Phony Soldiers

Hint: us liberals really don't care about Limbaugh's statement. We're too busy laughing at the utter hypocrisy of the conservatives and lapdog liberals who feigned offense at the MoveOn ad

 

did he condemn ABC news, who used the same term two days earlier than Rush?

 

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-s...ted-phony-heroes-three-days-rush-limbaugh-did

[rquoter]ABC Reported on ‘Phony Heroes' Two Days Before Rush Limbaugh Did
Photo of Noel Sheppard.
By Noel Sheppard | September 30, 2007 - 20:54 ET

This is really hysterical, folks, and definitely requires all drinking vessels be properly stowed before continuing.

Just days before Rush Limbaugh was attacked by a number of press outlets for discussing "phony soldiers" on the air, ABC's Brian Ross did a segment on "World News with Charles Gibson" dealing with "phony heroes...scam artists...posing as the war heroes they never were, claiming credit for acts of courage in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Marvelously, this story was aired on Monday, September 24, just two days before Limbaugh made his comments. And, as noted in a NewsBusters posting by the MRC's Brent Baker, the report even mentioned the same "phony soldier," Jesse Macbeth (pictured to the right), that Limbaugh did on his program Wednesday.

Will media attack ABC with the same zeal they did Limbaugh? Maybe even more important, will House Democrats offer a resolution to condemn Ross, Gibson, and everyone involved in ABC's report?

While you ponder, what follows is a full transcript of this segment (video available here, h/t Rush Limbaugh.com):
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CHARLES GIBSON, HOST: (Voiceover) 'A Closer Look" tonight at phony heroes. A famous recruiting slogan once touted the Army as a place to be all you can be. But increasingly, scam artists are posing as the war heroes they never were, claiming credit for acts of courage in Iraq and Afghanistan. Federal officials have launched a crackdown. Operation Stolen Valor they call it. Tonight, our Brian Ross investigates.

GRAPHICS: BRIAN ROSS INVESTIGATES

BRIAN ROSS (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) At the Washington State Capitol in Olympia this year, a Marine Corps Color Guard included a Marine chaplain to deliver the opening prayer. But authorities later discovered that the Marine chaplain, Captain Reggie Buddle, was not a chaplain.

JEFFREY SULLIVAN (US ATTORNEY)

I think he went to seminary school and flunked out.

BRIAN ROSS (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Nor was a Buddle a captain, nor had he earned all the medals he wore. In fact, Buddle had never been in the Marines, even though he had officiated at numerous Marine weddings, baptisms and funerals.

JEFFREY SULLIVAN (US ATTORNEY)

It was devastating to the people who had relied on him.

BRIAN ROSS (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) At a time when tens of thousands of US soldiers have put their lives on the line in Iraq and been honored for their sacrifice and courage, federal prosecutors have had to launch a crackdown on phony heroes.

JEFFREY SULLIVAN (US ATTORNEY)

They want something that they didn't earn. They didn't have the guts to go and do it themselves.

BRIAN ROSS (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Authorities say many of the phony heroes make up their stories, so they can get free treatment at veterans' hospitals.

DOUGLAS CARVER (VETERANS AFFAIRS OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL)

They're taking money away that should be used for the deserving veterans.

BRIAN ROSS (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Most of the phonies are spotted by people who really earned their medals. In St Louis, this supposed Marine with a chest full of honors was turned in because he seemed too fat to be a real Marine. It turns out he never served a day in the Marines.

JESSE ADAM MACBETH (VIDEO BLOGGER)

Once I was in Baghdad...

BRIAN ROSS (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) But authorities say the most disturbing case involves this man, 23-year-old Jesse Macbeth. In a YouTube video seen around the world, Macbeth became a rallying point for anti-war groups, as he talked of the Purple Heart he received in Iraq and described how he and other US Army rangers killed innocent civilians at a Baghdad mosque.

JESSE ADAM MACBETH (VIDEO BLOGGER)

Women and men, you know - while in their prayer, we started slaughtering them.

BRIAN ROSS (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) It was a complete fabrication.

DOUGLAS CARVER (VETERANS AFFAIRS OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL)

He was in for approximately six weeks and then he was discharged. I don't think he even completed basic training.

BRIAN ROSS (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Last week in federal court in Seattle, Macbeth offered an apology for defaming the real American heroes as he admitted to lying about his service record and his supposed atrocities, Charlie.

CHARLES GIBSON (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Operation Stolen Valor. Brian Ross investigating, thanks.

I'm verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves.[/rquoter]

 

why should they be condemned if the report is accurate?

