UQ Wire: 9-11 Widows Respond to Limbaugh Attacks

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh weighed in on the subject of current George Bush campaign TV ads with references to September 11, placed on the air by Republicans during his nationally broadcast radio show last Friday. The following two letters were written to Mr. Limbaugh today by the two 9-11 widows whose voices were used during his radio broadcast. The controversial Limbaugh referred to Republican Kristen Breitweiser and Monica Gabrielle as Democratic "campaign consultants... not grieving widows... obsessed with rage and hatred."

In this digest:
1. Rush Limbaugh Transcript
2. Response from 9/11 Widow Kristen Breitweiser
3. Response from 9/11 Widow Monica Gabrielle

Anti-Bush 9/11 Families Backed by Heinz Foundation
March 9, 2004,

Listen to Rush...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT 12:36 PM ET

RUSH: I can now begin to take credit for some things that happened on this program on Friday - A barnburner of a program. You remember the program opened with some audio examples that we had found of families, certain family members, 9-11 victims, all saying the same things. And I cringed. I couldn't believe that the Democratic Party would sink this low , to exploit and capitalize on the misery and loss of families. But they did it. They found a way. In fact, they found some family members - and I'm going to say this - they found some family members who seemed to have more concern over who the president of this country is than over the sanctity of the loss of their own family members. It is beyond the pale that this could happen. It is beyond the pale, yet people cooperate with it, and so much more has been learned about this since.

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It turns out -- and, by the way, the thing I predicted to you on Friday about the 9-11 coffins and "no flag-draped coffins out of Baghdad," that has been picked up. I told you that was a talking point. I told you we're going to be seeing it over the weekend and you did see it over the weekend, and these people are very easily predictable. Well, it turns out that a lot of these 9-11 family members are part of a political organization that is funded in part by Teresa Heinz-Kerry! Well, this stuff is incestuous! You know, these people are poisoned. They have literally been poisoned by their hate. They have been poisoned by their rage. It is unbelievable, the depths to which they will sink.

Here, for those of you that weren't here on Friday, this is the montage. I'm just going to play it one more time. This is two different women, and they appeared on four networks: CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and NBC, and they each have three phrases that they use verbatim. And these were prepared. These were prepared by Democratic campaign consultants. In fact, these women sound like campaign consultants, not grieving family members, and I was reluctant to make this charge; it's the first thing that crossed my mind. As I say, we've now learned all the organizational effort that's going on behind this and these people are indeed aligned with the Democratic Party, and it's just… I do not know this kind of hatred; I don't know this kind of venom; I don't harbor it; I never have; I don't know what it's like to be governed by this kind of rage, and I don't know what life must be like when it is. I cannot relate. I cannot relate to being obsessed with rage and hatred. I can relate to being obsessed with love and infatuation, but I cannot relate to being obsessed with all this hatred. I just don't get it. It is unspeakable to me. It is dirty. It is wounding. I think this stuff is absolutely poison, the depths -- and Ted Kennedy on Friday goes to the Council on Foreign Relations and -- I got the story coming up -- makes all these wild accusations. John Kerry himself is becoming, if you ask me, a walking caricature of himself already. I think these people have no clue.

You know, one of the things I said all during 2002, is these people have not come to grips with the fact that they're not the majority anymore, and if they have one thing in common with Martha Stewart, and this is not my comment on Martha Stewart , but not the whole comment, but these people do not have the ability to know how average Americans see them. They have no empathy with average Americans. These family members from 9-11 that are on this political witch hunt, the Democratic Party, the presidential campaign leaders, Kerry, all these people, all the Democratic leadership, media, have no clue how they come across to real people. And I don't think Martha Stewart did, either. I think that's one of her one of her problems.

Another of Martha Stewart's problems, in fact, maybe have been the biggest of her problems was the Clinton years. She saw all of her buddies get away with what she tried. And Clinton did. In fact, Bill and Hillary got away with far more than what Martha Stewart did. The difference is, Martha Stewart didn't have any love for her on that jury. She didn't have any love for her amongst average people, whereas the Clintons did. Just a minor little point, but nevertheless.

Here, listen to this montage in case you missed it on Friday, and understand that these family members are actually part of the Democratic Party machine, as they do this.

VOICE I: I think for someone like President Bush who has not cooperated with this commission, who has stonewalled this commission.

VOICE II: This president and his administration blocked the creation of the commission, have stonewalled the commission.

VOICE I: If this was realistic from the morning of September 11th, it would show President Bush before a group of school children listening to them read, while the twin towers were burning.

