Rush Limbaugh: Open Line Friday [Confirms Some Aspects of Drug Story, Checking In To Rehab]

[I Am Not A Mod]

A thread for those listening to today's show.

[Qwinn]

"If Rush had gone the legal route, obviously we wouldn't be having this discussion."

I don't think this is necessarily the case. Doctor-patient confidentiality. He could easily have gone the legal route and we wouldn't have heard anything about it. I'm not saying I think anything is particularly likely or unlikely, but it's not "obvious".

BTW, someone else mentioned audio tapes. I haven't heard of any audio tapes between Rush and his maid. What I heard about was emails, but they are much too easily faked.

Qwinn

[FReepaholic]

>>...This is a guy who has spent endless hours on air describing his golf game and experiences in pro-am tournaments. I can't imagine someone swinging a golf club regularly with this self-described condition even with painkillers...<<

Actually, I thought the same thing. Even though I'm usually not in enough pain to take drugs, I can't swing a golf club without it hurting a lot. Heck, it hurts just to ride in a cart while my sons play.

[Joe Hadenuf]

And why did Rush reveal all this?

Because he got BUSTED!

[Orangedog]

And in the early 20th century opium dens started appearing in the US and there was a public outcry.

So knee-jerking to a "public outcry" makes for good law?!

[FrdmLvr]

So who's doing his show?

[Republican Red]

(laughing) Go ahead. Tell me that Rush was in favor of ending the WOD. Tell me that Rush doesn't want crack addicts locked up. Tell me that Rush wants crystal meth addicts to be free to do their thing. This should be good...

okay.

From Rush 1998:

"What is missing in the drug fight," he said, "is legalization. If we want to go after drugs with the same fervor and intensity with which we go after cigarettes, let's legalize drugs. Legalize the manufacture of drugs. License the Cali cartel. Make them taxpayers and then sue them. Sue them left and right and then get control of the price and generate tax revenue from it. Raise the price sky high and fund all sorts of other wonderful social programs."

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/newyork/columnists/nyc-henn1003,0,5907810.column?coll=ny-ny-columnists

[zoyd]

The ENQUIRER story lied when they said he coerced the housekeeper into getting drugs

Okay, fine. Let's assume he didn't coerce her. He still used her. Where's her MD? Is her name "Dr." So-and-So? No. She has as much legal reason to dispense Oxycontin as I do.

[LittleJoe]

That and its cheaper for the always underfunded NHS

Yes, heroin is more effective, less addictive and cheaper.

Oxycontin is a horrible drug, but it's very profitable. Who cares about the patient in pain when you can make a huge profit!

[longtermmemmory]

No you can't "game" for years. However, a failed back operation is not a game. No doctor would just cut him off if it was the only legitimate way to deal with the pain.

I know of people who are on one oxycotin per day just to funtion as a result of an accident. Without it they would be incapacitated.

Has anyone considered that the maid used rush's problem to her OWN drug dealer advantage? The payment of hush money, IF true, is not a crime.

[Orangedog]

an adict is NOT an adict. There are differences. A person who is an adict as a result of physical pain is treated differently than a person who is only psychologically adicted.

Hardly. That is rationalization. Ask a recovering addict.

[Mr.Atos]

If Rush is truly tired of taking the pills, I think its great he has the money to escape for a month, but other folks manage their addictions differently because they lack those options.

I appreciate what you are saying. And no, I actually do not have any experience with such programs; only my own will-power applied to minor withdrawal symptoms. But, I have had the unfortunate(?) experience to have had to watch someone that I care for, suffer through constant, chronic, teeth-gnashing pain. If you want to have any idea what that is like, just spend 8 hours trying not to swallow and you'll come to understand how consuming even the smallest discomfort can be. Under those conditions, I would never fault another for doing anything that needed to be done to alleviate the misery. A cure certainly would have been preferable, but that cure involved female mutilation. Not my judgment or choice to make.

The one good thing that is sure to come out of Rush's unfortunate predicament, will be a more universal understanding of the problem of drug abuse... personally and culturally.

