On eBay: Reid's "Phony soldiers" Letter to Clear Channel

Remember the letter Harry Reid wrote to clear Channel Communications, asking Rush Limbaugh to apologize for his "phony soldiers" comment?

It's for sale on eBay:

When "Dingy Harry" Reid and the U.S. Senate turned away from the business of the nation to instead smear a private citizen, forty-one of them sent a letter demanding the "repudiation" of their inaccurate interpretation of Rush Limbaugh's comments about Jesse Al-Zaid (a.k.a. Jesse MacBeth) and other "phony soldiers" who falsify their service. This letter was delivered to Mark Mays of Clear Channel Communications, Rush Limbaugh's syndication partner, and widely quoted in the Drive-By Media.

Up for auction is the original letter signed by 41 Democrat senators. This historic document may well represent the first time in the history of America that this large a group of U.S. senators attempted to demonize a private citizen by lying about his views. As such, it is a priceless memento of the folly of Harry Reid and his 40 senatorial co-signers.

The seller has no history on ebay And: "Current bid: US $117,300.00."

So, if I'm understanding this, Reid sent a letter to Mark P. Mays, CEO of Clear Channel, and Mays either gave it to someone who put it up for auction, or he put it up for auction himself.

UPDATE: Looks like this is Limbaugh himself, in one of his "funny" (The 1/2 Hour News Hour kind of funny) moments:

Rush first publicly displayed this letter on the night of October 11th during a speech in Philadelphia, having a security operative carry it on stage, with the letter itself safely encased in a Halliburton Attache case handcuffed to the agent's right wrist. Included in this auction is that same Halliburton briefcase, as well as a personal letter from Rush Limbaugh, thanking the winning bidder for his donation. The special handcuffs may not be distributed outside of law enforcement and security officers, and thus are not included in this auction.

As winning bidder, you get:
- The original and infamous "Harry Reid Smear" letter, signed by 41 Democat senators
- The Halliburton briefcase in which this letter is secured 24 hours a day
- A personal letter of thanks from the Man Who Runs America, Rush Limbaugh
- A photograph of Rush displaying the letter on stage in Philadelphia on October 11th




Limbaugh is Losing It

"Everyone who believes anything that is contrary to my own beliefs and speaks out about it is brainwashed. If they speak out about me saying that, I will lie about them in such a way that it can easily be shown that I am lying, and I will sit back in the dingy gated-basement that is my world and life and say, 'I am important.'"

Limbaugh: Darfur is Donovan McNabb

More brilliant analysis from Rush Limbaugh: the "black" man.

From here.

Rush Limbaugh: Just a Regular Guy

Yes, he speaks for the regular hard working stiff:


RADIO host Rush Limbaugh is far from conservative when it comes to his big appetite. The Post's Braden Keil reports that Limbaugh and a female companion lived large at Kobe Club last Thursday night, devouring bacon with truffles, Japanese strip steak, Kobe beef cheek ravioli, a large seafood platter, a combo of American, Australian and Japanese wagyu steaks and several "side" dishes. After finishing their $700 feast, Limbaugh left the server a $1,000 tip. On a previous night, Limbaugh and another female friend were spotted by patrons sharing a $4,000 bottle of wine at '21.'

Add that to the Viagra vacations, and his eight-year, $285 million salary, and he's about as regular hard working American as you can get.

Hey wait: Don't the terrorists hate us because we're so decadent?

Hey wait II: bottle of wine? Limbaugh was treated for addiction and agreed to random drug tests. Little risky there, Rush.

Like the Pope Said: No More Limbaugh

Well not yet, but the floor boards under the Human Fart and his Large Microphone are creaking louder, and maybe, just maybe, the next few months will find an end to that sad chapter in the fine history of radio.

Limbaugh sees the light!

Rush Limbaugh:

It seems, every time there’s a public demand for somebody to resign in Washington, it’s always a Republican!

Public demand. Got that?

This isn't more of your Blame America First, is it?

Update: Hatch & Limbaugh Lam-inaters, Inc.

Via Avedon Carol, Hilzoy has an update on where Hatch and Limbaugh may have gotten their coordinatied talking points about fired U.S. attorney, and fellow republican, Carol Lam:

However: in the course of researching this, I think I have figured out what accounts for this bizarre set of obvious factual errors. Everything that Hatch says about Lam is in fact true of one of her predecessors, Alan Bersin. In an article on Carol Lam in the National Review, published a couple of days before Hatch went on MTP, Byron York writes this (while discussing how Lam was chosen for the US Attorney's job):

"It wasn’t an easy job; the position of U.S. attorney for the Southern District had been wracked by politics in the previous decade. In 1993, Bill Clinton replaced the Republican U.S. attorney, a career prosecutor and veteran of 20 years in the Justice Department, with Alan Bersin, a law professor who had no prosecutorial experience but who had been a classmate of Clinton’s at Yale and head of the Clinton campaign in San Diego. (Bersin pledged to vigorously pursue Clinton priorities like environmental law.) In March 1998, Bersin resigned to become head of the San Diego school system. "

Gives a glimpse of the mechanism by which talking points fly around the Republican back room. NRO to Limbaugh to your U.S. Senate. Beautiful.

