Rush Hasn't Hit Rock Bottom

[KharmaTrain]

Note: with all the Rush posts out here, I hope this isn't something someone else has brought up.

After finally hearing the entire Rush "admission", a few things struck me. First, he said he was addicted to "Prescription Medication"...an attempt to legitimize or downplay the fact he was abusing a controlled susbstace. Prescription mediciation is issued by a licesed physician, not one's housekeeper in a Denny's parking lot.

Rush attempted to minimilize what he was doing...and that he, like many other addicts, led two lives. He did that on his show yesterday. Instead of starting the show with this statement...being open and honest and facing the music, he had to tirade for a while first...satisfying his ego and then, as if a gun was pointed at his head, then he addressed this issue. Of course he had to...it wasn't going away, and he knows it was only getting worse.

What I heard was the typical RW double-standard of extreme ridicule and persecution of it's political and ideological enemies...but when the worm is turned, then they downplay the severity of their crimes (legal and moral) and avoid any true contrition or acceptance of responsibility.

Anyone who saw Scarborough's show last night saw how this deniability is being drummed into making Rush the victim (of US, not his own demons) and that his crimes are not really crimes...that he was in pain and we should feel sympathy.

Pardon me...but here's a man who makes millions a year and could afford the finest health care that even the middle class would dream of. If he had "bad pains" (why is it always Back pains), then he could have found a specialist who would treat his back and subsequent pains. So, unless there's some special medical report that put's Rush's "back" problem into a special catagory that requires black-market drugs only, those who attempt to use this defense are enabling Rush...and hampering his chances of making a clean recovery.

[Booberdawg]

1. It was BULLSHIT!!

Screw the back pains. He's just a fuckin' junkie.

[liberalnurse]

3. It's real simple isnt it?

He is just another junkie.....

[Brian Sweat]

8. Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat junkie.

[dutchdemocrat]

9. And a racist to boot.

Snopes proves he said "Take that bone out of your nose and call me back".

Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh once told a black caller to "Take that bone out of your nose and call me back."

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/limbaugh.asp

He deserves everything we hit him with and more.

[Skittles]

22. YUP

it doesn't seem to prevent him from playing lots of golf.

[morebunk]

26. After Rehab, then what?

If rehab failed twice, it will surely fail a third time. The RWingnuts will just keep Rush supplied and pretend that he's kicked his addiction. But this has been going on for 5 years. Odds are he will never rally kick it; he'll just switch drugs.

He should be drug tested every week like the sports druggies.

[liberalnurse]

2. There are many excuses to use.....

Don't forget, these perscription drugs were obtained from dealing not the perscription of a physician. What do you think would happen to you if you did what Rush did?

Damn straight you'd be in the pokey!

[Erika]

4. Rush Is in Rehab for The 3rd Time.

His excuses are old. He's laughed at the flawed, the hurting, and the poor for a long time. He is a drug abuser who is probably entering rehab for the 3rd time only to keep his butt out of jail. As did Nicole Bush.

[KharmaTrain]

5. The Question Of Intent To Sell

That'll be an interesting sidebar should Rush have to face charges, which it is so obvious he should, in regards to the quantities he purchased. If the reports are true, and so far we have no reason to say no (my bets are Rushbo will parse who said what and who he met when...la di da...denial game) as to if the amounts he bought would be considered "traficking"...a far heavier crime.

Anyone in Florida know what the laws for intent to sell are for controlled substances? I can't imagine they're very pretty in Draconian Bushista territory.

[Erika]

6. Florida Justice?

Bush (Nicole) and Rush has nothing to worry about as concerns persecution in Florida. Now if you are talking about an economically challenged person who wasn't in the good ol GOP boy system, we're talking about a separate justice system. Jeb would show how he knows how to enforce the law and is tough on offendors. Sad that the Republican elitists have done this to our justice system. Very sad.

[Noordam]

19. The Question Of Intent To Sell --- Even if you are given it away

free.

I do not believe with Rush's money he needed to sell any, but I would bet he was given it away to somebody.....

law does not care if you give or sell.

[oasis]

7. Rush dodged his explanation about the ongoing police drug probe.

He's leaving town instead of facing the music.

[UTUSN]

10. Kick for Wingnut Irresponsibility

He ought to go to the pen with Ken LAY-----oh, nevermind.

[coldwatercyn]

11. Pain and Golf?

How do you play golf while in so much pain?

LIES (AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM)

[Saudade]

12. Rush

As an AA member, I have to say that there is hope for anyone (including me!), but it does seem to me that Rush is going to have a difficult time with recovery from a serious addiction.

He's extremely rich and extremely arrogant and extremely dishonest, and all of these are huge obstacles to recovery.

