Rush Laughs

This just in from The Progressive Voice:

WEST PALM BEACH, FL—Frankly discussing his addiction to painkillers, conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh told his radio audience Monday that his abuse of OxyContin was a "remnant of the anything-goes ideology of the Clinton Administration." "Friends, all I can say is 'I told you so," said Limbaugh, from an undisclosed drug-treatment facility. "Were it not for Bill Clinton's loose policies on drug offenders and his rampant immorality, I would not have found myself in this predicament." Limbaugh added that he's staying at a rehab center created by the tax-and-spend liberals.

I've pretty much avoided the topic of Rush Limbaugh's troubles — except to comment that he clearly knows as much about sports as he does politics. But this quote pretty much proved something I've long suspected about Rush.

Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer, not a commentator. He's not necessarily the scary one; I'm more concerned about the people who take him seriously. Can this guy seriously be blaming his problems on Bill Clinton? Seems contrary to the dominant conservative philosophy of taking responsibility for one's own actions. It is, at best, a variant of the "twinkie
defense".

The statement seems to me to be an obvious joke. And I see little reason to take anything else Rush says much more seriously than this statement.

A number of Rush's conservative defenders have pointed out he was taking this medication for pain. Well, I'm sure there's
other drug addicts who would claim they take their drug of choice to deal with pain. The fact that Rush was buying the
drug on the black market suggests he wanted to increase the dose his doctor prescribed, or that his doctor stopped
prescribing the medication. In either case, buying prescription drugs from the black market is illegal.

The real difference between Rush and people in the joint for buying illegal drugs? Rush is white, well-to-do, and popular.
If he was a person of color, or lower-class, odds are pretty good he'd be in the joint.

For a different point of view, visit Cousin Phyllis, and read "Rush Limbaugh", on Saturday, October 18, 2003.