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.

[MACVSOG68]

And you know that how? Are you privy to his medical records or his personal care?

Not at all, nor am I a psychologist. However, I am using Rush's own words that he is addicted. My readings on the subject distinguish between dependency and addiction, the first being physical, the second psychological.

I suppose it's irrelevant though. The damage is done. I truly hopes he comes back, but when he does, I would not castigate the druggies any more, if I were Rush.

[cyborg]

Well I remember last week Drudge played the clip of O'Reilly calling his site 'sleazy'... the Pomposity Factor does not hold my interest.

[kstewskis]

My readings on the subject distinguish between dependency and addiction, the first being physical, the second psychological.

I see. Well, then I'm doomed. Guess I'm not "dependent" on the Free Republic, then. ;o)

I suppose it's irrelevant though. The damage is done. I truly hopes he comes back, but when he does, I would not castigate the druggies any more, if I were Rush.

I agree. I think he will be a bit more compassionate in that regards when he returns. However, I hope that he will not back down on speaking out against prescription drug abuse, using his own experiences as an example. One can learn from mistakes, and use it as a warning to others.

[MACVSOG68]

I agree. I think he will be a bit more compassionate in that regards when he returns. However, I hope that he will not back down on speaking out against prescription drug abuse, using his own experiences as an example. One can learn from mistakes, and use it as a warning to others.

well said. Agree completely.

[Matchett-PI]

I've tried to ping as many FReepers as possible who have responded previously to this thread. I thought you might like to see this followup. [For those who didn't see it, and are interested - check out my post at #234 also].

I finally found some time to transcribe the biggest part of Rita's interview with Hamblin and her other guest. [I have Geraldo's segment on Rush videotaped also, but didn't transcribe any of that. His show came on after Rita's.]

I report -- you decide:

Saturday night, 10-10-03 Rita Cosby Show - Fox News Channel

Guests: Talk show host, Ken Hamblin of Denver Colorado and Michael Harrison, of Hartford, CT., editor of Talkers Magazine.

The major points that were made are here excerpted from my videotape:

Rita shows this statement on the TV screen that Rush Limbaugh made on 10-5-95:

"There's nothing good about drug use We know it. It destroys individuals. It destroys families. Drug use destroys societies. Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies and neighborhoods which become consumed by them. And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."

Rita then asks her guests this question: "So is Rush a hypocrite? ..."

Harrison: "Maybe he is, but then again, who isn't? Those who thought he was a god will just have to grow up. ... just a bump in the road in his professional career ... his personal life ... (a different matter).."

Rita to Hamblin: "..a bump in the road in his professional [career]...?"

Hamblin [prefaced by a long, long sigh]:

"Where do you go from here? You know, you can talk about what a wonderful guy Rush Limbaugh is --- you can talk about all the things he's done -- I want to focus on the people he's disappointed.

Rush Limbaugh was given The Keys to the Kingdom. Rush Limbaugh was The General, if you will, in the matter of the conservative movement in this country.

And today, let's call Rush Limbaugh what he is. He's a junkie.
And junkies are bad for communities. And junkies lie, and junkies mislead.

Rush Limbaugh promised his audience he would give them full disclosure.

And mentioning or confessiing that he's a junkie, or "addicted to pills", if white America would like that better, and then pulling the parachute and heading out the back door, those are the actions of a junkie."

Rita: "But Ken, what does this mean for his career ...?"

Hamblin: "I don't know. That's up to Premier Radio and what the advertisers will do -- another matter altogether for the bean counters .. ."

Rita: "But what do you think should happen?"

Hamblin: "I think that Rush Limbaugh should be judged by the very standards of the conservative value system - that right is right and wrong is wrong, and it's going to be that way when you and I are gone. Those are the values we want our community to live under and our children to live by."

Rita: "Michael, should he have admitted it sooner? Some are saying that there may have been a deal in the works where 'if [you do this or say that] we won't go after you'... ."

Harrison: "[All of that is] .... irrelevant. ...He's just a talk show host. He's not a priest; he's not the president; he's not the pope. ... His stock will go up ... it's drama ...

.. This whole thing, Ken, about 'he had The Keys to the Kingdom of the conservative movement' -- OH, GIVE ME A BREAK!

