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Posted on 10/10/2003 6:48:06 PM PDT by jmstein7
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Good words – especially, at the moment, for Al Franken. If he tries to take advantage of Rush Limbaugh’s current predicament, he may need to be reminded of an October1991 interview he did for The Atlanta Journal and Constitution.
During the interview, Franken was questioned about Stuart Smalley, a character he created for Saturday Night Live. The probing questions about Stuart’s origins seemed to have touched a nerve, as Franken is reported to have said, “There's sort of a personal story behind this that I actually don't want to talk about. . . .I am a member of a 12-step program.”
Thus, Franken cannot attack Rush without raising questions about his own past. . . and being a hypocrite. It is no secret that Franken, a writer for SNL since the beginning, was privy to the backstage drug culture of the show. At least Rush’s problem began with a genuine ailment.
If Franken really wants to prove that he is the bigger man, he might show some of the sensitivity he wrote into the Stuart Smalley character. Anything else would merely expose him as a shallow fraud.
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ZAHN: Rush Limbaugh isn't known for going easy on his opponents. Al Franken isn't a shrinking violet, either. He joined me from Kansas City to talk about his reaction to Rush Limbaugh's double dose of trouble. I asked him if he was surprised by the allegations about Limbaugh and drug abuse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AL FRANKEN, AUTHOR/HUMORIST: I was surprised.
ZAHN: Why?
FRANKEN: Well, I just don't think of him as someone who's involved in a drug ring. I wasn't surprised by the racist comments he made on Sunday night. That's sort of par for the course. You know, in my book Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot, I cite an example where he said that, late at night when you're watching television and they put up a picture of a criminal, it's surprising how often he looks like Jesse Jackson. So I wasn't surprised by the comments about McNabb. I was surprised about how long it took for ABC to fire him.
ZAHN: I'd like to share with you now, Al, something Rush Limbaugh told his listeners in 2001, when he announced he had some hearing problems. He said, "You would not believe the medications that are flowing through me in an attempt to reverse this. I'm popping pills. I'm shooting up stuff. I've never done stuff like this before."
If there is a drug problem, do you think it possibly could have stemmed from the medication he took during this very difficult time of his life?
FRANKEN: I'm sure it could have. What's sad is is that, you know, a public figure like himself, who's gone on record as being slightly holier than thou is afraid to go to a 12-step program like narcotics anonymous, and afraid that someone from the program will out him to a "National Enquirer" or something like that for money.
So I think that, especially these right-wing celebrities, these virtue guys. Bill Bennett, I don't know if he was a gambling addict or not. Usually when you lose $8 million or something like that, it might mean you have a problem. It's very hard than to go to gamblers anonymous.
But I think, actually, the statements that Rush made about black quarterbacks, he may have said it because he was high at the time. He may -- you know, I'm a Minnesota Vikings fan and Daunte Culpepper is our quarterback, he's great, he's a great quarterback and it's probably because he has that extra bone in his foot that I understand the blacks have, that bone can make him jump higher and run faster.
Isn't that what Al Campanis said? Or was it Jimmy the Greek? And I guess, Rush thinks the blood goes from the bone, from their head so that's how they have trouble calling plays and stuff and remembering the whole playbook and stuff.
ZAHN: In the past 48 hours, have any of these ailments (ph) slowed down the Rush Limbaugh empire?
FRANKEN: I don't think the -- the ESPN thing said you can't take him anywhere. He can't succeed in the mainstream media because of who he is. Someone's thought process -- he was supposed to represent every fan, because he doesn't know all that much about football, but it turned out he represented every racist fan. And I suppose there's a place for that, but within his own radio empire, I don't think this affects him at all. The drug addict stuff might. Right-wing listeners, conservative listeners tend to be anti-drug ring. ZAHN: And you can say that with 100-degree certainty this evening, with so many facts out --
FRANKEN: They tend to be. They tend to be anti-drug ring, right-wing listeners.
ZAHN: All right. Al, we're going to have to leave it there this evening. Thank you for dropping by.
FRANKEN: Okay. Paula. Thank you.
ZAHN: Good luck with the book.
FRANKEN: Thank you.
Parasite. You forgot: Parasite.
Can any of my fellow freepers substantiate that Rush actually said this? What exactly did Rush say on this topic and in what context was he referring to Jackson? Inquiring minds want to know!
If the movie was *AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL*, that might *SUGGEST* that it is a *FAMILY MEMBER* who is an addict *RATHER* than Franken *HIMSELF*. (Family members of alcoholics *OFTEN* enter *TWELVE STEP PROGRAMS* too.)
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