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6 Responses to “Harry Reid Eats Some Crow”
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Rush Limbaugh and “Dingy” Harry Reid-The Letter
” He put the letter up for auction on eBay, and I think very very constructively, let the proceeds of that go to the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation that provides scholarship assistance to Marines and federal law enforcement personnel whose parents fall in the line of duty. What could be a more worthwhile cause? I think it’s really good that this money on eBay is going to be raised for this purpose. When I spoke to Mark May (sic), he and I thought this probably wouldn’t make much.”- Senator Harry Reid on the floor of the Senate, 10-19-07.
This is an excerpt from a statement that Harry Reid made today in response to the astounding amount of money made on eBay for a letter from Sen. Reid and 40 other Democratic Senators to Mark Mays, CEO of Clear Channel, asking Mays to “confer” with Rush Limbaugh about his on-air remarks about so-called “phony soldiers”. The final bid came to $2, 100,100, setting an all time record for money raised on eBay for a charitable cause.
For those readers not fully informed on the controversy (which the mainstream news media has conveniently ignored), Limbaugh, in a recent phone conversation on his radio show, made a reference to “phony soldiers”, this in reference to Jesse MacBeth, who had fraudulently claimed to be an Iraq War veteran, and who told of witnessing numerous atrocities carried out by fellow soldiers. As it turned out, MacBeth had washed out of boot camp, and, of course had never served in Iraq or anywhere else. He has recently pleaded guilty to fraud against the Veterans Administration. It was MacBeth to whom Limbaugh was referring as an example of “phony soldiers” dragged out by the left to discredit the Iraq War.
In response, the left went crazy, claiming that Limbaugh had been talking about any soldier in Iraq who was against the war. Enter Harry Reid, the Democratic Senator from Nevada and Senate Majority Leader (whom Limbaugh calls, “Dingy” Harry.) Earlier this month, Reid came to the Senate floor to bash Limbaugh and his comments, referring to the fact that Limbaugh himself had never served in uniform. (According to Reid’s bio, either has he.) In addition to his remarks, Reid passed around a letter directed to Clear Channel (Limbaugh’s broadcast employer) CEO Mark Mays protesting Limbaugh’s comments and asking Mays to “confer” with Limbaugh. A total of 41 signatures were obtained, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, all running for president, as well as Ted Kennedy.
Think about that for a moment. The CEO of a broadcast company, regulated by the Federal Government, gets a letter from 41 senators asking him to “confer” with one of his employees (a private citizen no less). What was Mr Mays supposed to infer from such a letter? I’ll tell you what: Get Limbaugh under control or your broadcast license may be in danger. (Remember, Dems are trying to get the “Fairness Doctrine” revived.)
Well, Mr Mays turned the letter over to Limbaugh, who promptly put it up for auction on eBay, along with a commitment to match the final bid-proceeds going to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. Bidding ended today (October 19, 2007) and the winning bid was $2,100,100. In the process, Limbaugh made a national laughing stock out of Reid, at least among those who don’t depend on the mainstream media for their news. The mainstream media ignored the story, seeing it for what it was-a public relations disaster for the left.
So now, Reid, with egg all over his face, is trying to save some of that face with today’s statement:
…..”This morning, the bid is more than 2 million dollars for this. We’ve watched it during the week. It keeps going up and up and up. There’s only a little bit of time left on it, but it certainly is going to be more than 2 million. Never did we think that this letter would bring money of this nature. And for the cause, Madam President, it’s extremely good….. I don’t know what we could do more important than helping to ensure that children of our fallen soldiers and police officers who have fallen in the line of duty have the opportunity for their children to have a good education.” (Bold font emphasis added by me).
“We”.
It gets even better.
“So I would ask those that are wanting to do more, that they can go to the Harry Reid search-actually go on say “Harry Reid letter”, this will come up on eBay. I encourage anyone interested in this with the means to do so to consider bidding on this letter and contributing to this worthwhile cause.”
” I strongly believe that when we can put our differences aside, even Harry Reid and Rush Limbaugh, we should do that and try to accomplish good things for the American people.”
So there it is. Harry Reid now tries to jump in and claim partial credit for this money being raised for a good cause. Notice how he uses the term, “we”, as though he and Limbaugh conducted a joint effort to auction off this letter. Of course, as of now, neither Reid nor the other signatories has made any commitment to match funds as has Limbaugh. But minutes before the bidding closed, there was Harry Reid urging others to bid. The man has the testicles of an elephant. What Senate staff aide brought this brilliant idea to Reid? During the auction process, Limbaugh humiliated the Senator from Nevada. Now the senator has doubled his own humiliation with this ridiculous effort at spin, damage control, whatever you want to call it.
So what can we learn from this? What does this say about the credibility of the Democrat Senate Majority Leader? What does it say about the other signees, all Dems? What does it say about their efforts to control speech by their opponents? Finally, what does it say about the mainstream news media that has kept the story under wraps? Will they say that the story was not worth reporting? Was it not worth reporting that Senate Democrats tried to take action and intimidate a broadcast company in an effort to harm a private citizen for speaking his mind-miscontruing his words in the process? Not worth reporting that the hated Rush Limbaugh turned the letter around on Reid, making him look like a total fool and drawing in a record amount for a worthy charity?
