Rush Limbaugh in Pill Probe (the NY Daily News story)

[VolcanoJen]

http://www.nydailynews.com/10-02-2003/front/story/122839p-110349c.html

Excerpt:

Talk-radio titan Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug ring.

The moralizing motormouth was turned in by his former housekeeper - who says she was Limbaugh's pill supplier for four years.

Wilma Cline, 42, says Limbaugh was hooked on the potent prescription drugs OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone - and went through detox twice.

"There were times when I worried," Cline told the National Enquirer, which broke the story in an edition being published today. "All these pills are enough to kill an elephant - never mind a man."

The article includes this photo of the upcoming National Enquirer cover:

[tinnypriv]

1. I thought he was an elephant?

:shrug:

[TahitiNut]

96. Wooly Mammoth?

:shrug:

[monobrau]

2. Wahoo!

What a week.
This must be why he went ahead and resigned from ESPN.
He knew the shitstorm was coming.

[jus_the_facts]

3. ahhhaahhhh.....comfortably....DUMB.....

....hope it RUINS HIM ONCE AND FOR ALL!!! :nopity:

[truthisfreedom]

4. happy happy joy joy dance all over my house... WH being investigated...

rush resigns... turns out to be a junky... ahh, i love the smell of scandal in the morning. it smells like... victory...

[monobrau]

9. I was just doing the happy dance

My girlfriend is just shaking her head :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. now officially the shit has hit the fan

DUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[radwriter0555]

70. No it hasn't. This is bogus, we're being played to distract from the BS

in the WH.

He'll either go on a rehab holiday in some spa or be completely exhonerated.

[annagull]

6. Hillbilly heroin?

I never heard that before! Geez, this is really weird. It says that the NY Daily news independently confirmed that Limbaugh is under investigation in Palm Beach county.

[VolcanoJen]

7. Damn. Pigboy must be squirming.

She also gave the Enquirer a ledger documenting how many pills she claimed to have bought for him - 4,350 in one 47-day period - and E-mails she claimed Limbaugh sent her.

In one missive, Limbaugh pushed Cline to get more "little blues" - code for OxyContin, the powerful narcotic nicknamed hillbilly heroin, she said.

"You know how this stuff works ... the more you get used to, the more it takes," the May 2002 E-mail reads. "But I will try and cut down to help out."

[soleft]

79. It's pretty powerful stuff

They gave it to my mother in a nursing home for back pain, almost killed her because she didn't get out of bed for a week and ending up blowing an intestine.

[LeighAnn]

8. Right Wing Drug Warriors

You know, I didn't listen to this guy so I don't know how passionate Rush is about the War on Drugs, but for years he's used his commercial pulpit to rouse the right-wing rabble into electing "leaders" who support policies that put addicts behind bars for years.

If it wasn't Rush, I'd feel sorry for the guy.

[Old and In the Way]

10. Perfect.......

Wonder how his anti-drug moralizing is squaring in Freeperville? Gee, 1st Bennett, now Rush. The moralistic underpinings of these frauds is crumbling away.

Does Ashcroft know that he was consuming without a prescription? I believe that is a criminal offense.

[colorado_ufo]

24. Consuming without a prescription? I gotta tell ya . . .

"4,350 in one 47-day period" makes one just a TEENSY bit suspicious of trafficking.

[Timefortruth]

66. That part is a little hard to swallow

(pardon the pun) He would be taking 100+ pills a day? Why would he traffic, he has gobs of money?

[Cappurr]

69. A hundred a day is a lot of pills. Frankly, I don't think you could

survive it. As a former addict, I reached a hight of about 12 percocets a day and maybe ten valium. In rehab i met a guy who took thirty percs a day. That is the most I ever heard of. And oxycontin is far more powerful.

As a former prosecutor, if a person was getting that many pills, he would definitely be charged with distribution. Now that doesn't mean he was selling.....he was probably passing around to his right wing friends. Thats how rich druggies behave. :shrug:

[Wickerman]

90. Speaking of Asscrack...

with his penchant for show tunes, could he the trifecta? Bennett on Ganbling, Rush on drugs, Asscrack out of the closet?
:shrug:
Not that there is anything wrong with that, it sthe hypocrisy.

[ILeft]

11. Too bad he didn't get caught in George Bush's Texas!

I'm sure those liberals would have tried to keep him out of prison, but those mandatory sentences are just the kind of thing that hypocrite Limbaugh believes in.

[punpirate]

12. Wanna bet that...

... the excruciating pain created by daily sitting on that pilonidal cyst while doing his show will figure into this?

Cheers.

[Julien Sorel]

13. This looks baaaaaaaaaad.

The wire is a killer. The fact that his attorneys were so subdued tells me there's something to this. I thought the whole thing was BS to begin with, but now I think there might be something to it. Couldn't be happening to a more deserving person.

[Cooley Hurd]

14. Talent on loan from...

Lorcet.
:evilgrin:

[neuvocat]

15. Fat boy should have known better

than to judge people for their weaknesses.

This will send shockwaves all the way to Washington D.C.

[DoNotRefill]

26. Yup...

Judging and condemning people for their weaknesses is bad.

I wish EVERYBODY would remember that.

Condemning people for racism is fair game. It should be encouraged. But what kind of signal does it send for us to be condemning people for being addicts? Seeing people being gleeful that somebody is an addict is mildly distasteful, to say the least. Even if it's Pig Boy.

[mumon]

44. still, it's a good day to be hapy!

one of the biggest loud mouths and demagogues- a man who has done great demage to this country- will no longer be able to do so.

That's a GREAT thing!

[bill]

63. but...

judging people on their hypocrisy is fair game. }(

-bill

[Timefortruth]

68. It’s the hypocrisy, the absence of compassion.

Rush has never said “There but for the grace of God go I.” He never considered human weakness as anything less than a character flaw. Now he is caught in the web that he wove, the irony is so perfect it is beyond words.

Speaking for myself, I don’t relish that he is an addict in the slightest. That his pride consumed him and he must endure the kind of humiliation that he caused, well I’m human.

[Caution]

77. but we can condemn

him for calling for jailing addicts and just blatant hypocrisy. Maybe now that bastard will admit that treatment is a much better method of dealing with teh so-called "drug problem"

[calimary]

82. Point taken. But perhaps the big glee comes from

seeing this big blowhard whose rise to prominence, riches and power, have all done SUCH damage to this country, getting some of the wind knocked out of his sails.

Also, while it may indeed be something of a distraction, okay. It's a distraction in the media. BUT it's ALSO a distraction to HIM! He's going to have to devote a lot of his energies to fighting this. I saw an earlier thread about suspected moves, from SOMEWHERE, to systematically neutralize principal people. "Neutralize" in this case would refer NOT to anything life-threatening, but power-threatening. Defanging. Disarming. Rush may not be able to focus all his venom if he's fighting a pack of yapping dogs himself. It's what the rethugs did to Clinton. Now, they're getting some of that back. Reap what you sew, people.

Now THAT is something that generates GREAT glee in me. Not the fact that an addiction exists.

on edit - fixed grammar, first sentence.

[mac56]

99. Not condemning him for being an addict.

Far from it.

Condemning him for being a hypocrite and an insensitive lout (i.e., a Republican).

[Old and In the Way]

16. I reminded of an old Jimmy Cliff tune............

The Harder They Come, the Harder They Fall....one and all....

[Manix]

17. ..Anybody know the Florida drugs laws..seems Bush daughter got slap

on the wrist.

[kodi]

18. i dont like rush, but feel sorry for any drug addict. its hell to go thru

just experience talking.

the real test of compassion is reaching out for the hand of a man in need who is repugnant.

[monobrau]

19. He has to help himself

The guy has my support if he shows up at a NA meeting.
He then has to learn to accept the faults and weakness of others.
When he crosses that line, he will have earned my respect.
I don't see it happening any time soon.

[Trajan]

33. LMFAO ....

You'd have to be Jesus himself ....

[DemBones DemBones]

39. We're just being entertained by the smell of hypocrisy in the morning!

Whenever he's confronted for his beyond-the-pale comments, Rush maintains that he's "just an entertainer," after all.

Dear God, am I entertained! This is so sweet.

[fizzana]

20. And with Ashcroft around he should expect no plea bargains

and the judge has to hand out the maximum sentence. Anything less would be hypocritical.

[olmy]

21. I would think the housekeeper needed drugs..to clean his tub!

I imagine his bedroom like some red-velvet porno/drug film now...cue guitar

[Judi Lynn]

29. Why, you! Are you anti-American, or what?

Don't you remember pResident _Bush claimed Rush Limbaugh is an American national treasure?








His ex-employee ALSO should avoid small planes at all costs. She lives in the same area where some of the Cuban Watergate Burglars live, who have worked for the CIA.

On edit:

Omigod! I just stumbled across something which nearly scared me to death. WHO KNEW the Republicans have something called "Republican Babe of the Week?" I stumbled across this looking for photos of Rush Limbaugh.

If you look at the list under the photos, you'll see they have struck over the name "Ashley Judd." Apparently she let them down.

http://www.jerseygop.com/R_babes/

[JoFerret]

94. Aaaaargh! Reptile Chicks

What a revolting site! I just suggested Rushie for cheesecake pin-up of the week.

[Bud Good]

73. Rush as Tony Montana?

or just another cocka-roach.

[bluestateguy]

22. Why this is a relevant issue

Rush Limbaugh is a cold hard drug warrior. He supports long prison sentences for people convicted of nothing more than non-violent drug possession. He applauds when somebody is sent to jail for 20 years for possession of a dime bag. He thinks are drug users are useless to society and should be shunned or imprisoned. And now the chickens have come home to roost.

[VolcanoJen]

23. Thursday's NY Daily News Cover

[Joe the Revelator]

25. Reliable sources?

Has anybody a BIT more reliabe then the enquiror hit on this story yet?

[freethought23]

27. "The Daily News independently confirmed

that Limbaugh is under investigation."

This is in the story, if you care to read it, you will find it there.

[Joe the Revelator]

28. I read it

all i'm saying is that the enquiorer and the Daily News are not basstions of reliable media.

I'd like to see Rush go down as much as the next guy, but i don't want DU to begin looking foolish for grasping at tabloid headlines.

[Trajan]

32. DU is a large community of individuals ....

Expect a percentage of foolish tabloid-like postings from time to time .....

That's life ....

[Media_Lies_Daily]

74. Just like a certain percentage of DUers refuse to see the truth...

...even when it's slapping them in the face.

Touche, no?

[playahata1]

101. The Daily News is NOT a tabloid.

You must be thinking about the New York Post. THAT is trash.

Moreover, many tabloids print TRUE stories that the so-called "mainstream" media absolutely refuse to touch.

[Jawja]

53. The Atlanta Journal Constitution

has it.

on edit: so does CBS News.com

[sendero]

56. I realize..

.. most don't believe this, and I don't read any of the tabloids, but the Enquirer has a rep that is well beyond the other tabs.

I think it came about when they lost a lawsuit many years ago that cost them a lot of $$. They are very careful and don't print just anything like some of them do...

[0007]

30. The freepers will go nuts!

I wonder why Wilma Cline decided to turn on Limbaugh? Maybe the voice finally got to her as it does most sensible folks.

[Judi Lynn]

31. Just heard the first reference made to this on the radio!

Only two minutes ago, at 5:02 a.m., EST, on CBS Radio News. After explaining how Rush left ESPN, with several sound clips from football players saying that Rush has a very limited understanding of the game, and scoffing at Rush, they said that he is under investigation in Florida for illegally getting and using pain pills.

Woo HOOOOOOO! Wow! :bounce: :bounce: Ha Ha Ha.

[fob]

89. Judilyn, that pic of Bill is just perfect! As for those who refuse to

believe until a "more reliable" source comes forward, initially that pissed me off, but I realize that reaction is what seperates we dems from the a-holes on the other side. It didn't even take a tabloid story to get the mouthbreathers going over Clinton et al. They just plain made shit up and BAM, front page "news".

Listen to Howard Stern, he has Mike Walker of the Enquirer on giving all the details. As some have said, The Enquirer has actually broken alot of stories before other "mainstream" press. Part of that is they are willing to pay people to come forward, now when you pay you can get questionable info, but if they come forward with proof, then you got something.

fob

[dbt]

34. For ColdnGrey:

ABC News has the reference to the pill investigation here, although

"The New York Daily News, without identifying its source, reported in Thursday editions that Limbaugh was being investigated by the Palm Beach County state attorney's office. The newspaper said it had independently confirmed a story by the National Enquirer that was to be published Thursday."

Fochs Noose has roughly the same thing here.

IMO, Fochs qualifies as "a teensy bit more reliable" than the Daily News and/or the Enquirer with ABC about three notches up from that. Granted, they both refer to the tabloid stories.

:freak:
dbt

[Joe the Revelator]

35. Thank you

Very much :)

[pearl]

37. Limbaugh is Filth!

It looks like some of our guys are finaly playing political hardball
and that my dear friends 'is a good thing'.

[Noordam]

36. Yes and ABC and others would not trust National Enquirer alone

they would want another source.

[DemBones DemBones]

40. CNN is referencing the NY Daily News story, though with the

caveat that they have not confirmed the information. They're not giving all the details but stated that the story is available online.

They have a reporter in Pittsburgh (?) waiting to see Rush when he arrives to be keynote speaker at a broadcaster's convention, since so far he has been able to avoid reporters seeking comments. Woo hoo! Seeing Fat Boy
sweat will be a lovely sight, after all he has done to others. Remember when he called 13 year-old Chelsea Clinton "the White House dog"??? The man deserves little sympathy from us. Also remember that he allegedly had a cochlear implant and if he had legitimate pain he would have had legitimate prescriptions for painkillers.

[KoKo]

87. Yes, DemBone.....some of us can't summon sympathy with Rush....no way!

What he has done to hurt America with his radio show.....polarizing the country.....one has to wonder if the "pain" pills were a salve for his guilty conscience! No matter how low a human being sinks......somehow....there is an inner voice which needs to be silenced. Limbaugh, in my mind has committed "Psychological Crimes Upon Humanity." If his pain pill addiction is the price he paid for what he's done.........I have no sympathy. He is so lowdown........he needs to earn sympathy, not be given it for free!

[kstewart33]

41. She has tapes, emails and a journal

Rush is in deep trouble. As for needing another source, that helps, but don't trash the Enquirer. The paper has been known to break scandal stories that are true (e.,g., Jon Benet Ramsey murder). They're bad, but they're not the rag they used to be.

[Jawja]

59. But didn't the

"vast right wing conspiracy" use the tabloids to put dirt out on President Clinton? Didn't some of the rape allegations show up in tabloids first and the corporate media ran with them?

[Judi Lynn]

38. If you think he's gone around the bend

trying to get his horde of idiots to hate/fear the "Lib'rulz," THIS is going to send them ALL into convulsions!



They'll be shrieking about the "lib'rulz" for the rest of their "natural" lives!

[mumon]

42. Ding dong the witch is dead the witch is dead the wicked witch is dead!

Wow this is probably the best news I've heard since Hilary got elected Senator!

What a great day for America!

Pig-boy is TOAST! TOAST!

(On edit)

This is big, big big, folks! This is the biggest thing since Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker destroyed televangelism!

This is, my friends, the death of blow-hard talk radio making an impact!

Up next: Michael Savage's little closet...

[dbt]

43. Atlanta Journal-Constitution now has the story,

Albeit with only NY Daily News and Enquirer as sources. Read it here.

Unable to raise the Associated Press webshite at the moment. Hmmm.

:evilgrin:
dbt

[dbt]

45. CBSNews.com picks up drug angle at 6:58 EDT

Here's the link. Note that CBS cites only the NY Daily News report.

This is either true or the biggest POS since Paul McCartney was dead. It does make for a nice distraction from Traitorgate, no?

:freak:
dbt

[Judi Lynn]

46. Oh, nooooo!

You may just be right, dbt. It's DISTRACTION!

"Look, over there! Is that Rush Limbaugh going to jail?"

[underpants]

65. Rush is gonna be REAL popular in jail now

Ouch!

[underpants]

64. NBC's The Today Show had it on their 7AM news brief

Right after the story of his stupid a** getting FIRED! Oh sorry "resigned".

[TheWebHead]

47. AP picked it up actually

they have 65 affiliates so far running it, including AJC

http://news.google.com/news?q=%22Wilma+Cline%22+Limbaugh+%22associated+press%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=0

[Ganja Ninja]

48. Bad news for Ditto Heads.

Good news for truth lovers.
This week is getting better every day. Maybe tomorrow who knows "Rove Resigns!" or "Bush Resigns!" keep your fingers crossed.

[lanlady]

49. I assume the Daily News and Enquirer double-checked --

their info to avoid being sued up the ass for slander. So this is probably legit!

[DrBB]

50. You liberal hypocrites!

If this was any other celebrity, you'd be calling for us all to be sympathetic to this poor man, to understand that addiction is a disease, not a crime! Yet you leap to condemn this poor anal-cyst afflicted patriot! Oh, shame, shame!

--Standard reichpundit response, coming soon to a cabletalk show near you. Sorry guys: we only wish Mr Limbaugh to enjoy the same treatment HE would lavish on any one else caught in such an act.

[Teaser]

54. That's right...

10 years of this bullshit have made me a petty, petty man.
Once I would have had compassion. Now I just sit back and sip my mint julep.

[Skidmore]

58. Ya know, karma bite hard sometimes.

Natural consequences for a lot of bad behavior not addressed. It's time for Rush to learn a few lessons in life.

[sendero]

60. the difference is...

... that we'd reserve that compassion for those who hadn't made a living excorciating anyone else doing what we were doing.

That dog won't hunt anywhere but in the head of an addled freeper :)

[RobertSeattle]

51. Is he still going to give the KEYNOTE at NAB?

Intersting timing!

http://www.nab.org/conventions/radioshow/2003/SessionDetail.asp?id=1201715

[Skidmore]

52. Rush and Rove in the same week.....what a meltdown!!!

I love it!!! Bring 'em on....

[Bud Good]

72. Maybe Ah-nuld can make it a trifecta-

For OUR side.

[kwolf68]

55. LMAO

Maybe the worm is starting to turn for us beaten-down Liberals. The sun is starting to shine on the right-wing shit in this nation. :party:

[Snellius]

57. Wilma Cline? Sounds like William Clinton? Makes you wonder.

Is there anyone who is NOT going to tune into Limbaugh's show today to hear him try to blame this one on Big Bill? Yes, Virginia, there is a god of divine retribution!

[TheWebHead]

61. yeah

Freepers already trying to refer to her as "Bill Clinton in drag".. it's almost like their a hornet's nest that's been hit with a 2x4 this week :)

[BenFranklinUSA]

98. Radio says he's off today

[janx]

104. He's off all the time. Never have I seen a guy work so little

for so much money.

[Fuzz]

62. Why is "I have sinned against you" ::weep::

keep going through my head when I read about this?

[dusty64]

67. It just proves you'd

have to be whacked out on drugs and on another planet to spout the shit that he does everyday.

[Evil_Dewers]

71. Abusing pain killers over a long period of time...

causes deafness. Rush's deafness was self-inflicted.

[Q]

75. Poor people go to JAIL...Rush will go to REHAB...

...the hypocrisy continues.

[Timefortruth]

81. Really?

Is that true?

[Timefortruth]

84. Here's a link.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-091001vicodin.story

It appears to be Viocodin, is that in the same family as what he was using?

I never really believed he went deaf, just goes to show that he can tell the truth.

[GreenGreenLimaBean]

76. McNabb's Revenge

I think we may have hit the Trifecta this week.

WH treason investigation.
Pigboy drug investigation.
Arnold's groping story.


Who's the Party of Family Values and Morality?????

[T Bone]

78. Maybe this explains all the stuttering and stammering he does

At least part of it. It could also be because he is just such a blowhard, loudmouthed ass.

[zanana]

80. Addiction to painkillers can happen to anyone.

Rush Limbaugh is one of my least favorite people and I trounce him as often as I can when he spouts off right-wing rhetoric, but addiction IS AN ILLNESS. You don't start taking painkillers for pleasure. And you don't get addicted to them out of weakness. I know someone who is waging a daily war against his Oxycontin addiction, and this person is going through hell. Don't you think it's possible to have a little compassion, even if the recipient is a slimeball?

[Q]

83. Addiction is not the issue...it's BUYING them without a prescription...

...and that's called: breaking the law.

- Little people go to jail for a very long time for such things because this is a FELONY.

[BuckeFushe]

85. Yup it's a felony, BUT, maybe he wasn't buying them for himself

Maybe someone close to him needs them, and that makes it even worse. No matter what happens here, the deflection shield of the Cons are down, time to fire the photon torpedos.

[BenFranklinUSA]

95. If we chide illegal activity to feed addiction,...

...then any agruments we've (DU) made in the past sympathic to drug abusers who committed crimes to deal with their 'needs' becomes a convenient contradition.
Stay above this, folks, else you are he.

[mac56]

102. No one is chiding him for his addiction.

Far from it. Most of the posts here are quite clear on that.

We are taking him to task for being a hypocrite, an insensitive lout, and a shit disturber who took great delight in the harsh drug sentences of many, many others.

As another poster put it: sometimes karma bites hard.

We are not he, no matter how you choose to believe that.

[KoKo]

88. Zannana.......did your friend have the money to purchase pills illegally?

Someone who has thousands of pills available....has access to what your friend didn't (I'm assuming your friend doesn't make what Limbaugh does).

The man knew what he was doing and had access to the best rehab centers in the world. He still purchased the pills illegally and continued to take them. I have no sympathy for him or his addiction.

[BenFranklinUSA]

92. If "Addiction", we should not act joyful

Let us not lower ourselves, folks.
If we revell in this, it hurts our rep.

[ignatius]

86. I am certain just like gambling, Bill Bennett will now say that

drugs are not a vice.

Listen up dittoheads, the guy is a liar, a hypocrite, and a pill popper.

Wonder if he shares with King GEorge.

[zanana]

93. He'll have to face up to his addiction.

I'm sure he has plenty of money to buy the pills with, but that's not necessarily a plus for him. He IS a hypocritical, lying slimeball, but it IS an illness. If he was SELLING, I'd wish him a few decades in prison.

[ignatius]

103. I agree, it is an illness, but no crocodile tears from me. I remember

how he picked on Chelsea, beat the drum against Bill and Hillary whipping up the ditto heads and I blame him for the threats that Daschle and Gore received on their lives as he spewed his venom.

Screw him, whatever happens to him is well deserved.

[Copperred]

91. Rush needs an Ibogaine treatment...kill that addiction on contact.

Looks like someone needs an IBOGAINE treatment...

http://www.ibogaine-therapy.net/

Have a good trip Rush :)

[Snellius]

97. Is it possible to take almost 100 painkillers a DAY?

Two attempts at detox didn't seem to have much affect on Limbaugh, Cline claims, calculating that over one 47-day period, her boss went through 4,350 pills. "There were times when I worried," Cline said. "All these pills are enough to kill an elephant -- never mind a man." (National Enquirer via N.Y. Daily News)

http://www.salon.com/ent/col/fix/2003/10/02/thurs/index.html

[Copperred]

100. Yes it is possible....and for a big man like that...doable.

Rush should get an IBOGAINE treatment...will clean him up fast..and then he can share true knowledge with the world....