Limbaugh on torture of Iraqis:

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
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Come on all you dittoheads..defend your man? He really does speak for the moral majority doesn't he?
 

Red Dawn

Elite Member
Jun 4, 2001
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I guess if you use Limbaugh's logic one could say that when Oday Hussien was raping and killing his fellow Iraqi's he was just blowing off some steam:roll:
 

Zedtom

Platinum Member
Nov 23, 2001
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If the situation were reversed, Rush would be saying that the Arab people are uncivilized monsters.
 

CADsortaGUY

Lifer
Oct 19, 2001
25,162
1
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www.ShawCAD.com
Originally posted by: smashp
Limbaugh


He has Been Backtracking and over explaining and excusing these actions for days now.

:roll: - talk about ZERO context. There has been no "backtracking" - YOU and 'mediamatters.org' don't have a clue what he was saying - that little transcript on their site does not put the whole flow of discussion in context. He was NOT excusing or defending the actions and has said so repeatedly. I was listening to that show - and was NOT as you or 'mediamatters.org' describe.

Now I understand the left's hatred of Rush, but once again they show their ignorance by trying to claim he's suggesting something he is not. But sure, bleat your ignorance and stroke your egos if it makes you feel better, but it doesn't make you right, nor does it change that you don't understand what Rush said.:)

CkG
 

smashp

Platinum Member
Aug 30, 2003
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I would Just Like To Know if Rush Has First hand experience in "Frat Pranks" that involve Shoving Broom sticks Up People's cornholes.
 

eigen

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2003
4,000
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Originally posted by: CADkindaGUY
Originally posted by: smashp
Limbaugh


He has Been Backtracking and over explaining and excusing these actions for days now.

:roll: - talk about ZERO context. There has been no "backtracking" - YOU and 'mediamatters.org' don't have a clue what he was saying - that little transcript on their site does not put the whole flow of discussion in context. He was NOT excusing or defending the actions and has said so repeatedly. I was listening to that show - and was NOT as you or 'mediamatters.org' describe.

Now I understand the left's hatred of Rush, but once again they show their ignorance by trying to claim he's suggesting something he is not. But sure, bleat your ignorance and stroke your egos if it makes you feel better, but it doesn't make you right, nor does it change that you don't understand what Rush said.:)

CkG
\


Then please put what he said into context.
 

smashp

Platinum Member
Aug 30, 2003
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Originally posted by: CADkindaGUY
Originally posted by: smashp
Limbaugh


He has Been Backtracking and over explaining and excusing these actions for days now.

:roll: - talk about ZERO context. There has been no "backtracking" - YOU and 'mediamatters.org' don't have a clue what he was saying - that little transcript on their site does not put the whole flow of discussion in context. He was NOT excusing or defending the actions and has said so repeatedly. I was listening to that show - and was NOT as you or 'mediamatters.org' describe.

Now I understand the left's hatred of Rush, but once again they show their ignorance by trying to claim he's suggesting something he is not. But sure, bleat your ignorance and stroke your egos if it makes you feel better, but it doesn't make you right, nor does it change that you don't understand what Rush said.:)

CkG


oh I listened to the Show, the last couple days. We all Know youll defend Rush. He Has had to Explain all of His bold Statements and Even His own loyal callers call and question His Integrity on this matter.

Rush's Normal Responce has Been "Trust ol Rushbo"

In another words, he Cant Explain anything.
 

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
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Anyone who is a member of Mr. Limbaughs site? Can you post the full May 4 Transcript?
 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,889
47
91
www.alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: CADkindaGUY
Originally posted by: smashp
Limbaugh


He has Been Backtracking and over explaining and excusing these actions for days now.

:roll: - talk about ZERO context. There has been no "backtracking" - YOU and 'mediamatters.org' don't have a clue what he was saying - that little transcript on their site does not put the whole flow of discussion in context. He was NOT excusing or defending the actions and has said so repeatedly. I was listening to that show - and was NOT as you or 'mediamatters.org' describe.

Now I understand the left's hatred of Rush, but once again they show their ignorance by trying to claim he's suggesting something he is not. But sure, bleat your ignorance and stroke your egos if it makes you feel better, but it doesn't make you right, nor does it change that you don't understand what Rush said.:)

CkG

Good, glad he doesn't "understand" what Rush said, that means the Tin Foil hat he is apparently wearing is working and fending off Rush's repeated brainwashing wave's.

Too bad you don't try a Tin Foil Hat on too, probably too late, all brain cells thoroughly brainwashed by Rush, Hannity and Co now hence CAD & Co.
 

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
5,446
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76
Anyone who is a member of Mr. Limbaughs site? Can you post the full May 4 Transcript?
 

CADsortaGUY

Lifer
Oct 19, 2001
25,162
1
76
www.ShawCAD.com
Originally posted by: smashp
Hey Cad.

Are Your Apologies on loan from god?

Well, we all know yours and 'mediamatter.orgs' accusations aren't on loan from GOD.

I'm not apologizing for Rush:roll: - I don't care what you think of him - I'm just saying YOU have ZERO context just like that website had. Those weren't blatant singular quotes from him - they were a whole exchange over multiple callers and the topic and discussion flowed. You people can think what you want about Rush - but you are dead wrong about this. You have taken one portion of the discussion and run wild with it - inserting your own prejudices and agenda. Maybe for once people will actually try to listen/read what Rush says and try to understand it instead of run wild with their ASSumptions.

