Patrick Kennedy and Double Standards

National Review Online ^ | 5/5/06 | Mark R. Levin

[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.

[beyond the sea]

I don't know what meds he swallowed, but I'm willing to wager he washed them down with booze

Chevas Regal = Sleep Medication

[Integrityrocks]

"How many of us have been given a pass for speeding or some other infraction of the law."

Not so fast. This was not an infraction. It was "knowing, egregious and intentional" abuse of the law and authority. Huge difference.

[dhs12345]

LOL. Yup.

[beyond the sea]

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.

Yes, all he needed was a neck brace.

[OldFriend]

It was intentional. And by saying he was on his way to vote he prevented them from holding him for a sobriety test.

He scammed the system.

Again, whining about him getting away with something is futile.

The Kennedy's have their own set of rules and their lives are hell on earth for it.

[OldFriend]

I just noticed the auto that Kennedy got into on his way to make his statement.

A big SUV......LOL.....anyone surprised?

[onyx]

You don"t drink scotch, do you?
It's Chivas Regal...lol, but I think their damn family made its illegal fortune on Cutty Sark.

[HitmanLV]

The Great One.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Ambien and Phenergan are NOT pain killers, so what pain meds is he addicted to? Jack Daniels?

Now now, Patches had to have been dry... after all, he didn't go off a bridge.

Isn't Phenergan an anti-nausea med? What would make Patches - hic - nauseous? Daddy the Swimmer surely wouldn't need that stuff.

[OldFriend]

He knew enough to say he was on the way to vote.

A technicality that prevented him from being held for a sobriety test.

[Sometimes A River]

Amen

[last american]

What I would like to know is WHY WERE THE COPS THAT GOT HIM USURPED BY THEIR BOSSES ???

If this is the caliber of law enforcement we can expect on the street, I want concealed carry. Who knows what sort of goofy decisions they'll make in a pinch.

[beyond the sea]

The Kennedy's have their own set of rules and their lives are hell on earth for it.

Very true, Old Friend.

[The KG9 Kid]

I couldn't care less if Patrick Kennedy drinks a jug of antifreeze.

[last american]

Damn straight! My wife got a DUI about 8 years ago and our insurance has NEVER gone down...

And I'll bet she spent the night in the pokey. I'm not proud of it, but I got nailed about 15 years ago (and no I do not drink and drive, i've learned my lesson) and I had to spend the night in the "bull pen" with gang bangers and dope heads. And the kicker was I was out tossing a few back with a police officer..

[beyond the sea]

No I don't drink any whiskey............ just beer........ too much beer.

;-)

[tomzz]

When you think of the Kennedy Curse, the thing which should come to mind is the stories you read about a cop stopping a carload of them and two or three of them asking the cop "Do you know who we are?"

That's the problem. They clearly see themselves as above man's laws, and it's a tiny step from that to believing yourself to be above things like the law of averages or the laws of physics. As in: 'I'm a Kennedy, there can't possibly be any reason why I shouldn't be able to ski downhill, throw footballs, and operate a camcorder all at the same time, the trees'll get out of the way, they know who I am..."

Or John John flying out over the Atlantic at night without instruments....

Friends who fly small planes tell me John John and the two women were dead as soon as the wheels left the ground.

Consider the men in these two pictures:

Most will probably recognize the picture of Rittmeister Manfred Von Richthofen (the red baron from WW-I) The other gentleman is Hans Rudel, the #1 Stuka ace from WW-II, personally responsible for the destruction of several thousand Russian military vehicles including over 500 tanks.

These two guys were about as serious as it ever gets about flying small aircraft. I've read both their autobiographies and, funny thing, one of the things which jumps right out at you is that both of them mentioned the fact that flying in low visibility conditions used to scare them absolutely shitless.

[OKIEDOC]

His cousin flies in a private jet to his environmental wacko meetings.

Pappy Murdering Ted Kennedy is so concerned with the environment he does not even want wind mills in the sight of land.

There good buddy Billy (Do As I Say Not As I Do) Nelson of Florida shows his support for the hypocritical liberals by not wanting drilling with in 200 miles of Floriduhs shores.

Diane Feinstein and Babs Boxer two more hypocritical California's who can afford to fill up their SUV's don't want nasty old drilling off their shores either.

Makes me sick all these hypocrites in congress at the same time and all belonging to the same do nothing negative party.

[aculeus]

Never underestimate the cunningness of a drinker.

"Pill addiction" is so much more acceptable than alcoholism. Claiming pill addiction could be another form of denial.

He spent long Christmas weekend in rehab at Mayo. Real rehab takes weeks, not days.

Mayo is an enormous general-purpose medical center, not a rehab clinic.

I'd be impressed if he were going to Hazelden or something comparable for a few weeks.

I think he's lying through his teeth and our dumb media-crities are falling for it.

[beyond the sea]

Sleazoid Joe was also chased out of England where he was ambassador when WWII started because he was a NAZI sympathizer.