Fact or fiction: Limabugh "phony soldiers" controversy

MEMO: Fact vs. Fiction in the Limbaugh "phony soldiers" controversy Summary: To: Interested Parties From: Karl Frisch, Media Matters for America Re: Fact vs. Fiction in the Limbaugh "phony soldiers" controversy... Date: Friday, October 5, 2007 Below you will find a brief description of Rush Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" comments along with documentation that corrects common misconceptions in the media about the controversy surrounding his remarks and subsequent statements on the subject. OVERVIEW During the September 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh characterized service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as "phony soldiers." Limbaugh said to a caller that "[t]here's a lot" that people who favor U.S. withdrawal from Iraq "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 -- keep the troops safe' or whatever," adding, "[I]t's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people." Limbaugh's caller 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." FACTS vs. FICTION

FICTION: Limbaugh's comments referred to only one soldier

FACT: During his September 28 broadcast, responding to criticism of his comments, Limbaugh claimed that rather than speaking generally of soldiers who support withdrawal from Iraq, he was "talking about one soldier with that 'phony soldier' comment." Later in the program, he asserted, "[E]verybody involved in this knows full well I was talking about one genuine, convicted, lying, fake soldier," referring to Jesse MacBeth, who pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for pretending to be an injured Iraq war veteran. But as the September 26 transcript makes clear, Limbaugh actually referred to "phony soldiers," plural. Responding to the caller's statement that supporters of withdrawal "like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media," Limbaugh responded, "The phony soldiers" [emphasis added].

FICTION: Limbaugh's comments occurredduring a discussion about Jesse MacBeth

FACT: On the October 2 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, while purporting to give viewers "some background" on Limbaugh's comments, co-anchor Megyn Kelly reported: "Rush originally used this term 'phony soldiers' when he was talking about a guy named Jesse MacBeth. ... Limbaugh was making the point that this guy was basically a 'phony soldier,' and he was trying to say that sometimes people on the left use 'phony soldiers' like this to make their points." But contrary to Kelly's assertion that "Rush originally used this term 'phony soldiers' when he was talking about" MacBeth, Limbaugh did not mention MacBeth on the September 26 broadcast of his radio show until 1 minute and 50 seconds after he used the phrase "phony soldiers." After Limbaugh used the phrase, the caller he was speaking with went on to discuss the purported presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, with Limbaugh responding. Limbaugh then thanked the caller for calling, and the caller is not heard again on the broadcast. Only after this did Limbaugh bring up MacBeth on his September 26 show.

FICTION: Limbaugh's comments referredto a group of actual military imposters

FACT: During his September 28 broadcast, following his repeated assertions that he had been referring to "one soldier," a caller asked, "But you did say 'soldiers' in plural, though, didn't you?" Limbaugh replied: "Yes, because there have been a number of these people, but they were not active duty -- I was not talking about anti-war, active duty troops. I was talking about people who've been exposed as frauds who never served in Iraq but claimed to have seen all these atrocities, [unintelligible]." Limbaugh repeated this explanation during his October 2 broadcast, describing MacBeth as "the man I was referring to and others like him as 'phony soldiers.' " However, this explanation is inconsistent with his statements earlier in his September 28 program -- noted above -- that he had been talking about "one soldier." Indeed, the transcript (subscription required) of the September 28 broadcast that is posted on Limbaugh's website shows him asserting: "I was talking about one soldier with that phony soldier comment, Jesse MacBeth [italics, bold, and underline in original]."

FICTION: Limbaugh played the "entire"segment to explain his remarks

FACT: On his September 28 broadcast, Limbaugh purported to air the "entire" September 26 segment in which he referred to "phony soldiers" to prove that "Media Matters ... selectively choose[s] what they want to make their point." In fact, the clip he then aired omitted a full 1 minute and 35 seconds of the 1 minute and 50 second discussion that occurred between Limbaugh's original "phony soldiers" comment and his reference to MacBeth, the full audio of which can be heard here. Prior to airing the edited clip, Limbaugh said: "Here is, it runs about 3 minutes and 13 seconds, the entire transcript, in context, that led to this so-called controversy." After the clip ended, Limbaugh stated: "That was the transcript from yesterday's program, talking about one phony soldier. The truth for the left is fiction that serves their purpose, which is exactly the way the website Media Matters generated this story." Further, the transcript (subscription required) of his September 28 broadcast posted on Limbaugh's website does not make clear how much time elapsed between Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" remark and his discussion of MacBeth -- or even that it omitted any part of the conversation: Limbaugh's transcript does not provide any notation or ellipsis to indicate that there is, in fact, a break in the transcript of the September 26 clip he used. Similarly, during the October 2 edition of Fox News Live, after Fox News aired a brief clip of Limbaugh's September 26 "phony soldiers" comment, Carrie Lukas, director of policy for the conservative Independent Women's Forum, asserted, "If you go on for another, about 30 seconds, you hear Mr. Limbaugh start talking about Jesse MacBeth."

FICTION: Limbaugh did not call Rep. Jack Murtha a "phony soldier"

FACT: During the "Strategy Session" segment on the October 2 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, conservative talk show host Bill Bennett claimed that Limbaugh "did not call [Rep.] Jack Murtha [D-PA] a 'phony soldier.' " Bennett asserted that instead, Limbaugh "took Jack Murtha on, on the merits of the argument." In fact, during his September 28 broadcast Limbaugh stated:

LIMBAUGH: I was talking about a genuine phony soldier. And by the way, Jesse MacBeth's not the only one. How about this guy Scott Thomas who was writing fraudulent, phony things in The New Republic about atrocities he saw that never happened? How about Jack Murtha blanketly accepting the notion that Marines at Haditha engaged in wanton murder of innocent children and civilians? According to Murtha's biography on his congressional website, Murtha joined the Marines in 1952 and volunteered for service in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.

FICTION: Limbaugh didn't compare wounded Iraq vet to suicide bomber

FACT: On his October 4 radio show, Limbaugh asserted that he "didn't call" wounded Iraq veteran Brian McGough "a suicide bomber" on his October 2 show and said he was "grateful" for McGough's service. McGough appeared in an ad released by VoteVets denouncing Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" comment. In the ad, McGough says to Limbaugh, "Until you have the guts to call me a 'phony soldier' to my face, stop telling lies about my service." Limbaugh said on October 2: "[T]his is such a blatant use of a valiant combat veteran, lying to him about what I said, then strapping those lies to his belt, sending him out via the media in a TV ad to walk into as many people as he can walk into." Several media outlets have noted Limbaugh's comments, reporting that Limbaugh compared or likened McGough to a suicide bomber, including the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and ABCNews.com. Further, FoxNews.com reported that "Limbaugh decried the ad by the group that he linked to MoveOn.org, figuratively saying VoteVets is treating McGough like a suicide bomber."