It came as something of a surprise to hear conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh confess an addiction to painkillers, but his drug of choice does make a curious kind of sense. Of course he’d consume a substance that gave him an irrationally euphoric worldview and made him peculiarly unfeeling—it’s staunch conservatives who aren’t addicted to painkillers who have some explaining… return to article
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Reader Comments (47)Page 1 of 1 pagesYour treatment of Rush was fair, honest, and well written. He was/is a hypocrite on many issues. I hope he does come out of treatment with a degree of sympathy that he obviously did not have previously.
But why the cheapshot in the opening paragraph? Why the need to do the broadbrush bombshell? Sober conservatives have explaining to do? But not addicted ones?! That’s silly. Other way around- they’re the hypocrites.
Posted by Jordan on Oct 28, 2003 at 1:56 PM I just posted this article to my list serve and added the following to share. Here ‘tis. BTW: Thank you Ann, and I like the new title AND style of your forum.
( ‘? duck note: I read this article last night and was glad to see it. Now I am certain you can all imagine what I think of Limbaugh’s politics. But I have been outraged at the “progressive” media’s mockery of his addiction. In fact, you haven’t seen any stories one of our media sources lately and I have written them to explain my POV.
It is simple. Addiction is a disease. Anyone can get it, and we are not responsible for having the disease; we ARE responsible for taking care of it.
That’s what Limbaugh is doing. Huzzah and hurrah to him. And to Danny Schechter, who is the only journalist I have read that wished Rush good tidings while in treatment.
Six years after getting clean from my original drug of choice (marijuana) I was diagnosed with very painful diseases and had to take Oxycontin. It damned near killed me. I am clean again and have learned how live with the pain now. I cherish life as a recovering addict.
Rush, the detox is a bitch but it’ll be worth it.
Love from a self-avowed feminazidykebitchfromhell! (yea, I created that moniker from one of his diatribes against women...) and I will add: One who welcomes Rush
into the fold of the 12 steppers. My best to him.lisbeth
( ‘? duckdaotsu.org
Posted by lisbeth west on Oct 28, 2003 at 8:34 PM While I agree with the bulk of the sentiments expressed in this piece, I take exception with the characterization of OxyContin as a dangerous drug that requires more government regulation. OxyContin is a wondeful drug for people with chronic pain. Cancer and AIDS patients have very compromised livers because of chemotherapy and the low toxicity of OxyContin is a godsend. If people take it correctly, they do become dependent on it but the same could be said of heart and hypertension medications. Of course there’s potential for abuse, considering it’s a pharmaceutical version of heroin. You can get a similar high without the contaminants that could be present in street heroin. That doesn’t mean the solution should be to make it more difficult for physicians to prescribe and pain sufferers to obtain.
Posted by Gabriel on Oct 28, 2003 at 8:59 PM I don’t feel at all sorry for Limbaugh. Until the laws change, he seems to have committed a felony and induced another to do so also. Let him get his rehabilitation from jail. And then let’s change the laws. But not until RL has been there.
Posted by Jim on Oct 28, 2003 at 11:21 PM This article argues against accusing Limbaugh of hypocrisy while strongly making the case that he is a hypocrite. The fact that he is a hypocrite does not weaken the argument that his support of prison for drug use is wrong. To the contrary, it is wrong that Rush gets a cushy rehab program while more than 1 million Americans are sitting in prison, suffering the consequences of the policy that he has advocated. I fully agree that prison is not any better solution for Rush’s use of drugs than it is for anyone else’s but until he and his allies stop advocating prison for everyone else they should not be allowed to have it both ways.
Posted by Nathan on Oct 29, 2003 at 2:34 AM Well done. This is the right approach to a news story like this.
Posted by Ho ward Scott on Oct 29, 2003 at 10:45 AM Thank you for your honest and sincere approach to this issue. Part of me really wants to extend an olive branch to Rush and show him the compassion the he and his cohorts scream that no one should be affored for drug abuse. However I think that Mr. Limbaugh should not be treated with compassion but with the same ire that he wishes upon every other drug user and maybe even more so due to the fact that he has railed so vehemently against drug use. He is not willing to forgive anyone their sins so why should he be forgiven for his?
I believe his support of manditory minimum sentences should require him to do the maximum time that less known people are routinely sentenced to for this illness. If he talks the talk he should now have to walk the walk.
