Liberal Values Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

There were too big Republican losers of the week, Rush Limbaugh, John McCain, and Rudy Giuliani. Limbaugh called soldiers who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq “phony soldiers.” This is consistent with the intolerance of dissent and knee jerk support for Republican policies he has displayed in the past, but following the over-reaction to the MoveOn ad it was inevitable that there would be considerable reaction to his latest comment.

Many of the conservative bloggers who participated in the distortion of comments from John Kerry, such as claiming his joke about George Bush getting us stuck in Iraq was actually a slur on the troops, are now claiming Limbaugh’s statement was taken out of context. This argument doesn’t hold up after reading the actual transcript. Limbaugh tried to strengthen this argument by releasing an edited transcript, but this was exposed by Media Matters. Many liberal bloggers, such as Army of Dude, presented examples to counter Limbaugh’s claim.

The House of Representatives will be considering a measure to condemn Limbaugh for his comments. Mitt Romney and John McCain have also condemned Limbaugh for this comment. McCain said:

Any American who risks his or her life to defend us has earned the respect and gratitude of every American citizen, irrespective of their views on this war. If Mr. Limbaugh made the remark he is reported to have made, it reflects very poorly on him and not the objects of his offensive comment. I expect most Americans, whatever their political views, will have the same reaction. He would be well advised to retract it and apologize.

McCain didn’t do as well when he was interviewed by Beliefnet and claimed that the Constitution established a “Christian nation.”

Another loser of the week was Rudy Giuliani as one of his backers was found to be behind the failed attempt to improve the odds of a Republican victory in 2008 by dividing up the California electoral votes.