Posted on 10/02/2007 4:20:59 PM PDT by RDTF
Washington, DC—Senate Democrats today sent the following letter to Mark P. Mays, CEO of Clear Channel Communications, calling on him to publicly repudiate Rush Limbaugh’s characterization of troops who speak out against the Iraq war as “phony soldiers.” Despite recent Republican comments condemning verbal attacks on our troops, when given the opportunity to join us in signing this letter, not a single one did so.
The text of the letter is below and attached:
October 2, 2007
Mr. Mark P. Mays CEO, Clear Channel Communications Inc. 200 East Basse Road San Antonio, TX 78209
Dear Mr. Mays,
At the time we sign this letter, 3,808 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq, and another 28,009 have been wounded. 160,000 others awoke this morning on foreign sand, far from home, to face the danger and uncertainty of another day at war.
Although Americans of goodwill debate the merits of this war, we can all agree that those who serve with such great courage deserve our deepest respect and gratitude. That is why Rush Limbaugh’s recent characterization of troops who oppose the war as “phony soldiers” is such an outrage.
Our troops are fighting and dying to bring to others the freedoms that many take for granted. It is unconscionable that Mr. Limbaugh would criticize them for exercising the fundamentally American right to free speech. Mr. Limbaugh has made outrageous remarks before, but this affront to our soldiers is beyond the pale.
The military, like any community within the United States, includes members both for and against the war. Senior generals, such as General John Batiste and Paul Eaton, have come out against the war while others have publicly supported it. A December 2006 poll conducted by the Military Times found just 35 percent of service members approved of President Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq, compared to 42 percent who disapproved. From this figure alone, it is clear that Mr. Limbaugh’s insult is directed at thousands of American service members.
Active and retired members of our armed forces have a unique perspective on the war and offer a valuable contribution to our national debate. In August, seven soldiers wrote an op-ed expressing their concern with the current strategy in Iraq. Tragically, since then, two of those seven soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq.
Thousands of active troops and veterans were subjected to Mr. Limbaugh’s unpatriotic and indefensible comments on your broadcast. We trust you will agree that not a single one of our sons, daughters, neighbors and friends serving overseas is a “phony soldier.” We call on you to publicly repudiate these comments that call into question their service and sacrifice and to ask Mr. Limbaugh to apologize for his comments.
Sincerely,
Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader Senator Richard Durbin, Assistant Majority Leader Senator Charles Schumer, Vice Chairman, Democratic Conference Senator Patty Murray, Secretary, Democratic Conference Senator Daniel Akaka Senator Max Baucus Senator Joseph Biden Senator Barbara Boxer Senator Sherrod Brown Senator Robert Byrd Senator Benjamin Cardin Senator Tom Carper Senator Bob Casey Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Senator Kent Conrad Senator Christopher Dodd Senator Byron Dorgan Senator Dianne Feinstein Senator Tom Harkin Senator Daniel Inouye Senator Edward M. Kennedy Senator John Kerry Senator Amy Klobuchar Senator Mary Landrieu Senator Frank Lautenberg Senator Patrick Leahy Senator Carl Levin Senator Blanche Lincoln Senator Bob Menendez Senator Barbara Mikulski Senator Bill Nelson Senator Barack Obama Senator Jack Reed Senator Jay Rockefeller Senator Ken Salazar Senator Bernie Sanders Senator Debbie Stabenow Senator Jon Tester Senator Jim Webb Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Senator Ron Wyden
Did you hear when Rush called Reid a ‘phoney patriot’ today? He then repeated his invitation for Reid to talk about this on his show. Rush isn’t going to let this go at all.