Posted by Jim Freeman on Oct 29, 2003 at 12:08 PM This story was posted at Cannabisnews.com
I would like to state that my favorite song in the world is “Sympathy for The Devil” by The Rolling Stones. Rush Limbaugh is no Devil. Rush is a hypocrite, a do as I say, not as I do philosophy. This hypocrite deserves no sympathy, and get’s no sympathy from me.
A few months ago, a college student was caught delivering cannabis and was sentenced to weekend’s in jail. He was raped by another prisoner his first weekend in jail. I have sympathy for this man.
I don’t wish any jail time for Rush. I want to hear him say that locking up non-violent drug offenders is wrong. Rush is another example of the favoritism of the drug war.
Pierre Werner
Posted by Pierre Werner on Oct 29, 2003 at 12:44 PM Its not the drug ,but the hypocracy.I don’t think Rush will develope a concience in treatment he is a bastard and nothing will help that.He lead idiots to the poles and we have become a third world idiot culture thanks to Rush.
Posted by Joan Vaughn on Oct 29, 2003 at 1:46 PM To me when this topic is brought up, it seems justified that one person with media access that used it for the sole purpose of creating division and pointing fingers, would have everyone pointing their fingers back at him. (In Shame) Now he seeks sympathy for his sins. Now when those words apply to Rush himself, he didn’t mean it that way. Be careful living in glass houses, sometimes there is a maid just ready to throw a rock at the beautiful stucture call YOUR HOUSE.
Posted by Robert Bold on Oct 29, 2003 at 2:42 PM Thanks
Well thought out and researched article
Worth considering a subscription.
Posted by Keb Green on Oct 29, 2003 at 3:36 PM Just who is the hypocrite here? You act as if Rush were the first well-known person to suffer a drug addiction. Perhaps you don’t understand how easy it is for one who suffers great pain to get “hooked” on what was at first a godsend. Let’s not be too quick to judge the man. Another question I have is, would you be as faiar to your readers if Barbara Streisand or some other well-known “liberal” were tro have the same problem? Let’s pity Rush, yes. But you must not judge his opinions along with what is most assuredly his unwise behavior. It’s not a question of liberal vs. conservative or right vs. left here.
Posted by Joe Fine on Oct 29, 2003 at 3:51 PM I highly doubt Mr. Limbaugh’s assertion that he became addicted to Oxycontin when he had “back problems”. No responsible physician would prescribe Oxycontin in such a situation. A muscle relaxant is indicated in such a situation. This feeble excuse also fails to explain how and Mr. Limbaugh migrated to other addictive prescription drugs such as hydrocotone. It’s obvious he was after the high, not the pain relief. Limbaugh was a known drug user when he lived in Kansas City, before he became successful in hate radio. A friend of mine smoked a joint with him at a party. While I sympathize with Mr. Limbaugh and wish him the best in a very difficult recovery that has a high recidivism rate, the fact that he continues to lie about the origin of his addiction and reasons for becoming hooked, make him at least as big a liar and a bigger hypocrite than his favorite target for ridicule, Bill Clinton.
Posted by Stephen Kriz on Oct 29, 2003 at 5:56 PM All the discussion about the use of Oxycontin and its good/bad/backpain/quantity is moot and frankly, rather absurd.
The point is well taken about his (past and loudly depricating) view of people who are addicts, but as an addict (recovering) myself, I know how quickly the alcoholic or addict who is in denial will cast the first stone to divert attention from oneself. He doesn’t want pity, nor does he need it. Lets just hope that his perspective will change a bit when he returns.
Sorry for that friend in prison. Limbaugh’s legal issues don’t change the fact that all prisoners are treated badly and perhaps, instead of wishing Limbaugh a cell, one might work toward prison reform.
One more time for the record here: Hate leads to hate. Compassion leads to understanding, dialogue, and change.
( ‘?
Posted by lisbeth on Oct 29, 2003 at 6:17 PM I am a liberal, and I must admit that when I first heard of Rush’s drug problem I felt that a little poetic justice was about to happen. I think my first thought was,"How does it feel now, you fat, pompous, hypocritical bastard. But, after a while I started thinking with my heart and not my emotions, and I must admit that I felt a little ashamed. I despise drug pusher’s, and I have the greatest sympathy for drug users. I think that all pushers should be locked up, and all user’s should be
treated for an illness that is consuming their lives. Therefore, as a liberal, as one who believes in God, as one who believes in justice, and as one who believes in compassion I wish Rush a complete recovery from his illness. I also hope this experience will endow him with a greater degree of compassion, and humility than he has shown in the past.Wynn Spell
Posted by Wynn Spell on Oct 29, 2003 at 11:39 PM SHE’S frustsrated? I find myself frustrated with the likes of Ana Marie Cox who waste our time with ‘bleeding heart’ compassion - remember that term? - on hypocritic junkies who would never under any circumstances do that for us, as they’ve proven time and again. Her sympathy is so arrogantly misdirected as to be beyond the pale. I don’t know why a publication like In These Times allows space in their publication for drivel like this when there are so many subjects that need to be covered and aren’t. And there are so many journalists who think more clearly and cogently.
