More on the fallout of Dana Loesch's "I'd Drop Trou" Scandal

This evening, we have more news to report on Dana Loesch's "I'd Drop Trou and Do It Too"  comment. Real Time With Bill Maher host and Fauxgressive Bill Maher (of which Loesch was a guest on twice) agrees with Loesch's violent assessment on the US Marines peeing on dead Taliban corpses.

NY Daily News's Aliyah Shahid:

Bill Maher wants to know what all the fuss is about.
The liberal, HBO comedian argued the outrage over video purportedly depicting four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters, is being blown out of proportion.
Maher called the incident "distasteful" Friday on his "Real Time" show, but added, "A dead body is just, you know a f------ body that's dead and it just doesn't bother me."
He also went on to say Americans have committed worse offenses, like torture, and said it depended "what the people they were pissing on did."
"If they were real Taliban, if they were people who burned down girls' schools, and, you know, do honor rapes and throw acid in people's faces, I'm not that upset about pissing on them," he said.
Maher's criticism echo CNN contributor and conservative radio hostDana Loesch, who saluted the Marines on her show, even adding that would have been willing to join them.
"Can someone explain to me if there is supposed to be a scandal that someone pees on the corpse of a Taliban fighter -- someone who as part of an organization murdered over 3,000 Americans," she said on her show. "I'd drop trou and do it too. That's me, though…Come on people this is a war." 

From the 01.13.2012 edition of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher:

Then, biased as hell Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit defender her insensitive remarks about the US Marines Urination Scandal.

The media wants us to cuddle with the terrorists. To reach out and hug the Taliban. To find common ground with the Islamist killer.Not Dana Loesch.
Congratulations Dana!Thank you for your clarity.

No, Mr. Hoft, we should NOT be congratulating Dana Loesch, but condemning her instead.


News Corpse::

Nevertheless, CNN contributor Dana Loesch (who is also a Tea Party leader and the editor-in-chief of Andrew Breitbart’s BigJournalism) took to the air to exacerbate the offense and defend the soldiers saying…
“Now we have a bunch of progressives that are talking smack about our military because there were marines caught urinating on corpses, Taliban corpses. Can someone explain to me if there’s supposed to be a scandal that someone pees on the corpse of a Taliban fighter? Someone who, as part of an organization, murdered over 3,000 Americans? I’d drop trou and do it too. That’s me though. I want a million cool points for these guys.” 

The subsequent controversy erupting from Loesch’s offensive remarks has generated a secondary controversy centered on the appropriate role of news analysts and the lines drawn for decency and civil discourse. Loesch, in a tacit acknowledgement that her comments crossed the line, sought to defend herself by claiming that she was not condoning the Marines, but ridiculing the media response. But the dishonesty of that excuse is apparent just by re-reading her statement. She explicitly says that she would do the same thing the Marines did and praises them for being “cool.” If that isn’t condoning the behavior, what is?
Loesch’s web site, BigJournalism has gone to work to absolve her sins, not by demonstrating that her comments were appropriate, but by attacking anyone who criticized her. They started with Politico, a news operation started by unabashed conservative journalists, and tagged them as leftists because of their article that merely reported that the controversy exists. John Nolte, editor-in-chief of Breitbart’s BigHollywood, desperately stretched to imply a bias by Politico because the article included this: 

“I’ve reached out to CNN to ask for their response to Loesch’s comments, andwhether or not it will have any impact on her role at CNN.” Nolte’s emphasis.Riehl’s evidence is an article by Media Matters that correctly observes that Loesch’s comments were Too Extreme For Rush Limbaugh. Riehl disputes that assessment mainly by changing the subject. He utterly ignores the fact that Limbaugh, with reference to the Marines, said explicitly that“There’s no defense of this.” But Riehl peels away from that fact to post a rambling quote from Tea Party Republican Allen West that also advocates punishing the Marines and says outright that “The Marines were wrong.” It appears that the fixation is on Riehl’s part to avoid the reality that the behavior of these particular soldiers was indefensible to almost everyone but Loesch. 

