Bidding Over $2M for Dems Anti-Rush Letter

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Bidding Over $2M for Dems Anti-Rush Letter

October 19, 2007 12:34 PM

ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf Reports: Who says the political fingerpointing in Washington is all for naught?

Back in September, when Democrats and Republicans were sniping at each other over the Iraq war, Republicans passed a nonbinding resolution in the Senate condemning Moveon.org for calling David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, "General Betrayus" in a newspaper ad.

For their part, Democrats sent a letter calling for Rush Limbaugh to be reprimanded for calling soldiers who opposed the war "phony soldiers."

The furor seemed to have died down as the Senate moved away from voting on a string of Iraq resolutions to voting on domestic spending bills.

But today comes word that a Wasghinton, D.C. area philanthropist, Betty Casey (or bettyc588, as she is known on Ebay) is going to pay over $2 million for a letter Senate Democrats wrote to Mark Mays, President of Clear Channel, asking him to condemn Rush Limbaugh for the "phony soldiers" comment.

All proceeds from the auction of the letter will go to the Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation, which distributes aid to the families to the children of fallen Marines on behalf of law enforcement officers.

Rush Limbaugh himself put the letter up for auction on EBAY. Limbaugh sits on the board of the foundation and he has reportedly said on his show that he will match the winning bid -- a total of $4.2 million for the foundation.

Rush identified Casey on his show today as a listener since the show's inception. Casey is listed as trustee of the foundation named for her late husband, the real estate developer Eugene B. Casey, who died in 1986 and had worked as director of the Farm Credit Agency under President Franklin Roosevelt.
Betty Casey seems to have disparate political interests. According to campaign finance reports, In past years she has given money mostly to Republican Senate candidates, from Mel Martinez, who succeeded in Florida, to Pete Coors, who was unsuccessful in Colorado.

She gave money to Rudy Giuliani's exploratory committee in 1999 and then Rick Lazio, the Republican who ultimately challenged Senator Hillary Clinton in that the 2000 race for senate in New York.

But this year, Casey gave the maximum individual contribution to Clinton's chief opponent for the Democratic Presidential nomination, Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Both Clinton and Obama signed the letter Casey spent $2.1 million on. In fact, their signatures are right next to each other and the "n" at the end of Clinton runs into the "B" at the beginning of Barack.]

Casey was described in 2004 by the Washington Post as eccentric and press-shy. She had at one point tried to create a lavish $50 million mayoral residence for the mayor of Washington, D.C., but those plans fell through amid squabbling with city officials. Casey donated the land for the mansion to the Salvation Army, stunning city leaders.

Back on October 1st, Harry Reid brought the letter to the Senate floor and asked Republicans to join him condemning Limbaugh for saying that soldiers who oppose the Iraq war are "phony soldiers."
No Republicans signed the letter and Limbaugh has made light of it. Also on Ebay, you can buy a t-shirt that reads "Phony 41" on the back. 41 Democratic Senators signed the letter to Limbaugh.

This was a line of political rhetoric that fed off Republicans and their condemnation of Moveon.org for the "General Betrayus" ad. There were nonbinding resolutions and letters written and that was supposed to be it.

At the time, Reid called on Republicans -- who had condemned Moveon.org for the General Betrayus ad -- to sign the letter condemning Limbaugh. But only 41 Democrats, including Reid, signed the letter.

Today, Reid was more conciliatory to Limbaugh and whoever is paying for the letter. Though he said on the Senate floor that as he had watched the bidding throughout the week, he never thought it would get to $2 million.

"Now, everyone knows that Rush Limbaugh and I don't agree on everything in life and maybe that is kind of an understatement," Reid said.

"But without qualification Mark May, the owner of the network that has Rush Limbaugh, and Rush Limbaugh should know that this letter that they're auctioning is going to be something that raises money for a worthwhile cause. I don't know what we could do more important than helping to ensure that children of our fallen soldiers and police officers who have fallen in the line of duty have the opportunity for their children to have a good education," he said.

October 19, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (1114)

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This is flat out wrong. Limbaugh put the letter up for auction, not the Dems.

Posted by: Jesse | Oct 19, 2007 12:54:34 PM

According to Rush's own website, he's matching the bid to go to charity. Anyone out there with an extra 10-20 million out there that can bust the bank of this big mouth?

Posted by: Rick_VT | Oct 19, 2007 12:59:20 PM

This is why journalism is in free fall! Whether this article was meant to mislead or just ignorance, author got it totally wrong. The Democrats had nothing to do with putting this letter on Ebay. Senator Reid was on the floor this morning trying to get credit for something that he bashed Mr Limbaugh on. This is so spineless of him. Media, please get your act together.

Posted by: William | Oct 19, 2007 1:05:20 PM

ABC does it again, it's not the Democrats who put the letter up for auction, it was Limbaugh himself. He got the original letter from Mark Mays, the CEO of Clear Channel. Limbaugh has also pledged to match the amount raised by the letter and donate his own funds to the same charity. I just don’t understand why an average citizen with Internet access can get the facts right and ABC can’t.

Posted by: Well Informed | Oct 19, 2007 1:12:05 PM

As William said, this is why your business is tanking. You can't even bother to get the story right when the facts are widely and publicly available. You fail to mention that Limbaugh did NOT, in fact, call all soldiers who disagree with the war "phony". You fail to mention that Limbaugh is matching the donation. And you fail to get Limbaugh's quote in reaction to Harry Reid's attempt to salvage his reputation. This is disgraceful. More to the point, *YOU* are disgraceful.

