Phony phony soldier story

This whole thing about Rush Limbaugh calling all soldiers who oppose the Iraq War "phony" is really so ridiculous that I had to respond. I listen to Rush everyday and am a Rush 24/7 subscriber so I have access to transcripts, video, audio, etc. Rush was talking about the phenomenon of civilians faking military service and lies about atrocities - phony soldiers.

Exhibit A:
Here's the transcript with my comments boxed, bolded and in black:

CALLER: No, it's not. And what's really funny is they never talk to real soldiers. [real, as in, actual soldiers, i.e. people ho have served and are not making up stories that they were in the military] They pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue [literally out of nowhere, because they are fake] and spout to the media.

RUSH: The phony soldiers. [He means FAKE soldiers, not actual soldiers who have served but disagree with Iraq]

CALLER: 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. [They chose to serve, were not duped into serving, they understand what they are doing and joined to help in Iraq]

CALLER: A lot of people. [Most, not all]

RUSH: You know where you're going these days, the last four years, if you sign up. The odds are you're going there or Afghanistan, or somewhere. [If you disagree with what the military is doing, why would you sign up in the last few years?]

[then they talk about WMD, etc. if you want to read the whole thing yourself click on the link above]

RUSH: Here is a Morning Update that we did recently, talking about fake soldiers. [FAKE, not real, phony, people who did not serve, but claim to] This is a story of who the left props up as heroes. [they don't like the war, so their heroes are anti-war] They have their celebrities and one of them was Army Ranger Jesse Macbeth. Now, he was a "corporal." I say in quotes. [Because he wasn't a corporal, he was a phony] 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. [the left often likes to overhype the number of PTSD stories] 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 [now a lot of people around the world think it is true and commonplace and will not hear the rest of the story] , 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." [Very tempting story for those who call US soldiers baby-killers and terrorists]

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. [i.e. he is a liar, a PHONY SOLDIER] 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. [PHONY] He isn't a corporal, never was.[PHONY SOLDIER] He never won the Purple Heart, and he was never in combat to witness the horrors he claimed to have seen. [liar, phony, hurt the US cause and put our soldiers in danger by perpetrating torture lies] You probably haven't even heard about this. [You only hear about Abu Gharib] And, if you have, you haven't heard much about it. [Or you only heard the part about the torture and murder and still believe 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. [Because the only heroes in their minds are those who are against the war, paint US troops as cold blooded killers, and help push public support against the Iraq War] Don't look for any retractions, by the way. [Don't look for any retractions about the phony soldier story either] 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. [They want a repeat of Vietnam where stories of soldier atrocities helped turn public sentiment against the war - most of those atrocities were fake and many of the people who reported them were phony soldiers - i.e. were never soldiers or never served in Vietnam] In other words, for the American anti-war left, the greatest inconvenience they face is the truth. [The truth is that there are not large scale atrocities commited as a daily occurence with the approval of everyone up to the president, but that is what the anti-war left wishes for the most]

Exhibit B:
From the daily e-mail Rush 24/7 subscribers get called "Rush in a Hurry" that I received on 9/26 at 5:23pm (Media Matters reported on the story at 1:24pm on 9/27):

A caller claiming to be a Republican against the war, asked, "How long is too long to stay in Iraq?" The answer, of course, is that we should stay as long as it takes to achieve victory. A soldier returning from Iraq responded to the call and Rush shared the story of the "liberal war hero" [phony soldier] that you won't hear about. He pawned himself off as an Army Ranger and made the rounds yakking against the war effort. [notice how it doesn't say "and Rush talked about how soldiers who want to pull out of Iraq are phony]

Exhibit C:
The bottom of the transcript I linked to has a link to a HotAir article that talks about this ABC News story about Jesse MacBeth:

"Macbeth's lies fueled hostility to our servicemen in Iraq and here at home," Sullivan said.

Federal prosecutors and investigators with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs say they are in the midst of a crackdown on phony heroes.

"The phony war hero phenomenon plagues the American landscape and tarnishes the service of thousands of veterans who have served honorable," said Douglas Carver, special agent in charge of the VA's inspector general operation in the west.

Rush responds:



Bottom line: Rush Limbaugh did not call anti-war US soldiers phonies!