Posted by Sam Jewell on Oct 30, 2003 at 1:17 PM I think it would be only fair to treat him as his cuntservative ‘no pity for anyone’ dittsoid-head crowd the way they insist treatments be doled out to anyone else. Too bad he is not poor to better experience the full conservative treatment and the benefits promoted with no public or societal support. I would hope he could also not have the benefits of that expensive koklier implant while paying for his illegal purchses in prison to better experience not being able to hear any approaching fellow occupants of the bighouse with ‘’bones in their noses’’.!.! As for the rest of the adicts among us, let us hope for compassionate treatments and a new enlightend knowledge that not all the microphoney hypocrits are spewing good comon sense agendas for all to thrive and benefit from even if we all have to contribute to and benefit from thier being cured!
jt
Posted by LARRY T on Oct 30, 2003 at 1:49 PM I, too, initially reacted to Rush’s situation with a “that’s what you get you hate-spreading hypocrite” kind of thing. My anger at him, though fleeting, was real. But, even after some time had passed and I refused to personally attack him, I also believed being compassionate towards Rush would simply “enable” him to return to his old persecutory ways. So, I emailed him telling him that I hope he uses this experience to change himself into a person who incorporates understanding into his fold of influence upon others (notwithstanding his denial that he is and has been a “role model” for a certain type of people), and that he accepts the fact one must sew compassion in order to reap it.
Posted by Just Me on Oct 30, 2003 at 2:01 PM I’ve been a nurse for over 30 years, I;ve worked in alot of drug rehabs in those years, and I have never passed judgement on any of them.( and by the way their are not enough rehabs for thr poor, they go directly to jail) Hypocrite-- that about sums Rush Limbaugh up. For years on his radio program, he rushed to pre-judgment on others: “Hang em high. Put the dragsters in jail,” was his outraged battle cry. On a personal note my daughter just got out of jail after 3 months, she couldn’t afford to go to Sierra Tucson Treatment Center. Rush should face the same penalties that any other citizen faces. He should be held to the same standards as the rest of us. I’m sick of the double standard for politicians and celebrities and the rich. One more of his tirades against druggies: “ The ansmer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.” It’s Limbaugh who said, We’re becaming too tolerate, folks.” If Limbaugh is not incarcerated, we should release from prison all people who were jailed for possession of small amounts of marijuana!!! You do the crime, you do the time. Not you do the time if you can’t afford a high priced rehab!!!!
Posted by nancy tally on Nov 1, 2003 at 11:21 PM Yup,...money or status should not equal a “get out of jail” card which is the primary weakness of our judicial system. On the other hand, the laws being so heavy-handed on petty drug use is imbalanced and has landed too many people with great potential in an over-crowded prison system. I had a friend shot in cold blood whose predator only served four years on the one hand and know of an individual caught with an ounce of marijuana serving six years on the other. Then, when you look at the greedy corporate executives who have managed to keep themselves rollin’ in the dough by setting up straw corporations or faux accounting systems, leaving thousands of others to bear the financial burden of the executive’s evils, you gotta wonder why the spectrum of punishment is so wrought with inequities. Oh, yeah,...I forgot,...it’s ‘cause most of those who run or influence our country have that runamuck value that money counts more than people do in this country.
Posted by Just Me on Nov 2, 2003 at 10:23 AM First let me say that Rush is not a drug addict other than he is physically addicted to the pain killer, true addiction is a disease that has biological components, and abnormnality in the way the brain function and is genetically determined. they are not just physically addicted.
As someone who had back surgery and has lived with back pain for years I can tell you that I took great amounts of pain killers for a number of years until I got tired of being a zombie all the time and went to a cronic pain unit to learn how to live with cronic pain without drugs.
