Posted on 01/04/2004 7:17:34 PM PST by Matchett-PI
Here is the transcript of a segment of Geralso's show Saturday night, transcribed by me from my videotape:
At Large with Geraldo Rivera - Fox News Channel - Saturday 8:35-40 PM.
Subject: Rush Limbaugh / Palm Beach County, Fl. "Doctor Shopping" Case.
Host: Geraldo Rivera
Guest commentators:
Susan Estrich, USC Professor, and Fox News political analyst.
Ann Coulter, Constitutional Attorney, and author of the books, "Slander" and "Treason".
Garaldo: "Palm Beach prosecutors investigating Rush Limbaugh's drug use have, ah, almost never -- almost NEVER, filed the "doctor shopping" charge that they're using now against the famed radio personality - the controversial radio personality.
A review of the record by the Palm Beach Post newspaper, says what I said on this program a few weeks ago -- essentially, that if you were going to investigate every single senior citizen in Florida who went "doctor shopping", the jails down there would be overflowing.
Ah, Limbaugh is being investigated, as you probably know, for allegedly obtaining large quanities of pain killers with overlapping prescriptions obtained from different doctors. But the newspaper review indicates that over the last five years, only one other person in Palm Beach County has faced similar charges. Now, the Florida State Attorney, Barry Krischer, who is a Democrat who was strongly supported for that job, by, ah, what's her name? Janet Reno. Janet Reno.
Now, this guy denies the conservative talk show host is being targeted unfairly. OK, we continue with professor Susan Estrich, and constitutional attorney, Ann Coulter.
Ah, you know, ah, Susan, I don't like it when they go after Tommy Chong for using, you know, they get all these people -- and he's the only one who goes to jail for selling bongs on the internet. I don't like their going after Michael Jackson, 'cause I believe the case never would have been filed had it been anyone named Jackson Michael instead of Michael Jackson. And I don't like it with Rush Limbaugh. I may or may not agree with what he has to say, but to go after the guy --- whaaaaaa --- whaaaat are they doin'?
Susan: "This one stinks. This one reeeally stinks."
Geraldo [interrupting]: "The Rush Limbaugh prosecution stinks?"
Susan: "Yes."
Geraldo: "OK."
Susan: "Rush Limbaugh's [garbled] our issue. This one reeeeally, reeeeally stinks. And I don't want to get into Michael Jackson, 'cause I think .."
Geraldo: "Yeah, that's another thing, we'll get to that.."
Susan: "We'll look at it a different day, but this one reeeeally stinks, and I've been sitting here stewing about this Rush Limbaugh one for a long time.
First of all, this 'doctor shopping' is bogus. How many senior citizens decide which doctor they like better? I mean this notion that they're gonna get him for going to two doctors in the same thirty-day period to dupe them into giving him the medication? I mean this is an utterly ridiculous charge.
You know, I think we ought to look long and hard at the drugs laws. What's going on here is a lot of the people are mad at Rush Limbaugh 'cause they think he's a hypocrite. Well, you may or may not agree on that, but the last time I checked, hypocrisy is not a federal or state offense. And I don't think that is a basis for which we should prosecute people.
The reality is the drug laws are enforced selectively all the time. But this business of what's being done to Rush Limbaugh -- this prosecution -- this invasion of his privacy in the name of 'doctor shopping', I think really is an exersize in prosecutorial abuse of discretion. But it happens, Geraldo, and you and I both know there's nothing you can do about it.
Rush Limbaugh's a powerful guy, represented by the best lawyer, I think he's one of the best lawyers in the country; Roy Black, and there's still nothing you can do except be polite."
Geraldo: "Is this a political prosecution?"
Ann: "I think I'm gonna just sit back and let the liberals take over, here."
Garaldo, Susan and Ann: Laughter
Susan [still laughing]: "[garbled] political?? Who knows? I don't know this guy, maybe he just wants, you know, attention ... I don't know what goes on with this guy. Maybe he thinks he's doing the Lord's work, I really don't know."