Meh - bleat on:D

CkG
 

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
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Here is May 5th. Is this context? Looks like more of the same. I like the phrase "So-called abuse".

We Can't Be Obsessed with Being Liked
May 5, 2004

Listen to Rush...
(...use a caller's worry that these pictures make us look bad to make a HUGE point)
(...deliver an important lesson on life and nations: you can't make them like you)
Rush's Essential Stack of Stuff: Why the World Hates Us -04.08.02
> eStack: We're Hated Because We're #1 ?08.29.02

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Steve in Toledo. Nice to have you with us, sir.

CALLER: Yeah, hi, Rush. How you doing?

RUSH: Fine, thank you.

CALLER: Hey, #1, I enjoy your program. I love listening to you, and I believe in you.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: I hope I'm not being deceived, though, all these months and years that I have listened to you up to this point. I think you're making too much light of these immoral pictures that we're seeing, you know, with our ? those ? prisoners over there in Iraq, with the Marines, and... You know, they already think we're evil. They already think we're sinful as hell.

RUSH: Yeah, but we're not, are we?
CALLER: Well, we're not, but those pictures --

RUSH: See, here's the problem. Steve, I don't have much time, and you made your point and I appreciate it, but I want to answer this before the hour ends. Bottom line is this. I said the last two or three days -- this is Tuesday -- the last two days admitting this is not good, that this was a mistake, that this is a problem. But I'm not gonna sit here and just beat it to death. I'm not going to obsess on it. If Bush apologizes once, they're going to demand that he apologize 25 times. Now, at some point we need perspective added to this, and that's what I'm trying to do, and I'm trying to bring up another aspect of this I think is interesting. It is to me, and that is the role that women are playing in this and what it says [ear-splitting tone] about our culture. But I'm not going to sit here and spend two weeks wringing my hands over this. It isn't worth it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT
You know, there has been an apology for this, and it happened over in Iraq. [Reuters:] "Aau Ghraib, Iraq: The general brought in to run US military jails in Iraq following the prisoner abuse scandal offered his own and his nation's apologies for the affair on Wednesday to the people of Iraq. Major General Geoffrey Miller said: 'I would like to apologize for our nation and for our military for the small number of leaders and soldiers that have committed unauthorized and possibly illegal acts on the detained here at Abu Ghraib. I would like to personally apologize to the people of Iraq for the actions of a small number of leaders and soldiers who have violated our policies.'"

Well, there you have it. We've got the apology. It's not enough. It's not enough. This is just a start. "Well, this guy is a peon. We can't count on this guy! This guy can't speak for Bush. We're not going to accept an apology till we get one from Bush," but here's the general on site has apologized -- and there's almost an apology. Rumsfeld said on Wednesday that "any American..." Here, the audio sound bite. Grab -- this is seven and -- yeah, let's do 7 and 8. One of these two will cover it. He's on Good Morning America. Nope, the Today Show. Sorry, it's on the Today Show. Yeah. No, wait a second now. Now, I'm getting confused. He was on both of them. Apparently the apology occurred.... Anyway, said Wednesday, "'Any American felt apologetic for abuses of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers,' but stopped shortly of offering a direct apology himself." Wait a second. Where is this one? Well... [talking to staff.] Yeah, I think it might be. [Shuffling papers.] Let me find cut 5. I don't have cut 5. That's the problem. I don't have a cut 5. I'm missing a cut. No, there it is. It is cut 5. It's cut 5, Good Morning America, and this is what Rumsfeld is quoted as saying.

RUMSFELD: Oh, my goodness. Anyone, any American whose the photographs that we have seen has to feel apologetic to the Iraqi people who were abused and recognize that that is something that is unacceptable and certainly un-American.

RUSH: So there's the word "apology," and he of course did not say, "I apologize. We apologize." He said, "Anybody would have to feel apologetic for what happened and what they saw." The fact that this reaction has happened, you can't argue with the reaction that the president has had. You know, the president is taking it very seriously as is the administration. They're all expressing how upset they are about this, and yet it still isn't enough. By the way, I'm continuing to answer the call we had just before the end of the hour who says the way I'm discussing this today, the female/prisoner angle...[asking staff]. What did he say I was doing? Yeah, "taking it too lightly." He said I was "taking it too lightly," and for two days we've dealt with this seriously and I have not condoned it and I have admitted that it's not typical of what the U.S. does or is known for, but obsessing over this is not productive -- and I'll tell you, something else, folks.
I want to get into this for just a second, and this is going to be very touchy for me, because I know off the bat I'm just going to say right at the top: most of you aren't going to understand this, and it's going to make you mad, but I'm to do it anyway because that has never stopped me in almost 16 years. I want to tell you something that's really irritating me and it's happening at the administration level. It's happening throughout every level of strata of our so-cie-ty, and it started after -- well, it started long ago, but I mean the intense focus started after 9/11, with, "Why do they hate us? Why do they not understand us?"

Now, if you start asking that question, "Why do they hate us?" then you have to then next go to, "Okay, what can we do to make them like us?" and that is a fatal step, because if we become obsessed with making these people like us, if we become obsessed with showing them that we're nice, if we get obsessed with this business of, "Why do they not like us?" it's not going to happen immediately, but it's going to be another nail in many nails of a coffin that is forever going to bury what has become a distinct American culture.

