Posted on 10/12/2003 7:08:17 PM PDT by yonif
NEW YORK -- None of Rush Limbaugh's friends contacted by Newsweek seemed to know the talk-radio host had a drug problem. "What's interesting," one of these friends told Newsweek, "is that he apparently hid the pills from his wife." Limbaugh's dependence on painkillers began after an unsuccessful back surgery in the late '90's, reports Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas in the October 20 issue of Newsweek, (on newsstands Monday, October 13).
In last week's radio confessional, Limbaugh told his listeners that he had twice gone to a hospital to detox. "What did he tell his wife when he checked into the treatment center? -- unless these were 24- to 48-hour clinics to clean out your system. There's an awful lot of mystery about it," said the friend.
Law-enforcement sources tell Newsweek that Rush Limbaugh's exposure as a pain-pill addict began when his former housekeeper Wilma Cline, 42, showed up at the Palm Beach County state attorney's office late last year eager to alert the cops to her boss's drug use. Her motive remained murky, but her story -- how she had met Limbaugh in parking lots to exchange sandwich bags filled with "baby blues" (OxyContin pills) for a cigar box stuffed with cash-was luridly damning, reports Thomas.
According to Cline, Limbaugh took as many as 30 OxyContin pills a day. It is not clear why Cline went to the authorities. She could still be prosecuted, despite a partial grant of immunity, say law-enforcement sources. The investigation has so far produced an arrest of a Palm Beach County couple accused of pushing hydrocodone and OxyContin.
Journalists who have spent time with Limbaugh have been struck by the contrast between Rush the Radio Know-It-All and the private, ill-at-ease Limbaugh.
Friend Bill Bennett, whose book, "The Moral Compass," Limbaugh touted on radio, says he knew nothing of Limbaugh's pill opping.
"He's a very private man," Bennett told Newsweek. "He takes problems into himself."
Limbaugh lasted only a year in college. He jokes that he flunked Public Speaking. Actually, he got a "D," his speaking teacher, Dr. Bill Stacy, told Newsweek. Limbaugh's father maneuvered him into the communications class,hoping his son would like it enough to stay in college and eventually become a lawyer.
Limbaugh was more interested in riffing off the top of his head.
"You need to make an outline. You need some data to support your assertions," Stacy told young Limbaugh.
Failed Disc Jockey
"Frankly, he wouldn't do those things." He was not much of a success as a disc jockey, either. Fired twice (and briefly on the dole, a detail Limbaugh overlooks when he rants against welfare), Limbaugh finally scored when he replaced Morton Downey Jr., an angry right-wing talk-radio host, on a Sacramento station.
He quickly became the patron saint of conservative talk radio and has stayed on top of the charts for more than a decade. (His most recent contract, signed in 2001 for eight years, was for $285 million.)
But his personal life left something to be desired.
His self-absorption made dating difficult. Two women who dated Limbaugh told conservative activist (and Limbaugh friend) Paul Weyrich that they couldn't seem to get his attention. "They both said, 'I'll never go on a date with him again'," Weyrich told Newsweek. "They did not have a good time. He talked about himself and didn't seem interested in them at all."
Limbaugh may have dropped a hint about his addiction a few months ago when he joked, in a seemingly offhand way on his radio show, that he had been "popping pills" for back pain. He drew a very sympathetic response two years ago when he announced that he had suddenly gone deaf-the result of some kind autoimmune illness, he said at the time.
Suspicion has now turned to his drug habit: repeated large doses of hydrocodone, a painkiller sold under the brand name Vicodin, can cause severe hearing impairment.
The penalty for illegally buying large quantities of prescription painkillers in Florida can be five years in jail, and contrary to some published reports, prosecutors do go after users as well as pushers -- especially if they want to make an example of a celebrity.
Limbaugh's best shot at keeping his vast audience is by being open about his problem, reports Thomas. Glenn Beck, an up-and-coming conservative talk-radio host who is regarded as one of the heirs if Limbaugh falters, is himself a former drug addict and recovering alcoholic.
