The Supreme Court decided on Thursday that lying about medals and military service, while “contemptible,” is protected under the First Amendment’s free speech clause. The court said the federal “Stolen Valor” law was overly broad and imposed a chilling effect on free speech. This news enraged Rush Limbaugh, who responded on is radio show with disdain, facetiously wondering, “I don’t know if they legalized pedophilia or not.”
An interesting non sequitur, but back on point: Limbaugh’s comprehension of freedom of speech has always been a crabbed affair, pretty much limited to the view that he and his conservative allies–people who enjoy more freedom of speech than most–are the targets of censorship, if not full-stop free speech martyrs.
But it’s worth asking whether, if Limbaugh thinks people should be prosecuted for lying about their military records, that sanction should include lying about one’s draft record?
It’s well-established that Limbaugh has told many contradictory stories about how he avoided being drafted during the Vietnam War. Here’s a sample of those accounts from FAIR’s 1995 book, The Way Things Aren’t: Rush Limbaugh’s Reign of Error:
Limbaugh has made a career assailing Bill Clinton as a “draft dodger” whose evasiveness on the subject proves that he has a “character flaw.” But Limbaugh himself has been evasive about his own avoidance of the Vietnam draft. He’s offered this account: “Upon taking a physical, [I] was discovered to have a physical–uh, by virtue of what the military says, I didn’t even know it existed–a physical deferment, and then the lottery system came along… and mine [number] was high.” On another occasion, he said that he had a “pilonidal cyst” and a “football knee from high school,” and claimed: “I made no effort to evade it or avoid it.”
Limbaugh’s explanations, as biographer Colford has shown, are deceptive. Limbaugh never had a draft board physical. It was only after Limbaugh drew a lottery number that kept him in the running for the draft, records show, that Limbaugh himself provided medical information to the board of some minor problem that took him out of consideration for Vietnam. Limbaugh’s dad had the same kind of pilonidal cyst, but served in World War II. No evidence has surfaced of a football injury. Limbaugh once joked on the air that maybe his dad bribed the draft board to keep him out of Vietnam.
Others have weighed in on Limbaugh’s dishonesty on this issue, including the fact-checking site Snopes.com, which described Limbaugh’s comments about his draft record as “dissembling.”
Considering this, Limbaugh might have been relieved to see the court strike down a law against lying about ones military record. Indeed, if the federal government got into broadly prosecuting liars, Limbaugh might find himself on the 10 most wanted list.
Then again, calling for people to be put in jail for behavior he engages in regularly is not exactly a new thing for Limbaugh.
Do as I say.
Not as I avoided doing.
If it became against the law to lie about your military record, George W. Bush might also be in big trouble.
I was most annoyed when after Limbaugh had for years railed againt the idea of being nicer to those put in prison for long stretches for drug “crimes” when he himself got into that mess others wanted him to get off. Me I wanted that fat billionaire to not only go to prison but to have his wealth taken away as others have all their own taken away because “some of it might be tainted with drug money.”
Then we can get into his having sex with under age girls in a foreign country.
Clearly legalization of pedophilia is high on fat-boy’s wish list.
There are so many depressing slime balls in the news. It seems that the cast of slugs and list of every describable muck-sucking is endless. Why do people listen to someone they would like to strangle? Why do I read this article? Why do I write this letter? You have to believe in God. Who else would give a sh*t about this mess?
these comments are terrible considering Mr Limbaugh has always been a paragon of civil discourse
He’s not even worth discussing but since you ask, he and all his republicon friends including the previous criminal administration can head straight to the pen right now. Good riddance.
Yeah, I’m always amazed that some 10’s of millions of people listen Limbaugh regularly- – – he’s the loud-mouth drunk at the end of the bar who’s got an opinion & answer about everything, which (when you check it out) almost always consists of distorting some factoid WAY out of any normal proportional significance, or just plain mistaken facts (as FAIR’s above-mentioned book so ably documents). Besides the simplistic, visceral reasoning and underlying racism, I can’t help but wonder if a lot of people (men, mostly) like listening to him because he reminds them of their ranting father? But hell, I wouldn’t buy a veg-o-matic from people who rant like that, so why do people ‘buy’ a political philosophy from somebody like Limbaugh? How hard-up for political analysis (such as it is) do you have to be to get it from a blustery source like him?
A pilonidal cyst? REALLY? I had a pilonidal cyst when I was 18 and had it removed. NO residual effects in the last 39 years.
Was Rushbo’s cyst on his vagina?
