letter to editor debating pro-Limbaugh supporter

[jimboloco]

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/24/Opini ... Crit.shtml

The letter writer's concern (October 24, 2007) that Rush Limbaugh is being smeared due to a distortion of facts is not valid. Mr. Limbaugh has accused critics of distorting remarks he made recently when a caller said the news media liked to focus on anti-war views raised by soldiers. Mr. Limbaugh then said, to the caller’s approval: “The phony soldiers.”

After the liberal media watchdog organization Media Matters sounded the alarm about his comments, Mr. Limbaugh said on subsequent shows that he was talking about only one discredited man who claimed to be a wounded veteran. “I was not talking about anti-war, active duty troops,” he insisted.

Yet analysts for Media Matters noted that Mr. Limbaugh’s first reference to the discredited man came nearly two minutes after his plural reference to phony soldiers. That group, VoteVets, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have a critical position on the failed Iraq War, hit back when Rush Limbaugh attacked them, calling them “phony soldiers” for opposing the President’s failed policy on the war, and when he later compared VoteVets.org’s Brian McGough to a suicide bomber.

As an independent thinking veteran, I know that my DD-214 discharge record is on file with both the Veterans for Peace and the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. What we want is objectivity, and while it is indeed an unwelcome incident to have a falsely documented pseudo-veteran like Jese MacBeth give discredited testimony, it would improve Mr. Limbaugh's credibility if he used less hyperbole and more specific language in his testimony. That he has received a letter of censure from Democrats, without Republican support, highlights a significant difference between the two parties. Many Democrats signed on with Republicans in a bipartisan censure of the Move-on.org's "Betray-us" ad against an active duty general. As Democratic Congressman Stark has recanted from his angry words, we need less hyperbole and more accuracy in both the media and from the government, vis a vis distorted intelligence and fear mongering towards the Iraq war and another impending irrational war against Iran. We will fight when it is right, and stand down when it is wrong.
JW
© Copyright 2007 St. Petersburg Times.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drnQ5Pvc6nE
http://www.votevets.org/campaigns/ads?id=0003

[jimboloco]

actually, after you play the first video, the scroll at the bottom takes you through a series of testimonies, some from Rush himself, others irreverent, some from other veterans.

rush says that the antiwar left depends upon fiction to validate its point of ciew, and thhat he has been a staunch supporter of the military for 19 years.

maybe he thinks so, but i disagree. and he had a deferment, stayed out during vietnam. which i don't mind, but his irreverence and distasteful propaganda slinging has enormous political power, so every little bit helps

plus when i get to assemble a post here, with interesting comments from fellow studioeighters, and i send the url via an email to someone who sends me a tidy and sweet invitation to send a saccharine greeting to "our boys over there," you can be assured that I will invite thewm to read this post via the url link in hopes that they will begin to think a bit more deeply.

and oh yeah, I pay attention to the young vets I know at work, and offer them support and encouragement, and if needed steer them towards counselling at the vet center ot=r the gi rights hotline. peace out limbo lovers!

[stilltrucking]

Gen. Eric K. Shinseki
Another phoney soldier.
I suppose

I listened to the president of DynCorp on the radio this morning. He said no one knew how difficult it would be to to occupy Iraq and nobody knew it would take a larger troop deployment. The NPR reporter let him slide on that.



Another phoney soldier

Ex-General: Iraq Is An Unending Nightmare
Retired Lt. General Sanchez Says Iraq Mission Has "No End In Sight" Due To Political Failings

Good letter jimbo
thank you

[jimboloco]

i'll bet you 50 cents it don't get printed, while they left that pro-limbaugh slander stay unanswered, i'll let ya know
in the midst of a work stretch
thanks tex
yes a lotta phoney soldiers around.