"The hardest thing I had to do was stand up in front of a room of people and say, 'I'm an alcoholic,' and those were people who were sympathetic to what I was saying. He had to do it in front of 18 million...I can't imagine how hard it was to get on the air and say I have a problem."
Absolutely. Self-medicating with narcotic analgesics is a dead end street. Tolerance builds and eventually you can only take enough to kill yourself.
Richard W.
"You need to make an outline. You need some data to support your assertions," Stacy told young Limbaugh.
The point being that Limbaugh continues to make assertions without supporting data.
I could stomach all the drug insinuations, Limbaugh has a lot of it coming. But this part was the worst, IMO.
(An "enabler" is psychobabble for a person who makes excuses for another person's inappropriate behavior thereby encouraging the other person to continue the behavior because of the lack of any real consequences. Enablers are common in abusive relationships where the the abused person dismisses the abusive behavior as a consequence of factors beyond the abuser's control, i.e., "not my husband's fault that he verbally abuses me because he his father died when he was young and his mother was a drunk." Enablers also tend to make excuses for spouses, family, or friends who have substance abuse problems rahter than dealing with the real issue, i.e., " "Rush's drug addiction is somehow more tolerable because his housekeeper may have breached a confidentiality agreement and the police may have entrapped him.")
See post #37. I'm not convinced based on the scanty evidence that Limbaugh would be targeted for prosecution. Those that provided the drugs presumably would be. But, as I said, I'm no lawyer.
The gist of the distinction I was drawing was that Limbaugh presumably had binding NDAs with the help, that the maid (by her own admission) shopped the story to the LEOs (who apparently didn't bite) and then she went to the tabloid.
I'm of a mind that, since the LEOs didn't go after him, her NDA stands, absent a finding by the prosecutor of criminal activity.
The timing seems to suggest to me that she got some help from LEOs, private detectives and possibly lawyers in putting this together. Depending on how it came together, it would seem that Limbaugh could show a conspiracy.
I mentioned above that there was more to his 30 days off than meets the eye....
Limbaugh's attorney's and PR people can see the wave coming toward the beach in the form of backlash. Eventually his silence would have to be broken. You KNOW Bababooey would get through sometime and ask about pills, or some seminar caller; at some point Limbaugh would have to address this.
Even if he's not a 'junkie', there are several good reasons to put him in rehab outside of detoxing him.
First, it paints him as a sympathetic figure, which would appeal to some measure of those who hate him; second, it puts him out of reach while his lawyers feel out the case against him, if any, and gives them time to build the case if any against his accuser. Finally, it gives his PR machine breathing room to mollify his stations.
If that were true and it came to be,(which it won't), there wouldn't be enough OxyContin pills in existence for ME!...
(Suspicion has now turned to his drug habit: repeated large doses of hydrocodone, a painkiller sold under the brand name Vicodin, can cause severe hearing impairment.)
If that were true and it came to be,(which it won't), there wouldn't be enough OxyContin pills in existence for ME!...
(Suspicion has now turned to his drug habit: repeated large doses of hydrocodone, a painkiller sold under the brand name Vicodin, can cause severe hearing impairment.)
The housekeeper saved rushes life. You should send her flowers. Rush had three endings to his drug use, Jail an institution or death. He lucked out.
what the deduction on all my pay stubs that says UI?
I also have been in a position, several times in my life, to observe tinhorn celebrities. As time goes on, I both pity and detest them. Given the human condition, I do not believe it is really possible to garner celebrity and money without becoming a jerk--small jerk, large jerk, but always a jerk.
First of all, they get this appetite for huge houses which must be maintained. It doesn't occur to them what a burden these manses present until after they move in, then they become slaves to the help and management and lose their privacy. The big salaries for modest skilled labor I am familiar with--a whole new class of Jerk Enabler is the Personal Assistant.
As I said, what you wrote is interesting. The Personal Assistant phenom is something that'd make a good book. Ping me if you write more, please.
I'm closing in on Rush...
--Boris
Nicely done: (Not)
Keep it up, you will convert a lot of folks to your cause with posts like this: (Not)
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