Congress Moves To Condemn Betty Jackson Of Mobile, AL For What She Said Last Week To Her Neighbor

The whole condemning specific figures for using specific language is not the stuff of America, and as much as some Democratic partisans want to say we have to fight fire with fire, I just don't buy it. Especially when there's a perfectly logical punishment for Rush Limbaugh's slander against troops that don't think like him:

What is the Senate's business, however, is that Rush Limbaugh is on Armed Forces Radio Network. His show is broadcast daily to nearly a million troops in 177 countries. In a poll conducted earlier this year, only 35% of service members said they approved of George Bush's handling of the war while 42% disapprove, and 41% say the US is not very or not at all likely to succeed. A full 37% say the US should never have gone to war. It's their network, too.

These young men and women do not deserve to have to listen to their commitment being besmirched by Rush Limbaugh, who never served in the armed forces and whose idea of personal valor is sending his $380 a week housekeeper out to buy his drugs for him. He's got no business on the radio launching attacks on military personnel like that, and his right to free speech does not guarantee him placement there at government expense. I'm sure the GOP would fight like hell to keep him on -- look at all the effort they went to in order to keep Republicans on the reservation with Ari Fleisher's ads and the Petraeus three ring circus -- but that's because removing him would actually be meaningful.

Take Rush off the air. Really, Senators, protecting the troops from this kind of abuse actually is what you are elected to do.

Our members of Congress just don't seem to have a decent understanding of the Constitution when they engage in tit-for-tat resolutions condemning free speech. They should have never brought the MoveOn thing up for a vote and they should not be condemning Rush's speech. Stick to something that's actually in your purview.

(Incidentally, Rush is selectively editing audio to try and change around what he said. It won't work.)

UPDATE: Yes, the resolution made by GOoPer Jack Kingston commending, not condemning, Rush Limbaugh proves that the Republicans can maneuver around this outrage game much more nimbly. Probably because it's so insincere.