[Qwinn]

"Because he got BUSTED!"

Well... yes.

Okay, I want you to tell me everything you've ever done that was illegal right now. Ever smoked a joint? Fess up. Lay it all out on the table. Go to a cop and confess. Stick your hands out for the handcuffs.

I didn't think you would. Methinks if you were addicted you'd actually try to get cured first and put it all behind you, quietly. Who wouldn't?

Clinton was BUSTED!, and he lied. And the only reason that Lewinsky was a big issue was to prove that his denial wasn't worth spit in the allegations by Paula Jones, Juanita Broderick, Wiley, etc. etc. etc. - no one ever claimed what he did with Lewinsky was illegal, but what he allegedly did to Jones and Broderick WAS. Lewinsky was only supposed to prove that he's a liar concerning sexual activity, which is standard operating procedure AND admissible evidence in rape cases.

But Clinton still hasn't answered the rape charge from Juanita Broderick. Not once. And the entire point of proving he lied about Lewinsky somehow just disappeared... and the Broderick case (she accused him of rape) was never addressed.

Let me guess - Clinton's your hero.

Qwinn

[longtermmemmory]

I asked one of the heads of a FL drug court treatment program. ;-)

[zoyd]

But what the hey, you are a Libertarian and you live on your own island and every action you do never affects anyone else.

Careful, Dane. Your sarcasm doesn't help your argument about Rush. Rush lives on his own island, right? His actions never affect anyone else?

Oh, he doesn't live on his own island? You mean, the guy he got his drugs from might have sold to OTHER PEOPLE? You mean, the same guy who dispensed to Rush, and was ENRICHED by Rush, might have been wreaking havoc by selling to other people?

Pick a side, Dane. Either drug use encourages the drug culture, or it doesn't. I know you want to have it both ways, but come on.

How is a dealer supposed to know which drug users will harm society, and which won't? What system should we come up with to make sure that 'good people' like Rush can get their drugs, but 'bad people' like everyone else can't? Should there be a financial exemption for drug use? If you have X dollars, you can toke up? How would your system work, where good people like Rush can get their drugs legally?

[Wolfie]

Hey, I can understand why that one stung. Take some deep breaths, it'll go away.

[lelio]

Uh but there was harm. Rush luckily didn't physically harm anyone.

Haven't you watched the anti-drug commercials on TV? A kid smoking pot in the suburbs is supporting bin Laden.

[GeronL]

Okay, fine. Let's assume he didn't coerce her. He still used her. Where's her MD? Is her name "Dr." So-and-So? No. She has as much legal reason to dispense Oxycontin as I do.

Great idea, all the dealers should tell the judge they were just being used

[longtermmemmory]

In all likelyhood he will be more antidrug after treatment is completed.

Every deal with an ex-smoker? I don't smoke, but geeze.

[Qwinn]

Wait wait... I have to correct myself... ("Shame on you, Qwinn." "Sorry, Qwinn")

I said: "no one ever claimed what he did with Lewinsky was illegal, but what he allegedly did to Jones and Broderick WAS."

Actually, that's not true. Several -other- things he did with Lewinsky, like getting her jobs for silence, -were- illegal. I was referring there strictly to the consensual sex act. The point is that the main reason it was brought up was to prove a pattern for the Jones case.

Just to clarify.

Qwinn

[truth_seeker]

"I was thinking about Rush and the 12 steps and I don't have a good feeling about his truly being able to do this program. You obviously know what I mean. The guy is all ego. That's his schtick...he wouldn't be Rush otherwise."

Don't jump to conclusions. If I was giving him advice, I would have suggested taking a one year leave of absence, from broadcasting.

I'd say that if he wants the best over the rest of his life, one year is a small price.

I'd say that after one year, he may not even want to be a conservative talk radio person. He might want to open a rehab facility for people that get addicted to prescription pain meds.

Anything less might turn out to be half-measures. There is nothing magic about "30" days. There seems to be something significant, about investing one year.

I have seen this work in others.