Ineffectual Politics For Dummies

by digby

The Democrats will drop this, I assume, after making a half-assed stab at it today, because they have no pride and no dignity. But it is an awe-inspiring display of Republican arrogance nonetheless:

During the first hour of the October 1 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, in response to a Media Matters for America item documenting his recent description of service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as “phony soldiers,” Rush Limbaugh said: “I want to apologize to all of the members of the United States military, both in uniform and out, active duty and retired, for Media Matters for America.” Limbaugh continued: “They will not apologize to you, and they will not apologize to me. I want to apologize to you on behalf of them.” Limbaugh later asserted: “The bottom line to all this is that, last week, with this smear and this phony accusation regarding something I had not said about active duty military personnel, or even those who opposed the war, was that, once again, the integrity of the U.S. military was brought into question when the integrity of the sourcing group, Media Matters for America, should have been brought into question.” But Limbaugh has misrepresented his “phony soldiers” comments; indeed, listeners to Armed Forces Network (AFN), which broadcasts only the first hour of The Rush Limbaugh Show, heard only a spliced version of Limbaugh’s remarks in which he edited out 1 minute and 35 seconds of discussion, while falsely claiming that he was providing the “entire transcript.”

[…]

LIMBAUGH: I want to apologize to all of the members of the United States military, both in uniform and out, active duty and retired, for Media Matters for America. They will not apologize to you, and they will not apologize to me. I want to apologize to you on behalf of them. As all of you military personnel know, I — since the beginning of time and since the beginning of this program, certainly 19 years ago — have been one of the most ardent, loyal, in-awe supporters of any and all who wear the uniform — including those who disagree with the mission.

[…]

The bottom line to all this is is that, last week, with this smear and this phony accusation regarding something I had not said about active duty military personnel, or even those who opposed the war, was that, once again, the integrity of the U.S. military was brought into question when the integrity of the sourcing group, Media Matters for America, should have been brought into question.

A Hillary Clinton front group, they will continue to be used as an accredited source by the drive-by media, despite the fact that they have now been demonstrated to make things up, take things out of context, and embarrass those who report what they say. They will continue to be a source, because this is the ’08 playbook that we saw break down last week — and the Democrats may still introduce their resolution in the House castigating me. I don’t know. The House doesn’t go into session ’til two o’clock. We’ll have to wait and see. Don’t know if they will do that or not.

If they do, it’s just an effort to try to portray themselves as pro-military ’cause they know they have to because they know the impression they have accurately created is that they’re not pro-military, from [Rep.] Jack Murtha [D-PA] to [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid [D-NV] claiming defeat, [Sen.] John Kerry’s [D-MA] lifetime of criticism of the soldiers. So they’re going to try to deflect the criticism away from their pet organization, MoveOn.org, whose “Betray Us” ad backfired totally on them. It was a Wellstone moment for them, as will this be. [One of their most triumphant phony hissy fits ever — d]

But since you will never get an apology from Jack Murtha for mischaracterizing you as murderers; since you’ll never get an apology from John Kerry; since you won’t get an apology from Media Matters for America or anybody who works there — to all of you in the U.S. Military — I want to apologize to you for them for the, again, firestorm over something that did not happen regarding your valor and your commitment to freedom and democracy last week on this program. I really regret that it happened, and I apologize to you on their behalf since they won’t.

Awesome.

I’m tired of defending Democrats against this stuff. They seem to like looking like total assholes and having the public — and especially the military — see them as pathetic Charlie Browns who can’t even defend themselves against a drug-addled gasbag.

They should have removed Rush Limbaugh from the taxpayer supported Armed Forces Radio before, but most especially this week when they had the chance to teach the Republicans a lesson about the perils of fucking with free speech. Taking out their flagship scumbag (something that should have been done long ago) would have been a hard shot, right in the nose, and would have put them in their place. Instead, the Dems chose to beg for their Republican friends to sign a letter asking Rush’s boss to make him apologize for being mean. And what they get in return is this slander beamed directly to the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan on our dime. Wow.

I’ll repeat what I wrote last week: this election apparently boils down to whether the nation can overcome its inherent revulsion for ineffectual chickenshits to vote once again for a corrupt, failed political movement that’s past its prime. I’m assuming they’re tired enough of Republican failure to vote the other way by simple default. But they are getting no inspiration and there will be no mandate, so don’t get your hopes up. The Republicans will continue to rule the country from the minority.

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