Because inherent in this business of asking, "Why don't they like us? What can we do to make them show we like us?" Inherent in that is a lack of self-esteem on our part. If we don't think being who we are speaks strongly enough for ourselves, and we have to then go out of our way to show people who we really are, we have lost. You cannot do this. You cannot, be it in your personal life or in groups or as nations or what have you, you cannot make it an objective to see to it that everybody likes you -- and I know we're not talking everybody here. We're talking about the Iraqis. Can't do it. That is a recipe for disaster, because what will happen in the process is we will cease being who we are, and we'll try to be what we think they want us to be, and it'll be phony! -- and it won't work anyway because we can't continue to be not who we are for the rest of our existence just in order to make people like us.

This is a question that's borne of New Age-ism. [Sniveling liberal voice] "Why do they hate us? It's our fault. We must change. We must show people that we're nice people! We must show people we don't hate them." As far as I'm concerned, we haven't shown them that we hate them. As far as I'm concerned, we are nice people. We don't have any excuses to make, as the United States of America. Sure, we all make mistakes and we all individually and as nations do things now and then that are not accurate or representative of who we are generally, individually or as a country, but that's common; it's normal, and those exceptions do not establish the rule as who we are, and that's what's happening here. This business of these photos, what's happening here is too many people's reaction is, "That's the real America. We've suppressed it. We've hid it from the world, but that's the real America." There are people who think that.

Many liberals, the John F. Kerry campaign, that's what they think. John Kerry came back from Vietnam and said, "Hey this is what we did! We did worse in Vietnam!" John Kerry ought to be investigated because Kerry admitted to all kinds of "war atrocities." His country is immoral; his country is not going to do this. He was making it all up about all these other soldiers, and if he did all this himself, why did he wait until afterwards to start complaining about it, why didn't he stop it and complain about it in the process at the time? It troubles me greatly when we start getting all introspective -- and there's nothing wrong with introspection, but when it is based on making other people like us because we think they misunderstand us. It's one thing if we're going to just be who we are and say, "Look it, here's who we are. Take it or leave it," but if we're going to change who we are based on what we think they want us to be or what we think we have to be to get them to like us, we're doomed!

It's not possible. It simply isn't possible, and it's not the way to fight a war anyway. I mean, the whole question, "Why do they hate us?" is absurd. It's irrelevant. We are fighting a worldwide war against Islamofascism. It is a waste of time to ask ourselves, "Why do they hate us?" Oh, we can learn the answer but it is not going to stop anything unless we say, "Okay, you know what? We'll stop being what you don't like," and we're not going to do that, and if we do do that we stop being who we are; we stop be the United States of America and even if we did stop being who they are, all that's going to be seen by them is a sign of weakness and they're just going to redouble their efforts to come after us. There is no New Age way to deal with this. Ours is a world governed by the aggressive use of force -- not words, not treaties, not peace conferences, not introspection, not Tai-Chi or whatever else you want to engage in here to try to figure out how this can be brought to a stop because they just don't like us. They don't like us for reasons that you don't even understand. They don't like us for reasons that cannot be changed. It is they who have the problem, is the bottom line.
Let me just ask you to think of yourself and another individual in this analogy. You've got this idea that you have to make people like you. So what you do is you imagine what this other person -- could be a member of the opposite sex, could be, whatever, just friend, romantic partner, whatever -- you want this person to like you. So you will do what you think you have to do to make them like you; you are therefore ceasing to be who you are. You are becoming a person that you are not, and you are not going to be able to sustain it, and you're going to resent it eventually because it's not going to work anyway. Because the same person is doing the same thing to you, all this stuff goes back and forth. So when you really get down to brass tacks, if you are trying to make somebody else like you, you are missing the point. It's their problem, not yours. If they don't like you, screw it! There's nothing you can do about it, and the biggest mistake you can make is to change who you are to try to make them like you.

If they don't like you, they have the problem. Now, we're assuming here you're not a reprobate and a criminal and all this sort of stuff, all things being equal here. Don't be ridiculous. I'm not defending rapists and this sort of stuff. I'm just talking about ordinary people, here. Not everybody can get along, not everybody is going to understand everybody, but if people blame themselves for why other people don't like 'em, they are screwed. If you are not like by a lot of people and you're blaming yourself for it, you are in deep doo-doo. It's not your problem that people don't like you; it's theirs! Same thing here. It's not our problem that these Islamofascists don't like us. It's not our problem that the Arab terrorists don't like us; it's theirs. But we're not in this to be liked. It's not what we're doing here. We're doing this to protect ourselves. We have been attacked. We are targeted every day. We are sitting ducks every day for these people who don't like us for whatever reasons that we can't change.

There's only one way to deal with this, and it's not to try to change them. How many times have you tried to change somebody, anyway? It doesn't work! The only person you can change is yourself, but you can't change somebody else. Ask the people who have been divorced all these times about changing somebody. It doesn't work, and it's not going to work here. We cannot change these people. We could peacefully co-exist with them if they would just stay to themselves and not bother anyone else but that's not what they're doing. They hijacked some airplanes of ours and flew them into the World Trade Center killed 3,000 people destroyed the buildings tried to blow up the Pentagon and who knows what else. At this point, I couldn't care less why they don't like us. Figuring that out is not going to stop anything because I'm not going to change who I am just to make these people like me so they'll stop blowing up my country. It isn't going to happen anyway.

