Limbaugh's Own Caller Knew "Phony Soldiers" Was General Reference To Antiwar Troops
October 1, 2007 -- 5:49 PM EST // //

With the pushback from Rush Limbaugh and his sycophants in the blogosphere and elsewhere in full swing today, I feel compelled to hit a point that's getting lost in all the noise:

Anyone defending Limbaugh needs to reckon with the fact that even Limbaugh's own caller understood perfectly that the talk show host's use of the "phony soldiers" phrase was a general reference to soldiers favoring withdrawal from Iraq.

That Limbaugh's pushback is about as credible as the labels on his prescription bottles isn't lost on all the wingnut bloggers. As Steve Benen notes, Rick Moran of Right Wing Nuthouse has a remarkably sane take on this. He points out that Limbaugh's defense -- that he was referring specifically to actual fake soldiers, rather than antiwar troops in general -- is, well, pure bullshit. Moran asks: "Which is more plausible? Limbaugh lumping people who disagree with him into one, overarching, insulting rubric or Rush carefully delineating between some soldiers who oppose the war and the Jesse Macbeths of the world?"

It's a good question. And the answer's obvious if you just look at the transcript of what the man actually said, and how his caller reacted. Here's the relevant chunk, in which Rush is talking about pro-withdrawal war critics:

RUSH: It's not possible intellectually to follow these people.

CALLER: No, it's not. And what's really funny is they never talk to real soldiers. They pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and spout to the media.

RUSH: The phony soldiers.

CALLER: Phony soldiers. If you talk to any real soldier and they're proud to serve, they want to be over in Iraq, they understand their sacrifice and they're willing to sacrifice for the country.

This is just plain as day. As the transcript clearly shows, he used the phrase "phony soldiers" in direct response to his caller's complaint in general that we "never" hear from "real soldiers" who oppose the war, only troops who "spout" against the war "in the media."

What's more, even Limbaugh's caller took Limbaugh to be referring to antiwar troops in general. Take a look at the caller's response to the "phony soldiers" phrase. He replied: "Phony soldiers. If you talk to any real soldier and they're proud to serve, they want to be over in Iraq." The caller's response shows he understood Limbaugh's point: You're not a real soldier if you oppose the war; "any" real soldier "wants" to be serving in Iraq.

In other words, it really doesn't matter if Rush referred to any specific phony soldier long before this or long after this. When talking about Jesse MacBeth, he meant the phrase specifically. Here, however, he meant it generally. This larger category of phony soldier he described here includes MacBeth and all the other "phony soldiers" who are phony by dint of their desire to pull out of Iraq.

Rush may not have meant to say this. I think he did, but whatever his intended meaning, the bottom line is that he did say it. And his caller understood this perfectly, even if Rush's sycophantic defenders are pretending not to.

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