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STOP BY A BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD (It's in the Breaking News sidebar!)
Posted on 10/06/2003 12:19:12 PM PDT by RightWingAtheist
"It's easy for people to say that if they shoot up on heroin the only people they're hurting are themselves. But that's not true. ... Drug abusers destroy their families ... If we legalize these vices, we erode the societal support for prohibitions against crimes such as murder. The erosion of the moral fabric of society is a gradual, insidious process."
-- Rush Limbaugh, The Way Things Ought to Be, pp 53-54.
As I sifted through hundreds of comments from Rush Limbaugh fans over the last week, some interesting trends emerged.
About 50 percent just wanted to call me names. (Of course, nearly all of those e-mails were anonymous.) I'm not sure what that's all about. Maybe it's just a case of trying to feel better about yourself as you hunch over the keyboard in your bedroom while your mom yells, "You're 37 years old, when are you going to move out!"
Much of the feedback came in AFTER it was reported that Limbaugh allegedly purchased thousands of painkillers from an illegal drug ring in Florida, and after Limbaugh tip-toed through his radio show last Friday, saying things like, "Just trust me on this," and, "I'm going to come clean when I get all the facts and details," and, "I really don't know the full scope of what I'm dealing with ... rest assured, I will discuss this with you and tell you how it is ... maybe more than you really want to know about this."
Gee, didn't Limbaugh rip Bill Clinton for talking like that?
But the man's entitled to a presumption of innocence until charged, let alone proven guilty. Still, I'm wondering why Limbaugh didn't say: "Folks, I've never illegally purchased any drug at any time in my life."
In any case, hardly any of the dittoheads who contacted me even mentioned the scandal. I guess they're waiting for all the facts to come in before passing judgment -- just as they'd do if Al Franken were the one who might have been popping OxyContins like Skittles.
I'm right, I'm right! I quit!
Curiously, few of Limbaugh's defenders talked about his jelly-spined resignation from ESPN.
On Wednesday, Limbaugh told his radio audience, "All this is really oriented around the fact that I was right," and, "[T]he point is, I'm right about it. I'll say it again today. I'm dead right about it.... "
And then, hours later, Limbaugh quit. You'd think his position would have been: "If ESPN has a problem with me, they can fire me." But El Rushbo said he didn't want to make life difficult for the fine folks at ESPN, so he was stepping down.
Geez. What a wuss.
About 60 percent of the Limbaugh supporters I heard from were fixated on one topic: my assertions that Limbaugh once told a caller, "Take that bone out of your nose and call me back," and that on another occasion he said of blacks, "They are 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?"
More than 100 e-mailers, many using strikingly similar language, asked me for my sources.
According to FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), Limbaugh made the first comment in the 1970s. The quote is on FAIR's Web site, and it was in the book The Way Things Aren't.
I also relied on an Oct. 8, 1990, story in Newsday, in which Limbaugh admits saying, "Have you ever noticed how all newspaper composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?" The article continues with a quote from Limbaugh: " 'You may interpret it as [racist], but, I, no honest to God, that's not how I intended it all ... I am the least racist host you'll ever find.' Recalling a stint as an 'insult-radio' DJ in Pittsburgh, he admits feeling guilty about, for example, telling a black listener he could not understand to 'take that bone out of your nose and call me back.' "
One assumes Limbaugh wouldn't have conveyed feelings of guilt to the Newsday reporter if he never said it. Nor could I find any record of Limbaugh contacting Newsday after the article to deny the Pittsburgh anecdote.
Rush on race
The "12 percent" comment has been cited by FAIR, by dozens of other media sources and by the Flush Rush Quarterly. In October 2000, MSNBC's Lisa Myers said to Limbaugh, "You once told a caller ... '[Blacks] are 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?' That's a little bit harsh."
Rush replied: "I really don't remember if I said, 'Who the hell cares?' The, this, but this is a salient point. Twelve, 14 percent of the population is what, is, is, my point, and if somebody says like on my radio, my TV show, said, 'Well, we don't see very many black people there,' 'Oh, what are you basing it on?' 'Well, there's a percentage of the population. Why aren't they represented?' "
Oh. OK.
However, I will say that if I erred, it was in not going with some of Limbaugh's equally appalling but more easily confirmed quotes about race. Lord knows they're out there.
But I am heartened to learn that so many of Limbaugh's fans are such sticklers for accuracy and accountability. I'm sure they hold their guy to the same standards, day in and day out.
He's right that Limbaugh was wimpy to quit ESPN. I guess the fact that bigger brushfires sprung up was the reason.
I think it was quit or get fired. Personally, it was better to resign IMHO.
Resigning looked like an admission of guilt.
I totally agree. The upside of resigning is that he won't get the reputation of bringing down the cast of characters thus preserving his "sports viability" in the future.
the opinion of Roger Ebert's rumpswab, Dick Roeper.
Dick Roeper, but don't let him dick you.
If that were the case there would be no ridiculous War on Drugs. But as for Rush, if he's going to sell books advocating a War on Drugs, then he had better be prepared to be hoisted by his own petard when his head is caught in a vice.
Funny, I usually get that when I tell people I'm a conservative.
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