On Monday, Rush Limbaugh’s attorney sent a letter to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee warning them of an potential lawsuit over the DCCC’s manipulation of comments from his program. Limbaugh demanded “an immediate retraction and public apology.”
According to the letter, on September 17, 2014, the DCCC created and began distributing a doctored tape of Limbaugh’s broadcast, cutting ten words out of context in order to completely reverse the meaning of Limbaugh’s statements, despite the fact that the DCCC had the entire tape of Limbaugh’s comments in advance. The DCCC then allegedly lied that Limbaugh “excus[es] rape on college campuses,” “is advocating a tolerance of rape,” and “perpetuate[s] a culture of sexual assault.” The DCCC then used those alleged knowing lies for fundraising purposes.
Patricia Glaser, Limbaugh’s attorney, wrote that such treatment of Limbaugh’s words amounted to “defamation” under the law.
On September 15, 2014, Limbaugh stated that consent was always necessary for sexual relations:
Consent must be freely given, can be withdrawn at any time, and the absence of ‘no’ does not mean ‘yes.’ How many of you guys, in your own experience with women, have learned that ‘no’ means ‘yes’ if you know how to spot it. Let me tell you something. In this modern world, that is simply not tolerated. People aren’t even gonna try to understand that one. I mean, it used to be said it was a cliché. It used to be part of the advice young boys were given. See, that’s what we gotta change. We have got to reprogram the way we raise men. Why do you think permission every step of the way, clearly spelling out ‘why’…are all of these not lawsuits just waiting to happen if even one of these steps is not taken?
The DCCC then sent out a mass email stating that Limbaugh had “actually said, ‘no’ means ‘yes’ if you know how to spot it.” As Glaser writes, “the DCCC removed ten words from a question posed by Mr. Limbaugh, and quoted the ten words completely out of context in order to attribute a false meaning to Mr. Limbaugh’s September 15 statement.”
Brian Glicklich, a spokesperson for Limbaugh, explained:
To lie about Rush Limbaugh’s words as a fundraising method, under the color of authority of the Democratic Party, is a ‘tactic’ that is disrespectful to the general public, and to the twenty million people that choose to listen to Rush each week. And the Members of Congress who stood to gain from these false claims represent many of the small businesses across America that they deliberately interfered with, in furtherance of rankly partisan objectives.
For years, Democrats have attempted to target Limbaugh for their own political gain. The partisan witch hunt crew at Media Matters has attempted to destroy Limbaugh’s advertising base with its astroturfed “Stop Rush” campaign – not coincidentally, as President Obama has repeatedly blasted Limbaugh, and even called Sandra Fluke to express his sympathy for her after Limbaugh commented on her testimony before Congress.
Rush Limbaugh Letter to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the new book, The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration (Threshold Editions, June 10, 2014). He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org. Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.