Author Topic: Critical Letter to Limbaugh Fetches $2 Million  (Read 458 times)

Dos Equis

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Critical Letter to Limbaugh Fetches $2 Million
« on: October 20, 2007, 12:01:03 PM »
 :o  The Coach has to be thrilled by this.   :)

Critical Letter to Limbaugh Fetches $2 Million

By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: October 20, 2007
After Rush Limbaugh referred to Iraq war veterans critical of the war as “phony soldiers,” he received a letter of complaint signed by 41 Democratic senators. He decided to auction the letter, which he described as “this glittering jewel of colossal ignorance,” for charity, and he pledged to match the price, dollar for dollar.

On Thursday night, Mr. Limbaugh, the conservative radio talk show host, said he thought the letter would bring in as much as $1 million. He was wrong.

When the eBay auction closed yesterday afternoon, the winning bid was $2.1 million. It is the largest amount ever paid for an item sold on eBay to benefit a charity.

The money will go to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization in New Jersey that provides scholarships and other assistance to families of marines and federal law enforcement officials who die or are wounded in the line of duty. Mr. Limbaugh is a director of the organization, which had total revenues of $5.2 million last year.

“It’s unbelievable,” said James K. Kallstrom, the retired head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in New York, who is chairman of the foundation.

Mr. Kallstrom said the charity would meet Monday to decide how to spend the money. “We might increase the size of the bonds we give these children,” he said, “and we’ll probably do a lot more for the wounded veterans. It’s almost unlimited what you can do for them.”

The letter was bought by the Eugene B. Casey Foundation, a $294 million foundation in Gaithersburg, Md., that has given money to a wide variety of organizations, including the Washington Opera and the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. In a statement, the foundation said its purchase of the letter was intended to demonstrate its belief in freedom of speech and “to support Rush Limbaugh, his views and his continuing education of us.”

Mr. Limbaugh, who declined a request for an interview, had advertised the sale on his show and elsewhere. He said fans had written him with concerns that wealthy liberals like George Soros would drive the price of the letter to $20 million or more in hopes of bankrupting him.

“It’s just amazing,” Mr. Limbaugh told Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes of Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes” on Thursday night, when the bidding stood at $851,000. “This is more fun than I’ve ever had in my life.”

He predicted that the sale’s success would anger one signer of the letter, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, whom Mr. Limbaugh calls Dingy Harry.

But in a statement on the floor of the Senate on Friday, Mr. Reid, a Nevada Democrat, praised the auction. “I strongly believe that when we can put our differences aside, even Harry Reid and Rush Limbaugh, we should do that and try to accomplish good things for the American people,” he said.

Dated Oct. 7, the letter read: “Although Americans of good will debate the merits of this war, we can all agree that those who serve with such great courage deserve our deepest respect and gratitude. That is why Rush Limbaugh’s recent characterization of troops who oppose the war as ‘phony soldiers’ is such an outrage.”

Mr. Limbaugh has said that he was referring only to one soldier, who was critical of the war and had served only 44 days in the Army, never seeing combat.

Marcus S. Owens, a lawyer who headed the Internal Revenue Service division that oversees charities and foundations, said the Casey foundation might incur taxes on its purchase because it would have difficulty demonstrating that buying the letter furthered a charitable purpose. “They’d have to establish the link between the transfer of money for that letter and promoting free speech,” Mr. Owens said, “and that’s going to be tough.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/washington/20letter.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Hugo Chavez

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Re: Critical Letter to Limbaugh Fetches $2 Million
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2007, 12:09:59 PM »
ah, image wise that works better for dems... lol, what an idiot...