 

you know, i missed this earlier, but you're saying Harkin, Tom Harkin, had the gumption to get out in front on this? well, you go girl.

[rquoter]August 18, 2004

TOM HARKIN, FAKE WAR HERO: In an update to an earlier post, I noted some comments by Donald Sensing about Sen. Tom Harkin, most recently seen attacking the patriotism of Dick Cheney. Sensing observed: "Harkin himself claimed to have battled Mig fighters over North Vietnam while a Navy pilot. He was a pilot, but never went to Vietnam."

A reader emailed to say that he didn't think Sensing's sourcing was good enough for a charge of that magnitude. It seemed to me that I remembered some Harkin truth-stretching from back then, and I trust Sensing, but in keeping with Walter Cronkite's warnings about poorly sourced stories on the Internet, I decided to do some research at lunchtime. In a book called Stolen Valor : How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History, I found this passage, which is considerably worse for Harkin than Sensing's short summary. I'm reproducing it as an image for the benefit of doubters.

I also found an article from the Wall Street Journal, entitled "Harkin Presidential Bid Marred by Instances In Which Candidate Appears to Stretch Truth," dated December 26, 1991, p. A12. (Sorry -- I got this via WESTLAW so I can't post a link, but the WESTLAW page number is 1991 WL-WSJ 578809.) [LATER: It's now available for free on the Web, thanks to James Taranto.] It supports the above. Here's an excerpt:

In 1979, Mr. Harkin, then a congressman, participated in a round-table discussion arranged by the Congressional Vietnam Veterans' Caucus. "I spent five years as a Navy pilot, starting in November of 1962," Mr. Harkin said at that meeting, in words that were later quoted in a book, Changing of the Guard, by Washington Post political writer David Broder. "One year was in Vietnam. I was flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaisance support missions. I did no bombing."

That clearly is not an accurate picture of his Navy service. Though Mr. Harkin stresses he is proud of his Navy record -- "I put my ass on the line day after day" -- he concedes now he never flew combat air patrols in Vietnam. . . .

Mr. Harkin's Navy record shows his only decoration is the National Defense Service Medal, awarded to everyone on active service during those years. He did not receive either the Vietnam Service medal or the Vietnam Campaign medal, the decorations given to everyone who served in the Southeast Asia theater. "We didn't get them for what we did," Mr. Harkin says. "It's never bothered me."

Two things bother me about this. One is that Harkin seems a rather odd choice for the Democrats as an attack dog. As Sensing notes, what are they thinking?

The other is that I managed to do this research over my lunch hour, but it doesn't seem to be noted in the press treatment of Harkin's charges by the people who get, you know, paid to do this stuff. (Take that, Walter!) And it would seem that when Harkin -- who didn't serve in Vietnam combat but who lied about it, and whose actual military service seems rather similar to Bush's -- calls Dick Cheney a "coward" because he didn't serve in Vietnam, well, it ought to be worth mentioning. Shouldn't it be?

Instead, CNN calls Harkin a "former Navy fighter pilot," (though it at least gets the details of his service correct).

Calling Harkin "a Senator who, like President Bush, flew fighter jets during the Vietnam era without seeing combat but who, unlike President Bush, lied about it," would be more accurate, but it would kind of change the story. Wonder why nobody looked into this? Or, if they knew, bothered to note it?

As with the Kerry Christmas-in-Cambodia story, this is probably more significant for what it tells us about the sorry state of political journalism this campaign season than for what it tells us about the speaker.

UPDATE: Roger Simon has more thoughts on today's political journalism, and Harkin.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Daniel Moore observes:

The blogosphere has clearly shown the world that there are a whole host of stories that old media doesn't cover out of sheer laziness and that any quick look for actual facts can contradict many stories that, say, political candidates put out and then [are] taken as fact by the media. Newspaper reporters used to know this - and they used to look for those facts. They used to check sources. They used to search for the truth in a way that would make any skeptic proud. But now they just read the press releases and change a word here or there.

It sure seems that way, sometimes, on some stories.

MORE: Reader Greg Swenson emails: "I was infuriated about Harkin's comments because I too did some coffee break Googling and found the same notes regarding the Senator's exaggerations of his service after I recalled the earlier incident. I'm a ******* salesman and even I (underlined with emphasis) could fact check Harkin's ass. Why can't these blow-dried prima donnas news types do it?" Beats me. Guess they don't want to. "Gulf War Veteran" Bryan Preston has more.

STILL MORE: Well, glory be -- somebody did notice this. Reader Jim Adair emails: "Last night on Brit Hume's Fox News show, Hume mentioned the Harkin attack on Cheney and also mentioned that Harkin had overly expressed his service contribution during a presidential bid. Fair AND balanced!" [LATER: Here's a link to the transcript: scroll to the bottom.]