As for Loesch, her own defense that she published on BigJournalism was an incoherent jumble of phony patriotism and self-aggrandizement. Her primary argument was that…
“There is a difference in advocating for the Marines to break the law, which I didn’t do, and defending them from overly-dramatic hysteria.”
It is, however, perfectly appropriate to question news analysts who engage in a dialogue that advocates unlawful acts in the conduct of a war. CNN should take the responsible steps to review incidents wherein contributors bring disrepute to their network. But I don’t anticipate that they will. 

The current head of CNN, Ken Jautz, is the hack who gave Glenn Beck his first job on television. He also recently hired Beck associate Will Cain. These two uber-rightists share the air with CNN contributor Erick Erickson, who called former Supreme Court Justice David Souter a “goat-fucking child molester.” And it was under Jautz that CNN partnered with the corrupt AstroTurf PR firm, Tea Party Express, to host a GOP debate.
The hard-right turn that CNN has taken has landed them squarely in third place. And that decline is due in large part to people like Loesch. The American people are not looking for this kind of substanceless, bombastic, hate-speech from their news sources. They can get that from Fox News. And if anyone’s job should be in jeoprady, it is the person at the helm, Ken Jautz.

She's an idiot.

UPDATE: Loesch was disinvited (largely due to her offensive remarks) from an Illinois Policy Institute meeting in O'Fallon, Illinois yesterday. Maybe her comments were too extreme for them, but apparently not for CNN and her home station KFTK.

Petition for CNN to fire Dana Loesch: http://www.change.org/petitions/cnn-fire-dana-loesch

More coverage:
CNN's own colleagues condemn Loesch's vile remarks (DanaBusted)
http://justinspoliticalcorner.tumblr.com/tagged/Dana-Loesch
On Big Journalism, Loesch made a shoddy defense of her offensive statement about the Marines yesterday (DanaBusted)
Loesch's blatant Islamophobia strikes again by cheering on the urination of Taliban corpses (DanaBusted)
Loesch Cheers Soldiers Who Urinated On Corpses, Says She Would "Drop Trou" And Do It Herself (St. Louis Activist Hub)

On Big Journalism, Loesch made a shoddy defense of her offensive statement about the Marines yesterday

Yesterday on this site, I wrote about the incident in question, which CNN "contributor" Dana Loesch made very offensive statements regarding the US Marines urination scandal.

Yesterday's blogpost on this site here:

More violent rhetoric from KFTK 97.1 FM right-wing extremist Islamophobic radio host Dana Loesch, as she misleadingly declared onThe Dana Show today that "the Progressives/Liberals are outraged that Taliban corpses are urinated on, while the 'Liberal press' ignores OWS Protestors urinating on cop cars." She stated that "I have no problem with it."

From the 01.12.2012 edition of KFTK's The Dana Show:

Transcript:

LOESCH: All right, we got some cool points to get into, and then we are going to get some of your calls in as well. It's 'cause I've had a lot of caffeine. It's snowing here, folks. Cool points, we play audio and we award out points based upon its level of heinousness or awesomeness. All right, play audio sound bite two. And we're, I'm sure, going to be talking about this in the second hour as well.
Marines were -- there's a -- now, we have a bunch of progressives that are talking smack about our military because there were Marines caught urinating on corpses -- Taliban corpses. Listen:

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER [audio clip]: The U.S. Military is investigating a video showing what appears to be troops urinating on the dead bodies of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. The footage of what seems to be U.S. Marines has been uploaded to several sites including video sharing site YouTube. The film could be another blow for America after previous scandals like the abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib --

LOESCH: OK, stop this right here. Stop this right here.
Can someone explain to me if there's supposed to be a scandal that someone pees on the corpse of a Taliban fighter? Someone who was -- as part of an organization murdered over 3,000Americans? I'd drop trou and do it, too. That's me, though. I want a million cool points for these guys. Is that harsh to say?
Come on, people. This is a war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cool points.