Night-Gaunt said it all.
Rush and his ilk (Cheney, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity), are the quintessential “Chickenhawks”- they are always ready to send someone else’s son/daughter off to wars that that they themselves decline to enlist for!
Terry
I agree with the comments above. However, what is most scary is that these clowns have an audience that swears by their lies and WILL NOT or CANNOT accept the truth when it is given to them. They are also the sheep that follow, and vote along with what these liars say–that is somewhat scary for the future of this country.
@ nightgaunt “Then we can get into his having sex with under age girls in a foreign country.”
what makes you think it was girls?
ps
if lying was a crime all of right wing talk radio would go silent…careful what you wish for there anal cyst guy
@ Woodward – It would have to young girls cause they can’t run as fast as young boys.
Tush Limburger must love the taste of shoe leather; I can’t think of a time when he hasn’t eaten at least one pair of shoes during a broadcast. Limburger – The Way I wish things were, so I could look intelligent when I speak.
EIB = Exceptional Idiotic Boob
@ Big Em, the reason these people listen to him is because he is telling them exactly what they want to hear. As Molly Ivans (may the goddess enjoy her company) used to say: the people know they are being screwed, and this man is telling them that, only he is telling them ‘it’s not your fault’. They want to hear that it is some “mythical Creature” called a liberal, on which they can hang all their woes and worries. “It’s not your fault.” And he knows this, he is selling them snake oil.
All these right wing barfers do is lie, scare, spread hate and evil. We can’t outlaw all lying but we should be able to point out the liars that do nothing but lie.
Your banging on Rush about his lack of military service has already been deeply covered/investigated in the NY time article.It is a non story.Even they gave him a clean bill of health.In the end he is elected to nothing so who really cares.He is a man with opinions.I like them,you don’t.
As far as the conservative stance against lying about your military records….. I think I disagree with that.This is a free country.If I want to say I am the grand duchess of Russia who just received a sex change,and I now am a seal team six SEAL so be it.As long as Im not using it to gain goods and services which would leave me open for legal ramification involving fraud – who gives a shite.I will bet Rush told a hot girl that he was a navy fighter pilot invading Canada in the morning ,so this could be his last night.God knows I did
Really? Investigated by the NYT? A lie. Limbaugh is indeed a draft-dodger–big deal; not wanting to get maimed or killed in an illegal war is rational. It’s the fact that he’s a war-monger that makes himm the asshole that he is. The rest of your post (especially this line–“If I want to say I am the grand duchess of Russia who just received a sex change,and I now am a seal team six SEAL so be it.”) speaks directly to your modus operandi here at the FAIR blog. Grandiose tall tales, out-right lying, nutty non-sequiturs, and never anything to back it up. Like Limbaugh.
Tim is that what you get out of my very lighthearted post?Really?Are you that angry bitter,and frothing over with invective?Well of course you are.You are a liberal socialist.Need i say more?Your modus operandi???
Look Rush laughs at this kind of attack.He has been laughing at it since the early 80s.He has had the best minds on the left working every minute for 30 plus years to find an arrow that would pierce his Rhino hide.Do you really believe somebody found THIS out?Learn to read the impeccable timing of “october surprises”.This is simply part of the over all strategy to attack conservatism before the election.It needs not be real or even last in any meaningful way.It is the moves of a classic community activest to seed the seeds of discord.A week after November -you will never remember the charge.But hey throw whatever mud you want at him.If you have learned anything from the man it is that he urges you to bring it on with a big hearty laugh at your expense. Again I like what he says…you don’t.He is elected to NOTHING!Unlike the real lies you should be following from those who are.No new taxes on the middle class indeed!Here comes the biggest tax in our history.
Here comes the biggest tax in our history.
Quit peddling bullshit.
Dick of turrets syndrome fame still says this is not a tax.Or even if it is,that it certainly is not all that big.Back to doing the thorazine shuffle with you my fine feathered lib.
I like to refer to people like Limbaugh as ‘vermin’. But this is doing a disservice to rats, since they have a purpose on this planet. Limbaugh, on the other hand is nothing but an evil parasite, whose waking hours are dedicated to hurting people and our environment for which we depend on for life itself. What Limbaugh can really be compared to is a flesh eating virus, this lifeform has no intrinsic value whatsoever. He must not own a conscience, if he did he would despise himself.
Daniel
Liberals have in the past been accused of being elitist snobs,with no sense of humor or good will.Angry nasty people who wish bad luck or harm on anyone who holds views different from their own.People who dehumanize and compartmentalize people into those who are worthy, and those who are nothing but garbage hopefully not long for this world.I would advise you to stop playing into the stereotype.