Do you want to know which Senators must be defeated at the earliest opportunity? Here is your list:
Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader Senator Richard Durbin, Assistant Majority Leader Senator Charles Schumer, Vice Chairman, Democratic Conference Senator Patty Murray, Secretary, Democratic Conference Senator Daniel Akaka Senator Max Baucus Senator Joseph Biden Senator Barbara Boxer Senator Sherrod Brown Senator Robert Byrd Senator Benjamin Cardin Senator Tom Carper Senator Bob Casey Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Senator Kent Conrad Senator Christopher Dodd Senator Byron Dorgan Senator Dianne Feinstein Senator Tom Harkin Senator Daniel Inouye Senator Edward M. Kennedy Senator John Kerry Senator Amy Klobuchar Senator Mary Landrieu Senator Frank Lautenberg Senator Patrick Leahy Senator Carl Levin Senator Blanche Lincoln Senator Bob Menendez Senator Barbara Mikulski Senator Bill Nelson Senator Barack Obama Senator Jack Reed Senator Jay Rockefeller Senator Ken Salazar Senator Bernie Sanders Senator Debbie Stabenow Senator Jon Tester Senator Jim Webb Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Senator Ron Wyden
Now, while it is of the utmost importance to defeat each and every one of these people, this particular moment in time calls for picking the low-hanging fruit.
Therefore, which Democrats Free Republic should lean on at every opportunity to block and complete frustrate the miserable grifter Reid and his criminal co-conspirators at Media Matters & MoveOn.org? Here is your list:
Evan Bayh D-IN
Joe Lieberman ID-CT
Jeff Bingaman D-NM
Maria Cantwell D-WA
Russell Feingold D-WI
Tim Johnson D-IA
Herb Kohl D-WI
Claire McCaskill D-MO
Benjamin Nelson D-NE
Mark Pryor D-AR
Never never never forget that these are the Democrat Senators who declined to sign their name to a lie. I give them no credit whatsoever for passing on a lie; rather, I instruct each of you to understand that these 10 Democrats have been and will continue to be consistently the key to stopping the outright treason by Reid, Pelosi, Media Matters and MoveOn.org in their tracks. Reid & Pelosi cannot defeat those they cannot control from within the Democrat Caucus. And we can and will use that to our advantage.
Dear Sir,
I support your right to tell Harry Reid to go to Hell.
Sincerely,
A terse statement like this will do:
Having listened to the program and read the transcript it is evident to us that your letter is based on lies, obfuscation and an unholy attempt to chill the speech rights of a private citizen and an entire broadcasting network.
You may therefore and forthwith kiss my ass.
Regards,
Mark Mays
Agreed.
The same Senator Richard Durbin who said this:
On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18–24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold....On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.
If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."
Excellent...bravo John Gibson! May I ask—what is UP with Brit and the Panel? Again tonight, not a peep! I only saw the second half of Special Report, but was this story even covered???
Headline is wrong. it should Say “Limbaugh condemns senate for attacks on our troops”!!!
What a bunch of pompous fat headline grabbing liberal hacks!! Where was their condemnation of move on dot orgs betray us General Petraeus attack on the troops!!!!!!!!!!
bump
If someone knows of a congressional email directory, preferrable broken down by party, please post it. I've been searching and am unable to find it.
Let's go get 'em.
I cannot wait to see what Mr. Mays (Rush’s boss this phoney letter is going to) says about this whole situation—I hope he publicly rips a new one on ALL these anti-American, anti-troops, anti-patriotic losers!!!
More lies and bovine scatology from the ‘RATS and their toadies in the downstream media. Rush NEVER did “attack our troops.” They just can’t seem to get it right. It was Hanoi Boi Kerry, Nancy Piglosi, Red Ted Kennedy, Fat Jack Murtha, Dingy Harry and their comrades that “attacked our troops.”
Hairy Reid, PHONEY AMERICAN
This is indeed a war. And we better be prepared to fight real dirty if we are going to win out over the liberal commie pinkos.
There aren’t enough manly men in the DemoRat Party to fight their way out of a wet kleenex!!!
Surely we can beat them back.
But so far the GOP has been pretty wimpy on standing ground. This has become a fight of the people by the people. Politicians have no will to resist because they have hands in too many special interest pockets.
This is WAR!!! The people have to take charge. Clean house in 08!!
These clowns are starting to scare me with their 1984 revisionist attitude of twisting words and oppressing thought and speech. They rail against the government when it inconveniences them, but are none to happy to use its' force to achieve their means.
And these ignorant buffoons have the nerve to call us NAZIs.
The letter is here; its a pdf so I can’t cut and paste it here. But you can read it here:
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM43_071002_reidletter.html
Its mediocre, imho.
Thank you for the links, I just emailed all three of them!!
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