Byron York: Dems’ Limbaugh frustration

The Hill ^ | 10/05/07 | Byron York

[Jean S]

It’s payback time for Democrats still smarting over the MoveOn.org “General Betray Us?” controversy.

But so far, payback hasn’t been terribly sweet.

Congressional Democrats got it from both sides in the MoveOn brouhaha — from the left, with MoveOn’s over-the-top attack on Gen. David Petraeus, and from the right, from Republicans who cornered more than 20 Democrats into voting for the resolution condemning the ad.

That’s where Rush Limbaugh comes in.

His “phony soldiers” remark last week has stirred the left into spitting rage.

Of course, they’re mad at Limbaugh. But they’ve been mad at him for years.

The real question is how mad they are at Democrats. Surely Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will organize their majorities to condemn Limbaugh, right?

Right?

Not so far.

“We don’t really expect it to be brought up in the Senate for a vote,” says one Senate source.

“I would be truly amazed [if a condemnation vote were held],” says another Senate insider. “The Democrats didn’t get quite the bang they thought they’d get. Major media largely yawned; conservative media surged.”

On Tuesday, 41 Senate Democrats signed a letter to Mark Mays, head of radio giant Clear Channel Communications, calling Limbaugh’s comments “unpatriotic and indefensible.”

“We call on you to publicly repudiate these comments,” the senators wrote, “and to ask Mr. Limbaugh to apologize for his comments.”

The signers included the Senate Democratic leadership, plus presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Joseph Biden (D-Del.), and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.).

But that was just 41 senators. A resolution condemning Limbaugh would probably get more, but nothing like the 72 votes the condemnation of the MoveOn ad got.

But what about the House?

There’s been talk about a resolution — one has been drafted “condemning the attack by broadcaster Rush Limbaugh on the integrity and professionalism of some of [the U.S. military].”

But so far, it hasn’t come to the floor, and its chances don’t look good.

So why are these two controversies, MoveOn and Limbaugh, producing different results?

Because they are different.

The “General Betray Us?” ad was a single-page, big-type statement with the world’s most provocative headline. It said what it said. You could read the whole thing in a few seconds and judge for yourself.

Limbaugh’s comment wasn’t quite the same. It wasn’t just a two-word statement, despite what his critics say. To get what Limbaugh was saying, you had to listen to a full exchange — something that requires a few minutes’ investment, which is more than some of Limbaugh’s most determined adversaries have been willing to make.

And then you had to think about it all. Limbaugh says he had news reports of an actual phony soldier, Jesse Macbeth, in mind when he made his comments.

And sure enough, Limbaugh discussed Macbeth, unbidden, in the same exchange with a listener in which he used the “phony soldier” phrase.

A fair-minded reviewer would likely conclude that yes, Limbaugh was referring to Macbeth. After all, he said it at the time.

None of that has been enough, however, for Limbaugh’s critics, particularly in the blogosphere.

“It’s time to take him out,” says Jane Hamsher, guiding spirit of the popular Firedoglake blog.

What’s frustrating to Hamsher and others on the left is that congressional Democrats don’t have the same mad desire to “take him out” that she and her colleagues in the blogosphere do.

“The fact that the Democrats aren’t going after Rush hammer and tongs is largely due to their failure to see themselves as an opposition party involved in an ideological war,” Hamsher writes.

“The Republicans understand it, and that’s why they’ve been so successful at controlling the agenda as a minority party.”
So for now, at least, the blogosphere fumes and Democrats fret.

We’re probably looking at a few more days of controversy and posturing, and then … nothing. At least, until the next dust-up.

York is a White House correspondent for
National Review. His column appears in The Hill each week.

[CIDKauf]

Rush is “street smart”...he knows how to get them going and make the ratings

[Rocko]

Ha!

[Petronski]

Remember, Willard is frustrated too. His plan was to throw Limbaugh under the bus.

[airborne]

Even with “half his brain tied behind his back, just to make it fair’, Rush is kicking the snot out of these idiot socialists.

It’s nice to see someone on our side actually fight back!

Keep it up Rush!

[ozzymandus]

Did anybody see geraldo and colmes last night? Geronimo was a total a-hole, and colmes suggested Rush started the whole scandal for ratings. In other words, colmes has realized the left is losing badly on this issue, and he wants to bail and claim Rush started it.

[Texas Eagle]

Rush has invited Sen. Reid on to his show to say to Rush face-to-face what he said about him from the Senate floor.

Has Reid accepted the invitation yet?

HA! Jesse Al-Zaid McBeth will finish boot camp before Reid grows the 'nads to call Rush.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Liberals are only attacking Rush because he’s the roadblock to Hillary retaking the WH. They could care less about Macbeth, or for the troops for that matter. Macbeth is disposable just as Sheehan was.