So when I hear people talk about, "Well, these pictures really trouble me because we have to turn a bad image of the United States out there. It's immoral." They already think we're immoral because of Britney Spears! They think we're immoral because of the movies and records that we play. They think we're immoral because of the TV shows we watch. They think we're immoral because we're not Islamists! There's nothing we can do about it, short of becoming what they are -- and even if we tried that they wouldn't accept it as genuine. They think it's a trap. There's only one thing to do here, folks, and that's achieve victory over people who have targeted us for loooong, long time, well over 15, 20 years. It's the only way to deal with this, and that's why obsessing about a single incident or two of so-called abuse in a prison is nothing more than a giant distraction and could up being something that will really ties our hands and handcuffs us in what the real objective is here, which is the preservation of our way of life and our country.

And that's why I'm not going to sit here and obsess and join the rest of the media with this and turn this into a campaign issue, try to convince as many people that George Bush is incompetent and needs to be thrown out of office -- because that's all this is. But in the process, what all that does is weaken the resolve of the people of this country because it's gonna make all the people think, "Oh, God, we are horrible people! Look at what we did!" We didn't do it! Select few Americans did it. It's not about all of us. They did it. It doesn't speak for us -- unless we let it. This is real, real frustrating to me, and it's probably not a view you're going to get too many other places because the [sniveling liberal voice] natural, normal compassionate thing to do is to try to relate and understand and understand people are hurt. Screw all this! You know, it's time for a little hard-nosed reality here.
END TRANSCRIPT
 

smashp

Platinum Member
Aug 30, 2003
2,443
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here are Some Quotes from Hannity and Colmes.


Two days after CBS's 60 Minutes II first broadcast photographs of U.S. military police posing and smiling next to naked, hooded Iraqi prisoners of war, Hannity & Colmes hosted a guest who compared the maltreatment of the Iraqi POWs to "frat hazing." On the April 30 broadcast of FOX News Channel's Hannity & Colmes, former U.S. Army sergeant and former interrogation instructor Tony Robinson stated that "frat hazing is worse" than "what [was] happening in these pictures":

ROBINSON: Well, one thing that needs to be understood, is that there's also an impact on the torturer. ... Now, I use the word torture, but that's not what's happening in these pictures.

HANNITY: What is it?

ROBINSON: I've seen -- I've seen worse than this at -- frat hazing is worse than this.

HANNITY: So in other words, this is not a big deal? What should the punishment be if these guys in fact are found guilty of whatever is going on over there, whatever is going on?

ROBINSON: Well, it's not torture. If it was, they'd be accused of torture. They're accused of maltreatment. I'm not making excuses for them.



Sounds less like "out of Context" and More Like "Talking Points"
 

smashp

Platinum Member
Aug 30, 2003
2,443
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BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Steve in Toledo. Nice to have you with us, sir.

CALLER: Yeah, hi, Rush. How you doing?

RUSH: Fine, thank you.

CALLER: Hey, #1, I enjoy your program. I love listening to you, and I believe in you.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: I hope I'm not being deceived, though, all these months and years that I have listened to you up to this point. I think you're making too much light of these immoral pictures that we're seeing, you know, with our ? those ? prisoners over there in Iraq, with the Marines, and... You know, they already think we're evil. They already think we're sinful as hell.

RUSH: Yeah, but we're not, are we?
CALLER: Well, we're not, but those pictures --

RUSH: See, here's the problem. Steve, I don't have much time, and you made your point and I appreciate it, but I want to answer this before the hour ends.Bottom line is this. I said the last two or three days -- this is Tuesday -- the last two days admitting this is not good, that this was a mistake, that this is a problem. But I'm not gonna sit here and just beat it to death. I'm not going to obsess on it. If Bush apologizes once, they're going to demand that he apologize 25 times. Now, at some point we need perspective added to this, and that's what I'm trying to do, and I'm trying to bring up another aspect of this I think is interesting. It is to me, and that is the role that women are playing in this and what it says [ear-splitting tone] about our culture. But I'm not going to sit here and spend two weeks wringing my hands over this. It isn't worth it.


Sound like Distract and downplay to me.


turned the Whole issue into a Feminist Woman culture Anger get the Fvck back in the kitchen issue.
 

CADsortaGUY

Lifer
Oct 19, 2001
25,162
1
76
www.ShawCAD.com
Originally posted by: tnitsuj
Anyone who is a member of Mr. Limbaughs site? Can you post the full May 4 Transcript?

Member? Hmmm - maybe - maybe not, but I do have access to the member side of his site.

I wondered if anyone would actually click the link from 'mediamatters.org' - most don't and just lap up their ignorance. Here is a transcript of one segment called "It?s Not About Us; This Is War!" It has the "blow some steam off" part in it. Now maybe some of you will actually try to read it and understand what is being said and talked about here instead of ASSuming some leftist site put one tiny part in the correct context of the discussion.

RUSH: We'll start in Fayetteville, North Carolina, with Joseph. Thank you for waiting, sir, and welcome to the program.

CALLER: Thank you for having me on the show. I just wanted to say that I do believe the problem is systemic, because I feel that way back from when we went into Afghanistan and it first started happening with our POWs, there was kind of a sentiment going around that even though it's against our military policy for us to torture our prisoners, that there's ways to get around that so we can get the information to turn our prisoners over --

RUSH: Hey, hey, hang on here just a second. Are you in the military?

CALLER: No, I'm not, but I live in a military town.

RUSH: I know that, Fort Bragg is in Fayetteville.


CALLER: Yes, it is.

RUSH: I have been there.

CALLER: Yeah, but just look at, I think it's more of society's problem because --

RUSH: How do you know this is happening in Afghanistan?

CALLER: Because -- it has to be, because --

RUSH: No, no, why does it has to be?

