A Rush To Judgment

Wow, even Fox News got this story all wrong.

The conservative talk radio host was fighting back after Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate lambasted him over remarks he made last week suggesting veterans who oppose the Iraq war are "phony soldiers."

In the House, Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., who is running for the open Senate seat in his state, has authored a resolution condemning the host. Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has not decided whether or not he'll bring it up for a vote, his staff told FOX News.

The offense came up when a caller named Mike, who said he is currently serving in the Army, described his anger about talk of a pull-out from Iraq. Limbaugh readily agrees, according to the recorded exchange:

CALLER 2 (Mike): ...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: The phony soldiers.

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 has since said on his show that he was referring only to one soldier: disgraced, convicted former Army soldier-turned-antiwar-activist Jesse Macbeth. Macbeth falsely claimed to have participated in war crimes in Iraq and received a Purple Heart, but in reality, he was discharged after only 44 days of service, never placing a foot in Iraq.

He's right.

How do I know? Because I listened to the entire episode on the way to work that day. Maybe, just maybe, if the media looked at the situation in the context that it was presented, they would have realized that they completely botched the story. Limbaugh never suggested that soldiers who oppose the war are "phony." He said that soldiers who say they are combat veterans when they never served are "phony."

The funny thing is that Limbaugh said all of this would happen immediately after that phone call was concluded. He told the audience that the media would twist his words and try to make people believe that he doesn't support the troops. He was right there, too. And now, idiots like Harry Reid and Tom Harkin - people who wouldn't cross the street to spit upon a member of our armed services - are trying to paint themselves as patriots. Please. A few words of outrage won't make us forget the many times you have stated the Iraq War "is lost."

Look, Limbaugh can be an arrogant ass at times. If you want to crucify him for that, feel free. But don't dare to rip him for not supporting the troops, because that would not only be incorrect; it would also be ignorant of the facts.

This is why I tell the local media nothing when they ask for details of a high-profile crime. Why bother? They'll get it wrong every time.