From: session@seq.uncwil.edu (Zack C. Sessions)
Subject: Clinton is no Lincoln?
Organization: Univ. of North Carolina @ Wilmington
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 21:45:52 GMT


Here is an example of why Rush is a poor source for news (or the truth
for that matter).

From the August 26 Summary.

>Update  Slick Willie         (Johnny Preston, "Charming Billy")
>
>Rush has been accused of being too derisive towards Bill Clinton
>by referring to him as "Wilhelm von Clinton"; after all, not one
>Iraqi soldier made it past Little Rock during the Gulf War. Also,
>in his speech yesterday to the American Legion, Clinton listed a
>number of other "great" Presidents who never served in the
>military - Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln, for example.
>
>Rush, however, refuses to let this stand and states "Mr. Clinton,
>I knew Abraham Lincoln, I stayed overnight in the Lincoln Bedroom
>in the White House, and Slick Willie, you are no Abraham
>Lincoln."

The last caller then says:

>Bill almost had an accident when he heard Clinton's claim that
>Lincoln was never in the military. Abraham was a captain in the
>militia in 1832 during the Blackhawk wars in Illinois and
>Wisconsin; Zachary Taylor was his commanding general. Rush
>promises to look into this and to produce Clinton's exact quote
>tomorrow.

The problem here is that Clinton's comments were taken totally out
of context and misrepresented what he really said. Clinton, in his
speech to the American Legion, actually referenced Lincoln's time
served in the militia during the Black Hawk wars. Here is a more
complete exerpt from Clinton's speech:

>     The other question that arises, of course, is
>perhaps inevitable, not just in this election, but
>in other elections to come, as the post-World War
>II generation comes to leadership. And it is:  Can
>someone who has never served in the military serve
>as Commander in Chief?
>
>     Lincoln might have thought the question odd.
>He used to joke about his lack of military
>experience, saying the only blood he lost in
>defense of his country was to mosquitoes.  As a
>Congressman, he had been a passionate critic of the
>Mexican War, and the sum total of his military
>experience consisted of a few weeks as a militiaman
>called to service during the Black Hawk War, in
>which he saw no action.  And yet he had the
>judgment and the wisdom and the strength of
>conviction to lead America through its bloodiest
>and most painful conflict.
>
>     In our own century, the professorial Woodrow
>Wilson -- a Governor who was never in the service -
>- led America and its allies to "make the world
>safe for democracy" in the First World War, and
>another Governor Franklin Roosevelt proved himself
>one of history's greatest wartime commanders,
>though he had never served in the military.
>
>     In 1980, still another Governor, Ronald
>Reagan, was derided for having spent more time
>filming "Hellcats of the Navy" than actually
>serving in the armed forces during Word War II.
>And yet he never wavered from the use of American
>might when he felt it was right.
>
>     In President Bush's administration, Secretary
>of Defense Dick Cheney, who had deferments during
>the Vietnam era, has served with genuine
>distinction, especially during the Gulf War.

-- 
Zack Sessions
sessions@seq.uncwil.edu
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
"Good health is merely the slowest form of dying."
Newsgroups: alt.rush-limbaugh