Exploit the troops, it’s the American way

On phony soldiers, phony Americans and phony political statements

Rush Limbaugh caused an uproar over statements he made about an anti-War soldier (reservist). Now, known as the “phony soldier” remark. Rush Limbaugh’s objective was to call out liberals who participate in the unAmerican and fraudulent activities that spread anti-War propaganda through the airwaves.

If you’re not familiar with Rush Limbaugh’s controversial statement, he basically introduced a new buzz phrase, that may not go mainstream the way “Unamerican” did in 2004 and “unChristian” did in 2000.

Phony Soldier

So what got everyone’s panties in a bunch? The following quotes are from Rush Limbaugh’s conservative radio talk show:

“What’s really funny is, they [see liberal faggots] never talk to real soldiers,” the caller said. “They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.”

“The phony soldiers,” Limbaugh then said.

The implication, of course, is that the “phony soldiers” out there –aka Liberal anti-War hippies– are far and few between.  As for the issue of whether soldiers support this war, that is no contest.  Polls released over a year ago showed “the troops” desiring withdrawal (e.g. anti-War liberals) at over 72%.  Generally, though, most ’soldiers’ can not question their superiors, they are there to do their jobs and are forbidden from speaking out, part of what incited the Rush comment.

The phony soldier remark subtly suggests that if you’re against the war and wearing an American uniform or even just an American against the war, you are a traitor to our country.  The rhetoric goes like this: by ‘not supporting the troops’ you are acting out against everything America stands for.  (e.g. Republican Iraq War policy) This isn’t me reading too much into the phrase.  Read blogs and listen to the talk shows for yourself, they are convinced that anti-War means anti-American.

Political intrigue: Betray-us ad vs. Phony Soldier comment?

The remark caught a lot of attention in the press and sparked dialogue on the Internet. Just like the “General Betray-us” ad, it prompted Congressmen to speak out on the issue. Congressional Democrats signed a letter (partisan supported, of course) asking the CEO of Clear Channel Communications to repudiate the statements and the response was uninspiring.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Mark Mays, the CEO of Clear Channel Communications, wrote:

“Over the years Mr. Limbaugh has repeatedly praised the dedication and valor of our brave men and women in uniform.”

“Given Mr. Limbaugh’s history of support for our soldiers, it would be unfair for me to assume his statements were intended to personally indict combat soldiers simply because they didn’t share his own beliefs regarding the war in Iraq.”

Leading candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, both vying for the Democratic presidential nomination signed the letter.  As for the Moveon ‘controversy’, just take a look at public opinion and try to understand why liberal radicals are out in full force.  Republicans are responsible for movements like MoveOn, but I will not talk about that issue in this article.

Why the outrage on Phony Soldier comment?

Republicans that argue Rush Limbaugh’s statement was blown out of proportion are right, it really was. I am a common critic of conservative tactics that are unhealthy for American political discourse, but the statement was directed towards a special audience. The message that Rush Limbaugh promotes isn’t intended for ‘liberal’ ears and in fact, it isn’t really intended for people that sit at the center of the political spectrum.

Look, Rush is pure Hollywood entertainment for conservatives, why should we expect anything more than angry and hateful anti-Democrat propaganda from a conservative political pundit? Consider Jon Stewart of the Daily Show and his frequent use of satire that demeans neo-conservative policy arguments. This is very much the same issue, except one core difference in the delivery of the ‘entertainment’ distinguishes Rush Limbaugh from Jon Stewart or Bill Maher.  The latter are comedians and most of the humor is either light or tasteful in the case of Jon Stewart.

The media fails to recognize ‘why’ this is a serious problem.  They, we, are so distracted by the who and what of the message rather than the why.

Phony Soldier / political Hypocrisy? No.

The problem is more subtle than that: In short, there is cause for concern that the phony soldier remark was intended for the ears of politically centered Americans.

Does the reason we call extreme or ‘outrageous’ statements by Rush Limbaugh have to be ‘he only supports troops who support the war?” That is a lazy way of thinking. Whether there is some truth to this, it only begins to scratch the surface.

