[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26343]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               RUSH LIMBAUGH OWES OUR SOLDIERS AN APOLOGY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, I have always believed firmly in the 
qualities of civility in this House, and bipartisanship and 
constructive dialogue and engagement and respect for one another's 
disagreements. In fact, last night I spent an hour on this floor with 
Members on both sides of the aisle talking constructively in a 
bipartisan Center Aisle Caucus Special Order on Iraq. And we managed to 
put our political differences aside and talk not about left or right, 
but moving forward. And so civility is critically important to me and 
has been since coming here nearly 8 years ago.
  But I must say, Mr. Speaker, that when I heard of the comments of 
Rush Limbaugh, when I heard him impugn the integrity of our soldiers, 
when I heard him call them phonies, I had just about had it. How dare 
he attack our soldiers. How dare he impugn their integrity. How dare he 
attack their credibility. There is no place in America for anyone to 
attack our soldiers while they are fighting in combat or when they have 
come home. I don't care what the reason, Mr. Speaker. There is no place 
in America for that, particularly coming from someone who believes that 
he is the ``gold standard'' of patriotism, who believes he has a 
monopoly on patriotism, who has accused anyone who dissents with a 
particular policy with which he disagrees as a traitor. What is 
patriotic, Mr. Speaker, about calling American soldiers phonies? What 
is patriotic about that?
  If ever there was anything that suggested to me a dissent beyond the 
line, I would never call it traitorous, but I can't think of a better 
example of giving aid and comfort to our enemies than somebody who 
would call our soldiers phony while they're fighting, who would attack 
them while they're defending us.
  He crossed the line, he crossed the line of fair play, he crossed the 
line of hypocrisy. This standard-barer of patriotism attacking American 
forces, it is unacceptable. It is unacceptable. Not only because it is 
hypocritical and not only because it is an attack on our Armed Forces, 
Mr. Speaker, but because it comes from somebody who never fought for 
our country, unless you consider being a disk jockey to be worthy of 
combat pay. Mr. Speaker, the American people are sick and tired of this 
kind of hypocrisy and this kind of attack.
  I went to Walter Reed Army Hospital yesterday, and maybe that's why 
I'm so fired up, Mr. Speaker. I visited Walter Reed Army Hospital 
yesterday and with young men whose limbs have been amputated, whose 
futures have been changed. How dare anybody suggest that because one of 
them may disagree with a policy that that person is a phony. Thank God 
we live in a country that gives us the right to agree with a policy to 
go to war. You have the right to disagree, you even have the right to 
remain silent, but no one has the right in this country to call any 
member of our Armed Forces ``phony,'' and Rush Limbaugh owes them an 
apology.

                          ____________________