I have a son who is a true drug addict, and while it is not his fault, it is his problem and Rush has continously said these people need to do jail time. He obtained his drugs illegally, and just because the drugs are legal does not make him any different and he should spend time in jail just like anyone else who obtains drugs illegally.
Your sympathy for this man is misplaced.
Posted by Sue DeCasper on Nov 3, 2003 at 12:10 PM I too wanted Rush to spend time in prison at first. It seems only fair. But then after additional thought he too deserves the compassion of forgiveness and help with what is truly a physical problem
My real anger later turned to Gary Baur. What does he think the poor people of this country turn to drugs for? Pain relief, just a different kind of pain.
Unfortunatley Rush can afford compassion and thousand of others with the same problem sit it out in prison. Seems so unfair doesn’t it?
But then again we’re a country where justice is deetermined by your bank account (re: attorney and publicist you can afford).
Perhaps he will emerge from rehab as a true spokesman of the addicted and not just a basher who earns a living off the fools who suck in his diatribes as if it’s gospel. (I have long wondered if he’s really just all show.)
Posted by Chris Stevens on Nov 3, 2003 at 2:22 PM I think that it is quite premature to refer to Limbaugh’s decline. He will be back spewing hatred. He has already failed 2 previous attempts at a cure. These are not easy battles to win. If he does get cured and learns some compassion for others from this experience then it will have been worthwhile. Will he do it? I don’t think so. The hatred courses through his veins
Posted by Martin Zelkind on Nov 3, 2003 at 4:57 PM i think he should go to jail for some time, not because its what he thinks, but because its what I think.
I applaud those here who want him to go to rehab (as opposed to going to jail because its what he says). Those who want him to go to jail are sinking to his level. And its a type of political persecution because you’d be punishing someone based on his beliefs.
Posted by brad on Nov 3, 2003 at 4:58 PM Lucid and compelling response. Do you think Rush Limbaugh’s program should still be aired to US Armed Forces overseas in light of his admission that he illegally obtained OxyContin?
Posted by Gerard on Nov 6, 2003 at 1:08 AM Just so this is in the clear: Rush admitted publicly to obtaining and abusing a Schedule II Controlled Substance, a narcotic.
Under the Controlled Substances Act (21USCS section 844), Section 844, the penalty for simple possession is up to 1 year in prison and a fine of $1000.
Excerpt: “(a) It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to possess a controlled substance unless such substance was obtained directly, or pursuant to a valid prescription or order, from a practitioner, while acting in the course of his professional practice, or except as otherwise authorized by this title or title III. Any person who violates this subsection may be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 1 year, and shall be fined a minimum of $ 1,000, or both”
Posted by gerard dolan on Nov 6, 2003 at 2:10 AM I am a drug addict and an alcoholic. I have been using for over 10 years now. I have used and abused every drug you have ever heard of, and quite a few you probably haven’t. My drugs of preference, however, would be both heroin and methamphetamine, used together, injected intravenously, as often as possible. If one of them is scarce, I will use the other alone. If neither of them are available, I resort to alcohol, but I don’t have much interest in it otherwise.
I have been in trouble with the law 6 times, not counting my numerous probation violations, mostly for drug possesion/sales and DUI’s. I have been in and out of jails and workhouses, averaging maybe a few months a year, basically every year of my adult life thus far.
I have been to drug rehab 3 times now. I usually manage to clean up for the duration of the program, and perhaps some token period afterwards, but I eventually start using again. I am planning on going back to rehab for a 4th time if I can arrange for the costs or obtain insurance. I don’t know if it will do me any more good than the previous trips, but if I don’t keep trying, this condition will kill me sooner rather than later, as my habit is a very dangerous one.
I have no job and I rarely am able to hold one for very long. I can’t seem to even get an interview at this point given the results of any background check an employer might do. I am unable to rent an apartment, if not due to my criminal history then my credit history, which has wisely informed that any notions of my having credit, are indeed, history. I have few friends who are still willing to talk to me who aren’t in as bad or worse a predicament than I am, and my family provides some support to me but I have betrayed their trust so many times that it is generally done at a safe distance from me.
You know what? I have ABSOLUTELY NO SYMPATHY FOR RUSH LIMBAUGH. None.
CONT…
Posted by Liberesio on Nov 6, 2003 at 6:22 AM CONT PREV
To begin with, his admission that he is an addict was done only because it was a desperate attempt to head off this revelation as coming directly as a result of the criminal investigation. It is media spin done in anticipation of his triumphant release from rehab, able to resume his career as a source of false information and self-serving smugness and divisive hatred.
