Senator John Kerry (D-MA) has responded to nationally syndicated
conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh's comments yesterday that service
members who support a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq are "phony soldiers." I
wanted to make sure you received his statement -- if you have any questions
or need additional information please feel free to contact me at your
convenience.
Katherine Ely
202-756-4103 office
202-306-5415 cell
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 27, 2007
CONTACT: Vincent Morris 202-224-4159
Kerry Demands Limbaugh Apology for Insulting Troops
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) today issued the following
statement in response to Rush Limbaugh, who said yesterday on his radio show
that only "phony soldiers" support the US withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
"This disgusting attack from Rush Limbaugh, cheerleader for the Chicken Hawk
wing of the far right, is an insult to American troops," Kerry said. "In a
single moment on his show, Limbaugh managed to question the patriotism of
men and women in uniform who have put their lives on the line and many who
died for his right to sit safely in his air conditioned studio peddling
hate. On August 19th, The New York Times published an op-ed by seven members
of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division critical of George Bush's Iraq
policy. Two of those soldiers were killed earlier this month in Baghdad.
Does Mr. Limbaugh dare assert that these heroes were 'phony soldiers'? Mr.
Limbaugh owes an apology to everyone who has ever worn the uniform of our
country, and an apology to the families of every soldier buried in Arlington
National Cemetery. He is an embarrassment to his Party, and I expect the
Republicans who flock to his microphone will now condemn this indefensible
statement."
Email from Media Matters for America from earlier today:
I wanted to make sure you were aware of this. Yesterday on his nationally
syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh - THE leading voice of the
conservative movement -- called service members who support a U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq "phony soldiers."
You can listen to the audio for yourself and read the full transcript here:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200709270010
You may recall that Limbaugh called the MoveOn.org "General Petraeus or
General Betray Us?" advertisement "contemptible" and "indecent," even though
months earlier, on his radio show, he told his audience that he had a new
name for Senator Chuck Hagel: "Senator Betrayus." Though Limbaugh has taken
exception to accusations that he has attacked the patriotism of his
political opponents, the "Senator Betrayus" remark is one of several
instances in which Limbaugh has done so. You can find the audio and
transcript on that, here:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200709220003
Katherine Ely
Media Matters for America
202-756-4103
Limbaugh: Service members who support U.S. withdrawal are "phony soldiers"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200709270010
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."
As Media Matters for America has documented, Limbaugh denounced as
"contemptible" and "indecent" MoveOn.org's much-discussed advertisement --
titled "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" -- critical of Gen. David
Petraeus, but has repeatedly attacked the patriotism of those with whom he
disagrees. For instance, on the January 25 broadcast of his radio show, he
told his audience that he had a new name for Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), a
Vietnam veteran: "Senator Betrayus." A day earlier, Hagel had sided with
Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in voting to approve a
nonbinding resolution declaring that President Bush's escalation in Iraq was
against "the national interest." Additionally, on August 21, 2006, Limbaugh
said: "I want to respectfully disagree with the president on the last part
of what he said. I am going to challenge the patriotism of people who
disagree with him because the people that disagree with him want to lose."
As Media Matters has also documented, on the August 2, 2005, program,
Limbaugh repeatedly referred to Iraq war veteran and then-Democratic
congressional candidate Paul Hackett as "another liberal Democrat trying to
hide behind a military uniform" and accused him of going to Iraq "to pad the
resumé." On the day of Limbaugh's comments, Hackett narrowly lost a special
election to Republican Jean Schmidt for Ohio's 2nd Congressional District
seat.
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
...
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