking about a genuine phony soldier. And by the way, Jesse MacBeth's not the only one. How about this guy Scott Thomas who was writing fraudulent, phony things in The New Republic about atrocities he saw that never happened? How about Jack Murtha blanketly accepting the notion that Marines at Haditha engaged in wanton murder of innocent children and civilians? If anybody owes anybody an apology, the entire Democrat [sic] Party, from Hillary Clinton on down, owes the U.S. military an apology, they owe me an apology, and they owe the American people an apology.
"In my experience, those who do not like you fall into two categories: the stupid, and the envious. - John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester
? The very first line of his essay "Shock Troops," which opened with the melted-face mockery, was this: "I saw her nearly every time I went to dinner in the chow hall at my base in Iraq."
- I've seen them agree with her lies/garbage. Even though several times her LIES/deceptions have been pointed out.
