MN-Sen: Coleman runs from his base

Fighting to be reelected in 2008, with celebrity Democratic candidate Al Franken breathing down his neck, Senator Norm Coleman is pulling out all the stops to make Minnesota voters forget that there is an 'R' next to his name.  On Sunday, he criticized conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh for calling US soldiers that come back and oppose the war "lazy":

“Limbaugh’s suggestion that those who have served their country andexpress their opinions are ‘phony soldiers’ is wrong. There needs to bea level of civility and honest debate in this country about issues asimportant as this. Labeling an active duty General a traitor, orcalling a soldier a phony for having a different opinion does not riseto the level of discourse we hold ourselves to in this country.”

If Norm Coleman wants to raise the issue of civility, maybe he should explain why he accused John Murtha of "undermining the morale of our troops" just because Murtha had the audacity to take a stand against Bush's war policy -- a policy that Coleman now all of a sudden opposes.

That, right there, is the definition of political calculation.

Comments

[granny]

The piece by Al Franken, (at the above link)is well worth reading. Clear, concise and to the point. What a pleasant relief on that particular subject, especially.

[Ted K.]

I am guessing NONE of you actually heard the Rush Limbaugh show when he used this term of "phony soldier."
I am also guessing that Sen. Coleman hasn't either.

Let me enlighten you,

Your anti-war side ( Iraq Veterans against the War) embraced an "ex soldier" - Jesse Macbeth.
MacBeth -23yrs old- claimed that he was an army Ranger, a corporal with a purple heart with combat experience that personally saw bodies of people killed by our soldiers burned and hanged from rafters. Gave speaches all over the place in anti war demonstrations.
This info was subsequently translated into arabic and posted around the web for the arabic world to see.
Here are some facts about this "phony soldier.''
Army Rangers are an average age of 28-30 first of all.

The Army rana check on Macbeth's credentials and he has NO army service record. The U.S. Army Special Ops Comman shows no soldier with the name Jesse Macbeth having ever been assigned to the Army Rangers.

Turns out Macbeth was drummed out of boot camp in only 44 days.

Rush had a caller on who said something to the effect of the left wrapping themselves around soldiers who speak against the war without checking their background.
Rush interupted him in the middle of this comment and corrected him by saying "phony soldier."

N. Coleman was correct in bashing Murtha, because Murtha accused soldiers of being cold blooded killers before they were even brought up on charges.

Those same soldiers he besmirched were cleared of the charges levied against them.

So saying "Murtha had the audacity to take a stand against Bush's war policy" isn't really very accurate.

He slammed and condemned these soldiers as murderers and did not appologize for it.

Kind of in the same vein of John Kerry testifying about the Viet Nam war, attrocities he claimed he saw, but then recanted, saying he "heard" of these attrocities- didn't witness them.

[granny]

WHY?

Why would an avowed conservative be posting on this site?

[Ted K.]

Why are you so afraid to speak with a conservative?

[Jon Hill II]

Ted K

I don't think anyone here is afraid to speak to a conservative at all. It's generally a futile exercise though. You won't likely change our minds and we wont likely change yours. The way that you and the rest of us look at things is just too different.

[Chief Editor: Todd]

Let's try to focus on politics, if we could.

[Ted K.]

no problem.
I believe my factual post showed the misinformation of this political story.

[Chief Editor: Todd]

I don't think it was misinformation at all, Ted, or else I wouldn't have posted it. Maybe you should read the Limbaugh transcript more carefully. Since what Limbaugh said was in a plural form, who exactly are the other soldiers that are phony? Who? Max Cleland, who the GOP did a hit job on? Or no, let's try Tammy Duckworth. Or maybe Paul Hackett? Who are the other phonies?

[Ted K.]

Todd, maybe you should check your facts instead of just clicking on to media matters for all your info.
Since you asked, here are other "phony soldiers:"

Micah Wright- another anti-war ranger..that wasn't a ranger

Jim Massey- Marine who lied and accused his unit of Iraqi mass genocide.

Amorita Randall- who was LOVED by the NY Times- said she served in Iraq, was in a blown up Humvee and then raped twice while serving in the Navy- She never served in Iraq- she was a naval construction worker.

Josh Lansdale- who Clair McCaskill used on the campaign trail to attack Jim Talent and his support of the troops.
Lansdale was an Army medic who returned from Iraq, claimed that his ankle was "busted" and PDS syndrom and had to wait 6 months to see a doctor.
Lansdale's medical complaints were unsubstantiated and when asked to show proof he refused to release records (so did McCaskill) and his Senior veteran members of his unit in Iraq came forward to challenge his account of his injuries in service.

I believe that would fill the "plural" quota.

[aravella]

I am guessing NONE of you actually heard the Rush Limbaugh show when he used this term of "phony soldier."
I am also guessing that Sen. Coleman hasn't either.

Let me enlighten you,

Ted,

You may have wanted to ask the question "has anyone listened to the Limbaugh show when he used the term "phony soldier"? and then proceeded with your assumptions. I do listen to Limbaugh and did listen that day. As I watch Hannity & Colmes and the O'Reilly Factor daily (I usually record for later viewing)

I am writing a post regarding the Limbaugh "phony soldier" statement which will include the "missing" 1 minute and 35 seconds that was left out of Rush's Sept. 28 playing of his "original broadcast". The post will contain the transcript from Rush's site, a conservative site and a liberal site. It will also have the re-broadcast of the original show...you can read along and see where he leaves out quite a bit of what was originally said.

[aravella]

Todd, maybe you should check your facts instead of just clicking on to media matters for all your info.
Since you asked, here are other "phony soldiers:"

Ted,

If your reference is to the "other" soldiers Rush was talking about, you made an error in your assumption.

Responding to his critics on Friday's show, Limbaugh said he was "taken out of context," adding his remark was referring to one soldier specifically -- Jesse MacBeth, a vocal war critic who falsely claimed to have served in Iraq.

Although Rush did say "phony soldiers", he was merely referring to but one.

[Ted K.]

Todd,
In my post I said that I listened to the and then went on to tell about Macbeth's stellar military record and about Limbaugh interupting the caller saying "phony soldier."
I thought it was clear that it was implied that I was talking about Rush talking about one soldier.

then you said he said "soldiers", and asked for more phony soldiers..so I played along and gave you MORE made up stories from these phony soldiers. I didn't claim that Rush was talking about these guys, I was giving you examples of other lying military personel.

Lets not get intwined in the minutia here, when the context of my posts shows that Limbaugh is not besmirching (aka "Murtha-ing or Kerrying) the troops and the aim in his term "phony soldier" is aimed at those like Macbeth.
Rush is not talking about any soldier that speaks out against the military.
His term is aimed at those who are lying about what goes on, or what they saw because they believe the ends justifies the means.