CALLER: Let's look at a different example, okay, which I believe we can see kind of the same problem if you look at for example the way that police handle people when they arrest them, sometimes if it's a real violent offender --

RUSH: Oh Joseph.

CALLER: Listen to me from a second. It's the real violent offender, society kind of says it's okay for police to use as much force as they feel necessary and maybe even a couple of times actually just --

RUSH: It's a red and blue state moment here on the EIB Network.

CALLER: Let me get my point out.

RUSH: You have. You're essentially saying that because of what happened to Rodney King we are committing atrocities in Afghanistan.

CALLER: No, no, no, no, no. I'm not taking any incident as an example.

RUSH: Now, you just said when the cops arrest people and they treat 'em badly and so forth.

CALLER: Let me try to explain my opinion a little clearer. I'm a little nervous. What I'm trying to say is as a society we've kind of like turned a blind eye to it because we want, for example, that police do us a big favor, we don't want criminals getting the idea that if they fight as hard as they can, the chance that since the police are bound by law, there's a chance that we'll get away, so we want to send a clear signal that --


RUSH: I have to respectfully say that I disagree with you here. In fact, not only do I disagree, but I am 180 degrees out of phase with you. I actually think that we've gone soft on punishment in this country. We have cable TV for people doing life terms. Now they get flat screens in certain prisons, did you see this? They're getting plasmas, in prison, yeah, on good behavior. Well, there are some people who haven't committed crimes who are having to go without food because of gasoline prices. And lifers with good behavior are getting flat screen plasmas to watch television on. I think because of the wringing of hands of the left, we have gone soft on true punishment for people who have committed real crimes in this country. And so we are in a war! We are in a war! And people are reacting as though this is happening on the streets of America. Now we've got people who don't have the slightest clue about fact one who are assuming, "oh, yeah, it's systemic, it's happening in Afghanistan, and it's happening over there because this happens in America when the cops arrest people." I, frankly, don't know what to do with this. You gotta take this, I mean if this guy thinks it there's got to be more than him that think it.

I'm going to put this in perspective again. Somebody called here earlier today and said, you know, if I were a prisoner of war and that's all that happened to me, I would be thankful. Look at what happened to McCain. Look at what happened to some of these POWs in Vietnam. Remember the Hanoi Hilton? Now, I know that's the bad guys. But this is war. To think that this has never happened before, to think that these kinds of acts have not taken place and that this represents a decline in the civility. Frankly folks, I'm getting a little -- and I have been for a while -- frustrated and almost fed up with the notion that I've got to treat enemies, enemy combatants, criminals gently and nicely so that we don't descend to their level. Somehow we've managed to distance ourselves from the concept of punishment. Now, we're at war and we're trying to get information out of these people, and they weren't being forthcoming and so the order went down to do whatever it took to get some information out of them, and these jail guards are over there saying, "We don't even know what the Geneva Convention rules were."

I'm not sure I buy that, anybody will offer an excuse at any point. But, look, this is a tough, tough line here, because I don't want you to think that I think this ought to be standard operating procedure. But I don't think that it is, and I think everybody is overreacting. And this willingness and this eagerness to pile on and dump on the U.S. military and say, "Oh, yeah, this is systemic, and this happens in Afghanistan." It's not just callers that are doing it, you've got guys in the Senate, we have senators standing up today, "This is systemic. This has been going on and we need to the get to the bottom of this." So we're at war, we're trying to protect ourselves, and it's another damned investigation of the good guys! We are investigating ourselves to the point of paralysis. We're going to end up with people afraid to pull the trigger! We're going to end up with people afraid to stop a hijacking for fear that we're going to get in trouble for the way we did it when the plane lands. And it's getting out of hand here.

Now, yeah, it's bad. It's unfortunate, shouldn't have happened. It's over! We found out about it. We're going to do something about it. We're investigating it. Fine. Fini, exclamation point, it's over, get used to it! This is not Sesame Street. We're not Big Bird and Barney here, folks. This is not Oprah and Dr. Phil telling us how we can expand our consciousness. We are under attack by a bunch of heathen, savage people who hate our literal existence, much less our guts. We're worried about what this is going to cause to happen to our prisoners of war, what the hell is happening to us already before we become prisoners? They are blowing up convoys of civilians, charred bodies pulled out of cars, they're dragged and poked along the streets. No outrage about this. No, in fact the rest of the world is going, "Yeah, good, see, you Americans deserve it." Well, screw them. You know, and this idea that we're going to handcuff ourselves, and we're going to end up investigating ourselves. Does everything have to be William Calley all over again, everything have to be the My Lai massacre all over again? Does everything have to be America is wrong, America is horrible, America is uncivilized? I mean, it's just to the point here that we can't take isolated incidents, look at them, and judge them as they exist. We have to then make leaps and leaps and leaps and say, "We suck," and we end up with this self-hatred. This self-loathing of ourselves is getting a bit hard to handle here.

COMMERCIAL BREAK


RUSH: Rumsfeld had a press conference this afternoon, and exactly what I feared has happened, exactly what I was just talking about has happened. This has been exaggerated and blown so out of proportion as to be infuriating. Let me give you a recent example of this. John Kerry came back from Vietnam and began talking of systemic atrocities that were committed by American soldiers, including himself. Oh, yes, wanton burning of whole towns, murdering civilians, all of these horrors. And he comes back, he saw them when he was there, but he didn't say anything about it then, he didn't report it to anybody then, comes back, joins the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and gets his name on the front pages by giving witness to this stuff and testifying against it and so forth and says, it's systemic, and it was happening throughout the military in Vietnam, it was horrible, it has to stop. This war has got to stop. We're horrible. We're America. We've descended to some depth that we never knew before. It's horrible. Get us out of there, blah, blah, blah.