This man has gone on the radio just about every day and preached hatred against others. He has demanded judgement against others. He has pointed the finger, blamed, threatened, and often times resorted to using blatant falsehoods, outright lies, in order to attack those elements of society who don’t fit into
his incredibally narrow and selfish and view of America.The worst part? I don’t really think he sincerely believes a lot of the propaganda that he spews out for his legions of listeners. He is playing a character, essentially. That is what punditry has chiefly become - character acting. He tells a lot of willingly ignorant people exactly the things they want to hear, the shallow ideas and facts robbed of context that will reinforce that world view. Rush has done all he could possibly do to hurt so many disempowered people all over our country, so that he could make millions in profit off of trying to encourage millions of people’s misery, I can’t believe you think any of us should care.
Fuck him. He has forfeited all possibility of any compassion from me. There are people far more deserving of it who are going to receive far less of it than Rush is when they need it most.
It is nauseating that you’d suggest we all give Rush a big hug and back off and give him his space to heal, because now that he’s an addict we have to forgive years and years of sickening horseshit on his talk shows.
Rush didn’t choose to be an addict? Well, he chose to use drugs, as did I. That arguement about the difference between someone looking for pain medication vs. somebody looking for a high? Well that’s just the sort of insanity that Rush has treated us to over the years, I bet he can’t wait to get out and say it too. Psssst. Guess what. Rush, and me, and anybody who knows a damn thing about drugs, knows that whoever came up with that line of reasoning does NOT know a damn thing about drugs or addiction, and that it is such a fucking obvious con job that I can’t believe anyone would take it seriously.
CONT…
Posted by Liberesio on Nov 6, 2003 at 6:23 AM CONT PREV
He chose to get on the radio and tell lies and distort the truth and lobby for harsher drug sentencing policies for everyone. He got paid to do this as an entertainer who advances political agendas.
Guess what? Time to pay the piper Rush. Reap what you sow. Here is the POLICE STATE you have demanded. Here are the TOUGH SENTENCES you demanded. Choke on it.
Your analysis of pharmaceutical marketing as being the main cause of painkiller abuse is absurd considering the long history of some of these pills as drugs of abuse, and the fact that they are all basically opiates or synthetic opiates that are very similar in appeal to morphine or heroin, just not as much power..
Advertisements? First of all, who is viewing these ads? People can’t obtain Oxycontin without a prescription if they are doing it legally. It is the responsibility of the prescribing physician to understand what is being given to the patient, and what the patient needs to be informed of, and to monitor that patients usage of the medication. Have you ever been prescribed a painkiller? Did you bring in a bunch of ads or brochures to pick one? No, because you don’t get to pick. What happens if you come in and ask the doctor for a prescription like that? He will probably never give it to you, because you would appear to be an obvious addict or somebody with a good potential for it. You heard that Oxycontin was a really great painkiller? Uh? You still sound like a junkie angling for the stuff, not a victim of chronic pain. Doctors don’t need to deal with people fishing for drugs from them all day, they will just prescribe what is safest and most effective given the diagnosis. The prescriptions are not automatically refillable, by law.
You need to learn more about addiction on a fundamental level before you publish opinions so readily on complex issues involving it. You should also look into how the illegal drug trade actually functions, since I’m guessing you don’t know.Addiction does not mean that the person has turned into a slobbering zombie who is no longer responsible for their choices after having taken some pills, and now they are brainwashed and have no free will.
They do have a disease, but it isn’t as simple as all that either, and Rush Limbaugh having the disease of addiction does NOT somehow make him less guilty of advocating so much awful putrid garbage past.
Posted by Liberesio on Nov 6, 2003 at 6:26 AM Liberesio,...well-stated. I have far more compassion for someone like you who hasn’t made himself a millionaire by dishonestly portraying himself as some more righteous than right character. I would like to see some light shine on your dark corner because I have seen your light still shine right here.
Posted by Ms. Monica on Nov 6, 2003 at 5:04 PM Hear, hear!
We can find plenty of opportunities to trash Rush Limbaugh and the things for which he stands without buying into the cruel and senseless War on Drugs, which is the bottom line of making a public issue about his drug addiction. Rush Limbaugh is a jerk because he’s a rich kid who has become even richer selling selfishness and various forms of bigotry to the masses, not because he’s a junkie.
Posted by Eric Jackson on Nov 6, 2003 at 8:29 PM Liberesio......Lots of times I’m the one who writes long responses and babbles on forever but you’ve taken all the words right out of my mouth. Right-on man!
