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Hooked on Rush
BitPig Online ^ | 2003.10.10 | BitPig (B-Chan)

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.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Unclassified; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: eib; limbaugh; maharushie; rush; rushlimbaugh
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To: No Left Turn
You're not a very well thought out person.

And you are a sad example of hip shooters who pollute this board.

B Chan is a bona fides good poster of some history here.

A drive-by like yours is uncalled for. At least drill down into the thread before you spew.

Thanks

201 posted on 10/10/2003 7:28:40 PM PDT by don-o
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To: don-o
No. I was only leaving if this thread got zotted.

You're a self-zot.

But, since you seem to be so big, I assume...

Stop right there. Yes, you are just that. But not me.


202 posted on 10/10/2003 7:29:07 PM PDT by rdb3 (Whoever said progress is a slow process wasn't talking about me. I'm an N-U-P-E.)
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To: B-Chan
bump.
203 posted on 10/10/2003 7:34:23 PM PDT by ConservativeMan55 (If it weren't for double standards, liberals would have no standards at all!!!)
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To: ConservativeMan55
Prayers for Rush.
204 posted on 10/10/2003 7:35:10 PM PDT by ConservativeMan55 (If it weren't for double standards, liberals would have no standards at all!!!)
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To: ConservativeMan55
Does anybody know if David Limbaugh will be filling in for Rush while he's gone?

205 posted on 10/10/2003 7:35:46 PM PDT by ConservativeMan55 (If it weren't for double standards, liberals would have no standards at all!!!)
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To: MissouriForBush
I wonder if you've ever experienced the kind of excruciating pain that he went through -- the kind of hellish pain that does not respond to anything but the most drastic meds. A pain that lasts day after day, year after year.

But still allows one to play plenty of golf?

206 posted on 10/10/2003 7:37:23 PM PDT by gdani
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To: don-o
Don-o I've been on this board since 1998. You seem new. Let me try to explain what an opinion site is: it's a site where opinions are stated and people react them. Do you have trouble understanding this? B-Chan's "bona-fide" post is sophmoric. I responded to it.

The problem with this board is people like you telling others what this board should be, when this board was well-defined long before you came along.
207 posted on 10/10/2003 7:38:34 PM PDT by No Left Turn
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To: B-Chan
Rush Limbaugh revealed today that he is addicted to illegally-obtained prescription painkillers

That "fact" has not been proven.

208 posted on 10/10/2003 7:41:32 PM PDT by Calamari
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To: No Left Turn
The problem with this board is people like you telling others what this board should be, when this board was well-defined long before you came along.

Yep ..its boring

209 posted on 10/10/2003 7:43:19 PM PDT by woofie (God bless you Rush we love you)
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To: gdani
Your response is based on the premise that if one is walking around or exercising, the pain could never have been that bad.

How naive you are.
210 posted on 10/10/2003 7:44:23 PM PDT by MissouriForBush
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To: B-Chan
Catholic. Monarchist. Texan.

As that old Meatloaf song goes..."Two Out of Three Ain't Bad"...

Good thing you're a Texan...

211 posted on 10/10/2003 7:46:39 PM PDT by NewLand (The truth can't be ignored...)
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To: MissouriForBush
Your response is based on the premise that if one is walking around or exercising, the pain could never have been that bad.

How naive you are.

You're the one that went on & on about excruciating pain lasting year after year.

If that's the case, he wouldn't be playing golf. And if he did, his doctor would throw fits. And if his doctor didn't, Rush should have fired him.

But you probably don't play much golf anyway. Hint -- it requires a healthy back.

212 posted on 10/10/2003 7:49:04 PM PDT by gdani
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To: B-Chan
"Rush Limbaugh is a popular entertainer. He is not a political thinker on the level of a Russell Kirk, a George Sowell, or a William F. Buckley. Sorry if that doesn‘t go down well, but it’s the truth."

Rush may not be a great "political thinker." But he's very loyal to conservative principles and conservative leaders.

As Hubbard once said, "an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness." And a lot of "Freepers" seem to be grasping for the latter. Those who can't keep a decent level of respect for one of our own need to find another web site.
213 posted on 10/10/2003 7:49:09 PM PDT by zook
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To: zook
Those who can't keep a decent level of respect for one of our own need to find another web site.

Amen!


214 posted on 10/10/2003 7:55:36 PM PDT by rdb3 (Whoever said progress is a slow process wasn't talking about me. I'm an N-U-P-E.)
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To: Calamari
The question begs, if not illegally obtained why and how do the police become involved?
215 posted on 10/10/2003 7:59:59 PM PDT by fml
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To: fml
You are assuming that he is the one being investigated.. He may just be involved unknowingly.
216 posted on 10/10/2003 8:20:52 PM PDT by phalynx
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To: chichipow
Ah, I see I've found a brother space faring brain surgeon! What local are you with? :)


...I don't hold an important position in my local astronaut/brain surgeon union..I am only a thug.
217 posted on 10/10/2003 8:21:38 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
Thanks for the heads up!
218 posted on 10/10/2003 8:24:50 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: gdani
Do you know something about Rush's medical condition that the rest of us don't?
219 posted on 10/10/2003 8:27:54 PM PDT by MissouriForBush
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To: phalynx
That would be a huge coincidence.
220 posted on 10/10/2003 8:36:49 PM PDT by fml
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