Limbaugh's school of hard knocks for other guys

Palm Beach Post ^ | Sunday, May 9, 2004 | Frank Cerabino

[new cruelty]

Rush Limbaugh is a slow learner.

That might explain why he looked at the sadistic photos from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and likened them to some college fraternity high jinks.

Boolah, mullah! Boolah, mullah!

Most reasonable people expressed disgust by the sight of the bound, nude, hooded men in American custody being forced to degrade themselves sexually.

And Limbaugh surely would have, too, if it had been under the previous administration.

But Limbaugh's a referee without a whistle these days. So here's how he excused the inexcusable:

"This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation, and we're going to ruin people's lives over it, and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time," he said on his radio show.

Limbaugh added: "I'm talking about people having a good time. These people, you ever heard of emotional release? You heard of need to blow some steam off?"

I knew he was an apologist. But I just figured that in light of his newfound expertise in the realm of investigatory zeal run amok -- something he claims to have learned the hard way in Palm Beach County -- he might have temporarily burst through the wall of his professional limitations.

But, like I said, Limbaugh is apparently a slow learner.

And yet, there's hope.

There used to be a time when he thought that the problem with drugs was that we weren't locking up the people who got caught. This was during the days when he thought the American Civil Liberties Union was a flaky impediment to justice and criminal defense lawyers were an evil bunch of liberal simps who were out to subvert the truth by freeing the guilty on procedural maneuvers.

He has been educated through experience in that regard.

Caught in cross hairs of justice

Ever since the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office declined to respectfully turn a blind eye to Limbaugh's years of prescription drug abuse, he has become a champion of the drug addict caught in the cross hairs of justice. He talks of the pain of addiction, the need for treatment and the unfairness of prosecutors pursuing people with a personal problem.

If you go to Limbaugh's Web site these days, it's full of tales of horrific miscarriages of justice and calls to end investigatory techniques that we, as Americans, shouldn't stand for.

There are warnings about the "threat to the rule of law." Harassment we can't condone. And a horrible "fishing expedition" for information that should chill us to the core.

No, none of that is about the sadistic abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison.

It's all about Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer's having the nerve to document Limbaugh's drug abuse through the use of his medical records.

Oh, the horror!

From Limbaugh's bellowing, you'd think Krischer was breaking chemical lights and pouring the scorching phosphoric liquid over the naked talk-show host's... oh, never mind.

Besides, that's just "people having a good time."

All those naked Iraqis must be guilty of something, right? There can't be any innocent civilians rounded up by overzealous authorities. That never happens.

And as for the guilty -- well, the rights of people behind bars is just a left-wing abstraction.

For now. The slow learner better hope this isn't the next awakening in his education.

[Diddle E. Squat]

The brass is in big trouble.

What's your guess as to how big? Rumsfeld forced to resign?

Here's what troubles me. Obviously the abuses were heinous, and inexcusable. But at the same time, are we going to make the mistake of the '70's by overreacting and placing too many restraints on intelligence gathering? There are acceptable ways of 'softening up' that don't involve the inexcusable physical violations of rape, beatings, forced mastubation, etc., such as sleep deprivation, mind games, etc. One fear I have is that we will throw the baby out with the bathwater and restrict those legitimate interrogation tools, too. I am already seeing that in much of the media portrayals, how they successfully intertwine simple humiliation with serious abuses in their recitation of the harmful acts.

And bottom line, these are serious and deadly times. How far is too far if the information retrieves stops terror attacks, which are moving closer and closer to acts of mammoth scale? That is not a defense of what happened, nor of Rush's foolish carelessness, nor of the barbarian 'nuke 'em now, apologize later' mindset, nor of any type of physical brutality. But the stakes now do rise to the level where interrogators must push to near the limit, without crossing the fine line.

[A CA Guy]

He was referring to the current pictures out there which are of sexual humiliation, not torture.

Taking an eye out with a spoon, dismemberment or cassettes of Hillary reading her book would be real torture.

Now what might be coming could be bad stuff though.

[Torie]

Rush is modern day Mark Twain, eh? LOL. Comparing Rush to Faulkner simply blows my synapses out. Next, you will be comparing him to James Joyce. Rogers had a folksy humility that escapes Rush. He did not pretend to be what he was not. I think you stuck out with your analogies. JMO.

[A Jovial Cad]

*I guess the 21 million who listen to him are just stupid, and you're smarter than the rest of us. The Palm Beach Post defended Clinton and his crimes, they love Kennedy despite his Oldsmobile accident ... I detest you libs*

Well-said and exactly right. It's threads like this that really bring out not only the DUmmy trolls (I see one's already been spotted and zotted), but also their thinly-veiled sympathizers.
And my message to them is: Don't like Rush? Fine. Don't like the general theme of his broadcasts? Fine also. Just don't try to pretend like you're any kind of a "conservative" while making those feelings plain.

[woofie]

Happy you are out and about...give em hell

[Texas Eagle]

Rush is dead-wrong, the majority of Iraqis are Arabs.

