Ken Hamblin comments on Rush Limbaugh

Fox News Channel ^ | 10-11-03 | Ken Hamblin on the Rita Cosby Show

[Matchett-PI]

Did anyone else hear the ludricrous statements that Ken Hamblin made on Rita's show just now?

Among other things, he said that "Rush was given the keys to the kingdom and let us down."

Then he proceeded to puff himself up, making a total jackass out of himself as far as I'm concerned.

I videotaped the whole segment and would replay it and transcribe it, but have to run out for a while right now.

[Chu Gary]

"Weak."

Du Ong; nhung chu do yeu khong?

[LIBERTARIAN JOE]

...what do you suggest for Rush?

Didn't quite get the gist of the insult you were appearently trying to convey. As for "what do you suggest for Rush", I see that you can comprehend up to six-letter words (Rush is a drug addict). Break out a dictionary & go back and re-read my previous post for the answer to your question.

[WackyKat]

I mostly agree with Rush too.
I'm not condemning his drug problem, I'm condemning his hypocrisy.

It just infuriates me to see people on this forum defend and excuse Rush, while not caring at all about the way the Drug War has ruined the lives of so many ordinary people

[Just mythoughts]

Amazing how people think or do not think.

The most important thing I have learned and RUSH himself always pointed to, was life is an "INDIVIDUAL" thing, somehow too many who like to claim that do not really understand it.

I would say that this is the one thing, that came out of his mouth that kept me listening, not that I lived on his every word cause I do not always agree with him.

[LIBERTARIAN JOE]

It just infuriates me to see people on this forum defend and excuse Rush, while not caring at all about the way the Drug War has ruined the lives of so many ordinary people

Damn your good... I typed for half an hour to say what you did in one sentence

[Dianna]

Rush will never again be asked to comment on mainstream networks. Any interview he grants will be consumed with talk about drugs. Any opinion he gives on air will be mocked by toads like Franken as "drug-induced." I also doubt that many officials will be interviewed on his program any more.

How often was Rush on a "mainstream" network? How often did he give interviews? And when he did give interviews he was assumed to be a hateful, racist, woman bashing bigot. THIS is worse?

This situation is embarrasing for Rush and it's uncomfortable for us who have defended him to lib friends and acquaintances. But I really don't think it is a disaster.

The bottom line is that the media have been hateful about Rush for years. People were told that he was awful and rotten and many never bothered to listen to his show. The President of the United States blamed him for the Oklahoma City bombing!

His statements have gotten huge airplay (replays of his own voice, not media paraphrase), his situation is understandable to many not-yet-listeners who suffer from chronic pain or who have family members who do.

I suspect he is a more sympathetic figure (today, maybe forthcoming stories can change this) than we might think.

[prisoner6]

Don't mean to be getting on Marta's case. You are correct he probably did work very hard to hide it from her.

It reminded me of a post I made on an earlier thread...I thought I'd respost it here for several reasons, especially the story of my friend towards the end of the post. Your story reminded me of it.

+++++++++++

From Mary Ellen Carter by Stan Rogers

and you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
with smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
turn to and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
and like the Mary Ellen Ccarter rise again

rise again, rise again
though your heart it be broken and life about to end
no matter what you'e lost be it a home, a love, a friend
like the Mary Ellen Ccarter rise again

As an aside I'd like to mention that earlier this year I lost a very dear, close friend to drugs. Shelly was only 40 years old, a very pretty blonde gal. My friends and I knew she liked vodka a little too much, and had been on prescription medication for a serious brain injury - inflicted by a boyfriend in an abusive relationship.

But apparently the medication - oxycontin - became addictive and she went in a downward spiral. Some mornings I'd find her on my porch beacuse she had no place to sleep. She only had a couple of changes of clothes, but after one of her binges on what we thought was booze some one would take her in and get her looking good. She used to joke about how she was a tramp but "didn't she clean up well."

She DID!

She was very smart and she and I would often engage in "intellectual amusements" that most folks couldn't understand.

But in February I got a phone call that she was hospitalized and it didn't look good. It wasn't. She had fallen farther to the temptations from the wild side of life. Needed a place to stay but didn't want to bother me or some others who tried to watch out for her.

Instead she went home with some druggies and they all partied with her oxys, sex and Lord knows what else. What did her in - and left another gal a total vegetable - was taking heroin through the eyeballs. Apparently they put it in eyecups and tossed it back.

The thing is she was lucid most of the time...kept her demons hidden. None of us knew she had fallen so far. Because of that I can see how the Rush story might have some basis in fact, and he could have reasoned well and been lucid.

For all her shortcomings, I miss her very much.

prisoner6

[Consort]

Basically, Consort, your mission appears to be to hurt people when they're down. There's no question that Rush must face the consequences of his actions, but you're seeking to damage him beyond whatever "sin" he's committed.

Wrong. My statement that you can't seem to deal with was:

"Rush and Bill Bennett are damages goods, at least for the time being. It always looks worse for those who are perceived to be purist ideoloques."

Now, what part of that is not correct?

I'll guarantee you that when he kicks this thing he's going to be stonger and more persuasive than ever.

You can't guarantee anything but, as a long-time Rush listener, I hope that is the case.

And that will shoot your "damaged goods" argument to hell.

No, it won't. At present, he is damaged goods. Get over it.

Instead of acting all embarassed when conservative spokespersons and leaders show feet of clay, why don't you grow a spine?

