Posted on 10/13/2003 1:27:21 PM PDT by paulklenk
Only hours after the news broke, Katie Couric thought Rush Limbaugh's drug problem was funny. So funny as a matter of fact, that she made up a story about sitting next to him on the plane and asking for an aspirin - you get the rest. She told it with a baby-girl hair flip. It wasn't funny.
During the Democrat debate last week, John Kerry thought Rush's pain was funny and took a shot. That wasn't funny either.
For hard-pressed liberals, merchandising Rush Limbaugh's admitted pill addiction will be an interesting test of individual sensitivity and a telling reality check and we'd better brace ourselves. Response from the left will probably follow the line of Newsweek's cover story today; he's a shy, loner, schlub and hypocrite -- heavy on the hypocrite. They describe him as a solemn couch potato with few friends, an aversion to nightlife and a kid who stayed in his room with water balloons on Halloween, then dropped them on the departing trick-or-treaters (frankly, my kind of guy). They write with self-rightous glee at his misfortune that he is an "actor" filled with self-righteous glee at the misfortunes of others.
This merry-go-round is just cranking up and we will hear much more of the same and worse about him in the days to come. This is their irresistible right and inevitable. To counter it, pundits on the right will revisit the drowned girl at Chappaquidick, other known addicts, the drunks, embezzlers, and jailbirds - the whole panoply of losers on the left. We've all been there before.
There is no way to stop the ranting and high-fiving. They will do it until they get bored with themselves and move on. Now that Rush has admitted his problem it is all fair but it is a dangerous game and the more thoughtful among them may want to rethink their commentary.
How truly funny is drug addiction and who among them has not had their hearts broken by it? How taxing is it to whip up jokes about rehab? How amusing is it to know that a public figure has begged a servant, a friend, a colleague even a stranger for a hit or fix because they fear they would go mad without it.
Are there truly any yucks in knowing that someone had stockpiled thousands of pills just in case....just in case....there isn't a painless instrument around with which to kill themselves if they run out? When the early jokes give way to the righteous rants will they be delivered by those who haven't a clue about the terror that is drug addiction?
As much as I can't stand them, I do not wish this for those who will feast upon Rush Limbaugh's pain: The call in the middle of the night that a beloved child has been arrested for DWI or picked up in a crack house or hung themselves. The realization that a wife or husband or loved one whose personality has changed has been stealing stuff, maxing out a credit card has been sneaking pills from somewhere and is hopelessly addicted. I do not wish them the expense and agony of waiting for someone they love to maybe make it through rehab and maybe not. I do, however, wish they could look into their souls and ask if they have the strength to survive what Rush Limbaugh will go through to get his life back.
But, politics ain't beanbag and they are going to have at this situation - first with the jokes, then with the indignation and I-told-you-sos. They can't help themselves and frankly, we couldn't either if Al Franken got picked up in a motel with an underage boy or an overage goat. That's the way this game is played. It will never change so their behavior is not the point.
People, decent people, have hearts. They are loyal to their friends and steadfast in time of trouble. Our commitment should be standing by Rush Limbaugh. He has given us hope and help and a way of seeing the world.
Remember when being a conservative was a very lonely business? Remember when we huddled in Rush Rooms and were almost afraid to listen to him on the radio with passengers in the car. Think what the Clinton years would have been like without Rush. None of that is diminished by his current problems.
We are 20 million strong. We can do anything we set our minds to and have the track record to prove it. The operative word here is 'strong' and a healthy, productive Rush Limbaugh, who knows how grateful we are, is the goal. Perhaps he can do it without us but I, for one, don't want him to.
-Lucianne Goldberg
I came to that decision about 20 years ago.
Good line. May it be so.
I'm going to tell you something most of Limbaugh's opponents will probably never admit. The dark truth is, a lot of us grinned from ear to ear when we learned Limbaugh might have some kind of substance-abuse problem.
A cheap laugh at other peoples' misery.
Does the left somehow recall Rush giving Jeb Bush's daughter a pass on her addiction to Xanex and forged prescriptions because she was a Republican?
I certainly do recall the media attacking President Bush for having a niece who is addicted to prescription medication.
Didn't know that Katchup Man had an issue with this.
You must be a youngster. Few of us have bought Newsweek since the mid-1980s. Time Magazine is just as bad, if not worse. If you REALLY want a good read, try the National Enquirer. /sarcasm.
No sarcasm
He doesn't operate heavy machinery either. Spouses of political leaders don't have much responsibility either (they can insert themselves into political situations but at the end of the day, they are not accountable to the voters since they were never elected).
Those in an appointed/elected area of responsibility need to be capable of doing their job while in that position. Rush is just a commentator/entertainer. He holds no elected office and carries no authority. His listeners listen because they find him informative some of the time but his audience does not come to their facts simply through him. They have other sources. They call in/listen to his show to hear his views on news in and outside of the mainstream media.
If candidates and even Clear Channel decide to stay away from Rush Limbaugh, that is their decision to make. Rush's radio show does not seem to have suffered in its' production or performance as a result of his addiction (even his hearing loss which some attribute to drug abuse did not significantly lessen his radio show).
JFK getting injections of pain killers so that he could sit at a table and negotiate with the head of the Soviet Union put American safety at risk. This is not drug abuse but then again the President will not be at the top of his "game".
What does that mean? Rush gives away millions of dollars every year to charities. Where are his skeletons? Why would he have skeletons. He makes more money on his website selling his neckties than most of us earn in a year.
He definitely will have a story to tell now.
Didn't President Bush briefly hand over the reigns to VP Dick Cheney when he was anesthetized for a colon cancer screening?
We need to know who is in charge and know that they are capable. Since the necessary medical tests would put President Bush in a lesser state, arrangements were made for the continued safe operation of this country of ours.
You can never tell when we will come under attack or disaster will strike. Even sitting at the bargaining table can be a tough place.
Your response tells me that it was before he came clean, so to speak.
Actually, it sounds like he's got a serious drug problem. Glad he's doing something about it. Detox from (other peole's) prescription drugs is tough, even if you've been thru it before like he has.
Excellent thought and so true. I believe the left will, as usual, go overboard and continue to show their true colors.
Who was the clown??? "Haroldo" is an idiot and a liar.
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