[I still care]

From Rush today -

“No human being should be allowed to have the kind of fun I’m having today. I know fun is not a zero-sum game — just because I’m having a lot doesn’t mean somebody else isn’t — but I sure feel like I’m stealing other people’s share of fun.”

I love Rush.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

LMAO

[SkyPilot]

This "dust up" against Rush Limbaugh has been a disaster for Liberals and Democrats.

Why?

Because the Left has used this to vent their frustration over the "Betray-Us" Move-on.org ad - but they only added to their woes.

What was the Left thinking by carting out Senators Harkin and Kerry? Harkin is a Liar - he claimed he was a Vietnam combat pilot, and he was a ferry pilot who never even went into a combat zone.

He lied.

Why? Because he has a base need to be seen as legitimate and a hero. The truth is he is neither.

Kerry? Do I need to say more about his fake military record? Kerry loved the world before 2004, when he was revered in the Senate as a military hero. Today, he is a joke, and he wished he never ran for President because he was exposed as the phony he is.

All the Left did was blow off steam of frustration - but they made their case worse.

Again, the Joke is on them.

[shankbear]

The democrat party has accomplished NOTHING since they took power in January.. As we say “all hat, no horse.” They can’t make the President withdraw the troops. They can’t de-fund the war. They are trying to make everybody chase rabbits. Newsflash to Reid, Durbin, Pelosi, Kerry, Kennedy and all of the other communist shills in Congress.......it ain’t working. You are failing. Rush has punked all of you. You are idiots and you seem to love it. Rush owns your worthless scum butts.

[JRochelle]

I think The Rush Limbaugh Show will be Romney free from now on.

Rush will ignore him and talk about the other guys.

[ansel12]

“I love Rush.”

Dittos

“””RUSH Transcript:
“I didn’t talk about this last week, but Mitt Romney issued a statement much like he issued against — who did he throw under the bus? Oh. Larry Craig. He issued a statement: That’s reprehensible what Limbaugh said, horrible, whatever it was he said — and then later in the day somebody from his office called our office. “We just found out that this is a smear, and Mitt will say this if he’s asked about it.” He hasn’t been asked about it, so his statement still stands.””””

[shield]

Jesse Adam MacBeth changed is birth name...he true name is: Jesse Adam Al-Zaid

RUSH: I kind of glossed over this, but the phony soldier being discussed on this program since last Wednesday, Jesse MacBeth, was born as Jesse Al-Zaid in 1984. Now, he did something interesting in January of 2006. After he told all of these lies, after he lied about his Purple Heart -- the guy never got out of boot camp. He washed out after 44 days. He was never a Green Beret, Special Ops, never anything, never went to Iraq. The whole thing was manufactured. Obviously, he had to do this on purpose with the intent of discrediting the US military. Now, these are the people, before they learn the truth, the Democrat Party embraces, sad to say. So he tells all these lies about all these soldiers that he saw hanging innocent civilians from the rafters of mosques and all this.

His words were spread all over the world on the Internet, they were translated into Arabic, and I'm assuming here that Al-Zaid is an Arabic name. So what we have here in the case of Jesse MacBeth, who, by the way, was originally embraced, he was like a hero to the anti-war left. They loved spreading the lies. Are there any retractions coming from them now? No. And there won't be. The truth is inconvenient. It is fiction that propels the anti-war movement, ladies and gentlemen. But in January of 2006, he joined Iraq Veterans Against the War, and he was welcomed into this group. It should raise questions about the mission. The Jesse Al-Zaids of the world do not represent most vets and those serving now. So he joins this group, and they welcome him. I don't know that he will ever be denounced by these guys.

Link to above

[Duke Nukum]

It would be nice if elected conservative Republicans would take an example from Rush instead of hiding under their desks every time the Terrorists Newspaper of Record says something bad about them.

[CIDKauf]

a) Rush started it
b) Dingy Harry started it
c) It started itself
d) McBeth started it (It’s a tangled web we weave when first we practice to decieve)
I heard the original program (s) because I think that they are complaining about 2 things Rush said on 2 different days. This is Comedy Central, and Rush doesn’t know about it?

[CIDKauf]

Well.....Rush won’t run for President because it’s too big of a pay cut.

[VR-21]

“It’s time to take him out,” says Jane Hamsher, guiding spirit of the popular Firedoglake blog."

Imagine how they'd howl "censorship" if some conservative stated a desire to "take out" one of theirs.

That aside, it's creepy how they continue trying to turn a brazen lie into an indictment of a conservative.

I feel sometimes as if this country is becoming Oceania in front of my eyes.

[CIDKauf]

ping