Rush Limbaugh's "Phony Soldiers"

Controversy is brewing as top Democrat officials, such as John Kerry, presidential hopeful John Edwards, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, blasted Limbaugh over a recent comment he made on his show when a caller dialed in to discuss the Iraq war. Limbaugh seems to have remarked that some soldiers, and soldiers in general, are "phony soldiers," especially those who come back and oppose the war. Limbaugh continued, after that call, to talk about the soldier, Jesse Macbeth, who was recently convict of lying about his service in the military. Reid said, "Just as patriotism is the exclusive realm of neither party, taking a stand against those who spew hate and impugn the integrity of our troops is a job that belongs to all of us." Responding to the attack today, Limbaugh said that he was only referring to one soldier, Macbeth.

Here is the clip of Rush Limbaugh's Dittocam from his website, RushLimbaugh.com, defending himself against such acquisitions; I found this on youtube though.


Here's a short transcribed section of the call that started it all. It plays around 3:10 in the youtube video above (5:05 if it counts down).

Limbaugh: It's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people.
Caller: No, it's not. And what's really funny is that they never talked to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media. ...
Limbaugh: The phony soldiers.
Caller: ... The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, ... they understand their sacrifice, and they're willing to sacrifice for their country.

Most television shows that rebroadcasted the call, it seems, cut off the call right after Limbaugh said the phrase "phony soldiers." I think that maybe the Democrats should not have blew this matter up so much. Looking at the whole conversation, it seems like reporters left out a significant later chunks of the call and that swung the context of his comment towards a more negative side.

Was this a smear tactic? And if so, did it work? Did the Democrats do the right thing by blasting Limbaugh? Reid also said that he "can't help but wonder how [his] Republican colleagues would have reacted if the tables were turned -- if a well-known Democratic radio personality had used the same insulting line of attack against troops who support the war." Would the Republicans have reacted much the same way?