Rush is suddenly silent

Philly Burbs.com ^ | 10/7/2003 | J.D. Mullane

[meia]

Rush is suddenly silent
Bucks County Courier Times

Rush Limbaugh, the most successful conservative radio personality ever, must come clean over allegations of drug abuse, or he's toast.

I say this sadly, since I'm one of Rush's 23 million fans.

Allegations that he illegally obtained and used huge amounts of addictive pain pills like OxyContin, the "hillbilly heroin," can't be papered over with "let's stick to the issues," as Rush told his listeners yesterday.

Unless he proves the allegations are false, he is no better than those goofs on the left whom he regularly derides as "long-haired, dope-smoking, maggot-infested" wackos.

It's not right to hold yourself up as being "on the cutting edge of societal evolution," as Rush often does on 600 radio stations coast to coast, while at the same time stuffing your face with mind-altering substances that put a lie to that boast.

It's not right to con millions of loyal listeners five days a week into believing your "talent [is] on loan from God," when it's really on loan from the makers of OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone 750.

Last week, as Rush dealt with the fallout from his racial remarks regarding Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, the New York Daily News broke the story that he has for years popped illegally purchased addictive painkillers by the thousands.

But the Daily News - as have most other news organizations jumping on the Crush Rush bandwagon - took the heart of its reporting from an extensive account in this week's edition of The National Enquirer.

The Enquirer story contains devastating details, including times, dates, allegations of taped conversations with Rush as he received the pills, and e-mails from Rush begging for more and more drugs from his alleged supplier, Wilma Cline, the former maid at his Palm Beach, Fla., spread.

Rush got so comically sloppy with the pills that they were found scattered on the floor of his office, and dropped from his bag as he made his way around a golf course, according to The Enquirer.

In e-mails, he referred to the small blue OxyContin pills as "little blue babies" and told Cline that when she received more pills she could contact him while he was on the air.

"[E-]mail is not a distraction," he wrote her on April 1, 2002.

Rush and Cline met secretly in the parking lots of a local Denny's and an Amoco gas station in Palm Beach, exchanging the drugs and cash in Cuban cigar boxes, the Enquirer reports.

Rush fans might say to me, "Why, you long-haired, dope-smoking, maggot-infested creep. What idiot takes the word of The National Enquirer? Why, it is nothing but a slop sheet for gossip hounds."

Fair enough, I guess. The Enquirer has had its share of libel lawsuit troubles, and maybe the Limbaugh story will be another. But I don't think so, mainly because Rush's response isn't what it should be.

"Ha, ha," he should have laughed last week, "this is absolute nonsense, folks. Just another attempt to attack your humble host. There is nothing to it. It's completely phony."

But he didn't say that, or anything close to it.

Instead, he posted on his Web site an obviously lawyered statement about being "unaware of any investigation by any authority involving me," but "if my assistance is required, I will, of course, cooperate fully."

Then he went on the air last Friday.

"I'm a little frustrated that I haven't yet gotten to the bottom of what all this is about, and I'm very much desirous of telling you," he said. "But until I know exactly what this is, it just makes no sense to start delving into it. I don't want to deal with hypotheticals or respond to what's in the press."

This is crap. He's dissembling.

I kinda' hoped Rush would come up with a tearjerker explanation. In September 2001, he announced that he had gone completely deaf from a rare hearing disorder. I can't imagine the depression deafness would cause a man at the height of his career. Who wouldn't have sympathy for a guy who popped painkillers to deal with the blow?

Unfortunately, according to the news accounts, Rush began popping the pills in 1998, three years before his hearing went out. Rush spent eight years rightfully dumping on the scandal-ridden Clinton administration, brilliantly skewering its sleaziness and parsing of language.

Come clean, Rush, without lawyers, without spin. If you're weak, well, welcome to the club. Being honest with your listeners is more important than protecting your empire or your ego.

If not, then good riddance, you hypocrite.

J.D. Mullane can be reached at 215.949.5745 or jmullane@phillyBurbs.com. His column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

October 7, 2003 4:48 AM

[meia]

Another conservative attacking Rush.

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[Nov3]

Another conservative attacking Rush.

No The drugs were planted by UFOs! P.s. Duplicate thread prepare to be flamed

[drstevej]

***This is crap.***

You assess your own article well.

[maro]

If your speculation is true, and it's still speculation right now, Rush's able lawyer has read him the riot act on discussing any of this on his show until the prosecutors give him immunity, which I understand they usually do in the non-celebrity case. When Rush gets immunity, assuming he needs it, he will tell us everything.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Another conservative attacking Rush.

Last week, as Rush dealt with the fallout from his racial remarks regarding Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb...

If this guy believes Rush made "racial remarks," he is no conservative.

The acknowledgement of implicit affirmative action on the part of the sporting press is not a "racial remark."

[Nov3]

Unfortunately, according to the news accounts, Rush began popping the pills in 1998, three years before his hearing went out. Rush spent eight years rightfully dumping on the scandal-ridden Clinton administration, brilliantly skewering its sleaziness and parsing of language.

Again

1: Am J Otol. 2000 Mar;21(2):188-91.

Related Articles,

Profound hearing loss associated with hydrocodone/acetaminophen abuse.

Friedman RA, House JW, Luxford WM, Gherini S, Mills D.

House Ear Clinic, Inc., Los Angeles, CA 90057, USA.