Ever thought of getting a job as a writer for some internet outfit??
Oh and by the way, is the author of the above article on Limbaughs payroll?? Sympathy?? are you kidding??
Posted by shawn p murphy on Nov 7, 2003 at 5:48 PM You do offer far more depth, Liberesio, than any other individual I have encountered to date. I, too, hope your talent as a “Word Warrior” and “to be real” is sustained in this world. No one should be concerned about whether Rush will get compassion since he will get far more than he ever deserves. What is upsetting about his cush reserve of “compassion” is that he not only denies his issue with drugs (saying on his radio talk show,..."I feel pain, still") but , more importantly, his complete denial of any responsibility to that part of society he has influenced. He told his listeners that, he is no “role model” even though he has powerfully and recklessly misdirected anger and fear and disappointment and confusion towards even greater human weaknesses (biggotry, hatred, persecution, division),...all to make a dollar!!! Now, if we want to actually acknowledge and remedy human evil (or “evil-doers"), we had better start drawing some lines about these kinds of behavior. It would be foolish for anyone to further cushion the hell he may be subject to (DOUBT THAT *lol*) which he himself generated against humanity. Personally, I will give no indication of support to him until he proves that he has rehabilitated his stance towards humanity (the drug thing is second on the priority list).
Posted by Just Me on Nov 7, 2003 at 8:03 PM Thank you for your thoughtful piece. Rush’s fall from grace was an opportunity for us on the left to practice the compassion we so often preach. I have a close family relative who suffers from chronic pain and the drug dependancy that ensues. I wish all the best to Rush Limbaugh but most of all I hope he learns to have compassion and empathy.
Posted by Leah Heathcoat on Nov 8, 2003 at 10:14 PM What interesting responses to a thoughtful article. I would like to think that I, who had the GREAT good fortune to go through a very effective drug rehab, but still abused drugs, would have sympathy for Rush. I would like to think that my progressive/liberal worldview would generate sympathy for Rush. Unfortunately, I can’t make that claim. He has forfeited that sympathy because he has, for years, denied that sympathy to others. He has, for years, ranted, raved and propagandized hatred. He has done as much as anyone in this polarized society to create that polarization. He has energized petty and mean-spirited masses into justifying that pettiness and meanness. He has to answer to the American public for the situation that we are now in: a FORMER democracy that is truly on the verge of becoming a police state.
He used his maid to acquire the drugs: she was the one who took the risks for him, and if memory serves, he owed her tens of thousands of dollars in back pay.
I find it even more repugnant that he claims that he is an entertainer, and not responsible for the actions that his listeners take. How could anyone who doesn’t believe that filth continue to spew it.
I do have faith, however, that people CAN see their errors: the 12 step program that is the basis for almost all rehabs demands that, and atonement.
I wonder, though, if he WERE to change his tune, starting with drug issues, if he would be allowed to express them: He might be too dangerous to the hard right for them to permit it.
As to the incredible posts of Liberesio: God willing that you can be successful with rehab. There is SOOOO much cogency and insight in your writing, along with the understandable anger, that you are too valuable an asset to this society to lose. I hope that this is not a burden on you.
Posted by Mr. Mailman on Nov 10, 2003 at 9:25 PM Addiction is not a disease. It is a choice and Rush made that choice.
Having a disease is a feeble excuse. There is no science to back it up. The only reason it’s called a disease is so treatment centers can collect money from the insurance companies and people who made poor choices can get off the hook.
It wasn’t my fault I have a disease.
Posted by Duaine on Nov 10, 2003 at 11:08 PM you can’t actually think Rush will come out of rehab with a more compassionate view of drug addiction. He never changes his views on anything.He was just another victim of drugs while liberals are just drug addicts! Hang them high! That’s his war cry.
