Phony Senators and Newspaper Spin

In the aftermath of the letter the U.S. Senate (written by the Majority Leader, Harry Reid) sent to Clear Channel Communications CEO Mark Mays lambasting Rush Limbaugh for what they interpreted (via an out of context excerpt from Media Matters) as bashing military personnel who speak out against the war in Iraq, our esteemed "fabricators" and "spinmiesters" at the New York Times and the Washington Post have published these storys IN ERROR, again.

Stephanie Strom (at the NYT's) begins her "ill-informed" article by stating/repeating the outright lies that Media Matters started:

"After Rush Limbaugh referred to Iraq war veterans critical of the war as "phony soldiers," he received a letter of complaint signed by 41 Democratic senators. He decided to auction the letter, which he described as "this glittering jewel of colossal ignorance," for charity, and he pledged to match the price, dollar for dollar."

Ms. Strom waits until the bottom of the article to print what was really said by Limbaugh:

"Mr. Limbaugh has said that he was referring only to one soldier, who was critical of the war and had served only 44 days in the Army, never seeing combat."

In the meantime, Neely Tucker, (sex unknown at this print) at the Washington Post waste no time "spinning the story" with this headline:

Limbaugh Spins Reid's Letter Into Charity Gold

Tucker starts out this post by calling it "petty bickering", when in fact this is the most blatant attack by a government official on a private citizen in our nations history, followed by the LIE that brought this story an unprecedented 4.2 million delivered to a noble charity foundation that provides scholarships to the children of the fallen:

"Petty bickering about patriotism and Who Loves Our Troops More has never been seen as a financial growth industry, but there's no stopping American capitalism. This is why a perfunctory bit of political grandstanding, committed to U.S. Senate letterhead this month, became worth a reported $4.2 million yesterday, instantly becoming one of the most valuable printed documents of the modern era."

"The letter in question is an Oct. 2 two-pager from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to Clear Channel Communications CEO Mark Mays lambasting the syndicate's Rush Limbaugh, who had recently criticized U.S. troops who were against the war in Iraq."

While these two newspapers continue to lose readership and advertising dollars because they can't seem to get a story straight, Strom and Tucker might wonder whether their next paychecks will be coming from their parent company's or the National Inquirer.

For the TRUTHFUL RECORD, Limbaugh was referring to the "phony soldiers" such as Jessie McBeth and Jimmy Massey that fabricated (lied) stories about atrocities in Iraq. While most everyone knows exactly where Limbaugh stands and shows his unrelenting support for our military, Media Matters thought this little matter would not be noticed when they pulled Limbaugh's comments out of context and Senator Reid swallowed, hook, line, and "stinker".

Now you have the New York Times and the Washington Post (leading fabricators) not only missing the point of the entire story of a private citizen being admonished by a federal official, but still insisting on fabricating the actual intent that Limbaugh made in his initial scolding of the "phony soldiers". Who's PHONY now?

Update: Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters has summed up the Reid/Limbaugh fiasco, while a commenter hits the nail on the head:

"The conservative thinks of a free-market way of raising private funds to aid a worthwhile causes and backs his commitment with his own money."

"The liberal asks other people to donate funds, doesn't donate any of his own money, and tries to take credit for the generosity of others."..........(PackerBronco)


Update 2: Sister Toldjah "feeds" Harry some crow here