1. Extremely rich: He is unlikely to experience the sort of material devastation that literally compels an addict to confront the obvious truth about him/herself. For Rush, there will always be many ways to evade and escape into the lie that he's really "OK", better off than other addicts, and so on.

2. Extremely arrogant: I believe that it is a kind of arrogance that leads the addict into the lie that he/she can continue to "handle" drinking, drugging, etc., when, of course, this is absolutely impossible for the addict -- otherwise, he/she wouldn't be an addict in the first place.

3. Extremely dishonest: Arrogance is really just a form of dishonesty, an inability to acknowledge one's fellow human being as one's own other -- this is why Rush is a racist and thinks he better than other people. I believe recovery from addiction requires relentless honesty with oneself, starting with the admission (every day, every hour) that one is an addict, and hence powerless over the drug or drink. There is no recovery without this sort of very difficult and humbling honesty.

I honestly hope that Rush is able to recover, and I can't really take any pleasure in the fact that his repulsive hypocricy has been exposed, as much as he disgusts me on every possible level.

One can hope that he will recover and undergo a spiritual transformation that will alter his repugnant "ideas," most of which center on narcissism, but only time will tell.

[Mandate My Ass]

13. Perfectly said, IMRadioactive

this thought occurred to me today. Most addicts who experience true recovery do so because they've hit rock bottom and have nowhere to go but up. Rush is nowhere near rock bottom. He is going into rehab to demonstrate he is "taking responsibility for his actions" and thus make his case appear more sympathetic in court. I remain highly skeptical that he will even be charged with breaking the law.

He has all the money in the world to get himself "physiologically" unaddicted but true recovery only happens when the addict has to face and overcome the demons which made him/her use in the first place and make ammends to those they've hurt. This ain't gonna happen. Also, once released he will no doubt be able to resume his multi-million dollar career spewing right-wing hatred over the airwaves. This option doesn't exist for those with felony convictions that will follow them and render them unable to vote or obtain meaningful employment even after they've served their debt to society.

Drug asset forfeiture laws, which were designed to net the big fish and prevent them from profiting from their crimes, have proven that profitability of the asset trumps all other considerations in the decision of the feds as to whose property will be seized. Because Rush had illegal drugs mailed to his mansion, under these laws the property should be considered a defendant, without due process rights, which must prove that it's innocent within ten days of its seizure by the feds. In cases where human defendants were either exonerated of wrongdoing in a court of law or charges were never brought due to paucity of evidence against them, they were unable to rightfully reclaim their property if they were not able to mount a defense within a ten-day time span. Some weren't even informed of the property seizure until months had passed and it was too late anyway.

According an article in the Dec. 2002 St.Petersburg Times:

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/12/22/Perspective/The_huge_cost_of_hars.shtml

Florida imposes mandatory-minimum sentences of 25 years for illegally carrying a pillbox-worth of drugs such as Oxycontin, a medication used to treat chronic pain that has been abused by the dance-club set.

Many thousands of (poor) Americans are rotting in jail cells for crimes much less severe than receiving thousands oxycontin tablets through the mail. The fact that the feds haven't busted him reveals that this sting is significantly different than most and he is being treated with kid gloves.

Limbaugh will do a minimum amount of time allowable in rehab and return to the airwaves to continue to villify the truly unfortunate as scum that deserve the harsh hand they've been dealt, the one that he escaped because of his connections to the drug warriors. He sold his soul long ago and he will not jeopardize his fortune by getting truly clean.

[AP]

14. He just got caught. Also, this rehab thing might just be part of a plan

to avoid prosecution, or conviction if he is prosecuted.

The media has made such a big deal about this that they'll be able to argue a fair trial with an unbiased jury is impossible.

[0rganism]

16. I doubt the FBI has any interest in pushing for an indictment of Rush

It's John Ashcroft's DOJ we're talking about here. You don't just go tossing the book at a rich GOP shill who your boss probably tunes into on a daily basis. Rush has NOTHING to fear from the law, especially Florida law. Hell, even if Rush DID get indicted, convicted, and sentenced, Jeb would give his ass a pardon just because he's a "national treasure", or whatever it was W called him.

[Hubert Flottz]

23. ASHCROFT'S NEPHEW GOT PROBATION AFTER MAJOR

POT BUST!

Although His Arrest For Growing 60 Plants Could Have Landed Him In Federal Prison, Alex Ashcroft Was Tried In State Court And Avoided Jail -- Despite His Uncle's Crusade For Tougher Federal Drug Laws And Mandatory Prison Sentences

The nephew of Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft received probation after a felony conviction in state court for growing 60 marijuana plants with intent to distribute the drug in 1992 -- a lenient sentence, given that the charges against him often trigger much tougher federal penalties and jail time. Ashcroft was the tough-on-drugs Missouri governor at the time.