Posted by phil sparta on Nov 11, 2003 at 9:09 PM Duane from Texas has an addiction which I’m sure he’d claim is a disease and think he’s entitled to be pitied despite lack of scientific evidence supporting his claim. He’s addicted to spouting ad hominem second and third had lies that he half-wittedly picks up listening to his favorite racist, neocon radio shows. Then when he ends up, “accidentily”, beating some poor non-Duane to death with a baseball bat along with his shitkicker buddies...he’ll claim that Rush made him do it! Anyway, this Veteran’s day, I came up with a pretty good idea...Since all the corporations and Politicians love to have their labels and publicity...as a former serviceman during the Vietnam War, (ahem, police action), who returned to watch those who made billions on that and other wars take benefits away from Veterans as a thank you for being their hit men...I think a mandatory, indelible tattoo must be worn, by law, on every millionaire’s forehead who profited by the death of others in wars. It should read: I MADE BILLIONS IN BLOOD MONEY! Then let them get up in front of the world and try to sell their lying demogogic spew of crap to draw rash and ignorant youth into, “the glory and honor of fighting a war to save democracy”. I think they’d be making a big, positive statement about their false claims that they support the first Amendment of The Constitution AND simultaneously showing everyone just how honest they are. Rush Limbaugh should embrace this idea. In fact, despite the fact that I know nothing about tattooing...I’ll do his forehead first. Then when he looks in the mirror he can remember what he’s REALLY all about.
Posted by Dominick on Nov 11, 2003 at 10:13 PM The drugs Rush bought were not legal in any way. They are controlled substances for which he had no legal reason for posessing. He bought them with cash in a cigar box in a parking lot. Blaming the manufacturer seems misguided to me. Perdue Pharma is not angelic, and there may be some problems with their overmarketing, but Rush sought out these drugs in illegal ways, even if he was introduced to them legally. Plus their drug has valuable legitimate uses.
I hope he conquers his addiction because no one should have to live in that state, but I have no sympathy for him considering his intolerance.
Posted by John Frondle on Nov 13, 2003 at 4:17 PM I am opposed to the “war on drugs” promoted by Rush, just as I’m opposed to landlords reaping profits while tenants live in substandard housing. I think Rush should be sentenced in the same manner he’s advocated that others be imprisoned. Just as slumlords have been sentenced to live in their own rat-infested hell holes, let Rush suffer in the tough criminal justice system he’s advocated for.
The truth is, that won’t happen, because we all know rich white men don’t do time.
He made the choice to use the drugs and now he can make the choice to stop. But it’s doubtful that will change his political views and he will likely milk his new moral status as a “recovering addict” to gain sympathy. He’s already doing just that.
With or without drugs, Rush is still Rush and religious conversion through 12 step treatment will never undo the harm that he’s done.
Posted by JS on Nov 14, 2003 at 4:02 PM Liberesio:
You have been arrested multiple times for DUI. You can’t hold a job. You’re constantly in jail. Rehab obviously does not work for you. Your family doesn’t trust you, your friends, (those who aren’t wasting their lives, anyway) want nothing to do with you. I don’t want to be an asshole, but you are the reason why people don’t want to pay a lot of taxes that go to the poor, because junkies like you don’t deserve money. And then you say
“Fuck him.”Rush should go to jail, because people who illegaly use and buy as many drugs as he (reportedly) has deserve jail.
You need to get your life together. Next time you go to rehab, don’t waste your money. Get your life together.
p.s sorry if i was harsh, I hope everything works out, but you said that the addiction is a choice and you haven’t made the choice to get rid of it
Posted by johnny on Nov 14, 2003 at 4:57 PM while i agree with ms cox that we should show compassion to those who find themselves addicted to drugs for whatever reason, and help them seek therapy for their illness, she seems not to understand that arrest, legal fees, and imprisonment are the therapy of choice in this country, and that hypocrites like rush limbaugh encourage and support this draconian policy.
i guess i should not complain. after all, rush has to pay thousands to go to a de-tox clinic, while poor junkies on the street get their treatment, usually going cold turkey, free from the state. of course, it is in the local or state hoosegow.
we personally feel that if rush was really honest and sincere in his beliefs, he would surrender to the authorities, plead guilty, and serve, at least, some time in jail like the poor bastards that don’t have his wealth, influence, or political connections, are forced to do.