And also be careful there. Now that you've set yourself up as the standard of morality, let's hope that they don't find out anything about you in terms of your life. Because those who set themselves up usually fall, and I'm not assuming anything about you .. ."

Hamblin: "Hold on! Let me respond to that. I made a promise to the police officers and the civilians who support me in this country --- I made a promise that they would never read in the paper that I was busted for hauling drugs in my airplane, or DUI, or anything else.

I'm not a kid, Michael. I understand what I owe to the people who say, 'You're a swell guy ...'.

Listen clearly. I'm saying that I owe the people who say that I'm a swell guy something in return for the adulation that they give."

Rita: "How about that, Michael -- doesn't he owe honesty ... ?"

Harrison: "He GAVE honesty. The man is addicted to a very heavy narcotic that is the equivalent to heroin. ... he is in the grip of this situation, and considering that, has handled it as well as can be expected. He's clearly addicted and .. "

Hamblin [interrupting]: "He's a junkie".

Harrison: "Call it what you will. That's your term, and it's not a very nice term, ah ... "

Hamblin [interrupting]: "It's a term .."

Harrison [interrupting]: "Say what you want."

Rita: "Isn't Rush paying enough of a price ... humiliating [to come out and say], 'Look, I have a problem ...'. How much more baring of the soul can he do?"

Hamblin: "No. No. We have laws in the country concerning the recreational use of drugs - illegal drugs. Ken Hamblin is on the record decades ago calling for the full legalization of drugs - heroin, crack, everything - legalize it. ..."

Harrison [interrupting]: "That's a whole different issue."

Hamblin [continuing to talk over Harrison]: Rush Limbaugh and others like him, said, 'no', and now I'm not the one in a parking lot buying drugs -- the colored guy is not the one in the parking lot buying drugs, MR. BIG SHOT IS, and he's wrong."

Harrison: "..Hopefully he'll overcome the problem .. ."

Hamblin: "He'll still be a junky."

And ending on that note, Rita thanked her guests.

End of program.

[DLfromthedesert]

Thank you. I saw this. It's amazing what it reveals about the anti-liberal, unassuming "colored guy". The underlying bitterness and envy was NOT a pretty picture.

Rush did not take these drugs recreationally. He had intractable pain.

It's too bad he had to resort to these addictive drugs; but that's partly the fault of the medical profession that know only pharmaceutical remedies ... but that's another thread.

[MinuteGal]

Thanks for the work involved in bringing this interview to our attention.

Hamblin should have just kept his big mouth shut. His words just drip with the hope that Rush won't come back and HE can be Mr. Big Shot.

I understand he's out of work. Maybe he's trolling for a phone call from the proposed new AlGore liberal talk radio station.

I believe the only radio host career that goes down the tubes will be that of the back-stabbing Ken Hamblin.

Without Rush's pioneering work in talk radio, Hamblin would have had a career doing detail work in a Peoria car wash.

Maybe that's where Rita located him for this interview.

Leni

[Badray]

Well, if it's an addiction and you did it because she was nagging you, then everyone knows what that pain is like. I think that you will be forgiven.

As a rule, society usually treats those who have medicinal dependencies and doesn't incarcerate them. I still don't see any hypocrisy in Rush talking about recreational drug use. That's not what he was doing.

I don't think that the high ground has been ceded at all nor needs to be.

[kstewskis]

Rush did not take these drugs recreationally. He had intractable pain.

It's too bad he had to resort to these addictive drugs; but that's partly the fault of the medical profession that know only pharmaceutical remedies ... but that's another thread.

Amen to that, DL. You mentioned earlier you are an RN? I'm a PT...we both have seen what it's like for our patients to experience intractable pain. And it kind of makes we in the "caring" professions they call health care helpless when we can't relieve it w/o using pharmaceuticals.

The medical system did fail him. He did not set out to "get high" and use these drugs recreationally, from what we know. He is/was trying to escape the exruciating pain that one experiences from severe, limiting back pain, and that fear of being in that kind of pain again.

No one can honestly judge the amount of pain someone is in, unless they have walked in their shoes. I look at this as a blessing in disguise for Rush. Hopefully he can detox enough to get his body back in "healing mode," and find a hopeful solution to controling his pain in another way.

