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.

[A Jovial Cad]

*I don't remember Rush approving of such behavior. I think his take was that the pictures were taken out of context*

You're right, but to some the moral imperative is always, always about attacking an influential conservative broadcaster, whether it be Rush, Sean, or [take your pick]. They flock to these kinds of threads and commence bloviating on all the sorrows and misfortunes that have come their way because they were, apparently, *forced* (*forced, I tell you!*) to listen to a conservative radio talk show host.
Kinda always makes me wonder what side of the, ahem [*cough*], "dial" these folks are on to begin with.

[OregonRepublican]

Yeah I agree, he thinks everything republicans-bush is good everything the rats are bad. I like to listen to Michael Savage hes no republican lover but espically hates the rats. Now the only talk radio I listen to is him and sometimes Hannity but for the most part only Savage the rest are pretty damn boring

[Torie]

I like Medved. That Harvard law school women who used to get drunk with David Brock, is sometimes fun. Nick Rantel is very smart, and knows his stuff. Savage is fun, if you want to listen to a guy who disingenuously affects the persona of a paranoid, egocentric, pugilistic madman. He is sort of like a shot of Wild Turkey. To do it more than once a week at most, is bad for the liver.

[Gator113]

Your post made this Thread worth reading....Thanks!

[Truthfairy]

Would Mr. Cerabino and The Palm Beach Post have been so morally indignant if Rush was commenting on photos by Robert Mapplethorpe. I doubt it. Instead, they'd be congratulating Rush on his "growth" and called for increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts? Perhaps that was Rush's point.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I think Rush is getting a bit of a bum rap. Yes, his initial reaction wasn't wise, when he agreed with the caller that what we had seen was more in line with a fraternity hazing then how it was portrayed. Poor decision to agree to portray it that way, but I think he was winging on the fly and reacting to the way the media was taking a legitimate story and trying to reshape it into armegeddon just so they could try and attack Bush. His instincts were right in that regard, because he had seen the media do this time and time again.

Unfortunately, his reaction to the media/dem tactics was stronger than his recognition of the heinousness of some of what went on. Later, he did regain his balance and made clear that he did understand that some really horrible things had taken place, and wasn't condoning it, but rather wanted to scream the point about to keep things in context and not overreact. But it was too late, because the media will latch onto his first unfortunate characterizations, and falsely portray it as his only view. Also consider that the scope of the crimes including some of the worst accusations were not clearly known at the time of his first response.

As a professional he should have known better, but hey, everyone makes mistakes. Unfortunately, he is so high profile and polarizing, that any slip up with be twisted and used to try and bludgeon him with. Add in an ego and on-air persona that considers apologizing an anethema, and it really starts to look bad.

[DuncanWaring]

... if it had been under the previous administration.

If it had been under the previous administration, Saddam would still be in power.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Sorry gotta agree with Rush on this one this is a war until we treat it like one were going to be the ones with egg on our faces all the time

Take a look around the web you could probably find these freaks doing this kind of thing on and of their own free will!

If it takes a little humiliation to stop the murder of Innocent people then do it if thats what it takes for our men and woman fighting to keep Americans Free then so be it !

I still am waiting for someone to explain it to me WHY i should care about the humiliation of some ass wipe who would strap on a bomb and kill people for no reason

Given any chance these terrorists would be doing and have been doing the same to us and our allies !

[tertiary01]

Not to change the subject, but Rush does like Tammi Bruce. She just mentioned a great journalism research site. Maybe you all know about it, but it's new to me and I'd like to share it.

www.cjr.org

The link on the right hand side called journalism tools is especially helpful about finding out who owns what in the media world.

[John Lenin]

He messed up with one statement.
From the World Almanac:
64.5% Arab
23% Kurd
5.6% Azerbaijani
1.2% Turkmen
1.1% Persian
4.4% other

[quidnunc]

Texas Eagle wrote: 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.

You're going to have to ask an anthropologist what makes an Arab an Arab.

For Instance Iranians live on the Arabian Penninsula, but they aren't Arabs.

Incidently, I suspectthat Rush was confusing Iraqis and Iranians when he said Iraqis weren't Arabs.

[Torie]

So holdonnow = everyone? Talk about hubris. I have my ups on downs. This thread is strictly about my subjective opinions. Take them or leave them. It is not a topic susceptible to unleashing my data bases.

[Torie]

I think it is a language thingie mostly, although Berbers don't consider themselves Arabs.

[A Jovial Cad]

*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.*

Exactly right! 100% agreed on every word. One gets the feeling that were this *1944* instead of *2004*, this would not be anymore than a one day story on page A-23, below the fold. But that was back when this country didn't flinch at every P.C. melodrama that came down the pike in the middle of a full-fledged war. Sad to see even some conservatives here are buying into the liberal elites & media's P.C. gambits.

[Captainpaintball]

"I like Rush. I love Rush. I am smarter than everyone in the world, and I hate Rush. He bores me..."

Who cares what any of you think of Rush's show? Can we keep the comments to the subject of this moron's (s)hit piece? Geeeeeez...

[holdonnow]

I suppose we could take a poll, but that could get ugly, and you might not like the results. Rush is the biggest radio host for a reason. 21 million listeners disagree with you. That's not subjective. It's fact.

[holdonnow]

Good point.

[Torie]

I don't like crowds. I eschew them.

[holdonnow]

Non-answer, but, as you put it re Rush, I find you boring. Time to move on.

[Torie]

Good cut. I like it. Well done.