Then three weeks ago or whenever he was on the Meet the Press, Russert played him some sound bites of those statements of his way, way back in 1971. And Kerry said, "Well, you know, that was a bit over the top." They were just the ramblings of a young, whatever he was, 27-year-old kid. Oh, so some 30 some odd years later it wasn't systemic, huh? It was just the ramblings of a young kid and we shouldn't hold you to the transgressions of your youth, is that it? Well, we're back to it. We've got one incident here and it's Vietnam all over, and it's systemic and it's horrible, and we are just heathens. This country doesn't deserve to be a country anymore, folks. How dare we!. And that's the thing about this that is dangerous, bad, and wrong. And that is not to defend what happened and it is not to suggest that it's harmless and no big deal, but then expanding on this and trying to say this is the kind of behavior that defines the U.S. military, that's being done on purpose by people who wish to wound the U.S. military, and they're probably the same people who try to make us all believe they support the troops. Now, listen to this question that this unidentified or semi-identified reporter named Charlie, asking a question of the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

VOICE: Mr. Secretary, this administration has said repeatedly that in removing Saddam Hussein the United States has gotten rid of a man who has murdered and raped and pillaged and tortured people of this country. And now these photographs and story show that in fact the U.S. military has done that to prisoners in Iraq, and you say that that has, I believe you say, "damaged U.S. attempts to establish trust in the country." I guess I'd ask you more broadly, is this a major setback to the U.S. efforts in Iraq?

RUSH: Okay, what now, what am I missing? Rape, murder, and pillage? We've done that? Where did we do that? I haven't seen that. Tell me, what am I missing? All I've seen is, you know, the Britney Spears, Madonna torture photos. All I've seen is the woman with the cigarette out of her mouth, you know, pretending to aim a gun at some guy who's nude, and laughing; and I've seen, you know, the pyramid of the nude guys with hoods on like Robert Byrd birthday party. What is this rape and pillage and murder stuff now?

Oh, and do you get the tone of the question here? He has equated this incident now with Saddam Hussein's treatment of people. Now, there were mass graves, there were rape rooms, torture rooms, there was mass murder on the part of Saddam Hussein. There was no outrage about that, by the way, even when the graves were found, no outrage at all. Now all of a sudden with these stupid pictures, this reporter has equated -- and if this reporter's done it, I'm telling you they all have -- and a lot of people are now jumping on this and saying we're no better than Saddam. It all falls into play with the fact that to people on the left Bush is a bigger threat than dictators and murderers and torturers and rapists and thugs. Here's Rumsfeld's answer.

VOICE: I'm not one for instant history, Charlie. The fact is, this is an exception. The pattern and practice of the Saddam Hussein regime was to do exactly what you said: to murder and torture and the killing fields are filled with mass graves. And equating the two, I think, is a fundamental misunderstanding of what took place.

RUSH: Ya think? Ya think so? It might be a fundamental misunderstanding? Now, are these reporters this stupid? I submit not. They are not this stupid. This is the result of -- fill in the blank yourself. It's an agenda, it?s an attempt to create a picture -- it's maddening and it's frustrating. I know this kind of stuff is going to happen, that's why I react the way I do to this stuff.

Here's Erin in Abilene, Texas. Hi, Erin, welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program.


CALLER: Oh, Rush, I'm just so honored. I used to be such a feminazi and now I just love you.

RUSH: Well, thank you. See, we soften 'em up all over the country, folks.

CALLER: You do. You do. Rush, I just have to tell you that I am infuriated with this woman general who is trying to pass off blame. Wherever she's trying to pass it off, this is her job.

RUSH: You mean Karpinski?

CALLER: Karpinski, yes. This is her job. She is in charge. When things go wrong and you're in charge, you get blamed, you step down gracefully, and you try and not cause the military too much stress. I mean, my husband is in the Air Force, and it's all we can talk about in our military circles is how bad it makes the military look. She needs to just say, all right, I screwed up, they screwed up, get them in trouble, she can step down, and --

RUSH: She is.

CALLER: -- let it go.

RUSH: She is stepping down. She's a reservist, by the way. Look, I've read some things about her. Well, the impression I get is she's not really passing the buck. I mean, she's accepting responsibility for certain elements of this, but she's saying that these guys had orders to do this from somewhere.

CALLER: But is she saying that she didn't know about these orders?

RUSH: Yes, apparently so, apparently so.

CALLER: I find it very hard to believe that the chain of command is not working properly. The CIA would go to junior officers and junior enlisted people and say do this, and not fill her? I don't know that I believe that.

RUSH: Well, I don't know enough to know whether that can happen. You're closer to the military. Your husband is in the military, but it strikes me it's possible if they're really as frustrated as she says they were about the lack of information they're getting from these people. You talk about chain of command. Everybody's got a boss and everybody is demanding something from somebody else.

CALLER: Of course.

RUSH: And whoever is in charge of getting information from these people is not getting it and so somebody leans on them and says, "Get it." You've had these people --

CALLER: I don't see how these pictures, I mean the pictures I see, I don't see how that's going to get any information. I don't consider that torture. Embarrassing? Yes.

RUSH: Well, that's the point.

CALLER: I can't go along with that.