Great job, Rush.
gary fouse
fousesquawk
Boy, that Reid is some clever fellow, right? I mean the way he came up with this whole “raise money for charity” scheme is brilliant! And he even let that goon Limbaugh take some of the credit for it. What a mensch.
Harry Reid is just trying to take credit for something good that came out of his idiocy. I am getting very tired of this doofus, and cannot wait until there is a Republican Landslide in 08 and a Republican replaces him as Senator of Nevada. – Lorica
Now you have the New York Times and the Washington Post (leading fabricators) not only missing the point of the entire story of a private citizen being admonished by a federal official, but still insisting on fabricating the actual intent that Limbaugh made in his initial scolding of the “phony soldiers”. Who’s PHONY now? LINK
Great synopsis Gary—–I will also link Sis’s post at my site.
The Main Stream News Media Comes Through for Harry Reid
Have you noticed how the mainstream news media, which originally ignored the Rush Limbaugh-Harry Reid Letter flap, now that it has been pointed out, are now giving it a little coverage, but with a positive slant toward Reid? Yesterday, I checked out some of the main news outlets. Here is what I found:
New York Times writer, Stephanie Strom wrote an article (which was printed in the Orange County Register, a libertarian paper in California, on 10-20-07), which started out like this:
” After Rush Limbaugh referred to Iraq war veterans critical of the war as ‘phony soldiers’ he recieved a letter of complaint signed by 41 Democratic senators.” (P A 23)
* Note that Ms Strom presents as fact that Limbaugh’s comments were directed at Iraq War veterans opposed to the war, an accusation Limbaugh denies, stating that his comments were directed at Jesse MacBeth, who has been proven to be a fraud.
As the article continues on a back page (A 26), the sub-headline reads:
Limbaugh: “Reid Hails Sale of Letter and Donation of Proceeds”
The article goes on:
“He (Limbaugh) predicted that the sale’s success would anger one signer of the letter, Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, whom Limbaugh calls Dingy Harry.”
” But in a statement on the floor of the Senate on Friday, Reid, D-NV, praised the auction.’ I strongly believe that when we can put our differences aside, even Harry Reid and Rush Limbaugh, we should do that and try to accomplish good things for the American people’, he said.”
The ABC News website on 10-20-07 ran an article by Byron Wolf headed:
“Who says the political fingerpointing in Washington is all for naught?”
Wolf also opened his article by characterizing Limbaugh’s comments as calling “soldiers who opposed the war ‘phony soldiers’”. He continued:
“For their part, Democrats sent a letter calling for Rush Limbaugh to be reprimanded for calling soldiers who opposed the war ‘phony soldiers’”.
Wolf then goes on to describe Betty Casey, who sent in the winning bid, listing her donations to various Republicans. He also repeated a 2004 characterization of Casey by the Washington Post as “eccentric and press-shy”. As to Reid, Wolf describes the senator as conciliatory toward Limbaugh, repeating some of Reid’s statements of 10-19-07.
The Washington Post ran this headline:
“Limbaugh Spins Reid’s Letter into Charity Gold”
NBC’s Web Site ran an article by Thomas Ferraro on 10-19-07 that included this:
“Regardless, Reid, speaking in the Senate, saluted Limbaugh for raising the money on behalf of the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, which helps children of Marines and law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty”.
“‘ What could be a more worthwhile cause?’, said Reid, urging support for the fund-raising drive shortly before the bidding closed.”
“Limbaugh, in his posting on eBay, did not appear conciliatory with Reid, who is referred to as Dingy Harry.”
“Reid spokesman, Jim Manley, declined comment on Limbaugh’s challenge, but said, ‘Senator Reid is happy something good came from Rush’s outrageous comments.’”
Then there was this from LA Times blog editor, Andrew Malcomb, who spun it this way in Reid’s favor:
” Turns out that a genuine letter of complaint about Rush Limbaugh’s recent on air ‘phony soldiers’ remark is producing some real money for a good cause.”
“Then, Harry Reid did a clever thing right back. He went on the Senate floor and praised Limbaugh’s attempt to raise money for a good cause off his letter and said he could have gotten every Democrat senator’s signature if he’d had time. To watch video of Senator Reid’s statement and Limbaugh’s, uh, firm reaction, click here.”
“The bidding on the letter closed today. The final price: 2.1 million.”
“Makes you want to sit down and write someone right now, doesn’t it?”
Note: The above article is by an LA Times writer via the paper’s blog page, so I assume it is supposed to be opinion writing.
Thus, we see examples of how the mainstream news media originally chose to ignore how Limbaugh was making Reid and his colleagues look like fools. Then, when conservative bloggers, who were pretty much alone in reporting the story, mocked the media and pointed out their selective reporting, the mainstreamers grudgingly put out selected articles, which pretty much accepted the Democrats’ position that Limbaugh was smearing any and all soldiers who were against the Iraq War, and then described Reid as a gracious figure who was only pleased to see a worthy cause get money off the letter. The reading public, especially those who depend on the mainstream news media for their news, should see this as an example of how said MSN is, in reality, an arm of the Democratic Party. In this case, they are doing Harry Reid’s spin for him.
It’s bad enough when opinion columnists engage in ridiculous spin, but it is infinitely worse when reporters do it in the guise of straight reporting.
gary fouse
fousesquawk