Anybody paying attention to the media the past month is aware of the MoveOn ad and how it really rankled Republicans and even some Democrats. So much so both Houses managed to pass wags of the finger at them for having the audacity of questioning the honesty of a proven liar that happened to wear a uniform. Democrats went along in large numbers much to my chagrin. Seems the party isn't nearly as left as the left would like it after all.

But a week later Rush Limbaugh, champion propaganda master for the right, stepped in it himself when he got caught calling soldiers he disagreed with phony. Never able to show humility and admit he misspoke he is spinning this as another example of the drive by media, claiming he was taken out of context and pretending to be a victim. He had to edit his own transcript to deflect the real context of his statement, to a caller talking specifically about soldiers who believed the Iraq war was going badly. He had just gotten off the phone with one who he accused of not really being a Republican. The following caller was another soldier complaining about the previous caller. After he made the phony soldiers comment he chided "them" because "they" knew what they were signing up for when "they" enlisted. But Rush felt the need to edit that information out to make his case. That should tip you off he's not being honest but remarkably he has his supporters. Anybody familiar with Limbaugh knows he has mocked John Kerry's service, John Murtha, Wesley Clark and other veterans. He's shown a willingness to perpetuate swift boat myths and questioned the validity of their service. "Fake patriots" he's called them.

Aha! Said some Democrats, who a month prior wouldn't have given this the time of the day, saw an opportunity. After all the Democrats have ignored this kind of rhetoric in the past and never saw the need before to do what the Republicans had just done regarding the MoveOn ad. "Tit for tat," they said. Some urging a similar official condemnation of Limbaugh's comments. After all he just called troops who disagreed with his view were phony soldiers. (if you still disagree with that you haven't heard the unedited audio yet)

What did the Republicans do? They ran around screaming about banning the Fairness Doctrine again. No one was saying Rush had to shut up and no one who was critical of his comments brought up the Fairness Doctrine anyway. Kind of paranoid. I mean Rush says things like this all the time, so do other right wing pundits. Ann Coulter comes to mind, once joking about Congressman Murtha getting "fragged." She was very amused with herself. But you didn't hear Democrats make much of a peep. They say more outlandish things every day. But the Republicans were so outraged at the bad manners of MoveOn all hell broke loose.

Let's reflect on the past 7 years or so and remember what angered our Republican representatives most. Critics of the war with Iraq were a favorite target. They pounced on the slightest criticism of the Bush administration. They saw no problem with the over the top smearing of those folks by their pals in the media.

Now some of them have an on line petition to save Rush from these horrible critics on the left! Some of the critics are, of course, soldiers against the war. The irony hurts so bad! But these jokers defend Rush Limbaugh after condemning MoveOn! This is dangerous for them. The hypocrisy of this is too close in time. The two examples of this double standard happened back to back. True believers may not be able to overcome the obviousness of the situation. If the two events happened far enough apart people wouldn't connect the two or could muddy the issue. Because time makes people numb. Just look at Sen. Larry Craig who now says he'll stay in the Senate, despite his own party who had encouraged him to resign a while ago after pleading guilty and getting caught trying to pick up a stranger in the men's room for sex. But that's another hypocrisy for another time.

At the Republican Party's convention in 2004 band aids with little purple hearts on them were worn by delegates to openly mock Senator Kerry's service. Before MoveOn's "General Betray Us" Limbaugh gave us "Senator Betray Us" regarding Chuck Hagel's position on the war. A position that Rush didn't agree with of course. Opponents of Democratic Congressman Max Cleland aired commercials morphing his face with those of bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, questioning his patriotism because he opposed the Patriot Act. He's a triple amputee Vietnam vet! What's worse, Rush and Ann claim he did it to himself! They trash troops and veterans all the time! And the Republicans in DC wouldn't have it any other way.