Phony Soldiers versus Stuck in Iraq

Rush Limbaugh is on the hot seat for appearing to believe that U.S. Iraq War veterans who criticize the war are "phony soldiers."

Oh, but wait ... Apparently, when Rush referred to phony soldiers, he didn't really mean it in the plural, although that's precisely what he said. He didn't really mean to refer to "these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media," although that's precisely what he said. No, instead, he really just meant one soldier in particular: Jesse MacBeth. But you can't blame people for thinking otherwise. Let's review: when Rush made the "phony soldiers" comment, it was in direct response to a caller on his show who was complaining in sweeping, general terms that "they [leftist critics of the war] never talk to real soldiers. They pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue —"

Really?!? Leftist critics "never" talk to real soldiers? Am I to understand that the only "soldiers" leftists talk to are the phony soldiers? That's what Rush says! And, you know what the converse of this claim is, don't you? Well, let me tell you: those soldiers who do talk to leftists must be the "phony" ones, or else leftists wouldn't be talking to them, would they?

Well, my goodness! Excuse me for getting confused. Now, could it be that Rush Limbaugh really did mean just Jesse MacBeth, but simply "botched" the delivery of this meaning?

Maybe. Maybe. In fact, probably.

I'm willing to give Rush Limbaugh the benefit of the doubt, under one condition. That Rush Limbaugh and his defenders give John Kerry the benefit of the doubt that his "Stuck in Iraq" comment was, indeed, a botched joke referencing George W. Bush, which it most clearly was.

For all those Dittoheads who are now asking that the "context" of Rush's comment be taken into consideration and that the full transcript of his show be parsed and that we try to be sensitive to Rush's "intended" meaning of his "phony soliders" comment, even though the literal meaning of this comment is ambiguous, I ask for the same consideration of "context" as it refers to Kerry's "stuck in Iraq" comment, for the same attention to the full transcript of Kerry's speech and not just the unflattering soundbite, for the same sensitivity to Kerry's intended meaning of his "stuck in Iraq" comment.

If Kerry deserved being raked over the coals for his "botched joke," then Rush deserves it for this careless, ill-phrased, and ill-timed comment, too. And I hope the soldiers at VoteVets.org are as relentless in their "Swiftboating" attacks on El Rushbo (see below) as he and his Dittoheads were on Kerry.



What goes around, comes around.