It appears that you are the embarrassed one.

[Denver Ditdat]

True enough. But, if Rush becomes their focus, does this mean they'll back off Bush?

Probably not. Rush will just become another note in the "get conservatives" symphony they are tuning up for next year's election season.

If not, then "backfire" is possible

We can always hope so. I'd love to celebrate New Year's Eve 2005 with a newly re-elected president, more Republicans in the House and Senate, and Rather, Brokaw, and Jennings holding freshly lettered "Will Work for Food" signs.

[WorkingClassFilth]

You have overlooked a fourth opinion that I see all over the place.

4) Limbaugh is going to go through treatment and beat any rap any fool tries to lay on him. Most likely, nothing legal will come of his troubles. He will return to the air, energized, and take off without missing a beat. He may even gain market share. Conservative listeners don't care about this since it is a minor issue in a larger ideological conflict. The left will skewer itself on this issue as the demonizing moralizers that they continually portray the right as being. In a year's time, this will be of less interest to a progressively eroding media than recovering some shred of their imagined credibility, especially since they will only be left with slurs, innuendo and thuggery as options in handling Limbaugh's reputation - options which increasing play poorly with the electorate.

This opinion (4) leads to opinion 5...

5) The conservative puritans that have sprouted a woody for Limbaugh's destruction will get onto the Mayflower and return to Europe to join the elite left in their protestations against American heathenism and the evils of the Republican Party.

[zook]

Now, what part of that is not correct?

It may be correct, if, as you suggest, one perceives Rush or Bennet to be purist ideologues. I don't believe that either is, nor do I believe that most Americans do. Apparently you do, however.

Moreover, if Rush is capable of coming back stronger than ever, then he's not "damaged goods." You know full well, I suspect, the meaning of that phrase. For example, we don't call injured quarterbacks "damaged goods," if they are expected to get back in the game later on. We use the term to describe something that is permanently spoiled, something for which we have some disdain.

No, I'm not playing semantics. And I understand your point better than you do.

[Morose Musician]

Your lips to God's ears! Let the backfire begin!

[zook]

Now, what part of that is not correct?

It may be correct, if, as you suggest, one perceives Rush or Bennet to be purist ideologues. I don't believe that either is, nor do I believe that most Americans do. Apparently you do, however.

Moreover, if Rush is capable of coming back stronger than ever, then he's not "damaged goods." You know full well, I suspect, the meaning of that phrase. For example, we don't call injured quarterbacks "damaged goods," if they are expected to get back in the game later on. We use the term to describe something that is permanently spoiled, something for which we have some disdain.

No, I'm not playing semantics. And I understand your point better than you do.

[zook]

"5) The conservative puritans that have sprouted a woody for Limbaugh's destruction will get onto the Mayflower and return to Europe to join the elite left in their protestations against American heathenism and the evils of the Republican Party. "

Love it!

[L.N. Smithee]

By the way, hasn't Dr Laura been preaching family loyalty and honoring your parents per the commandments for years?

Wasn't it Dr Laura's mother whose decomposing body was found in her apartment weeks after her death and whom Dr Laura had not called or checked on in months even though they lived in the same city?

Yep, sure was.

I guess neither Laura nor Rush are hypocrites, huh?

With Rush, it remains to be seen, although it doesn't look good. Laura? According to all accounts, no.

Here's why. Whatever you want to believe about what has been written about Laura for the near-decade she's been a radio superstar, there is one constant: Her mother cut off contact not only with Laura, but with other members of her family.

Whereas Rush has been cited and quoted for saying that drug users should be locked up, Laura, in situations similar to hers, suggested to callers that if a parent withdraws his or her love, honoring them according to the Commandments means you must make sure they are taken care of, but you are not obligated to do everything they say.

Stop and think: Laura's mother lived in Beverly Hills. Do you think her mother bought that home with her retirement savings?

Here's Laura's statement on her mother's death:

---

"I am horrified by the tragic circumstances of my mother's death, and so sad to learn that she died as she chose to live--alone and isolated. My mother shut all her family out of her life over the years, though we made several futile attempts to stay connected. May God rest her soul."

---

Some of us, sadly, have relatives that would not be disappointed if they never saw us again. Apparently, Laura's mother was one of those people, and judging as not honoring her mother is done in ignorance of the entire situation.

[WorkingClassFilth]

'Tis the truth.

[Yaelle]

Being a woman, I also wondered how this was going down with Marta. The Enquirer had Wilma saying that he hid all this from Marta. But it also said he had pills falling out at the studio, and coming out of his golf bags...

Did she know nothing? Did she know that he HAD a problem and she thought it was all over? Did she know the whole time up to now, and was a classic enabler, turning the other way, going on with life? Or did she know and she was constantly trying to get him to admit it and get help?

If she only found out when the rest of us did, then she has a lot of lies and deception to forgive. That can't be easy.

[Dianna]

he worked very hard and had reached the pinnacle of success, IMO, yet all the power, wealth and success didn't prevent this from happening.

Oh for pity's sake.... Did you used to believe that power, success and wealth would solve all of life's problems?

[Toespi]

I'll tell you what! When I hear that Rush was doing an intern, in his office, withs microphone on, while chatting to us dittoheads about the immorality of Bill Clinton then I will turn in my lifetime memebership to the RNC and become a radial leftwinger. Until then, I am in his camp.

[Maelstrom]

I like Ken Hamblin too...I don't like Medved or Hedgecock.