LOESCH: What do you think this is? What do people think this is? I am totally not politically correct, I told you this. What -- do you think that we're going to sit down and have tea?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's nothing compared to what happened in the prison in Iraq. That's different, completely different from when this -- 

LOESCH: Completely different story.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Completely different.

LOESCH: Yeah. Completely different story.  So they urinated on the corpse of a dead Taliban member, a dead terrorist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And why did they film it?

LOESCH: They urinated on a  -- I don't know why. I don't get that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?

LOESCH: I don't get that. But, sorry, that -- I don't -- do I have a problem with that as a citizen of the United States? No, I don't. Sorry, I don't. So, moving on. There's the end of that controversy right there. [The Dana Show, 1/12/12]

From the 01.12.2012 edition of KFTK's The Dana Show:


Transcript:

LOESCH: My whole entire point is that these individuals -- like they're using this example as an issue to wage against our military and our war -- or, no our military and our soldiers, period -- to make our military look like a bunch of murderers and a bunch of bad people. Look what -- no, no, no, no, no. That's not going to be used as an example to make our military look bad. I mean, this is -- that's what it is.

They're saying, Oh, look, this is our military. We've told you before how they're uneducated, and stupid, and everything else, you've heard callers call into this show that say, oh, the reason they go in the military is because they can't get a job anywhere else. It's infuriating. It's insulting. And I'm not going to let that be used as an excuse. I mean, that's just -- and we can agree to disagree on it. They're dead terrorists. I could care less.

They are dead terrorists. These are people who have -- are part of a group who murdered over 3,000 Americans, some of them children, some of them expectant mothers. I will not show courtesy. So, you know, throw them over the cliff into the ocean. I don't care. But I don't think that these soldiers, these Marines, who are on video doing this, the military can handle it how the military wants to handle it.
But I'm not going to join into the chorus of going after these individuals and using them as -- to paint the military as bad and all that.

These Taliban have done more to the United States than this video, and people are trying to act as though somehow what terrorism has done to this country is equal to any offense that could be caused from the video. That is stupid. I'm not even going to bother giving you more in-depth analysis other than to say it's stupid. [The Dana Show, 1/12/12]

Today, on her Big Journalism blogpost, she defended her controversial words and blamed the
"Liberal/Progressive media for spinning my words as offensive, when what I said was the truth."

Yesterday on my radio show I discussed the topic of the Marines videotaping themselves urinating on dead Taliban fighters. The usual mob of progressive haters started campaigning on Twitter and complaining to CNN.

The first source of “outrage” was “Nicole Gennette,” a liberal sockpuppet on Twitter who has adopted the name of one of Anthony Weiner’s alleged love interests–and who is likely a man anyway. Yet Mediaite dutifully quoted him/her.

Politico this morning attempted to elevate the trumped-up controversy over my remarks to a serious journalistic story, and didn’t bother reaching out to me for comment prior to publishing. It’s the kind of hit job Politico does best–and likely payback for all the times their journalistic malpractice has been pointed out here.
There is a difference in advocating for the Marines to break the law, which I didn’t do, and defending them from overly-dramatic hysteria. I was using absurdity to highlight absurdity. It’s absurd to desecrate corpses but it’s not wrong to hate terrorists who are trying to kill our troops–and us. And I’m not in uniform–so I am free to express what a lot of Americans feel about the controversy, even if it makes some pony-tailed academics feel uncomfortable.

The progressive left chose to include CNN in their attack because they don’t like that the network–any network–features conservative voices and have been throwing everything at the wall to get me removed since the very beginning.
My entire point of the past two days was to highlight the absurd reaction from militant troop-bashers to these Marines. In my Twitter timeline yesterday progressives called our military “killers, kids, barbaric trash, murderers …” The only time soldiers are celebrated by the left is when they engage in protests like OWS. The rest of the time they’re demonized. They get the red carpet rolled out for them, too.