VOICE II: If he wants to show a picture of 9-11 depicting what he was doing, it should be a picture of him sitting and reading in a classroom to school children. That's where he was on 9-11.

VOICE I: And we need to find out why 3,000 people were murdered on his watch.

VOICE II: Well, you know, this happened on his watch.

RUSH: Yeah. Yeah, I'd love to hear some original thoughts from any of these people, but I don't think that the Democrats trust them to speak originally. Was a piece -- I'm looking for it now. I should have put it in the right order but I didn't. In the Wall Street Journal yesterday from a woman named Burlingame , was a little editorial, small little op-ed. And it has some great lines in it. She's a family member of 9-11 that does not agree with these people and really rips them to shreds in a very classy way.

END TRANSCRIPT

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_030904/content/see_i_told_you_so.guest.html

[Response from Kristen Breitweiser]

Mr. Limbaugh,

For your information, I am one of the widows you are wrongly accusing of being "schooled" by the Democratic Party.

My name is Kristen Breitweiser. I am not a Democrat. I voted for President Bush. So did my husband who was killed on 9/11.

I would encourage you to educate yourself on who I am, prior to your making erroneous statements about me on your radio show.

I would also encourage you to visit the website of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee(911independentcommission.org) of which I am a founding member.

The members of the Family Steering Committee (a non-partisan, completely self-funded organization) have been tireless advocates working to get answers as to why our loved ones were killed on the morning of 9/11 and why this nation was so very vulnerable to terrorism on that horrible day. In order to make this nation safer and to ensure that our loved ones were not killed in vain, we believe that we must learn from the tragic failures that occurred leading up to and on 9/11.

The only way we can be safe in the future is to learn from the past. The only way we can have a thorough examination of the past is with a cooperative government. Sadly, President Bush has been our biggest adversary in trying to find out what happened on 9/11. And, after voting for him in the last election, I am gravely disappointed in his behavior in fighting this commission and their noble efforts to explain why we as a nation were so vulnerable to terrorism on 9/11.

I look forward to your apology.

Many thanks,

Kristen Breitweiser.

And, as an aside, you failed to mention the following actual fact in your show: that Mayor Giuliani, Police Commissioner Kerik, Former Fire Commissioner Von-Essen, and 9/11 Widow Deena Burnett were "BOOKED" BY THE GOP to go on those shows. (See Washington Post article on Friday). I, on the other hand, was "booked" by no one other than myself. Frankly, Mr. Limbaugh, I expected better from you.

[Response from Monica Gabrielle]

Dear Mr. Limbaugh,

My name is Monica Gabrielle. I was forwarded a transcript of your recent radio show. Plain and simple – I expect an apology for your false statements and erroneous accusations.

In order to enlighten you:

- NO Democratic or other party member “schooled” me or prepared my statements! To date, I have been quite capable of thinking for myself.

- Neither I, nor the Family Steering Committee has received ANY FUNDING from ANY person or organization. We are a completely non-partisan, self-funded organization.

We have worked tirelessly for over 2 years to have the facts surrounding the 9/11 attacks and the murder of my husband along with 3,000 other innocent people brought to light. Until we know why we, as a nation, were left so utterly exposed, we will remain at risk. In order to accomplish such a lofty goal, we need to thoroughly examine what protocols and procedures were in place prior to and on 9/11. We need to find out where the breakdowns occurred.

Thus, ALL persons (BOTH political parties, BOTH past and present administrations) with any relevant knowledge need to share what they knew, when they knew it. Only then can we truly find where the failures occurred and correct them. Can we – as a nation – demand any less?

Sadly, President Bush and his administration have been staunchly opposed to any type of investigation into the murder of 3,000 innocent souls (not to mention the billions in property damage). This, to me, is unimaginable. Who wouldn’t want to know how and why all our defensive postures failed so miserably on 9/11? Who wouldn’t want to know that these “flaws” have been properly fixed? Who wants to have the same person/protocol in place today if it didn’t work on 9/11? Who wants to be the victim’s family member speaking up the next time tragedy strikes?

We, as citizens with the help of the 9/11 Independent Commission, have an opportunity to examine and hopefully correct the flaws which led to the horrors of 9/11 . We need to seize this opportunity – together – to make us all safer and quell some of the nightmares.

These are just a few of the issues which should have been debated on your program. More are available on our website (www.911independentcommission.org). The attacking of 9/11 families with false, inflammatory statements is beneath even you. Unfortunately, it accomplishes nothing and serves only to avoid the real issues.

I respectfully await your apology.

Sincerely,

Monica Gabrielle

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