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Mycroft
Skeptic Friend
USA
427 Posts |
 Posted - 10/10/2007 : 10:33:45 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
All that shows is Limbaugh using McBeth as a singular example to try to justify his previous "phony soldiers defamation. He's clearly already defined all anti-war soldiers as being "phony" and only uses MacBeth to impune them by association and to bash the anti-war "left" (and center, and part of the right). |
MacBeth isn't the only one who has done this. Misrepresenting oneself to add strength to a point of view isn't unique.
Washington Post Article
Rangers Lead the Way in Exposing Authour as a Fraud
By Richard Leiby
The Washington Post
Sunday, May 2, 2004; Page D03
In the Style section last summer we profiled a Los Angeles writer named Micah Ian Wright, who'd just published a shrill antiwar poster book called "You Back the Attack! We'll Bomb Who We Want!" In his book, he described himself as a veteran of combat, a former Army Ranger whose experiences during the 1989 invasion of Panama turned him into a peacenik. In interviews with The Post and other media, he played up that background.
Wright, it turns out, is a liar. He never served in the military -- and confessed that last week to his publisher, Seven Stories Press, after we insisted on evidence of his service. Pursuing a tip from real Rangers who'd never heard of Wright, we filed three Freedom of Information Act requests with separate Army commands -- and last month finally confirmed that Wright never served. |
Edited to fix overly long link.
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Mycroft
Skeptic Friend
USA
427 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2007 : 10:56:38 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Cuneiformist
I don't know, Mycroft. I did some more reading into it, and to an extent, you're right. Though actually, it seems like the reference was to the previous caller, who claimed to be both a Republican and in the military. To this, Rush says, "And I, by the way, used to walk on the moon!" In other words, since the caller is in favor of leaving from Iraq, he must be lying when he says he is a Republican and in the military. That is, no real Republican/military person could want to leave Iraq. |
I found that to be a real jaw-dropper. A Republican can't be against the war? Nonsense! Many are. Rush is certainly wrong in that, but then he is a polemic and that's what you expect from him.
| Originally posted by CuneiformistBut the second caller-- the one where the "phony soldier" comes up, really seems to take it a step further and suggest that only "real" soldiers want to stay, and the rest (i.e. those who want to leave) are, in Rush's words, "phony." And Rush said nothing to suggest that he disagreed. (Even though, for instance, real soldiers wrote a compelling NY Times op-ed arguing that we should leave.) |
Upon further review I think that is the opinion of the caller. If you listen to the recording it sounds to me as though Rush are talking past each other, saying different things, yet each assuming the other is in total agreement.
| Originally posted by CuneiformistThe McBeth comment (the "Morning Update") came long after the phone calls and so is not in the same context. It's not clear, but it sounds like it was something covered much earlier-- days or weeks-- by the comment "that we did recently." In general, that's not what you'd say if you did it in the previous hour or something. |
Hmm, maybe. Or he's referring to the previous hour and things that have been raised in previous shows. He's been on the air a long time and he's speaking to an audience of devout listeners.
Originally posted by CuneiformistIn all, I'd say that Rush's defense is pretty weak and that he got caught up in his own deluded rhetoric-- that no real Republican or member of the military can possibly be in favor of leaving Iraq. Those that are must, in Rush's mind, be liars.
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In my opinion the bottom line is that Rush is the final authority on exactly what the opinions and thoughts of Rush Limbaugh are. Everyone sometimes says something that is interpreted wrong, or comes out different from what they mean, and being a celebrity political pundit certainly doesn't change that. None of us are omniscient, capable of knowing his thoughts, so the only fair thing to do is to believe that his thoughts are what he says they are. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2007 : 11:09:04 [Permalink]
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All too true, Mycroft. I've run into a couple of these at veterans events, over the years, and they talk a good fight. I rather think that it is at least partly human nature (I've never liked that term but have no better one) to claim higher stature than what reality calls for. Had MacBeth not tried to inflate his ego, he'd never have gotten in trouble over it, and Rush might never have made those remarks.
But, as Limbaugh strives never to disappoint, he'd make others fully as false because his ego needs constant puffing up as well, and that takes a lot of wind.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Rush Limbaugh jumps the shark.....