The disproportionate anger on the part of progressives is fueled by their dislike of our military. That what this proves. The left is attacking me so they can give the Obama administration a pass–unlike what they did with Bush and Abu Ghraib. Like it or not, I’ll stand up for our troops no matter which president is in charge.

Nicole Gennette (@NicoleGennette) is NOT a "Liberal sockpuppet", you moron! That's typical for a despicable far-right smear merchant like Loesch to say.



Oxycontin Smuggler Rush Limbaugh, of all people, though Loesch's remarks are too extreme.

CNN contributor Dana Loesch is under fire for comments she made on her radio show dismissing outrage over video that appears to show members of the United States Marine Corps urinating on dead bodies that early reports have identified as Afghans, saying that she would "drop trou and do it, too." Loesch's comments are so extreme, they put her out on a fringe where even Rush Limbaugh won't go.
From the 01.13.2012 edition of Premiere Radio Network's The Rush Limbaugh Show:

When Rushbo thinks you went too far, you're in Psycho Talk land.


Politico's Dylan Byers on Loesch's statements:

CNN political analyst Dana Loesch celebrated the U.S. Marines who appear to have urinated on the bodies of dead Taliban members during her radio show on Thursday.
"Now we have a bunch of progressives that are talking smack about our military because there were marines caught urinating on corpses, Taliban corpses," Loesch said during her radio program on FM News Talk 97.1. "Can someone explain to me if there's supposed to be a scandal that someone pees on the corpse of a Taliban fighter? Someone who, as part of an organization, murdered over 3,000 Americans? I'd drop trou and do it too. That's me though. I want a million cool points for these guys. Is that harsh to say? Come on people, this is a war. What do people think this is?"
Loesch's comments were first noted by St. Louis Activist Hub, a website for progressive activists. Official audio of Loesch's remarks is also available on her show page, beginning four and a half minutes prior to the end of part one of Thursday's show.
CNN, which has looked to bring in voices from across the political spectrum, also prides itself on being positioned in the center of the more ideologically driven Fox and MSNBC networks.
I've reached out to CNN to ask for their response to Loesch's comments, and whether or not it will have any impact on her role at CNN. Updates here if and when I hear back.

CNN issues a statement on Loesch's remarks, via Huffington Post Media:

UPDATE: CNN released a statement about Loesch's comments on Friday:

“CNN contributors are commentators who express a wide range of viewpoints—on and off of CNN—that often provoke strong agreement or disagreement. Their viewpoints are their own.”

Loesch's blatant Islamophobia strikes again by cheering on the urination of Taliban corpses

More violent rhetoric from KFTK 97.1 FM right-wing extremist Islamophobic radio host Dana Loesch, as she misleadingly declared on The Dana Show today that "the Progressives/Liberals are outraged that Taliban corpses are urinated on, while the 'Liberal press' ignores OWS Protestors urinating on cop cars." She stated that "I have no problem with it."


From the 01.12.2012 edition of KFTK's The Dana Show:



Adam Shriver at the St. Louis Activist Hub has more on Loesch's venom:

CNN "political analyst" Dana Loesch, on the other hand, apparently doesn't care at all if these actions were directly working against the mission of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan; instead, she cheered for it to fuel the unhinged Muslim hatred that has become a staple of modern day right-wing media. On her show, she gave the marines in question "one million cool points" and said that she would "drop trow" and "do it too." She ended by saying: "Do I have a problem with that as a citizen of the United States? No, I don't."

Loesch's rhetoric echoes that of rabid Islamophobe Atlas Shrugged blogger Geller's ridiculously offensive tripe regarding the Marines' urination of Taliban corpses.

Hamas-tied CAIR, once again sides with jihadists against the US military. Always. Apparently they are a  "Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization" for jihadists and Taliban and Al-Shabaab, Hamas, Hezb'allah, et al).
CAIR has whipped itself up into an Islamic frenzy because  a video surfaced that appears to show US Marines combat gear urinating on several dead jihadis.
I love these Marines. Perhaps this is the infidel interpretation of the Islamic ritual of washing and preparing the body for burial.

