On Friday, Rush Limbaugh takes what he considers one of the most dangerous risks a host can take, that of letting the callers set the subject for the show. I never bought that it was all that big of a risk, because of course the Rush Limbaugh Show has very proficient call screeners. But an exchange yesterday might prove Rush's point.
"CALLER: I've been hanging on here for a while, back from the discussion of should we pull out of Iraq, or what should we do, you know, the whole Iraq issue earlier in the program. And what caused me to call in was, looking at the Capitol Journal article in the Wall Street Journal the day before yesterday --
RUSH: Hold it just a second. Just a minute. I know I'm tired, and I've admitted this, and I'm running on fumes here today, but have we discussed pulling out of Iraq earlier on this show today? We haven't discussed that -- I'm glad to discuss it with you, but --
CALLER: It was about Iraq and what should we do and what shouldn't we do.
RUSH: That was about Ted Koppel's Nightline show tonight.
CALLER: Well, I'm here.
RUSH: You're here -- if you want to -- that's right, but, fine, I just--
CALLER: I want to talk to you about.
RUSH: I'm not being critical. I'm telling you I'm fatigued. I didn't remember talking about it and if you did it means I'm in worse shape than I think I am. It's okay. Just fire away, man. Go for it.
CALLER: Did you see the article in the Wall Street Journal from Wednesday, the Capitol Journal article, "former general says staying the course in Iraq is untenable."
RUSH: I have that article right here. I'm the host.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: I don't have it, wait a second, now.
CALLER: This guy makes the point -- . . .
This is, to me, a strange exchange, and it looks even stranger in print. I wonder if Rush's staff really reviewed this enough, or if they just decided it was Friday so they may as well print it and go home.
This conversation concerns the criticisms that Former National Security Agency Director and retired General William Odom has levelled at the Bush Administration. Let's read a little bit more.
RUSH: Wait a minute. Look it, you're going to get all the time you need here. Let's have a conversation. I'm not trying to make you lose your place, but I've got the article, but I don't have it from the Wall Street Journal. I want you to know where it's now appeared. I have it in something called the Khaleej Times, and the logo for the Khaleej Times is a palm tree and an oil well. The Khaleej Times is somewhere in the United Arab Emirates. So this guy --
CALLER: Why do I care about this?
RUSH: It's not why -- you obviously don't. It's why should you. It's that what this guy has said has reached our troops and it's a demoralizing thing for him to say.
CALLER: Well, okay, so the Wall Street Journal shouldn't have published the article originally.
RUSH: Didn't say that. Didn't say that. That's not -- how do you get that? What I'm saying is --
CALLER: What difference does it make where it is?
RUSH: No, no, no. The answer is Odom shouldn't have said it publicly is what I'm saying, but did and the cat's out of the bag.
You see the rhetorical trick being played here? Rush's source on the article is a newspaper printed in the United Arab Emirates. Great. So it's only a hop skip and a jump from there to where one of our soldiers could pick it up and read it.
Or, of course, he could read more in depth and complete articles elsewhere. In the Wall Street Journal for example (which I don't have a link for, unfortunately). Or on CNN. Or on the Internet.
So I guess, we had better never criticize the administrations Iraq policy or else our soldiers will be disheartened and give up.
It's a good thing we don't live in a Democracy where students have the fundamental responsibility to regard their Government and those that govern critically. Oh, wait a minute.
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