Sean Hackbarth writes: "I'm sensing a pattern." This seems to be getting rather a lot of attention now.

Michael Drout, journalist-turned-professor, explains why journalists don't want to look for facts anymore:

Based on my experience at J-school, I can generalize a couple things about journalists around my age that could explain some of the problems. First, nearly all of us were in J-school not because we wanted to be reporters, but because we wanted to write. . . . Thus reporters are ripe for the temptation of press-releases: and most press-release-writing flacks are people with journalism degrees who know exactly how to write a release so that the reporter can edit out obvious promotion but still buy the overall spin.

Second, almost all of the J-school program at Stanford was spent trying to get us to think about the implications of journalism, the politics of reporting, the influence of journalists, etc.

He concludes:

I think this is a long-term big problem for Journalism, the profession. It has been eating its seed corn for a decade or more, and so much of its cultural authority is used up. This can be good, in that it reduces the influence of unaccountable institutions, like the big daily papers. But it's also bad, because once everyone stops believing the newspapers, you have a huge problem of vetting and evaluating information.

Indeed.

FINALLY: Reader Dennis Preiser emails:

All of the talk about lazy journalism, etc., etc. is not the "real deal" in Harkin's story or any other story. The point that should be made is that the only stories that are not pursued with zeal by the MSM are the ones that benefit George W. Bush. There is absolutely no other factor of import involved. It's nothing but bias, pure and simple. Period.

Well, they did seem to work a lot harder on the AWOL claims. . . .[/rquoter]

 

http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=2716

[rquoter]‘Phony Vets for Truth’ Join Reid Attack on Rush Limbaugh
by Scott Ott · 4 Comments

(2007-10-01) — Just hours after Sen. Harry Reid, D-NV, took the senate floor to call on radio talkshow host Rush Limbaugh to apologize for using the term “phony soldiers” during his Friday broadcast, a newly-formed, grassroots veterans organization endorsed the senate majority leader’s efforts.

Phony Vets for Truth, an non-profit group comprised of ex-military personnel who have publicly and deceptively disparaged the United States, the president or fellow U.S. troops in time of war, applauded “Sen. Reid’s bravery, and his appropriate use of senate debate time to discuss Mr. Limbaugh’s scurrilous remarks.”

In a statement completely independent of the Democrat National Committee, Phony Vets for Truth, a non-partisan think tank, also said: “When private citizens start to believe that they can say whatever they want without being subject to the normal democratic process of selective sound-bite editing, and selective outrage, then it’s time for Congress to take action.”

The group, which has no affiliation with professional Vietnam Veteran Sen. John Kerry, also commended Sen. Tom Harkin, D-IA, for “boldly standing behind the protection of the ‘speech and debate‘ clause of the Constitution to suggest that Mr. Limbaugh was high on drugs.”[/rquoter]

 

His point is that smear attack is Rep's game. Dem should go back to seat on their ass and do nothing, which is akin to hike the high road and not play in the mud putt.


Seriously, I don't know what happened but entire flock of people act like little girls now days. "Oh no they call us names! Unite my sisters!". Why is so many people so sensitive. Whatever, US politics never makes sense to me. Bunch of clowns running a tax-funded circuit, with corp 'donation' on the side.

Oh, and one of my favorite quote

 

Only a complete and utter moron would even listen to this drug addicted windbag, let alone believe a word that comes out of his filthy sewer hole.

 

Tom Harkin is a phony vietnam vet, and yet, he's trying to slime rush for calling others who have falsely claimed service "phony soldiers." glass houses, and all that...

 

He doesn't have to "slime Rush." Limbaugh does that to himself everyday with his lies, distortions, and utter bull****.



D&D. Impeach Bush, His Dog, and Rush Limbaugh... Who's Lower than a Dog.

 

oh, i agree about rush, but there's no comparison here between what rush and abc did, and what moveon did. moreover, trotting out tom harkin as the front man on this latest bit of grandstanding by the democrats is rich indeed.

on the other hand, harry reid finally admitted yesterday that american soldiers are fighting for freedom in iraq, so it's nice to see him drop the blood for oil and imperialism canards. however, having so admitted, one wonders why he apparently doesn't believe iraqis deserve the freedom our soldiers are fighting and dying for. is it their religion, perhaps the color of their skin?

 

If Rush were only calling those who have falsely claimed service "phony" that would be one thing.

That isn't what Rush is doing. Rush is calling some soldiers who have served, "phony" and that is what the hoopla is about.