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An anti-war group consisting of veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan is launching an ad Tuesday that attacks popular conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. The group, VoteVets.org, is spending $60,000 on the ad, which will air on Fox News and CNN. In addition, a radio version of the ad will run during Limbaugh’s show in Washington, D.C., and Palm Beach, Fla., the group said. However, an official with 630 WMAL, the D.C. station that carries the program, said it had not been approached by the group about an ad buy. At issue is Limbaugh’s controversial “phony soldiers” remark that was made during a broadcast last week in response to a caller who criticized soldiers who spoke out against the war in Iraq. While Limbaugh says his remark is directed at people pretending to have a service record and seeking the limelight, Democrats have taken the statement as an insult to the troops who are serving but do not support the war and called the remark “hateful” and “unpatriotic.” The VoteVets.org ad features Brian McGough, a veteran who was injured and received the Purple Heart. “More and more troops and veterans of Iraq believe George Bush’s military policy has been a disaster ... I am one of them,” McGough said. “Rush Limbaugh called vets like me ‘phony soldiers’ for telling the truth about Iraq. Rush, the shrapnel I took to my head was real. My traumatic brain injury was real. And my belief that we are on the wrong course in Iraq is real. Until you have the guts to call me a ‘phony solider’ to my face, stop telling lies about my service.” The ad is a play on Limbaugh’s on-air Monday challenge to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to repeat what he had said on the Senate floor about the talk show host to his face. |