[cyborg]

amen... I'm shocked. I bought both his books when they came out. Seems like a completely different person! God knows what He is talking about when coming to bitterness.

[elfman2]

Thanks for the transcription and CC.

Hambin’s being hard on the guy, but I think that Rush may deserve a little of this. A one or two year dependency’s medical, but I think that after that he’s an addict and should have recognized that he was out of control. "Junkie’s" harsh because it implies the use of recreation drugs that turned into addiction.

I think that it should be pointed out that Rush used to brag with condescension about his “formally nicotine stained fingers” and how he quit the first time he tried. It was as if he was belittling the addictive qualities of substances, blaming it on personality. I don’t think that I’ve heard him use this phrase in about 5 years.

I liked Rush’s speech. I thought that it was well balanced, but I don’t assign him hero status for it. He said that he was no hero or role model. With this whole issue, he’s right. I think he’s just a good man.

[MACVSOG68]

Well, if it's an addiction and you did it because she was nagging you, then everyone knows what that pain is like. I think that you will be forgiven.

LOL. She threw me out years ago. Pain stopped immediately!

I don't think that the high ground has been ceded at all nor needs to be.

I'm not sanguine about that, but hope you're right.

[It's me]

Who will cast the first stone?

[MACVSOG68]

Good post. Interesting interview. As I've indicated before, Ken Hamblin has a whole closet full of junk to deal with, and tossing these kinds of shots is shoddy at best.

BTW, I liked Rush's statement. It would have been even better received by many had it not come after the reports of investigation of his drug buying habits. I wish Rush well.

[Tribune7]

thanks. bump

[L.N. Smithee]

Hamblin [continuing to talk over Harrison]: Rush Limbaugh and others like him, said, 'no', and now I'm not the one in a parking lot buying drugs -- the colored guy is not the one in the parking lot buying drugs, MR. BIG SHOT IS, and he's wrong."

I was ready to cut Hamblin some slack until he called Rush "Mr. Big Shot." This says to me that his righteous indignation comes with a equal dose of professional jealousy.

[Libertina]

I greatly appreciate the time you took posting this, Matchett, although I can't say I enjoyed reading it. Several radio hosts have disappointed me in the last week.. I guess there will be areas in which we disagree. I certainly disagree with legalized drugs and hitting people when they're down. :(

[BSunday]

How many DemoRats jumped all over Clinton for what he did to America? Damn few.

That's because they all agree with his moral standards, and cheered him for it.

[Old Sarge]

We shouldn't throw our brethren to the wolves just because they make mistakes.

And that will always show the difference between conservatives and Republicans.

The conservatives on FR have already written off Limbaugh. It remains for time to tell whether the Republicans will follow.

[Matchett-PI]

"The underlying bitterness and envy was NOT a pretty picture."

I had always respected him and his opinions in the past whenever I heard him on the radio or being interviewed on TV. I was actually shocked and couldn't believe my ears when I heard what he was saying.

I usually watch my TV through the VCR so that I can record things at the drop of a hat, so when I heard Rita say (after her usual long, boring coverage of the Kobe thing that took up 2/3 of her show), that she would be talking about the "Rush issue", I started recording the last few minutes of the program.

His words revealed that he thought he was speaking for all conservatives when he inferred that as our god, we considered Rush to be in the possession of "The Keys to the Kingdom of the conservative movement".

Is it possible for anyone to live up to the expectations of others, and not be a disappointment to various ones of them in one or more areas of ones life?

And what if some look at you as if you're their *god*??? How will you live up to that standard??

Jesus Christ himself, couldn't even live up to the standards that some set for him. The non-hypocrites accused him of being a disappointing drunk and a glutton, while he was at the same time claiming to speak for God.

And now you have the spectacle of arrogant, non-hypocrites, like Hamblin rushing out to say, "I want to focus on the people he's disappointed."

Well, this is what I have to say to Hamblin, and all the other non-hypocrites who attempt to advance their agendas by manipulating others with their finger-pointing, guilt-trip games in hopes of elevating themselves in the eyes of others:

There is not a person who has ever lived, other than Jesus Christ, who doesn't have at least one secret in his life that he would just die to have other people know about.

And any person who would dare to deny that fact, knows he is a liar.

And so does every other intellectually honest person.

Just remember that the next time you think to accuse, and condemn others for their hypocricy.