A Not-So-Mighty Wind: Limbaugh Blows It Once Again

A Not-So-Mighty Wind: Limbaugh Blows It Once Again

By Allan P. Duncan

So yesterday, while doing a Google search on 9-11, I ran across a radio transcript from Rush Limbaugh's radio show titled Anti-Bush 9-11 Families Backed By Heinz Foundation in which Limbaugh bashes two 9-11 Widows for being critical of the 9-11 footage in the recent Bush Campaign ads.

Here are some excerpts from the show:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_030904/content/see_i_told_you_so.guest.html

"Well, it turns out that a lot of these 9-11 family members are part of a political organization that is funded in part by Teresa Heinz-Kerry! Well, this stuff is incestuous! You know, these people are poisoned. They have literally been poisoned by their hate. They have been poisoned by their rage. It is unbelievable, the depths to which they will sink.

Here, for those of you that weren't here on Friday, this is the montage. I'm just going to play it one more time. This is two different women, and they appeared on four networks: CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and NBC, and they each have three phrases that they use verbatim. And these were prepared. These were prepared by Democratic campaign consultants. In fact, these women sound like campaign consultants, not grieving family members, and I was reluctant to make this charge; it's the first thing that crossed my mind. As I say, we've now learned all the organizational effort that's going on behind this and these people are indeed aligned with the Democratic Party""

Limbaugh later, while not identifying the women making the quotes, plays excerpts from several TV interviews:

"Here, listen to this montage in case you missed it on Friday, and understand that these family members are actually part of the Democratic Party machine, as they do this.

VOICE I: I think for someone like President Bush who has not cooperated with this commission, who has stonewalled this commission.

VOICE II: This president and his administration blocked the creation of the commission, have stonewalled the commission.

VOICE I: If this was realistic from the morning of September 11th, it would show President Bush before a group of school children listening to them read, while the twin towers were burning.

VOICE II: If he wants to show a picture of 9-11 depicting what he was doing, it should be a picture of him sitting and reading in a classroom to school children. That's where he was on 9-11.

VOICE I: And we need to find out why 3,000 people were murdered on his watch.

VOICEII: Well, you know, this happened on his watch."

The transcript for the show had a link, Listen to Rush, so I clicked it and listened to the part of his show that the transcript covered. I discovered that Voice I belonged to Kristen Breitweiser and that Voice II belonged to Monica Gabrielle.

Kristen Breitweiser and Monica Gabrielle are both members of the Family Steering Committee for the 9-11 Commission and are not members of the group Limbaugh claims received funding from Teresa Heinz Kerry. That group, according to news reports that began hitting the wires on March 6th was September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.

On that date, Newsmax came out with this article:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/3/6/121052.shtml

Saturday, March 6, 2004 12:08 p.m. EST

Heinz Foundation Bankrolled Group Protesting Bush 9/11 Ads

Excerpt:

"The group Peaceful Tomorrows, which bills itself as an independent group of 9/11 victim families and whose members have led the charge to force the Bush re-election campaign to yank ads citing the Twin Towers attacks, has direct financial ties to the Heinz Foundation, the charitable trust administered by the wife of likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry."

On March 8th, The Washington Dispatch published this piece:

http://www.washingtondispatch.com/article_8342.shtml

From The Washington Dispatch

Opinion
9/11 Ad Complaints Show John Kerry's 'Security Envy'
Exclusive commentary by CK Rairden
Mar 8, 2004\

Excerpt:

"A story from The NY Daily News got the ball rolling this time. It quoted different people from an anti-war activist group called "September Eleventh Families For Peaceful Tomorrows." However, The NY Daily News failed to identify them as part of that activist group. Also chiming in to criticize was a firefighters union that has already endorsed John Kerry for president. That was not disclosed either. The story led to many of the women quoted from article to make the news talk show circuit hammering the president for using the scenes from 9/11.

And they have every right to.

But as the activists made the rounds common phrases were referenced and repeated. Two women made reference to the fact that President Bush was "reading to school children" as the towers burned. Another common theme was that "3,000 people were killed on [President Bush's] watch. The third talking point was the claim that the Bush administration is not cooperating fully with the 9/11 commission.

It became obvious that this was a coordinated effort."