RUSH: That's what she says. She says this was just an attempt to humiliate and intimidate for the interrogation which would come the next day or two after this happened.

CALLER: A-ha. A-ha.


RUSH: That's what she says, that's all I can tell you.

CALLER: No, so she did know that this was supposed to be happening.

RUSH: Yeah, well --

CALLER: This is my question. What did she know and when did she know it, Rush?

RUSH: Yeah. Well, would it make you feel better if we nailed somebody in this? Because I'll tell you what we're going to end up doing, we're going to nail everybody.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: The bad thing is she's going to get it and whoever is above her is going to get it. Everybody is going to get it. We're going to end up tying everybody's hands to the point that the prisoners are going to have servants and the servants are going to be the interrogators and the jail guards.

CALLER: Well, you know --

RUSH: We're going to videotape, we're going to bring three meals a day, we're going to be wearing tuxedos, "Can we get you any more lamb? Would you like mint jelly with that?" It's going to get ridiculous here.

CALLER: I agree with you, Rush, but at the same time how are these people going to get nailed? They're going to go home. That's it. They're reservists. They're going to go home instead of spending their year in the desert or whatever. They're going to go home.

RUSH: No, they're going to do big time.

CALLER: Ooh, really?

RUSH: Oh yeah, you think these guys are just going to get sent home and forgotten about? There will be show trials. There will -- Oh, you have no clue what's going to happen. You talk about humiliation and intimidation? The Americans are going to end up humiliated and intimidated in all this and these people are going to be laughing their asses off at us.

CALLER: They already are, Rush. We just came back from Germany, and we were nowhere near American --

RUSH: That's my point! I know they already are! This is what's ridiculous to me. This is just totally what's ridiculous to me. Anyway, Erin, I appreciate the phone call, very nice. I appreciate it.

Quick time-out here and well, no, let's go to Laurie in Michigan, Tony, one more here before we go to the break. You're next. Hi.

CALLER: Dittos, Rush, how are you today?

RUSH: Never better, Tony. I couldn't be any better if I tried. If I were any better, I'd be in heaven.

CALLER: Rush, you said were surprised at reaction to this detainee situation, and you're right when you said in the past that war an interrogation is a serious business; but what's troublesome to me, and I think to so many other people, is the fact that there was so much pleasure exhibited by these interrogators. You know, I think that's really the problem, and maybe folks aren't saying it.

RUSH: Wait a minute. I disagree with that, too. With all due respect that to me sounds like we're going to make hate crimes. If somebody beat somebody up in a park because they didn't like the color of their skin we're going to make the even worse than if they just beat them up because they beat them up. So now we're going to get these people because not only what they did, they liked it when they did it --

CALLER: I'm not saying that.

RUSH: -- we're going to punish attitudes, we're going to punish thinking now.

CALLER: No, I'm not saying that.


RUSH: We're not just going to punish actions. And besides that, who knows if they were posing for pictures or not? Let me tell you what needs to happen. These people need to be brought up and given IQ tests because they're stupid. Whoever took pictures of this had to -- I mean this is unbelievable. If you want to really get down to brass tacks here, it's one thing that it happened, yes, it happened. But who's the idiot that took the pictures and how stupid are these people for posing?

CALLER: Rush if you were in the military and you were ordered to interrogate someone even though it was an in-depth interrogation, you would do your job in a business-like manner. And I think most people would, do a difficult job that they didn't want to do in a business-like manner. These people had a job to do, but they were taking pleasure in it. There's something psychologically wrong with that. It's not the act so much. It was like a college fraternity prank that stack up naked men --

RUSH: Exactly. Exactly my point! This is no different than what happens at the skull and bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You of heard of need to blow some steam off? These people are the enemy. Our people are being fired at, shot at, these are young people that have volunteered to go over there and they're having bullets fired in their way, bombs and mortar fire aimed at 'em by the people that they are guarding and charged to get information from. Everybody has a breaking point. Now, I'm not suggesting that it's common, normal in disciplined military structures for people to lose control. I'm suggesting that it might be understandable.

You know, if somebody in this country breaks, has some sort of a problem, oh, we have all kinds of compassion for them, we understand the hard rigors and the pressures of life in America, and we make all kinds of allowances for the mistakes that people make. But here we go on the military, nobody is allowed a mistake in the military, nobody is. It's got to be by the book at all times, and if it's not, why, there's a systemic problem. Look, I'm not really playing devil's advocate here. I'm being quite honest with you about this. I'm just totally uncomfortable with the total blow-up of this to something that it is not. It's bad enough as it is, without having to blow it up into something that's going to tie our hands and hamper us in the effort that we're engaging in over there. They had a good time doing it. Okay, then let's, what do we do, what's the additional punishment for having a good time doing this? Life imprisonment, is that good enough for having a good time? Let's get really tough with these people. It's bad enough what they did, but they enjoyed it, let's give them five more years or whatever we're going to do to them, or maybe deny them -- whatever we do, that will make us feel better, right?

It's all about us. It's all about us feeling better about what we're seeing. We're not even there. We don't even know what it's like. 99% of us have no idea what their lives are like. We feel bad because they're enjoying what we see in a picture and we want to really let them have it. This sucks, folks. This really, really is getting out of hand. It's not about us. And this whole self-absorption with us, why, that makes me look bad. It doesn't make you look bad. You didn't do it. No, it makes ugly American -- you're not an ugly American, we're not ugly Americans. Screw all this. Stop making everything about us. Some people did something that was wrong. Fini. It's over. Fix it. Move on.