Obama has never done anything i can think of that i agree with.And unlike Rush he effects our lives everyday.Yet i would never use any of the words you used in describing Rush.We simply agree to disagree.Moving on
Ps If anyone should be despised…..It should be those who speak like you do sir.In this country the right to free speech is still sacrosanct.Go find a better Karma.Yours looks a might tarnished.
Limbaugh is plain and simply, a liar. Of course to be a liar of such great proportion he had to buy himself a broadcast network. As for those advocating for him, one can only wonder how much money or favor they have gained and expect to gain every time a neocon teabagger decides to go monkeyshit.
Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital, of which he still holds millions of dollars in assets as a “retired director,” holds a major financial stake in ClearChannel Communications and a host of Conservative Talk Radio shows like those put on by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and others.
In all, Clear Channel owns 850 radio stations around the nation – they also own Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates the programs of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Savage and Beck, to name a few.
In 2008 Clear Channel signed Limbaugh to an eight year $400 Million Contract.
http://www.westernjournalism.com/bain-capital-owns-clear-channel-rush-limbaugh-sean-hannity-glenn-beck-michael-savage-etc/
michael e wrote: I will bet Rush told a hot girl that he was a navy fighter pilot invading Canada in the morning ,so this could be his last night.God knows I did.
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You do realize that if Limbaugh had his way this sort of lying would be a crime, right? That was the main theme of this FAIR piece, after all; it was kinda hard to miss.
Rush has a great sense of humor John.He would get the joke.
As far as this whole discussion….. it is kind of silly.Rush and others would like using a false military record for advancement as a matter for the courts.At least that is what you say.I have never heard him say anything on the matter.
I agree that that type of fraud is open to law suits.But I do not think government should lay down a pre existing law to such a thing.It is far to tenuous . Of course Im sure if you listed those lies on IRS records they would litigate it if the opportunity presented itself.Or if you received veteran benefits in a fraudulent manner.This is where conservatives believe some of these lies are illegal fraud.Fodder for the courts.
If lying became criminal, all mainstream media outlets would cease to exist. The best idea Rush has ever had.
@michael e: What joke would that be? That a near 300-lb guy could be a Navy officer?
If you’ve never heard him say anything on whether lying about military service should be a crime, then you better get your ears checked, Doc. And you better brush up on reading comprehension, too. Again: the whole theme of this piece is that Limbaugh was enraged by the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Stolen Valor Act. He mocked the court’s decision, saying that if it’s not a crime to lie about military service, then it’s equivalent of legalizing pedophilia.
John no I did not hear the show mentioned.But since then I have accessed the complete transcript on his discussion on the subject(48 minutes).First of course- as usual the context is lost in a soundbite.That said I see his points, but don’t really agree.He points out that if a person benefits from a lie(i.e a politician)about his military service, that that lie is a fraudulent act perpetrated for self advancement.He sarcastically concludes there is something immoral about the supreme court “accepting lie’s in such a broad format that it crosses over into fraud” He then again sarcastically concludes that we” live in a land of lies and no shame”.Where even people like Sandusky have people in his corner.A pediphile.Yet his lies are accepted by too many.He is over the top in his sarcasm saying that he wonders if the supreme court is Ok with that.O.J remember him?His point was that we live in a land of people who lie their asses off.Of No shame.People accept it.And that the courts just said DAMN STRAIGHT!He was showing righteous indignation.
On the other side of the coin I have still never heard him quantify the idea of a courts judgement against a citizen for untruths.I doubt he would.He is talking philosophically it appears to me..As far as the court -there in no way they could start a precedent along these lines(then again who knows with this court) Im surprised the case went that high.Rush talks four hours a day,five days a week.No guests.If you take umbrage with what he says on the left well,im not suprised.The way he speaks is an off the cuff-veritable quote machine.With the left working so hard to catch him in gaffes ,Im always amazed at the mans ability to avoid annihilation.Hell if this is all they got…again they have not laid a glove.
As far as Rush and his size…..As of the end of March he was listing his height as 5″11,and his weight at 220(still too heavy by the way)For a 60 year old “navy officer”that would not preclude him from service.
Isn’t it interesting how the new “conservative” elite is all made of people who went out of their way to avoid service to the nation?
Um yeah.We are just overloaded with draft dodgers.As far as the new conservative elite…..what the hell is that?
Well, what army did Obama serve in.