Pulling for Rush

Great sadness came with Rush Limbaugh’s announcement that he needed to take a break from his wildly successful radio career to conquer a prescription-drug addiction. Few things can be more humiliating than to have to admit in front of an entire nation that you are ... a junkie. And yet that’s exactly what Rush did -- with no excuses. Humiliating, maybe. But also highly courageous. From coast to coast, the Limbaugh nation is hoping and praying that, after taking 30 days off for rehabilitation, he’ll be bouncing back, liberated from his demons, sharper and happier.

A few hours after Rush made his explosive announcement, Chris Matthews asked me to be his guest on "Hardball" that evening. On the set before the start, I told Chris I just wasn’t up for the high-voltage debate style that’s made his "Hardball" show famous. Thankfully, Matthews was in full agreement and conducted what was a difficult interview with a level of professionalism -- and grace -- one rarely finds in the media today.

He wondered how Rush’s fans would react to the news. The truth, I think, is that this is the very least of Limbaugh's worries. Rush Limbaugh enjoys the greatest well of sympathy for any public figure in the conservative firmament, with the exception of Ronald Reagan. Contrary to caricatures from liberals who never listen, Rush has been an inspirational leader, a great popularizer of the conservative cause, and an oasis of hope and humor for the millions who feel their causes and heroes are pounded unmercifully by the liberal press. Twenty million listeners are indebted to him and will repay him with their affection.

Then, Matthews stated his concern that some on the left would greet the news with glee. How right he was.

Some liberals have tried to restrain their glee, but their feelings of moral superiority -- or arrogance, for short -- still came shining through. Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, columnist Richard Roeper responded to a listener telling Rush "we all make mistakes" with this rejoinder: "I don't think that's the general philosophy of Limbaugh or his audience when it comes to his targets. It sounds a lot more like something a liberal caller might say to an NPR host, doesn't it?" Liberalism equals compassion, understanding and forgiveness.

Tell that to Rush’s fans after what they’ve seen liberals do since Rush’s addiction story broke. Before his admission, "comedian" Al Franken joyfully proclaimed that he was "looking forward to the perp walk ... I'll be switching channels to get it from every angle." Katie Couric thought Rush’s addiction was great fodder when she appeared on Jay Leno's show: "I feel actually good because I flew out here, and Rush Limbaugh sat next to me on the plane. He gave me some vitamins. Whaa! It feels good!" In the latest Democratic debate on CNN, candidate John Kerry cracked that to improve access to prescription drugs, "You can hire Rush Limbaugh's housekeeper, or you could elect me president of the United States."

The reaction wasn’t kinder after Rush began his rehabilitation regimen. CNN anchorman Aaron Brown conceded that he could not deny the "permanent smirk that seems to be attached to my face." (He then ceded his show to more bile from Franken.) Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter gave this compassionate assessment: "It's been a bad year for bully-boy conservatives. Time for them to taste their own bitter medicine." The Newsweek cover story by Evan Thomas called Rush "a childless, twice-divorced, thrice-married schlub whose idea of a good time is to lie on his couch and watch football endlessly."

But the king of the mud mountain was Newsday columnist Jimmy Breslin, who spread the taunts across the entire Limbaugh audience: "His people are hopelessly, embarrassingly dumb. Or -- sudden revelation! -- they're all out there whacked out on Hillbilly Heroin just like Rush. Only they can understand his babble."

Where are the national nannies of the public discourse to tut-tut at all of these compassion-deprived leftists now?

Let no one now pretend that the problem with liberals is that they’re too tender and toothless, too compassionately cuddly and fuzzily forgiving. Trapped in arrogance and wishful thinking, supposedly astute analysts like Alter and Franken believe that if Rush undergoes a successful recovery, he will come out more enlightened and less vitriolic -- and his show will be finished, since conservatives only want heaping helpings of ignorant vitriol.

After all of these slurs and insults, Rush knows that the best way to respond is to put this whole mess behind him and to apply all the force of his radio personality to the power of his own will. It’s also what his audience knows and will expect. That’s tomorrow’s agenda. For now, 20 million supporters are just pulling for him to pull through.

...doctors just don't know or care what they perscribe for who. And they know little of addiction. I used to be one of those people who believed if a doctor said it, it must be gospel. Especially if it numbs you for a bit.

A very important message! Until recently medical students did not even study nutrition, nevermind pharmacological principles. They study disease systems: diagnose and prescribe.

So if one has pain, one gets a prescription. End of encounter with doctor. These newer analgesics sound less powerful than 'morphine' so patients with pain don't approach their daily use with the same amount of caution as they would a daily use of morphine, and so the tolerance and addiction happen.

I agree with you, Vs wife, about the change in subject matter of his program, and the rest of your comment, too.

Rush's strength was in using his mind, and he must have found that he could do his 'show prep' better with the medication, or so he thought.

I know that many writers and others dealing in words, like broadcasters, have experienced huge difficulty in doing their work after giving up smoking. It seems that nicotine is a stimulant to the very word-processing areas of the brain.

Perhaps Rush found that the days when he did not use the meds, his mind was 'slower.' He should have taken the time off then, but he was devoted to his show and to his audience. So - we have today's situation.

My heart grieves for him the same as when I learned of his deafness.

"Rush limbaugh Is being judged by the liberals."

So what? Do the opinions of wishy-washy, emotionally immature (feminized "metro-sexual" males, airhead females) and cynical opportunists, carry equal weight with those of intellectually honest, emotionally mature people capable of critical thought?

The "what is true for me, may not be true for you", wishy-washy relativists (liberals) believe that ethical truths change depending upon the situation and the individuals and groups holding them.

They prove that every time they make a *moral/ethics* judgement call about Rush that is different from the judgement call they would make about themselves, their family, and like-minded friends.

Those who suffer from cognitive dissonance (the mental confusion that results from holding polar opposite ideas and beliefs simultaneously) belong in treatment. Instead we find most of them in the DemocRAT party because that's where they feel most comfortable.

Rush VS JFK

Rush only had his hand on a MIC, JFK had his hand on the NUCLEAR BUTTON ~AND~ was the Commander in Chief of our troops. The Liberals are EXTREMISTS in Hypocracy!! All the while they could have been consistant in compassion. Let them harp on.. they only show their ignorance.

Sadly, Rush may get off the extremely addictive Oxycontin, but he won't be "normal". He will still have pain. Those who think this re-hab will be the CURE ALL for Rush, are sadly mistaken. He will just wake up to the "reality" of all that pushed him to the "edge" in the first place. He will need our prayers all the more.

I worked in this field, and know what I'm talking about. Rush is in a catch 22 situation. God help the man. There isn't enough money in all the world for me to walk in his shoes.

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