Posted on 10/10/2003 4:42:38 PM PDT by B-Chan
Popular radio show host Rush Limbaugh revealed today that he is addicted to illegally-obtained prescription painkillers and is entering a rehabilitation program for substance abusers.
His supporters have “rushed” to defend their idol, running around clucking about how this is really all no big deal. Well, I’m sorry to say, it is a big deal, and the legions of Rush Limbaugh devotees are just going to have to deal with the pain. It’s always devastating to find out your idol has feet of clay. “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”
I, however, am not among the breast-beaters and sackcloth-wearers who are crying in the streets over their toppled god. Frankly, I never understood what was so great about the Rush Limbaugh program. The man was a self-admitted entertainer, not a real political thinker; his brand of rubber-chicken, Chamber-Of-Commerce conservatism has as much to do with historic and traditional conservative thought as Coors Light has to do with real beer - they contain the same basic ingedients, true, but one is watered down for easy-drinkin’ smoothness, with no bitter intellectual aftertaste.
(Speaking of Coors Light, why was it that so many of the good ol’ boys that called in to Mr. Limbaugh’s show with their “cawmints” seemed to be drywall contractors cellphoning from their pickup trucks while driving home to Lewisville? Limbaugh’s listeners were good people, mind you, but not the deepest thinkers in the world.
Not that there‘s anything wrong with that. My point is that Mr. Limbaugh’s show was meant as mass entertainment, not serious politics.)
I guess one reason I never got hooked on Rush (to make a bad pun) was that his fan base kind of freaked me out. Cults-of-personality just make me feel weird. The frenzied worship many of Limbaugh’s fans showed towards him in public was positively embarrassing at times: behavior on the level of the kids who wear Star Trek uniforms to school or spend hours writing elegies in Elvish for fallen Glorfindel of Rivendell. In sci-fi terms, Rush Limbaugh was the Gene Roddenberry of American conservatism, with his own brand of Trekkies; it must be a bummer to realize that the Great Bird of the Galaxy is just another Hollywood sleazebag like everyone else in showbiz
The problem is that people have a natural tendency to make their heroes into larger-than-life supermen, and in so doing they set themselves up for inevitable disappointment. Limbaugh is not the political genius his followers see him to be — he is a showman. I agreed with a good bit of what Mr. Limbaugh had to say on the few occasions when I tuned in to his show over the years, but it was obvious to me from the beginning that most of it was pure schtick, complete with sound effects, zingers, and catchphrases. (The latter were the most cringeworthy; I always found talk of “el Rushbo”, the ”Maharushi”, and the “Golden Microphone” to be intensely stupid, and his constant talk of “excellence” conjured up images of the kind of profound Mission Statements one sees plastered on the walls of companies run by sleazy go-getters. “SlimeCorp — Maximizing Excellence!” Give me a break!)
Anyone who took Limbaugh seriously has got to be hurting right now; finding out that anti-drug Rush is a closet pill-popper has gotta be like finding out that Art Bell doesn’t really believe in the Chupacabra. I feel for his fans — but I hope they’ve learned the lesson in all this: all men are flawed; never get too excited about any one man.
My prayers go out to Mr. Limbaugh’s loved ones. May God grant him a speedy recovery, and may those who looked upon him as more than human finally get the message.
I couldn't find it. I did find some gems, though:
Nothing could be further than the truth!!
During the Gore/Bush elections of 2000,Mr. Limbaugh's vast audience would go there daily for some very " SERIOUS POLITICS"!! Many of us, listened and gleaned from Rush's expertise and advice, and took it!! He will be back soon. GET WELL RUSH.....GOD BLESS YOU and KEEP YOU SAFE.
try reading your "vanity" post again, you trashed Limbaugh calling him "Hollywood sleazebag" and those who listen to him of not being "Deep Thinkers"
At least try to be a tiny bit honest
[...]
So i wonder who changed the original thread from what it was to what it is now? HMMMMMMMMMM
I DID, I DID, I DID, I DID
Ive been listening to Rush for 13 years these people make me sick they are scum!
Ad hominem, and poorly-punctuated as well.
* Do keep "vanity" posts to a minimum
* Don't be a whiner
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Hannity had an excellent caller who spoke of her husband's same struggle.
Let the dimbots rage for their time. Let Rush take the cure. He will come back a different man.
I posted that if he came clean, he is in his finest hour.
He did the right thing.
Back to the call on Hannity's show - there is a huge problem with pain management in current medical practice. Perhaps Rush's experience may shine some light on that.
Egalitarianism (the belief in human equality, as in “liberty, equality, fraternity”) is the ideal of the revolutionary liberal Left, not the traditionalist conservative Right.I disagree. I believe that over time you have been conned into a distorted view of these ideals. True liberty and equality (not absolution from personal responsibility) meshes perfectly with conservatism. Thomas G. West explains this quite well in "The Conservatism of the Declaration of Independence".
I suspect that this will have much larger consequences than you think. The Democrats,etc. have unloaded everything they have this month. They thought they could make a Triple Crown and cut the legs out from under Bush, Rush, and Schwaz in one great effort. They will be thrown for a Triple Disappointment and their efforts will have a strongly diminished effect for a couple of years as they are generally perceived to be frantic blowhards. And I think this has all probably cut the ground from under Hillary's 2004 effort. She will now remain mute this season (won't announce for 04) as Schwaz rules in California and Rush gains audience and the Wilson-CIA nonsense fades without affecting W's numbers.
I never called Rush Limbaugh a sleazebag. I made an analogy between the disappointment felt by Gene Roddenberry worshipers and that experienced by Limbaugh worshipers. In each case, my derision was directed at the phenomenon of fandom, not at its object.
...nd those who listen to him of not being "Deep Thinkers"
...an attempt at humor, and an opinion to which I am entitled.
Good idea. Enough trolls spewing their anti-Rush venom for one day. If I wanted that, I'd go to DU and overdose on the stuff.
Like they say, anti-Rush birds of a feather flock together.
Surveys have shown that Limbaugh's listeners have above average intelligence.
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