Ms. Pamela Geller, YOU are the one that's the lunatic, not CAIR.

Here are the REAL facts (NOT the propaganda from the likes of Loesch and Geller) about the shameful act of corpse urination by some members of the US Marines.
ThinkProgress Security:

A video that surfaced Wednesday that allegedly depicts a group of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan urinating on corpses that they called “dead Taliban” could complicate nascent peace talks in the decade-long war there. The act portrayed on the video faceduniversal condemnation from the military, politicians, and the Afghan president Hamid Karzai.
With the U.S. expected to begin talks soon with the Afghan Taliban insurgency, all parties were quick to distance themselves from the act. The Marines said in a statement that the actions “are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps.” In a separate statement, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said a criminal probe was being launched and added:

This disrespectful act is inexplicable and not in keeping with the high moral standards we expect of coalition forces.
ISAF strongly condemns the actions depicted in the video, which appear to have been conducted by a small group of U.S. individuals, who apparently are no longer serving in Afghanistan.

Not everyone, however, was saddened by the events. Anti-Muslim activist Pam Geller wrote in favor of the incident. “I love these Marines,” she said, adding, “Perhaps this is the infidel interpretation of the Islamic ritual of washing and preparing the body for burial.” A former Republican National Committee researcher tweeted wondering, “this is a story?” He added: “I could care less. Liberal media at work.” Michael Goldfarb, a neoconseravtive Republican operative (a former McCain campaign spokesman), lobbyist and, as of recently, chairman of a new conservative online media venture, retweeted the comments from the RNC researcher.

Al Jazeera English:

The US Marine Corps says it will investigate a video posted on the internet which appears to show US soldiers in Afghanistan urinating on corpses.
In a statement issued on Wednesday after the footage came to light, the corps said the matter would be fully investigated.
"While we have not yet verified the origin or authenticity of this video, the actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the marines in our corps," the statement said.
John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said: "Regardless of the circumstances or who is in the video, this is... egregious, disgusting behavior, unacceptable for anyone in uniform.
"It turned my stomach," he added.
The video, which was first posted on the Live Leak website, shows four men in military uniforms urinating on three bloodied bodies on the ground, apparently aware that they were being filmed.
One of them jokes: "Have a nice day, buddy." The other makes a lewd joke about a shower.
The multinational security force in Afghanistan, ISAF, as well as the country's government, strongly condemned the actions portrayed in the video.

'Trained to spread horror'In a statement, the Taliban said the incident was "against all international human rights" but "not the only example of the horrific actions that the Americans have done in Afghanistan".
"American soldiers are trained to spread horror and this is one of the examples," the Taliban said.
However, the group's statement added that the incident would not affect negotiations with the US after US officials said Washington would send an envoy to Afghanistan to prepare the ground for direct peace talks.
About 20,000 marines are deployed in Afghanistan, mostly in Kandahar and Helmand provinces in the south of the war-ravaged country.

The video could aggravate anti-US sentiment in Afghanistan after a decade of a war that has seen other cases of abuse.
The US military has been prosecuting soldiers from its army's 5th Stryker Brigade on charges of murdering unarmed Afghan civilians while deployed in 2010 in Kandahar province.
In that case, photographs published last March by two magazines - Der Spiegel and Rolling Stone - showed soldiers posing with the bloodied corpse of an Afghan boy they had just killed.
A Muslim civil rights group in the US condemned the alleged desecration of corpses in a letter to Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary.
"Any guilty parties must be punished to the full extent allowed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice and by relevant American laws," the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in the letter, a copy of which was sent to media organisations.

Memo to the people that are cheering it on: DO NOT urinate on ANYBODY's dead corpses. It is sick, disrespectful, and offensive to  do it.


This type of rhetoric is reason enough for Emmis execs to suspend and/or fire her, but since her station's manager is a hardcore Republican, it won't happen..