The Logic of Over-the-Top Suspicion [Updatedx5]

Watch this video of one more Bush supporter and a few more lies, via Rachel Maddow. Another day, another couple of lies. This one about Carol Lam, former U.S. Attorney General [d'oh!] based in Sand Diego, who was fired in the recent USAt. firing scandal.


One revealing aspect of this story is that all of these USAs [ed.] were appointed by Bush, and now, no surprise, Bush supporters are going after them with a vengeance. (More cannibalism here.) Here's what Bushite Republican senator Orrin Hatch said about Carol Lam, who, again, was appointed by President Bush in 2002:

She's a former law professor; no prosecutorial experience; and the former campaign manager in Southern California for Clinton. Full Quote from TPM.

Liar Hatch: Carol Lam blah blah blah.

Fact: Orrin hatch is a liar (okay, he could just be an idiot). First - go here (The Sideshow) Updated here:

Tuesday she checked with Carol Lam's people, who said that not only had she had nothing to do with the Clinton campaign, Hatch was also, um, misspeaking, when he said she was a former law professor with no prosecutorial experience - she had 15 years worth of experience, though she'd never been a law professor.

And here (top item) is a (cached) Associated press bio on Carol Lam:

NAME: Carol Chien-Hua Lam

BIRTH DATE-AGE: June 26, 1959; 47

EDUCATION: Yale University; Stanford Law School

CAREER: Assistant U.S. attorney in San Diego, 1986-2000; San Diego Superior Court judge, 2000-02; U.S. attorney in San Diego, 2002-February 2007; legal counsel for San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc., February 2007-present.

Did she throw a professorship in there somewhere? It's possible, but, according to above link, she did not. And she had, per that bio, 15 years of prosecutorial experience when she was appointed…by President Bush. Was she a Clinton campaign manager? The above link says no. And you've gotta think that an assistant U.S attorney might be disallowed from such a thing, and Carol Lam was just that during all the years of Clinton's presidency (and five years prior).

[UPDATE: Our liberal media still hasn't reported on Hatch's Lam-inating of the facts. I'll keep checking.]

[UPDATE II: Dang, I looked and looked last night but could not find where I'd seen the following Limbaugh link. It was FireDogLake. Yesterday their link to the Limbaugh transcript allowed you to see the whole show - but it's inaccessible now. Hmm. Sorry for the late acknowledgement, FDL.]

And Rush Limbaugh told the same lies about Lam the other day [yesterday, it turns out] on his radio show (cached Google - Limbaugh hides behind a subscription):

Carol Lam was a campaign manager! These people would normally be made ambassadors, but Clinton put her in as a US attorney.

"Clinton put her in as a U.S. attorney." No, Bush put her in as U.S. attorney.

Rush Limbaugh: Liar.

Fact: Rush Limbaugh is a liar.

A point that can not be made too often.

Back to the headline, The Logic of Over-the-Top Suspicion. When you've been lied too as many times as we have, it is illogical and irrational to think that anything that comes out of their mouths is the truth. They're lying. About anything important, anything especially regarding claims of innocence on a charge like this one. We would be irresponsible to think that they weren't lying at this point. We've been lied to too many times.

UPDATE III: Go here for the story of how these lies apparently came to be.

UPDATE IV: Oh my geehad just when you thought it couldn't get worse for Hatch - it can. And it has. Via TPM, Hatch has an explanation for his lies:

My comments about Carol Lam's record as a U.S. Attorney were accurate, but I misspoke when making the point of discussing politically connected U.S. Attorneys. I accidentally used her name, instead of her predecessor, Alan Bersin, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton.

As Josh Marshall said:

The simple fact is that Hatch's explanation makes no sense. He's saying: In the course of attacking Carol Lam I inadvertantly used Lam's name when describing facts that may or may not apply to, Alan Bersin, a guy Bill Clinton appointed to the same office back in the mid-1990s.

Does that make any sense at all? Of course not.

There's more over there.

UPDATE V: Rachel Maddow has the letter from Hatch saying I misspoke, but she still like totally sucks. What a man.

Still no word about Limbaugh's apology...