What do we know about Rush Limbaugh?

1. He is intelligent, ratings go through the roof by fueling the flames of political discourse with ‘controversial’ statements
2. Producers of his syndicated talk show are pleased with the media attention, because it serves to encourage profits!
3. If political ‘controversy’ and ’scandal’ weren’t profitable, Rush Limbaugh and/or his producers would be more amenable to apologizing or explaining the reasoning behind the statement rather than defending it.
4. By planting seeds of doubt and venom into the airwaves, Rush Limbaugh helps control the conversation taking place in the mainstream. He knows his shot on anti-War critics will be heard ’round the world, and in Hollywood radio land there is no such thing as bad publicity.
5. The diabolical genius behind Limbaugh’s controversial statements is the “Rush” name is repeatedly pushed on Americans. Over time this transforms otherwise ‘radical’ positions into ones that are more likely accepted by the main stream.

If I am correct, and I usually am… War is the only issue that Republicans have to run on as we approach the 2008 elections. You may occasionally hear anti-Communist / anti-China arguments because they are weary of the American public opinion and how it affects chances of being elected.

Phony “American?” Yes.

It was a terrible statement to make, but not because of Rush Limbaugh’s failure to “support the troops” ™.

What made Limbaugh’s statement hurtful to Americans is that it encourages the ongoing trend of influential political figures stifling dissent, or at least attempting to hijack or derail the political discourse. By shaming anyone that opposes the war, Rush Limbaugh –and Republicans– effectively castrate ‘anti-War’ (aka Liberal) policy arguments. The liberal arguments lose their teeth as they become unmeritorious and unworthy of being heard by the conservative base.

What was the “Phony Soldier” remark all about?

This isn’t just about opposition to the war and whether one pundit or another recognizes the valor of our American soldiers and “supports the troops” ™. The problem is Rush Limbaugh is highly representative of what has become of politics in the 21st century. We live in an era of Partisan Hacks. In this era, you learn to swim with the sharks or you’ll be eaten by them. Sound bytes, Buzz phrases, angry messages and hateful speech is the name of the game in politics.

In essence, the “Phony Soldier” comment is how conservatives rally against liberals. Notice that the media focused on Rush Limbaugh and his hypocrisy instead of focusing on the fact that soldiers are painted liberal and phony when they do not support conservative policy. You may think to yourself, well “Hypocrisy” by definition means that Rush Limbaugh only ’supports the troops’ when soldiers support Rush politics. Your statement might appear ‘correct’ but again you are focusing your anger on Rush Limbaugh (a political hack) and not the subtle underlying message!

1. If you are against the war, then you are Liberal
2. If you are liberal, you are anti-American and do not support the troops
3. If you are a soldier and against the war (see #1) you’re a Phony
4. Conclusion? Liberal = Phony

The rest should be obvious, the message is clear: liberal policy arguments hold no water and therefore are not suitable for American consumption. This of course, goes contrary to everything that it means to be an “American”, so why don’t Liberals run such a platform? Sound bytes and buzz phrases must be short and sweet, else the political message is diminished because the rhetoric is simply not marketable.

Marketable buzzwords and political rhetoric are how politicians control American Democracy. Whoever has the most money / media pull sells more buzzwords

1. Support the Troops
2. America is a Christian nation
3. Anti-War is Unamerican
4. in War, one side wins. What side are you on?
5. Anti-War means you don’t support the troops (see #1)
6. Jihad Sympathizer (see #2)
7. You’re with us or against us (see #3)
8. Defeatocrats (see #4)
9. Slamdunk Evidence - Saddam has WMDs and aims to use them. Imminent threat to Americans (oops! see #7)
10. Mushroom Cloud (yikes!)

Buzz helps political campaigns get loyal party members elected

Politicians often use terms like “bipartisan” while campaigning for office, though they know there is really no such thing as bipartisan support. When Republicans and Democrats ‘vote the same way’ on an issue, one side or another will scream about partisan games being played that coerced them into supporting pork-filled legislation.