CkG
 

CADsortaGUY

Lifer
Oct 19, 2001
25,162
1
76
www.ShawCAD.com
Originally posted by: smashp
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Steve in Toledo. Nice to have you with us, sir.

CALLER: Yeah, hi, Rush. How you doing?

RUSH: Fine, thank you.

CALLER: Hey, #1, I enjoy your program. I love listening to you, and I believe in you.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: I hope I'm not being deceived, though, all these months and years that I have listened to you up to this point. I think you're making too much light of these immoral pictures that we're seeing, you know, with our ? those ? prisoners over there in Iraq, with the Marines, and... You know, they already think we're evil. They already think we're sinful as hell.

RUSH: Yeah, but we're not, are we?
CALLER: Well, we're not, but those pictures --

RUSH: See, here's the problem. Steve, I don't have much time, and you made your point and I appreciate it, but I want to answer this before the hour ends.Bottom line is this. I said the last two or three days -- this is Tuesday -- the last two days admitting this is not good, that this was a mistake, that this is a problem. But I'm not gonna sit here and just beat it to death. I'm not going to obsess on it. If Bush apologizes once, they're going to demand that he apologize 25 times. Now, at some point we need perspective added to this, and that's what I'm trying to do, and I'm trying to bring up another aspect of this I think is interesting. It is to me, and that is the role that women are playing in this and what it says [ear-splitting tone] about our culture. But I'm not going to sit here and spend two weeks wringing my hands over this. It isn't worth it.


Sound like Distract and downplay to me.


turned the Whole issue into a Feminist Woman culture Anger get the Fvck back in the kitchen issue.

Yet again displaying your ignorance and ASSumptions. Do yourself a favor - next time you listen to Rush - try listening with an open mind like you leftist always claim you have instead of listening with your ASSumptions and knee-jerk fake outrage.:)

CkG
 

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
5,446
0
76
Rush only chooses to see what he wants to see. If he reads the Army Report and Seymour Hersh's interviews he will see that thier is credible information that at least one detainee was murdered by a civillian contractor at Abu Gharib, and several reports of rapes and sexual relations between male guards and female detainees. To be fair I have seen no indication of pillaging.

He is trying to minimze a very serious situation.


RUSH: Okay, what now, what am I missing? Rape, murder, and pillage? We've done that? Where did we do that? I haven't seen that. Tell me, what am I missing? All I've seen is, you know, the Britney Spears, Madonna torture photos. All I've seen is the woman with the cigarette out of her mouth, you know, pretending to aim a gun at some guy who's nude, and laughing; and I've seen, you know, the pyramid of the nude guys with hoods on like Robert Byrd birthday party. What is this rape and pillage and murder stuff now?
 

alchemize

Lifer
Mar 24, 2000
11,486
0
0
We have cable TV for people doing life terms. Now they get flat screens in certain prisons, did you see this? They're getting plasmas, in prison, yeah, on good behavior
OMG! Rush = JohnGalt?
 

J Heartless Slick

Golden Member
Nov 11, 1999
1,330
0
0
Originally posted by: CADkindaGUY
Originally posted by: smashp
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Steve in Toledo. Nice to have you with us, sir.

CALLER: Yeah, hi, Rush. How you doing?

RUSH: Fine, thank you.

CALLER: Hey, #1, I enjoy your program. I love listening to you, and I believe in you.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: I hope I'm not being deceived, though, all these months and years that I have listened to you up to this point. I think you're making too much light of these immoral pictures that we're seeing, you know, with our ? those ? prisoners over there in Iraq, with the Marines, and... You know, they already think we're evil. They already think we're sinful as hell.

RUSH: Yeah, but we're not, are we?
CALLER: Well, we're not, but those pictures --

RUSH: See, here's the problem. Steve, I don't have much time, and you made your point and I appreciate it, but I want to answer this before the hour ends.Bottom line is this. I said the last two or three days -- this is Tuesday -- the last two days admitting this is not good, that this was a mistake, that this is a problem. But I'm not gonna sit here and just beat it to death. I'm not going to obsess on it. If Bush apologizes once, they're going to demand that he apologize 25 times. Now, at some point we need perspective added to this, and that's what I'm trying to do, and I'm trying to bring up another aspect of this I think is interesting. It is to me, and that is the role that women are playing in this and what it says [ear-splitting tone] about our culture. But I'm not going to sit here and spend two weeks wringing my hands over this. It isn't worth it.


Sound like Distract and downplay to me.


turned the Whole issue into a Feminist Woman culture Anger get the Fvck back in the kitchen issue.

Yet again displaying your ignorance and ASSumptions. Do yourself a favor - next time you listen to Rush - try listening with an open mind like you leftist always claim you have instead of listening with your ASSumptions and knee-jerk fake outrage.:)

CkG

What?
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
RUSH: Exactly. Exactly my point! This is no different than what happens at the skull and bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You of heard of need to blow some steam off? These people are the enemy. Our people are being fired at, shot at, these are young people that have volunteered to go over there and they're having bullets fired in their way, bombs and mortar fire aimed at 'em by the people that they are guarding and charged to get information from. Everybody has a breaking point. Now, I'm not suggesting that it's common, normal in disciplined military structures for people to lose control. I'm suggesting that it might be understandable.

Yeah...good job, Rush. They're just blowing off steam by abusing, beating, killing, etc. people who are imprisoned (ie. helpless.)

And, btw, it's not just the left that hates Rush. He's hated by people in the middle and on the right.