Geraldo: "What about the selective use of the law - as a tool of personal vengeance?"
Ann: "Yeah, I think it's a big problem, and one way or the other, there does seem to be selective prosecution here. I suppose the Democrat prosecutor can say, 'No, I'm not going after Rush because he's a conservative, I'm going after him because he's a celebrity and now my name will be mentioned on the Geraldo Rivera Show, which it wouldn't have been otherwise.'
That's a problem, too, as you were mentioning in the other cases, ummm, just the instinct to go after celebrities. And you see that with the independent council prosecutions, as well. I mean, those guys, the independent prosecutors, are generally nobodies, and suddenly became featured in Vanity Fair, on the cover of Legal Times magazine, and it's the same thing with judges.
This is a problem, and the fact that Rush is reviled as a conservative suggests that it's a political ..."
Geraldo [interrupting]: "Let's be lawyers, here. Pretend for a second that we're at the 'trial flashpoint' I feature at the end of every Sunday program. Is it or is it not a violation of equal protection of the law when there is this kind of, you know, guaranteed this person by the Constitution, when there is this..."
Susan [interrupting]: "No. No."
Ann: "No. It's prosecutorial misconduct, I suppose, but .."
Susan: "No. It's not even that..."
Ann [interrupting-all talking at once]: "[garbled] anything that he could be gotten on, but yeah, no, it's a problem. Are prosecutors elected in Florida?"
Susan: "I don't know. In Florida they may be elected, and then certainly lose in [garbled - Susan and Ann talking at the same time]...."
Geraldo [interrupting]: "Then a constitutional argument will not be sustained, isn't that right, Susan?"
Susan: "Nope."
Geraldo: "Then Roy Black, however, he may indeed be one of the best in the country, if not THE best..."
Susan [interrupting]: "He won't win constitutionally ..."
Geraldo [interrupting]: "He won't win constitutionally so [garbled].."
Susan [interrupting]: "No. Because the problem is, in this country we have a model in place, and maybe we're gonna start looking at it again in death penalty cases, and maybe we'll get Rush Limbaugh to help us in this, because the model we put in place in this country, is a criminal justice system based on the idea of the guilty black criminal, if you'll pardon me.
And so we always make the rules based on the idea of the guilty black criminal, and so of course we say, 'prosecutor, you do what you want. We trust your discretion.' And so the answer to that question is, you know, prosecutorial discretion is very common in this coluntry, and we seldom second-guess it, so, no, he gets to do what he wants."
Ann: "The laws could be written a little ..."
Susan [interrupting]: "Even Justice Rhenquist went after Congress this week, saying, 'don't', you know....."
Geraldo [interrupting], changed the subject to what Susan was wearing (a baseball jacket), and they started laughing and talking about that -- effectively ending the discussion on the Rush Limbaugh issue.
End of Transcript.
Charge in Limbaugh drug case rarely used, court records show - Palm Beach Post ^ | 1/3/2004 | John Pacenti
In other words, the guy was charged with doctor shopping to get even with him for refusing to roll on his wife's doctor, not as a stand-alone doctor shopping case." ~ #3 reply ~ by justanotherfreeper
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | Maine | 150.00 |
2 |
75.00 |
81 |
1.85 |
10.00 |
1 |
Thanks for donating to Free Republic!
Move your locale up the leaderboard!
Susan Estrich and Alan Colmes are both just very nice, but naive, clueless people when it comes to comprehending what their beloved DemocRAT party is really all about - it's essentially nothing other than a criminal enterprise.
As Rush points out, it takes courage to face the truth, and to the degree one is emotionally immature --- that's the degree one will be unable (lack the courage) to face reality.
9-11 caused some to have a little spurt in growth. A 2x4 between the eyes has a way of doing that to ya.
LOL!! Ditto that!!! [See #10]
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
