Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: Nation & World News

Media Credit: JIM SULLEY/MCT Rush Limbaugh prepares for his broadcast. The radio pundit is being asked to apologize for comments he made on the air.

WASHINGTON (MCT) - As a centrist Democrat, Steve Israel is not the first person one would think of to duke it out with unwavering conservatives.

But this week the Huntington, N.Y., congressman found himself in the crosshairs of the latest political fracas, in a dispute over talk radio pundit Rush Limbaugh's comment about "phony soldiers."

Democrats pounced on the remarks Limbaugh made to a caller about antiwar troops. The caller said, "What's really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media," according to a transcript of the Sept. 26 show.

"The phony soldiers," Limbaugh replied.

Limbaugh says his comment was taken out of context and he was referring to Jesse MacBeth, who claimed to have fought in Iraq and received a Purple Heart when in fact he was discharged after 44 days.

Israel gave a heated speech on the House floor Wednesday night saying no one had the right to call soldiers "phony" and demanded Limbaugh's apology.

"How dare he attack our soldiers ... there is no place in America for anyone to attack our soldiers while they are fighting in combat," Israel said, jabbing a finger in the air.

Limbaugh played Israel's speech on his show Thursday.

"Good Lord," Limbaugh said, according to a transcript.

"This was day eight, folks, and Steve Israel, you're embarrassing yourself. How in the world can you say that nobody has the right to impugn or attack soldiers while they're fighting in combat?

"Look to your own party, Congressman Israel," he said, adding that Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., "has accused them of being murderers." Murtha said Marines had killed civilians "in cold blood" in confirming reports that 15 were slain in the town of Haditha in 2005. One Marine is suing him for libel.

Israel said Friday that a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center influenced his decision to speak Wednesday after legislative activity had finished.

He also emphasized that his remarks were "a matter of consistency" and that he had denounced liberal group MoveOn.org for its "General Betray-Us" ad in The New York Times.

Veterans groups dismissed the fracas as a nuisance and a distraction.

"We have 150,000 men and women in a combat zone and we should be focused on their doing their job and their doing it well," said Ed Aulman, director of the Nassau County Veterans Service Agency. "Forget about Rush, he's not the issue."

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