The political uproar over what conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh meant last week when he referred to "phony soldiers" who oppose the war in Iraq continues.
• Limbaugh, according to this story at FoxNews.com, on Tuesday described an Iraq veteran who appears in a new TV ad that is critical of the talk show host as having been turned into something akin to a suicide bomber by the liberal anti-war veterans group that produced the ad.
"This is such a blatant use of a valiant combat veteran, lying to him about what I said and then strapping those lies to his belt, sending him out via the media and a TV ad to walk into as many people as he can walk into. This man will always be a hero to this country with everyone. Whoever pumped him full of these lies about what I said and embarrassed him with this ad has betrayed him, they aren't hurting me they are betraying this soldier," Limbaugh said, according to FoxNews.
• That veteran, Brian McGough, has fired back at Limbaugh: "So, Rush Limbaugh called me a 'suicide bomber.' More slander from the high and mighty sitting in his chair nursing the boils on his ass. I can assure you that I am no suicide bomber and that I can think for myself."
• Limbaugh's boss at Clear Channel Communications, CEO Mark Mays, has responded to a demand from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that the company discipline Limbaugh with a letter stating -- in part -- that:
"Over the years Mr. Limbaugh has repeatedly praised the dedication and valor of our brave men and women in uniform. Given Mr. Limbaugh's history of support for our soldiers, it would be unfair for me to assume his statements were intended to personally indict combat soldiers simply because they didn't share his own beliefs regarding the war in Iraq."
• A Reid spokesman, Jim Manley, has responded to Limbaugh's challenge to the senator -- that he come on the air to discuss the whole issue -- with a statement: "This would be funny if it didn't come from a guy who spends his whole time hiding in a studio while staff screens his calls."
• Retired U.S. general Wesley Clark, a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, has written at The Huffington Post that Limbaugh's show should be taken off Armed Forces Radio.
Now, to help make sense of all this:
• Our original post from Friday about what Limbaugh said, with links to his transcript of the show, is here.
• Limbaugh's website has many more transcripts, and he spent considerable time yesterday talking about the controversy. As you'll see, he says he was thinking of one person -- a war critic whose claims about having served in Iraq turned out to be untrue -- when he said "phony soldiers." And here's one transcript that Limbaugh has headlined "Dissection of the Democratic Smear."
• Our post from yesterday has much more, including the VoteVets ad and more than 1,400 comments from USA TODAY On Politics readers.
• Finally, as we said when this all started, this seems to have become a controversy with many similarities to the one over the liberal group MoveOn.org Political Action's "General Betray Us" ad, so you may want to revisit the posts we've done about that -- including this one and this one.
Update at 1:50 p.m. ET. Fred Thompson speaks up for Limbaugh:
"Congressional Democrats are trying to divert attention from insulting our military leader in Iraq and pandering to the loony left by attacking Rush Limbaugh," Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson says in a statement just e-mailed to reporters by his campaign staff. "He is one of the strongest supporters of our troops, yet Democrats claim he is not being strong enough. I wonder who Gen. Petraeus and his troops think is most supportive."
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