Why aren't all Iraqis Arabs? This is a serious question. How is it that some Iraqis are not Arabs?

[F16Fighter]

"I can understand 'softening them up' for interrogation, but making these prisoners strip and then stacking them up, with these military personnel posing like idiots is way, way, way, over the line. These are the type of statements that Rush has been able to avoid making over his years, because they do damage to his credibility at being simply an administration shill, instead of a conservative commentator."

I for one am amazed this story has the legs it does -- it IS a freakin' war afterall with over 200,000 American troops working 24/7 for over a year. Were there going to be a few unpleasant anomalies? Yeah. Am I upset a few murderous Iraqi prisoners were "abused"? Not really...

As to Rush, he's been running on 12 cylinders and dissecting, disseminating and analyzing world and national ussues from soup-to-nuts, and yet you demand a Grand Slam at every single at bat? Gimme a break.

The guy's a conservative warrior -- plain and simple.

Without Limbaugh, the GOP folds like a cheap camera, and with it -- conservatism.

[quidnunc]

John Lenin wrote: Rush is no intellectual ? I don't think you ever listen to him he has an incredible knack for seeing through BS and than putting it in simple terms that even idiots can understand. I doubt you could stay in he same room with him.

I prevoiusly stipulated that Rush was a masterful communicator, I just said that he's not as smart as he would have us believe.

As for me, I'm perceptive enough to recognize that he passing off Rex Stout's words as his own, and smart enough to know that most Iraqis are Arabs (See Reply #31 above).

[holdonnow]

Mark Levin responds to Palm Beach Post communist, I mean columnist:

Congrats!!! That was some column ... drawing an analogy between Krischer's treatment of Rush and the treatment of the Iraqi prisoners. I mean, connecting two completely different events into a single moral lesson ... that's the true sign of a great literary mind.

Let me give it a try, if I might. John Kerry has called for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation because -- as best I can tell -- of his failure to inform Congress about the prison abuses in a timely manner. And yet, Kerry himself has insisted that he committed atrocities while in Vietnam, of a nature far worse than any prison guard in Iraq. I suppose I could write one hell of a column about that.

Or maybe I could write a piece about Ted Kennedy, leading the anti-war charge these days, and among the loudest critics during last week's Senate hearings. Oh, what a target of opportunity -- Kennedy's multiple run-ins with the law, on one occasion resulting in the death of a young lady, juxtaposed with his stated concern for the well-being of Iraqi prisoners. God, how much fun I could have with that.

Then there's Robert Byrd, the former KKK happy warrior, lecturing Rumsfeld about proper human behavior and senatorial etiquette. Oh, what fun you could have.

Feel free to use any of these examples in your next literary masterpiece. Otherwise, some people might mistaken you for a partisan hack with a pen.

[woofie]

No W is the new James Joyce ...nothing better than "misunderestimate"

Glad you are so smart...are ya rich?

[Torie]

Tough interrogation needs to be vetted at the highest levels. It is not something to be done with a wink. What we saw was not tough interrogation, it was sadism by amateurs. Those who should be bounced, are those who were warned, and chose not to investigate. I don't think that includes Rumsfeld, in fact I am quite confident it does not. Just how far up the food chain it goes, remains to be seen. Who did Kay warn? We will soon know.

[holdonnow]

So far tonight, you're not impressing anyone with your own IQ, my friend.

[quidnunc]

Texas Eagle wrote: (Rush is dead-wrong, the majority of Iraqis are Arabs.) Why aren't all Iraqis Arabs? This is a serious question. How is it that some Iraqis are not Arabs?

I think that Kurds may not be Arabs, though I don't insist on it.

[F16Fighter]

"Is Bill Buckley still alive? He has been an animated cadaver for about 20 years now."

Heh...

Guess he makes Rush seem like the life of the party, eh?

Then who's NOT a "boring" political commentator in your estimation?

[Brimack34]

I have to question anyone thats posts something from the paper that is out to get Rush. Rush may be the smartest man alive. Why is it that the loonies have to question a mans intellect when they can't beat um lie about him.

[Sun]

I agree with President Bush who said that this was disgusting. However, it does not compare with what Iraqi military did to our military personnel, like Jessica Lynch.

[churchillbuff]

Who asked you?

Pardon my French, but what a stupid comment. Who asked YOU to post on this thread? Freerepublic is about the exchange of ideas (from a groundwork of some shared conservative assumptions). In that sense, we've all been "asked" to voice opinions. "Who asked you?" may be the most inappropriate (not to say childish) comment I've ever read on this forum.

[Texas Eagle]

Okay, I can see Kurds not being Arabs. I think they are Turks. But I could be wrong about that.

But I still don't know what characteristics or traits or whatever other qualifications are necessary in order for one to call one an Arab.

[woofie]

I had a "smart" liberal once tell me that Twain was a racist because he used the "n" word....Your reasoning ability is in the same category