Posted on 05/05/2006 2:05:21 PM PDT by wcdukenfield
Patrick Kennedy & Double Standards 05/05 04:37 PM
I don't wish anyone ill, except our nation's enemies. It's a good thing that Patrick Kennedy is going back into rehab. But I am very angry.
For nearly three years we witnessed the persecution of Rush Limbaugh, who became addicted to painkillers resulting from back and neck problems. We witnessed leaks by prosecutors who spread lies about him being involved in money laundering, drug rings, and doctor shopping. But the media happily repeated them. Some mocked him.
Rush got help. He has been clean for years. And in most cases, when someone becomes addicted to prescription drugs for the first time, the matter is eventually dropped. Most jurisdictions have set up drug courts for this very purpose. But that didn't stop the state prosecutor in Palm Beach County from spending hundreds of thousands of tax dollars pursuing Rush.
Early on, prosecutors claimed they had evidence of over ten felonies. They demanded that Rush plead guilty to some felony—any felony. He refused, always insisting on his innocence. So, they leaked more lies to the media, hoping to intimidate him. They seized his medical records. They gave his medical records to the media. The media took those records and turned them into graphics for television. Reporters and commentators were studying his prescriptions, discussing both the kinds and amount of medicine he had taken. They were beside themselves with glee. Newsweek, AP and the Palm Beach Post, Rush's local paper, were especially vicious, serving as lap-dogs for the prosecutors.
In court, Rush fought these people every step of the way—all the way to the Florida Supreme Court. He spent millions of dollars defending himself—despite the fact that he had been a first-time abuser, went to rehab, and was clean. And then last October, the lead prosecutor sauntered into court and in response to questioning told the judge—we have no evidence that Rush Limbaugh has committed any crime! None.
So, I am very angry. You will hear commentator after commentator speaking sympathetically about Patrick Kennedy and his addiction to painkillers. You will hear people say that he is addicted, he has a serious health problem, he deserves to be praised for his forthrightness today, and we should leave him alone. And many of these commentators will be the same people who were giddy in their ceaseless attacks on Rush.
I am angry at the double standard, where liberals are regularly treated one way and conservatives another. I am also glad Patrick Kennedy won't be abused as Rush was. But you can be sure that the next conservative with a problem won't be treated like Kennedy.
But there are some aspects to the Kennedy matter that require answers. If Patrick Kennedy, who is not a first offender, is addicted to painkillers, from where did he get them? And there are news reports that he had been drinking earlier at a Capitol Hill bar and alcohol was later smelled on his breath. So, why was the officer on the scene prevented by more senior police officers from performing a routine sobriety test?
I truly wish Patrick Kennedy well. But you bet I'm angry.
And for what pain? This painkiller thing was really late to the party; one of Howie Carr's callers noted a verbal parallel of one phrase in Patches' speech to one of dad's after Chappaquiddick. Maybe he spent the afternoon putting together a pastiche of lines that "worked" and used Rush's too?
What?!?
You paid for his Ambien and Phenergan and NOW you want to get out of paying for his rehab?
"Indian giver."
She's not smart enough.
>So why was the officer on the scene prevented by more senior police officers from performing a routine sobriety test?<
The answer is starkly obvious - like the Mexican "law enforcers", corruptly "on the take".
Damn straight! My wife got a DUI about 8 years ago and our insurance has NEVER gone down...
How many of us have been given a pass for speeding or some other infraction of the law.
In life there are consequences, sometimes we escape those consequences and other times the boom is lowered.
Whining about what other people get away with, is juvenile.
>I'll see your DITTO, and raise you a BUMP<
LOL! I love you fellas with sparkling wit, and call with a PING!
We all make choices. Some of us have more discipline, but mostly it's simply a matter of thanking G-d for being able to do the right thing.......most of the time.
In years gone by I've driven drunk and lived to tell about it.
Of course, that was before I was a mom, but that is no excuse at all.
LOL!
It's not that he got away with it...it's because we all know how the media and Democrats would have behaved were it a Republican congressman.
We'd be subjected to non-stop vitriol from Al Sharpton, et.al...
Two more years to go.
Note that any citizen would have had their blood drawn and checked after an incident like this. Not this clown. They give him a pass, so he can make up a story.
We go on with our lives. Life is not fair.
I'd much rather be us than them. Wouldn't you?
The Kennedys are the Castros of America......
So long as they remain in power they can torture the people unmercifully!
Yeah okay... like the accident Patty had two weeks ago in Rhode Island that no one's reporting...
It's not the D.C. Police, it's the Capitol Police. It's not the District of Columbia, but the Federal Compound (or something). The Swimmer's influence therein is just as immense as his gut.
Those two cops had a Hobson's choice: Kennedy's wrath or dereliction of duty.
This smells like a police payoff ...ala Skakels in 1975 Connecticut!
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.