Bipartisanship only comes into play when politicians fear political backlash from citizens OR the media OR when it gives political strategists weapons to use against them. Most people know that all it takes is a few buzz words played over airwaves to take over the U.S. government. The millions spent campaigning are inevitably spent for this purpose.

Speaking of inevitability, you may remember that Hillary Clinton and fellow Democrats gladly rubber stamped President Bush’s war policies that led to the Iraq invasion and subsequently ’supported’ the war. To do otherwise was political suicide because every Democrat in America knew that the war was ‘inevitable’ as they now know that Hillary Clinton’s election is inevitable. There was simply no way around it, President Bush was determined, the pundits and so-called ‘analysts’ laid the foundation, the experts and radio and TV partisan clowns were beating on their drums and Fox News solidified the Republican war policy, because thats what fox news does. The result, you ask?

Saddam Hussein paid for Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist attack

Osama Bin Laden is yet to be found, or dead, plotting your death, or a fabrication of the U.S. government, depending on your political loyalties and what ‘experts’ you turn to. Why has Iraq been such a controversial topic? The only plausible explanation is that the partisan era of hacks has taken over the political discourse and when coupled with pride, hate, anger, and fear, political decisions made in Washington are based entirely on passion and rarely on logic.

“You’re either with us… or or or you’re with the terrorists”

The buzz phrase worked wonders for war supporters. From that point on, every American that favored finding Osama Bin Laden over invading Iraq, was painted as unAmerican and ‘not supporting the troops’. The phrase naturally evolved over time and was short and sweet as the 2004 elections came around. Phrases we all love or hate sprouted up:

• You are Unamerican IF you don’t support the war
• You “hate the troops” IF you don’t support the war
• You are a “Jihadist Sympathizer” IF you don’t support the war

So who won when political strategists and pundits played their role in promoting the war? The politicians at the top were re-elected in 2004, industries and corporations stood to gain millions of dollars, and even the terrorists won. see Osama Bin laden

After Saddam Hussein was ousted, it wasn’t just millions of dollars that were up for grabs. The war turned into a gold mind for private contractors. The Iraq war has become a multi-billion dollar war and defense industry. Corporate interests are supported on the backs of American taxpayers and defended with invincible shields built off of American soldiers’ lives. When those shields go down, the exploitation of God and Country rarely let pro-War activists down.

American lives and money are at stake and so much more..

Children not yet conceived will pay our War debt. Many children will never meet their fathers (or mothers in some cases). What they will receive is a tale of American heroism. They’ll be told that soldiers were sent off to war to combat evil terrorists and save America from hopeless and utter despair. It IS TRUE, after all.. but what they won’t be told is how they have to bear the responsibility of paying for the political blunders of our Bush administration and how greedy certain American corporate interests fought very hard to keep us in a war waged under false pretenses that ultimately led to their father’s death.

What President Bush and partisan hacks did post-September 11th was ensure that the terrorist leader, mastermind of 9/11 would get away; they made sure tens of thousands of Americans would die, tens of thousands soldiers wounded at war and many permanently disabled, over half a million Iraqi civilians who we sought to ‘free’ would die as a result of a political war. They also made it possible for our War debt to be on pace to reach well over two trillion dollars. Lets not forget Americans injured by Natural disasters that would go ignored, if not forgotten by our government and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars would be lost or stolen as a result of fraud, corruption, mismanagement and catering to corporate opportunists.

All of the tragic results of war are what makes “controversial” statements by Rush Limbaugh and other political pundit’s so detrimental to American interests. Sadly, this story is too difficult and complicated to make a buck off of. So, expect the media and our partisan friends in entertainment to stick to words like “phony soldiers”, “liberal faggot”, “Unamerican”, “Defeatist”, “war-Monger”, “Liars”, “Betrayers”, and “Murderers” as they attempt to secure your vote for the upcoming 2008 elections.

Congratulations! You made it through this very long article. You are truly worthy of the American badge, there is no doubt in my mind that you support the troops and love your country, now please throw money at me so that I may continue to exploit your anger, fear, resentment, and hate.

Fred Soto is an Attorney and Entrepreneur from the Silicon Valley.
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