Countdown: Wounded vet calls Limbaugh’s comparison of him to suicide bomber ‘repugnant’

Keith Olbermann reported on Wednesday’s Countdown that Rush Limbaugh has responded to criticism of his remark describing anti-war veterans as “phony soldiers” by comparing a real soldier who criticized him to a suicide bomber.After Limbaugh’s initial statement — which he now claims was taken out of context — Sgt. Brian McGough, a wounded combat veteran, appeared in a VoteVets.org ad saying that many troops in Iraq “believe George Bush’s military policy has been a disaster” and telling Limbaugh, “Until you have the guts to call me a phony soldier to my face stop telling lies about my service.”

Limbaugh’s response to the VoteVets ad — which he admitted he hadn’t seen — was to call it “a blatant use of a valiant combat veteran, lying to him about what I said and then strapping those lies to his belt, sending him out in the media … Whoever pumped him full of these lies about what I said and embarrassed him with this tv ad has betrayed him.”

Olbermann then welcomed McGough to his program to address Limbaugh’s comparison of him to a suicide bomber, noting that Limbaugh had not been willing to allow McGough on his own show to confront him directly.

McGough — who served in Kosovo, earned a Bronze Star in Afghanistan, and was seriously wounded in Iraq — described his initial reaction to Limbaugh’s statement as “disgust” and stated, “I’ve seen the after-effects of a suicide bomb. I’ve had friends that were hurt in suicide bombs. It makes me mad down to a place where I can’t even think to describe. It’s just repugnant.”

McGough further explained that he agreed to do the VoteVets ad because it expressed his own sentiments, and that “for Rush Limbaugh to say that an American soldier like me can’t think for myself because I speak out against the Iraq War is preposterous.”

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“[Speaking out] is my right, that I fought for, I bled for,” McGough asserted. He also appealed repeatedly for Limbaugh to invite him or any other member of VoteVets.org on his own show to discuss the issue directly.

The following video clips are from MSNBC’s Countdown, broadcast on October 3, 2007. (story continues below)

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