OBJECTIVES: To describe profound hearing loss associated with hydrocodone overuse and the successful rehabilitation of these patients with cochlear implantation. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective review. SETTING: A tertiary otologic referral center. PATIENTS: Twelve patients with rapidly progressive hearing loss and a concurrent history of hydrocodone overuse. Interventions: Comprehensive medical histories, physical findings, audiometric tests, and, in those patients undergoing cochlear implantation, postimplantation performance data were reviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical characteristics of hydrocodone-related hearing loss and open set word and sentence performance in those patients undergoing cochlear implantation. RESULTS: Hydrocodone overuse was associated with rapidly progressive sensorineural hearing loss in 12 patients. In four patients the initial presentation was unilateral, and two of the patients experienced vestibular symptoms. None of the 12 patients experienced improved thresholds after high-dose prednisone. Seven of the eight patients undergoing cochlear implantation have demonstrated early success with their devices. CONCLUSIONS: Hydrocodone is frequently prescribed in combination with acetaminophen for the relief of pain and has a side effects profile similar to other medications in its class. Although not described previously, overuse or abuse can be associated with a rapidly progressive sensorineural hearing loss. These patients can be successfully rehabilitated with cochlear implantation.

PMID: 10733182 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[Husker24]

I am a huge fan of Rush, but what would he have to lose by stating his innocence if he wasnt guilty? I listened to him the other day on the way home from work when he was talking about this ordeal. To me he sounded like a man about to lose everything. I hope to hell my gut is wrong and he is not guilty, I am willing to forgive him but im afraid this will destroy his career if he is. He has been a driving force in the Conservative movement.

[InvisibleChurch]

rush is just listening to his attorney, as any smart person would

[COURAGE]

Two points question the whole story...

[1] The amount of pills they said he took would kill a horse, yet he performed each day.

[2] How could a common maid get all those drugs?

[dalebert]

THats right. Any good attorney would advise him to be silent on the matter. I tuned into his show today and he didn't sound very silent to me.

[dalebert]

THats right. Any good attorney would advise him to be silent on the matter. I tuned into his show today and he didn't sound very silent to me.

[FReepaholic]

>>...It's not right to con millions of loyal listeners five days a week into believing your "talent [is] on loan from God," ...<<

Rush has always said that he is an entertainer first. He makes lots of statements "tongue-in-cheek".

>>...Rush and Cline met secretly in the parking lots of a local Denny's and an Amoco gas station in Palm Beach, exchanging the drugs and cash in Cuban cigar boxes, the Enquirer reports. ...<<

Gimme a break. The lady was his MAID. Why didn't she just bring them to his HOUSE. Why risk discovery at a freaking GAS STATION?? Sheesh.

[Jeff Head]

The Enquirer story contains devastating details, including times, dates, allegations of taped conversations with Rush as he received the pills, and e-mails from Rush begging for more and more drugs from his alleged supplier, Wilma Cline, the former maid at his Palm Beach, Fla., spread.

Rush got so comically sloppy with the pills that they were found scattered on the floor of his office, and dropped from his bag as he made his way around a golf course, according to The Enquirer.

Until I see something a WHOLE lot more credable than the National Inquirer, then I will continue to treat this story like the BS, sensationalis, money grubbing story that that rag is full of.

Come on, if he was popping hundreds of mind altering pills a day...he would not have been out on the golf course...he would not have been able to do his show as he has done...etc., etc.

Don't get me wrong...I don't always agree with the Rushmeister and there are topincs I feel important that he will not touch with a ten foot pole...but that's just me. I also believe things have gone a bit to his head over they years...but these charges are pretty lame IMHO until something more substanative comes up. Until it does, I don't blame him for stone walling it.

[cephalopod]

Here is a link to an excellent article about the use and abuse of OxyContin; and the Federal abuse of doctors who prescribe it.
http://www.reason.com/0304/fe.ma.the.shtml

I really don't know what Rush's situation is; falsely accused, addicted, chronically in pain, etc. The facts are that people who are chronically in pain are being denied this useful drug. OxyContin has become another demon drug in the War On(some)Drugs.

There are issues of increasing tolerance to OxyContin, where more is needed to provide the same relief. The quantities which Rush supposedly acquired stretch credulity though.

[nhoward14]

"Anything you say can and will be used against you." In proclaiming your innocence, you may unwittingly say someting untrue which a shyster lawyer will turn into "He lied about that... what ELSE could he be lying about!"

In saying nothing, you don't create "evidence" against yourself unwittingly.

So far, he has been charged with no crime.

[Nov3]

Come on over the Kool-Aid is good

[VOA]

House Ear Clinic, Inc., Los Angeles, CA 90057, USA.

The House Ear Clinic is just about the best in the USA, maybe the planet.
I came close to needing their services due to Meniere's Syndrome, but I outlasted
it, thank heavens.

As for acetominophen, I don't think folks know it's not totally the kindly pain-reliever
as portrayed in the popular media.
IIRC, it was show to help blow out livers for people who imprudently mixed
too many adult beverages with too much acetominophen.
And I've noticed that some of the OTC sleep aids actually brag up the fact
that they are NOT mixed with acetominphen, like some sleep products are.

I'm not slamming acetominophen; it's good for folks who shouldn't use aspirin.
But it's good to know when and how to use it.

[cubreporter]

Oh stop silly man Muldane. Yipes...get a life will ya? Thanks meia for letting me post this to you while directed to the writer. I don't know how to post to the writer if there is alrady a reply there. Still learning but after two years you'd think I would know how to do some of the simplest things. :)

[skinkinthegrass]

Another conservative attacking Rush.

Hmmmm...a Vulture, on the wing...slowly banking in the wind...more to come.