Beyond ‘Betray Us’: Rush Limbaugh’s ‘Phoney Soldiers’ Helps Dems Play Hardball
We are not toys
Reported by Greg Sargent of TMP, “Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) will be introducing a resolution in the House of Representatives on Monday condemning Rush Limbaugh for his “phony soldiers” remark.”
Rush Limbaugh’s ‘phoney soldiers’ comment
The remark made by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh comes on the heels of the MoveOn.org ‘General Petraeus or Betray Us?’ ad published in the New York Times ahead of the four-star general’s report to Congress on the Iraq war.
As noted here, the Senate wasted precious time on a vote to decry the ad instead of working on ways to end the war and better the lives of Americans.
Senate debating NYT ad
On one hand Udall is playing a political Perez Hilton, wasting time in Congress by focusing on the remarks of obnoxious entertainer. Described by Sargent, a resolution condemning Limbaugh “is potentially problematic for some in the leadership because there is an internal sentiment that it’s not Congress’ job to go around denouncing the remarks, however reprehensible, of private citizens.”
The sentiment is not just internal, we want real results not bombast.
On the other hand, Limbaugh’s rude remarks provide an opportunity for the Democrats to practice playing hardball with the Republicans, forcing congressional Republicans to vote their support for or against anti-war soldiers.
While the resolution has its roots in political posturing, Democrats need to take advantage of opportunities to sway more public opinion against the war in order to bring the troops home sooner. Political hay can be useful if it has a tangible, positive outcome.
Limbaugh has providing the Democrats some batting practice, and they could use it.
According to John Arvosis of AmericanBlog,
When MoveOn legitimately called into question General Petraeus’ honesty (he’s lied before), the mainstream media dutifully covered the Republicans’ crocodile tears. But when Rush Limbaugh - Dick Cheney’s favorite interviewer - attacks the integrity of American troops dying in Iraq for our country, the most the media can muster is coverage in their “blogs.” Whether it’s CBS blog, the Baltimore Sun blog, or the Chicago Tribune blog, there isn’t a lot of coverage of this issue in the real CBS News, the real Baltimore Sun, or the real Chicago Tribune, or anywhere else. Why the double standard? Senior Democrats have called out Limbaugh for his venom, which is usually what’s needed to make a story “real” in the eyes of the MSM. So why the double standard - when Dems are accused of dissing the troops, it’s a front page story for weeks. When Republicans actually diss the troops, it’s no big deal.
As Bradley Whitford recently said, “Everyone knows politics is an ugly business. And after the last two presidential campaigns you got to admit the Republicans are just better at it than we are.”
Whitford highlights Republican dirty tricks in an appeal against
the Presidential Election Reform Act
Whitford continued:
“Yet in the age of Bush, Cheney and Rove, we’ve seen Al Gore be called a tree-hugging liar, we’ve ben told that Global Warming is a myth, we’ve seen the devastating attacks of 9/11 as a wedge issue to divide the country, we’ve been rushed into war based on false intelligence, we’ve seen John Kerry, a decorated war hero, be called unamerican by a man who avoided his own military service.”
Our last president even commented on the ‘feigned outrage’:
Bill Clinton on the Republican response to the MoveOn ad
And as Sargent noted on his blog:
This is key. MoveOn’s ad on Mighty Scholar-Warrior Petraeus questioned his credibility, not his service. Republicans successfully sprinkled their Deception Dust all over the story and turned it into an attack on the troops. And the media bit — hard. As usual, the justification for covering and punditizing about the story was that Dems are vulnerable to charges that they are anti-military; therefore, the GOP’s demand that they condemn MoveOn was scoring political points; and perversely, this is what made the GOP assault news.
By contrast, Rush Limbaugh actually did impugn the service of soldiers who favor withdrawal from Iraq. But because Republicans aren’t vulnerable to charges that they’re anti-military, this doesn’t give Dems as clear an opportunity to score political points by demanding that Repubs condemn him. Therefore, it isn’t as newsworthy. Yes, the Limbaugh story is getting some traction today. But it will get nowhere near the attention that the GOP attack on Dems over the MoveOn ad got.
Part of the Democrats’ strength is their ability to take the high road on issues and not lower themselves to the dregs of political campaigning. It’s also a weakness in that Americans respond to negative attacks and tend to vote for those who attack with the greatest vitriol.
Being a conservative and Republican, Limbaugh’s snide ‘phoney soldiers’ comment allows Democrats to play politics on the issue of whether or not non-active soldiers can disagree with the policies of their government. While legally they can, many war-mongers, conservatives and Republicans have portrayed those against the war as anti-American. The Dems now have some chips in the game if they play this card right.
Funny enough, Limbaugh has a connection with both recent issues, calling Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel ‘General Betray Us’ for his anti-war stance before the MoveOn ad.
Countdown with Keith Olbermann: Limbaugh worst person in the world
If the Democrats can get congressional Republicans to denounce Limbaugh’s comments they will be able to assert that Congress supports anti-war patriotism, along with deflecting attacks against anti-war ideals.
While potentially politically useful, it’s a small step in the war of ideas, and one that most everyone already knew.
With Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly now both defending recent ignorant remarks, it appears that conservative hypocrisy is finally catching up with them.
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- Rush Limbaugh: Affirmative Action Helped Lando Calrissian
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- Iraq War: Why Defunding is Politically Viable
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