Posted by harry m hays on Nov 15, 2003 at 10:47 AM Hey, the fat junkie asshole is back on the air, I’ve heard. Just bet he wasn’t allowed to stay off by his masters who sodomize him continually and for whom he probably wears a French maid’s uniform! HA, what a disgusting picture but probably true. Like the rest of his ilk, he yells inanities and slanderous lies, accuses what they paranoically think is the “Communist World”, (which no longer exists, of everything that they’re actually responsible for. That’s their whole game. Yell your polite and civilized opponent down so that you can hide your own shame and disgraceful mendacity, incompetance, pillaging, socialist handouts, backroom rip-offs of the average citizen, and anything else you can get away with. You don’t know it because you’re yellin’ too loud but you’re spookin’ the horse you’re on with a noose around your necks. It won’t work anymore, fatboy. We’re on to you and you know what...it’s your turn to get the pointed boot up your fat behind. You’re a freakin’ skell, asshole. Stay home with your maid, (probably his father), and lick your sorry ass like dog you are, bitch! And remember, we all know that you’re jealous of Clinton because he didn’t slide that cigar up and down YOUR eternal divide. HA HA HA HA HA HA! You think you’re vulgar and loud enough to drown out any liberal pansy-ass? Wait, jello-ass...there’s a tremendous roar and hordes of once kind and decent people who you’ve swindled and ridiculed who have metamorphosed, (due to you and your gang’s shithead lowball tactics), into the equivalent of modern Vikings. Guess who they’re lookin’ for, junkie?
Posted by Dominick on Nov 17, 2003 at 8:53 PM Bravo! You have just made the subscription list. I am neither liberal nor conservative, and not because I am a “centrist”, but because many of my views are far right, while other views I hold are far left. This is one of the most refreshing articles I have read in a long, long time. The rebuke of Limbaugh by liberals has become as sickening as his defense by conservatives. And, undoubtedly, both will return to their previous positions on the issue of addiction as soon as Limbaugh’s addiction is forgotten. One can only hope that Limbaugh will realize, when the issue of healthcare reform is raised, that making insurance companies subject to Sherman Anti-trust Laws is the only way that those less fortunate will get the treatment he just recieved. Someone should give you a cookie (or a mug of ale) for having the courage to step out of the political muck and address this issue.
Posted by Hargis on Nov 17, 2003 at 9:47 PM Liberesio, Respect to you for being so honest. But why would pharmacutical companies go to the trouble of advertising directly to patients if they did not think the patients would go to their doctors armed with the information on the drug they want? And if they did not know that such tactics sometimes work? This issue should be a catalyst for discussion and debate. The attempt by the Right to make a big distinction between “someone just looking to get high” and an addiction of Limbaugh’s type is reprehensible. His addiction shows that none of us are invulnerable to the cheap high, the easy answer. Depressed? Take this pill. Kids behaving badly? Give them that pill. Can’t get it up? We got a pill for that too. Oh yeah, and we’re working on the one that makes you thin. And let’s not forget, if you want to relax, or party, or socialise with friends, just have a drink of this! It’s so deeply embedded in our culture that attempts so far to help people with addictions or address the problems have been mere tinkering around the edges. I’m not a puritan (far from it). I just fail to see how we can continue to seperate “types of people who take drugs” and “types of people who don’t” the way we have been.
Posted by Lisa M on Nov 18, 2003 at 11:56 PM Limbaugh is exactly the same as the authors of National Enquirer stories, Geraldo and a host of “extremists” who have and continue to make money off of sensationalism. This is simply a reflection of a Nation that loves gangsta rap, Terminator, incredibly violent lyrics and video games. As a people we demand ever more sensationalism - why? Because we are all ADDICTED to hyperbole, shock and are numbed by the environment.
Posted by Lou on Nov 19, 2003 at 6:08 PM No sympathy for this Devil! I think a harsh prison sentence is needed here. It would only be fair that a zealous supporter of the “over the top” drug laws would have to serve a lengthy jail sentence. For a man who has no compassion for drug users and says things like ìDrug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. ... 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,” Limbaugh said on his short-lived television show on Oct. 5, 1995,î I do honestly believe he will not know the full impact of his crime unless he is behind bars like the millions of other non violent drug users who are now trapped in cells with rapist, murders, and violent criminals.
I am very upset that he isnít being hounded by the liberals and the butt of more jokes. He would do it to you in a heartbeat.
His celebrity status makes this a harder case to impose a stiff jail sentence. Why is that? Isnít justice equal? I find it hard to sleep at night thinking that money and fame gives you the right to break any laws and get away unblemished. Why would someone making less than $50,000 a year be more likely go to jail, serve a lengthy sentence, and have the stigma of a felony for the rest of his/her life. Then you have someone making over $1million dollars a year and a public figure get away unscathed for the same crime? Maybe his celebrity status and a stiff jail sentence should be used as a message to everyone to say that if you mess with drugs, you will go to jail. Just as the accused said himself.
If he doesnít get jail time, there is something really wrong with our equal and fair justice system.
Posted by Mat S. on Feb 7, 2004 at 12:55 PM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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