Yesterday, the New York Post chimed in:

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/20231.htm

(MRS.) KERRY'S CASH CONNECTION

March 9, 2004

Excerpts:

But now it turns out that this whole furor is driven by a tiny group that's motivated by a far-left agenda and a festering hatred of the president - and has some quite dubious financial ties.

Leading the rhetorical charge has been an outfit called September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows - which, the group admits, has only a few dozen members and represents relatives of no more than 1 percent of the 9/11 victims.

And back in January 2003, the group said had it had gotten a "verbal commitment" to the fund proposal from the junior senator from Massachusetts - John F. Kerry.

Little surprise there - because Peaceful Tomorrows' parent group, the San Francisco-based Tides Foundation, has received millions from foundations controlled by Kerry's heiress wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry."

I can only assume that Limbaugh made the illogical leap that Kristen Breitweiser and Monica Gabrielle were members of Peaceful Tomorrows from the above articles. They are not mentioned as members, so I can't logically understand why he lumped their quotes together with his criticism for Peaceful Tomorrows. I guess in his own twisted mind, all 9-11 Family Members who opposed the Bush ads must all belong to the same organization and that they are all controlled by the Democrats and funded by Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Well, I have a big surprise for Mr. Limbaugh!

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows released this statement last night in response to the claims that Teresa Heinz Kerry was funding their organization:

Peaceful Tomorrows statement on the "Kerry Connection"

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows has never received funding from the Howard Heinz Endowment, the Vira I. Heinz Endowment, Teresa Heinz Kerry or John Kerry.

Peaceful Tomorrows has no connection with the Heinz or Kerry families through Tides Foundation, the Tides Center or any other entity.

Peaceful Tomorrows has been a not-for-profit project of the Tides Center since July of 2002.  As our fiscal sponsor, the Tides Center provides administrative and financial services that allow the staff and membership of Peaceful Tomorrows to focus on work related to our mission.  We raise money for our own work and we pay Tides Center 9% of those funds in exchange for vital services such as invoice payment, tax services, and insurance.

Any questions about Tides Foundation or the Tides Center can be addressed to Christopher Herrera , Tides Foundation's Director of Communications at 415. 561. 6355, or Willa Seldon, Executive Director for the Tides Center at 415.
561. 6300.

So, it appears as though the above articles and Rush Limbaugh's statements on his show were wrong all along. Not only were Kristen Breitweiser and Monica Gabrielle slandered on the air, but September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows was also libeled in the press. So much for objective reporting and vetting facts.

Today, yet another commentary showed up in the press from a site that can't even spell its own headline properly:

http://www.opinioneditorials.com/freedomwriters/grogan_20040310.html

March 10, 2004

Heinz-Kerry Campaign Proves Politicking Still Ditry

Kaye Grogan

Excerpts:

"It didn't take long to figure out someone from the Democratic camp was behind crying foul and protesting the ad showing some of the tragic events of 9/11.

The group Peaceful Tomorrows needs to be investigated thoroughly and see who and what is really behind these anti-war and anti-Bush slogans. If John Kerry beats President Bush in the election in November...it should be done aboveboard. If Teresa Heinz Kerry is directing the allocation of money from a tax-exempt organization to fund these destructive ads...she should be held accountable. It's time for all to be held accountable in this country...period. We gotta start somewhere...it might as well start in the Kerry campground."

Perhaps Ms. Grogan should be held accountable for writing an opinion piece without checking out the evidence first, and maybe this whole band of thugs should be investigated to see if they are part of an orchestrated Republican smear campaign against 9-11 Family Members who were only demonstrating their constitutional right to free speech.

As for Rush Limbaugh, it takes a real man to bash widows who are only searching for the truth as to how and why their husbands were murdered. They have a right to be angry at President Bush for using images of 9-11 in his ads, since as Commander-In-Chief of our military on 9-11, our entire national defense broke down and over 3,000 innocent people were killed while he sat in a classroom reading a story to a bunch kids about a freakin goat.

Limbaugh's courage is legendary though, as he himself endured his own private hell during the Vietnam War by having to sit on a purple boil caused by an ingrown hair that kept him from serving with his brothers like John Kerry who only came back with a Purple Heart. Rush keeps firing away from the safety of his studio though at a rat-a-tat-tat pace, picking off and impugning the character of good people like Kristen Breitweiser and Monica Gabrielle"people of real character that Rush shouldn't even have the right to share this planet with.

Shame on you Rush!!!