WASHINGTON WATCH: RUSH LIMBAUGH RESPONDS TO CHARGES ABOUT HIS VERACITY

A little more than three months ago the advocacy group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting ignited a firestorm of media attacks on Rush Limbaugh when it released its critique, "Limbaugh's Reign of Error." Focusing on 43 statements taken from over six years of radio talk shows and two best-selling books, FAIR charged that "from AIDS to ozone, from Whitewater to the Bible, Limbaugh seems to be able to dissemble and disinform on virtually any subject." This week Limbaugh responded, sending a lengthy rebuttal to several media organizations that had printed FAIR's allegations, as well as making a copy available to the general public on the on-line information service, CompuServe.

On his radio program, heard daily on some 600 radio stations across the nation, Limbaugh explained why he didn't respond sooner."There were more important issues on the national agenda that deserved my attention ... like health care reform. I didn't feel we should let this thing distract us," said Limbaugh. "We also wanted to do a thorough job of answering the charges."Limbaugh doesn't respond to all 43 of FAIR's allegations, instead choosing to focus on the ones most often reprinted in the major media. Following is a summary of the disputed points, with my scorecard. Since FAIR had the luxury of choosing their "errors" from over 4,200 hours of radio and television shows as well as two books and several months of newsletters, all toss-ups go to Limbaugh.

1. Student loans.

FAIR says that Limbaugh was wrong when he said "banks take risks in issuing student loans," since student loans are federally insured. Limbaugh, undaunted, defends his statement by quoting a high-ranking bank official who says that "government helps mitigate risk," but "if banks don't follow the guidelines precisely, they won't be reimbursed." I called Barbara Ullrich, who handles student loans for Capital Bank in Cape Girardeau, and asked her to evaluate the disputed phrase. Not knowing the sides or arguments of the dispute, she seemed to side with Limbaugh."Because of the human element, there is risk. If the documentation is not completed properly, if we miss something, we're taking the risk there," said Ullrich. "At this point in time, too, if a student defaults on a loan, even if we've dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's, the percentage of reimbursement that we will receive from the government has dropped."Rush: 1FAIR: 02. Health care.

Limbaugh suggested that "if you have any doubts about the status of American health care, just compare it with that in other industrialized nations." FAIR says that this assertion is blatantly wrong, since "the United States ranks 16th in life expectancy and 21st in infant survival among industrialized nations." Limbaugh counters by listing a number of cure rates where the United States ranks first, including those for heart disease and most forms of cancer. As to the two low U.S. rankings that FAIR emphasizes, Limbaugh quotes Dr. Elizabeth McCaughey of the Manhattan Institute: "These have almost nothing to do with the quality of American medical care. Both statistics reflect the epidemic of low-birth-weight babies born to teenage and drug-addicted mothers, as well as the large numbers of homicides in American cities and drug-related deaths."Does the United States have the best health care in the world? It is a topic worth debate, and neither side makes a definitive case. But there is certainly nothing wrong about Limbaugh's suggestion that the U.S. does. FAIR misses big on this one.

Rush: 2FAIR: 03. Forest acreage.

FAIR criticizes Limbaugh for having said "we have more acreage of forest land in the United States today than we did at the time the Constitution was written." Not true, it argues, underlining that "in what are now the 50 U.S. states, there were 850 million acres of forest land in the late 1700s vs. only 730 million today."Limbaugh's response is a hedge, focusing on the rapidly increasing rate of forest growth in the U.S. rather than admitting that literally he had been wrong. While his statistics that the number of wooded acres in the U.S. has grown 20 percent in the past 20 years and annual timber growth in the U.S. now exceeds harvest by 37 percent are impressive, he loses this argument now, even if he doesn't 15 years down the road.

Rush: 2FAIR: 14. Chelsea Clinton.

In one of the allegations that has received broadest attention, FAIR called "groundless" Limbaugh's comment that a recent eighth-grade class assignment where Bill Clinton's daughter attends school was "to write a paper on 'Why I Feel Guilty Being White.' FAIR said Limbaugh's cited source, CBS News, "denied running such a story and a Sidwell spokesman said it never happened."In fact, several different news organizations checked on this particular dispute, and all agreed that Limbaugh was correct in citing CBS, which had reported the story on CBS Morning Resource, a wire service for radio talk show hosts. In addition, the Washington Times reported Tuesday that the original story appeared in Washington's City Paper, which continues to stand by its report with one slight change: It has corrected the title of the assigned paper to "Should White People Feel Guilty?" Regardless, Limbaugh's on-air comment has foundation and, except for the specific title of the paper, is correct.

Rush: 3FAIR: 1(To be continued.)

Jon K. Rust is a Washington-based writer for the Southeast Missourian.