This is a rush transcript from "The Big Story With John Gibson and Heather Nauert," October 3, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JOHN GIBSON, FOX NEWS HOST: The former NATO supreme allied commander and former Democratic presidential candidate is lobbying for Limbaugh's show to be taken off Armed Forces Radio for calling one soldier who went to prison for fraud a phony.
He and other Democrats have distorted Limbaugh's words and accused him of calling all soldiers who were against the war only. Here's what Limbaugh had to say about Clark this afternoon on his radio show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: The mad bomber of Bosnia. Is this the same Wesley Clark who did nothing to try to prevent the mass murder of 800,000 Rwandans? Is this the same Wesley Clark who was in a position - he was in a position — to insist the Clinton administration and the United Nations send help to that region and try to stop the mass murder of 800,000 Rwandans. Is this the same Wesley Clark who was once a Republican? Who supported President Bush but then changed parties so he could run for president and then attack President Bush?
General Clark, we all appreciate your service in the military but what you are doing now has nothing to do with your service. It has to do with your decision to play mudball with the left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIBSON: This smear campaign against Limbaugh comes on the heels of one of the Democrat's biggest embarrassments, an ad paid for liberals and run by a liberal paper smearing our top war general, David Petraeus.
With me now, conservative commentator Ann Coulter. She is the author of the brand new book, "If Democrats Had Any Brains They'd Be Republicans."
Wesley Clark is jumping on this bandwagon, trying to get Rush taken off of Armed Forces Radio. Has he got standing to make the claim?
ANN COULTER, "IF DEMOCRATS HAD ANY BRAINS": Aren't the Democrats great? I am just insanely jealous that he is getting all the attention when I have a book out. I have to send a copy to every member of the Senate now.
GIBSON: What about Clark?
COULTER: What about him? This is preposterous that they would waste time on this. And I promise you it is not going to hurt Rush Limbaugh. I mean, getting censured by the senate.
GIBSON: This whole thing starts with Media Matters taking Rush Limbaugh out of context, as you well know.
COULTER: Well, if we could get to how we take him out of context, I don't even understand what point they're making. Although overwhelmingly the military is Republican, certainly active military and those statistics are in my new book. As well as veterans overwhelmingly Republican but I am sure Rush knows that there are some members of the military who vote Democrat. What does it even mean — Of course he was not calling them phony soldiers. It does not even make sense.
GIBSON: Well, this Media Matters organization always claims that it has no political connection. Hillary Clinton that it Yearly Kos convention said this. This far-left liberal organization.
COULTER: Right.
GIBSON: Said this, listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are certainly better prepared and more focused on, you know, taking our arguments and making them effective and disseminating them widely in a lot of the new progressive infrastructure, institutions that I helped to start and support like Media Matters and Center for American Progress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIBSON: OK. There she is, she admitted that, so does this make the attack on Limbaugh really an attack indirectly from Hillary?
COULTER: I suppose. Everything they do.
GIBSON: Hillary's smear secret is out. Is their a vast left-wing conspiracy?
COULTER: No, I think they are just a bunch of liberal loons. I mean the fact that United States senators are taking time out of their day to condemn a talk radio host is really mind-boggling.
GIBSON: Well, they're trying to take the attention away from the MoveOn thing about Petraeus. Can they be effective?
COULTER: Well, it's kind of in their nature. They really — Democrats have not been doing so well since there have been alternative media and that is a long interview Lizzie Edwards gave when she questioned whether Hillary was as feminine as her husband, she began the whole interview by saying she wanted to start showing up at Ann Coulter speeches and stalking me, yelling things out.
Can you imagine Mitt Romney saying he is going to start heckling Michael Moore or something? Democrats are just a very weird party.
GIBSON: Well, are they getting any attraction out of this trying to change the subject from Petraeus and moveon.org to Rush and phony soldiers?
COULTER: No. I think we're getting more traction by pointing out what a bunch of loons they are.
GIBSON: How come they did not attack Charlie Gibson on ABC News when he did the same thing two days earlier?
COULTER: How come they did not attack me? That is the more important question. There is a lot to attack there.
GIBSON: Did you do this? Did you do phony soldiers?
COULTER: No, but I will if that is what it takes.
GIBSON: Well, it does. Is there such a thing as a phony soldier?
COULTER: No, that's what I mean. I do not even understand, I get an ice cream headache trying to figure out what they're claming someone said. And the week before that, though I am loathe to defend O'Reilly since he doesn't defend me, but what O'Reilly said he went out and had a dinner at a black restaurant with some black people and had a nice time. It's racist. It's racist. I cannot follow what their train of logic is. I feel like I need them to stand up with Ross Perot with a flow chart, show me what they're claiming he said.
GIBSON: This would normally be ignored. This is just something out on the blogosphere but it makes it to the floor of the Senate. One senator accuses Limbaugh of drug use, another one says he ought to be ashamed and asked his syndicator to fire him and now you have General Wesley Clark saying take him off Armed Forces Radio.
COULTER: Right.
GIBSON: What is the logic here behind these people of stature taking on this particular beef?
COULTER: I suppose they do not want to talk about the issues. I suppose they do not want to have to respond to moveon.org and the loonies who want them to preside over a humiliating defeat for America in Iraq. So maybe they can satisfy their base by going after conservative commentators.
GIBSON: One of the things Limbaugh said today was you should look it because if Hillary Clinton is president, these are the people who will be in her administration. Do you believe that is true?
COULTER: Let's see. I am thinking. She might not be that crazy. Would she — Hillary may not be that crazy, though. She is pretty — she is pretty crazy.
GIBSON: Ann Coulter, author of the brand new book, "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans," thanks a lot, Ann.
COULTER: Thank you.
Content and Programming Copyright 2007 FOX News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2007 Voxant, Inc. (www.voxant.com), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon FOX News Network, LLC'S and Voxant, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox