If Rush is guilty of buying illegal drugs do you think he will serve time?

[Bandit]

Will his money buy him an out that the poor do not get? I think he will start losing some of his audience but will remain free. First time user and all. We should start demanding he pay the full price for his illegal acts as he would demand a poor minority kid should do. "Tough Love" you know.

[Caution]

1. if the actual numbers involved are as high as reported

he WILL do time. If he was procuring over 4000 pills a month than that isn't a possession charge, it will be a distribution charge and if there is hard evidence, he'll do real jail time (and if this is oxycontin it will be substantial jail time)

[Brian Sweat]

2. They would have to prove the numbers are as high as reported.

If this story is true and if Rush is charged with a crime, he will probably get probation.

[Champion Jack]

10. I heard that his housekeeper dropped a dime on him

and that, she wore a wire...

[Brian Sweat]

20. If this is true, I still doubt he gets jail time.

Probation is likely.

Also, there is some question as to whether she "wore a wire" or just recording him illegally.

[Brian Sweat]

21. However,

if Rush really is the Jeff Christie who solicited male prostitutes in Pittsburg, then he has priors and that could be enough to get him sent up.

[playahata1]

36. Depends on the statute of limitations, I think.

n/t

[Brian Sweat]

38. The statute of limitations have no bearing here.

Priors are priors regardless of how long ago they were committed.

The statute of limitation only places a limit on how long after a crime is committed you can be prosecuted.

Jeff Christie was already caught and charged with soliciting a prostitute. I assume he was either convicted or copped a plea. If I am correct and this particular Jeff Christie is in fact Rush Limbaugh, then Rush has a prior criminal conviction.

[truthseeker1]

31. Article says she wore a wire

Cline told the Enquirer she went to prosecutors with information about Limbaugh and others after four years of drug deals that included clandestine handoffs in a Denny's parking lot.

She said she wore a wire during her last two deliveries to the conservative commentator and gave the tapes to authorities.

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

[ewagner]

22. ...and got $six figures for her story

CNN reported that they confirmed that investigators have Rush on tape buying pills.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

3. rich people don't serve time for drug crimes

If Rush were a poor black kid, damned right he'd be serving time. Since he's a rich white celebrity, no.

[Jacobin]

6. exactly

They don't. They just don't.

Jails are for poor people who use drugs.

[truthseeker1]

23. Applies to black celebrities too

....Remember OJ??

Edit: I'm just saying, celebrity is celebrity and they always get the benefit of the doubt. (Look at Arnold)

[Mairead]

24. Exactly

And if the whole thing stinks too badly even for Nature's Miracle to do any good, then he'll get probation or do 'Club Fed' time.

[Caution]

29. As I have posted a hundred times

There is no such friggin thing as "Club Fed" This is just another myth perpetrated by the right-wing to justify harsher sentences and harsher conditions. Prison is prison, some places are worse than others but just because there isnt a monstrous wall keeping you in, doesn't change the fact of confinement, slave-labor, poor treatment, terrible food, and lousy conditions.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

bullshit there ARE luxury prisons for rich people

The WSJ just did an article about them a few months ago, and I still remember the 60 minutes episode about them from years ago.

There are private luxury prisons that rich people and white collar criminal go to if they have enough money and pull the right strings. That is, if they ever have to do time at all, which they almost never do.

[Jacobin]

43. That's for white collar crimes such as SEC violations and embezzlement

You don't find the elite in prison for drugs.

They go to rehab.

[Caution]

27. I hate to tell you this

but that hasnt been true for a long time. What is true is that rich white people are rarely brought up on charges. But when they are, they do time. (I know a few rich white people who have done time). That said I am speaking from a federal standpoint...at the state level I don't really know, particularly in fl.

I do *not* think limbaugh should do time becuase i do not think being a drug user shoudl be a crime.

That said, since this asshole is such a huge proponent of a fundamentally broken system, someone who calls for bigger and bigger sentences for simple possession, he should get a taste of what the system is like from the inside.

[Lars39]

32. Oh, no, he should definitely do time.

It's folks like him misusing prescription drugs that makes it harder for the terminally ill or those with truly devastating chronic pain to get the proper medicines at times. A caretaker of a terminally ill person has to account for every single oxycontin pill given. I hope Rush's predicament doesn't renew talk of not even having drugs such as oxycontin on the market, due to the misuse/theft and physical danger to those working in pharmacies.

[The Backlash Cometh]

34. And may I point out...

that months ago I made the bold statement that it might not be a bad idea to remove plea bargaining for drug-related federal sentencing so that the laws apply evenly to everyone. Draconian, perhaps, but I was anticipating this very scenario. If Limbaugh were sentenced under federal law, he'd be serving as much time as a black man who is caught under similar circumstances. Now, even though he's been buying drugs for at least four years, he'll probably get off on probation if he turns in a few of his fellow users.

[Tripper11]

4. Nope...he won't do a day......

money talks and poor people do time for minor marijuana charges.

If he does anything it will be community service which will consist of one 30 second P.S.A. to be run on AM radio from midnight to 5 am.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. If OJ can get away with murder

I highly doubt that Rush will see the inside of any prison. He has too much money. It will never happen. JMCPO

[jody]

7. Like AWOL, he'll be given community service in a poverty area.

[Maeve]

8. About as much time as a Bush daughter would

[MadHound]

9. He won't do a day of time, too much money

The best we can hope for is that Clear Channel will drop his fat ass out of sheer embarassment and he will go off the air and quietly retire.

[DCDemo]

11. WE shall see

I know there's one DU member that has been talking about this for months...people know, people have seen the dirty business, and if he's been abusing thousands of pills, he's fucked.

MAndatroy minium sentencing, anybody?
Levelling all possible charges, anybody?

Herr Ashcroft's new mission to get tougher on criminals?

Rushbo is going to be butt-bo soon enough.

[Catherine Vincent]

12. No.

[Zero Gravitas]

13. No

He is not poor OR black so its unlikely he'll do any time in jail.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

14. A pardon?

:shrug:

[GreenGreenLimaBean]

15. He'll get a nice room next to Noelle Bush

Of course not. Rush going to prison is less likely to happen than
bush* getting impeached.

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. He does live in Florida

So under Florida's first time offender law, he would probably go through the same program that Noelle just graduated from.

Of course, Jeb could pardon him anytime he wants.

[NoKingGeorge]

26. Jeff Christie as a prior

If he has a prior for soliciting, is he on probation for that? Can it be brought out and used in Fla. How does Jeb feel about oxcy?

[amazona]

40. this type of thing not really a prior

Soliciting is not even a misdemeanor -- it is an offense where you just get a ticket. Like speeding. In any case, my understanding is that Jeff Christie's soliciting offenses have been long expunged.


some people say this is just a rumor anyways

[AverageJoe]

16. I bet Tommy Chong

would have something to say about this matter....

[Bandit]

17. Good one ~ Let Ashcroft wiggle out of charging Rush like he did Chong

They are gunna get Rush ~ Yea

[Mairead]

25. Nah, Chong is a member of the Yellow Peril -- obviously a terr'ist

[rainy]

19. please, please tell me what happened and give a link

I must have missed this story. I only heard about the raciest remark by limbaugh

[AverageJoe]

35. Here's a link from cbsnews.com

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/01/entertainment/main576030.shtml


Limbaugh Resigns Under Fire



(CBS/AP) Rush Limbaugh resigned from ESPN late Wednesday night, three days after his comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb being overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.

Just hours after his resignation was announced, new trouble surfaced for Limbaugh, as published reports said the 52-year-old conservative commentator is under investigation in Florida for illegally buying thousands of addictive painkillers including OxyContin, Hydrocodone and Lorcet - drugs which are legal only if prescribed by a doctor.

<snip>

[rusk2003]

28. Maybe or Maybe not but

I think it will hurt his radio show the Conservative movement and his credibility. I am sure he will get some kind of special treatment I think he should take some of his own medicen plead guilty take some personal responsiblity and ask for the maximum sentence under law.
Since It seems he is not doing that it proves what we have known for a long time he thinks he is above the law and thinks everyone should do as I say do't do as I do.

I read both of his books and he talks about how the way we treat the rights of criminals in this country is crazy. Maybe in a few years on dateline or 20/20 he will withdraw that comment and change his mind on that. But since he will proberly get a pardon from George Bush or Jeb Bush before they leave office so I doubt it.

Is it just me or what but it seems alot of Bush's friends co workers and people in his social circle seem to be having a lot of legal problems and/or comiting a lot of crimes lately. :)

[Noordam]

30. This is Florida and look at Jebbie's daughter

Nothing she did would raise to jail time.

[Brian Sweat]

33. Yes, it would.

If she wasn't the Governor's daughter. She forged a presciption. That is a felony in this state. I doubt Limbaugh will see jail time.

[amazona]

37. i don't think he will but he should

We need to get some of these rich criminals in the jails and prisons. Imagine Lay, Skillings, Ebbers, and Limbaugh in a federal prison. Do you imagine that prison rape and knifings would be tolerated in such a prison? Do you imagine that lack of medical care would be tolerated? Do you imagine that a lack of classrooms would be tolerated? Rich and poor need to be kept under the same conditions and, if there are limited seats in the rehab, the low income person should be first in line, as he will not be able to purchase fancy beds in a fancy clinic once out of prison.

This alone would suddenly greatly increase the number of beds and quality of treatment received in a prison hospitals.

It is easy to deny organ transplants or chemotherapy when you believe you will never be in such a place. I have heard of women's prisons that won't even give chemo for breast cancer. Let alone drug rehab...we are not even providing the damn basics of decent care.


rush as a prisoner could do more for society than he ever did as a gazillionaire fascist

[davidinalameda]

39. maybe he'll go into rehab ala the Bush chick

and do no time

do you think that his fat ass would ever see the inside of a jail?

he would be pardoned in a heartbeat by the Bushies

[MaraJade]

41. He'll get away with it. . .

He will be on TV and Radio trying to curry pity with some insipid "contrite" statement about how he is an addict and how
his actions of late (including that stupidity about the Eagles
QB) were all the results of the "drugs talking." Then it'll be
off to the Betty Ford clinic in a flurry of crocodile tears.

It's the housekeeper et al who will be excoriated in this one.

[Starpass]

42. just gotta stick something in here

when I saw this just a few minutes ago as MSNBC waived around the front page of whatever paper reading "Drug Rush", I thought to myself "our Dems are, indeed, at work and so are our 'agencies'". In other words we have this CIA thing going down right now headed by the CIA in attacking Bush. How convenient to have one of the big right wing mouth pieces destroyed who keeps a whole group of guys marching to the right. We should help by flooding stations, etc. with demands he be removed from the air because he's a terrible role model, etc. Paybacks a bitch!!! Anyway, we kept suggesting here that the Dems start investigating and destroying Limbaugh, Falwell, Robertson, et al because it's the only way to wipe out this spew. We also suggested that the FBI and CIA stop being fall guys for these right wingers. I just have this feeling that the job is being done----what great timing--just as campaign '04 begins!!!

[Bandit]

44. Demand he be removed from airwaves ~ Especially armed forces radio

Write your Congressman and Senators and demand that a drug user (supporter of terrorism) not be allowed to brainwash our young men and women. Get Rush off Armed Forces Radio NOW.