Posted by: Justin | Oct 19, 2007 1:13:51 PM

Hmmmm...no mention of the fact that Rush is matching the winning bid. ABC, part of the "Drive By" Media, clearly wants ignorant readers to think that Reid and the Dems actually had something to do with this. Typical. Liberals and the henchmen in the left wing media are all liars.

Posted by: Rick | Oct 19, 2007 1:16:47 PM

Way to go Dems!!!

Posted by: Happy Dem | Oct 19, 2007 1:16:48 PM

Wow. Way to go, Dingy Harry. Who would have thought you'd lower yourself to the point of taking credit for the brilliant PR - not to mention charitable - move Rush and the EIB Network made by putting your ridiculous and illegal letter up for bid on Ebay?

Well, I didn't see it coming, but I'm definitely not surprised. However, you may surprise me even further by offering to match the winning bid yourself; that might give you an ounce of authenticity as far as your sentiments regarding this letter. The only thing you've had to do with it is drafting and signing; money to the military didn't occur until RUSH decided to auction it off.

Remember - the DEMOCRATS did NOT intend for this letter to ever raise money for any charitable purpose. And y**t is going to be in possession of a hard copy of evidence that proves why Congress has an historically low approval rating, if this is how they choose to spend their time. Bravo, Mr. Limbaugh. Harry Reid, on the other hand, can kma

Posted by: DisdainLady | Oct 19, 2007 1:17:25 PM

Harry Reid and the other 40 oh-so-patriotic senators are absolutely disgraceful. I hope their constituents remember their attempt to break the constitution when election time comes around.

Posted by: Dusty | Oct 19, 2007 1:17:30 PM

Let's see if I have this right. Rush refers to an imposter that ABC first brings to light as a "phony soldier", Harry Reid gets all haughty and condems Rush for his perceived "unpatriotic" speech and gets 40 of his (Harry's) cronies to send this letter to Mr. Mays of Clear channel.

Rush put the letter on ebay and pledges to match what ever it brings. Now that the bid is over $2,000,000 "Old Dingy Harry" decides to take credit for the letter being on e-bay to begin with!!! Absolutely amazing!!This is so typical of ABC's trying their best to put spinless people like Harry Reid in the best possible light. They and He should be ashamed!!

Posted by: J. Pritchard | Oct 19, 2007 1:22:20 PM

Rush called civilians who PRETENDED to be soldiers the "phoney soldiers". You know this. Why must you continue to lie?

And the Democrats did NOT put this up for auction, it was 100% Rush's idea.

STOP YOUR LIES!!!!!

Posted by: Emma Morrow | Oct 19, 2007 1:24:16 PM

The EBay page was LITTERED with the TRUTH that this letter was a SMEAR LETTER from Harry Reid who attacked a private citizen from the floor of Congress! Harry Reid is DESPICABLE!!! The people of Nevada must wake up and demand a RECALL election! Who in their right mind would want someone like him to represent them now he has sunk THIS low?

Posted by: Mike M. | Oct 19, 2007 1:29:32 PM

"I don't know what we could do ..."

WHO IS "WE" Senator Reid? Or do you have a mouse in your pocket?

Posted by: Mike M. | Oct 19, 2007 1:33:15 PM

Would this charity be recieving four million dollars if Harry hadn't written the letter? NO

Posted by: Alan Coulter | Oct 19, 2007 1:33:36 PM

You got the article wrong. Reid had nothing to do with the auction and the fact that it brought 2million is because it demonstrates that dems will try to stop free speech when it hurts them. ABC stinks it up again.

Posted by: JIM | Oct 19, 2007 1:33:37 PM

Hary Reid needs to resign, he's a disgrace to the Senate. Heck, evry senator who signed it should resign. That means you Mrs. Clinton.

Posted by: BHMason | Oct 19, 2007 1:38:00 PM

I couldn't agree more with the responses sent in but I'm impressed that ABC News actually had the backbone to list all these letter.
Maybe ABC News should rewrite the article and make it accurate.

Posted by: Lou G. | Oct 19, 2007 1:39:00 PM

Harry Reid should get ZERO credit for this. It's terrible enough that members of the US Senate attempted to silence an American citizen's right to free speech, but to now try and take credit for the charity auction is staggering.

Posted by: Rob Abysmul | Oct 19, 2007 1:43:11 PM

Sen. Reid has a lot of nerve. Along w/the MSM they smear Rush over the phony soldier comment, now they want to take credit for raising funds. Sen. Harkin,D-IA take the cake though. Harkin, speaking on the floor of the Senate no less, accuses Rush of being high on drugs. The same Sen. Harkin who FALSELY claimed to be a combat pilot in Vietnam. Talk about a phony soldier, phony Senator and phony American!

Posted by: dewey58 | Oct 19, 2007 1:43:33 PM

Credibility in news reporting has to be at an all time low! This is the reason you run into people making erroneous comments on stories; limited media outlets restrict individuals from getting the truth! In a perfect world, differing views about a particular story helps in having an informed dialogue. After it is all said and done, people are manipulated into believing a lie. Had I not follow the whole story and actually listen to Mr. Limbaugh; I too would have been grossly misinformed. Though this kind of reporting has been going on for years, lately it has been even more out of control. We live in such a media bias era that authentic news reporting is becoming a thing of the past. There should be a law against this kind of practice...shouldn't it?

Posted by: William | Oct 19, 2007 1:46:56 PM

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