Alex Ashcroft, then 25, and his brother Adam, 19, were arrested and charged with production and possession of marijuana after police raided their home in January, 1992. A housemate, Kevin Sheely, then 24, was also arrested.

Officials said approximately 60 marijuana plants were found growing in a basement crawl space, and a lighting, irrigation and security system was also discovered.

Although growing more than 50 plants often triggers federal prosecution, and results in jail time -- thanks to federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws Ashcroft fought to toughen as senator -- Alex Ashcroft was prosecuted on a state charge and received probation.

His brother Adam did not live in the house and was never prosecuted.
MORE....................................................

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n065/a05.html

JOHN ASHCROFT: DRUG WAR ULTRA-HAWK, CONFEDERACY NOSTALGIST AND CORPORATE SHILL

http://shadow.autono.net/sin001/ashcroft.htm

[KoKo]

15. You are absolutely Correct! Many folks didn't hear his TRUE Confession/NOT

And, he only admitted to being (poor, me, feel sorry for me) addicted to PAIN MEDICATION!

People who didn't hear his "true UNConfession" seem to have great sympathy with this man who advocated anyone with a bag of marijuana go to Prison for Life (well, I'm exaggerating a teeny bit, here) but he want's MAXIMUM PRISON/DEATH for anyone who walks over the RW/FUNDIE Line.....but "Oh, poor Rushie.....he had SO MUCH PAIN.....he just couldn't handle it....and he needed his little "blues" to carry him through.....BLECH........:puke:

[nomatrix]

17. Bottoms Up

IMRadioactive-you are right on target.

Listening to a doctors' recovery speaker, he pointed out the major problem for the wealthy, educated, and working doctors who are addicted to pharmaceutical drugs is the inability to get humble.
With no clear bottom (ie:lost job, car, home, family) and access to drugs of choice, their reasoning excuse is, "I was never that bad, see?"
The don't see that the medication they stole inflicted physical pain on the person who was shorted, robbed, deprived of relief. How many medications were removed from the market because of abuse by addicts? The only recovery that worked, was to bring the bottom up to them. It doesn't come by excuses & coddling. It comes by exposing their actions while under the influence.

For those who don't want to sink to name calling, you aren't helping his or anyone else's recovery. Once a junkie, always a junkie. Save your prayers for the people who suffered when their prescriptions weren't filled. Pray for the 22 million listeners who were fed by a junkies rants of hate. If they really want him to recovery they are going to have to stop feeding his addiction to grandiosity.
He built an evil empire, and reigned there for years.

[SammyWinstonJack]

18. Isn't it always someone else's fault with Repukes?

So much for the Party of Personal Responsibility. :puke: I didn't hear one, not one, of the media talking heads address the fact that Rush's pill popping drug addiction was illegal. I think that is what pissed me off most. Especially when I and everyone else (including themselves) knows, had it been a liberal radio talk show host(a rarity)the aforementioned would have been shouting from the roof tops about what a criminal he/she is, among other things. There would have been no sympthy, it would have been a blood bath. They would have been screaming prison sentence, and Rush would have been the loudest one among them. Double standard hypocrites.

[KT2000]

20. out of sight for 30 days

I think PR people have a standard response for revelations such as Rush's drug use.
30 days in rehab - by then the press will have lost interest because the clinic will shield him from all inquiries.

While he gets rehab - or 30 days of luxury - he has stood for the party that advocates jail time for the most minor of drug infractions.

my sympathies are for those serving long jail sentences for drug possession - not Rush.

[SharonAnn]

21. Yes, we know that. He's just trying to use a "get out of jail" card

He has no remorse, no understanding of how serious his problem is.

However, on the light side, Garrison keillor made a point today on PHC>

He said, regarding Rush, that a Liberal is just a Conservative who has been through rehab.

So, Rush as a Liberal? Hmmm, could be.

[VOX]

24. There's a phrase in Rush's "admission" that's a real giveaway:

He's on record as stating that he wants to check into rehab to “break the hold this highly addictive medication has on me.”

Ponder that statement for a moment. Notice that with this phrase, he cleverly puts the blame on the drugs!

In effect, he's inferring that the big, bad drug *made* him get addicted to it; or, if it handn't been for the drug, he wouldn't be an addict.

I'd say that Rush is pretty f***ing far from rock bottom.

[Jason600]

25. explain please

Does Rush have a drug problem or not. If he does, does his money and the fact that he's a extremist right winger make him different? I must admit, it is hard not to through so many things back in his face that he has spewed over the years. I'm just not sure on the other hand, if he really is trying to clean up. Someone else made the point very correctly in my opinion, that he only came "clean" after being nabbed. Either way, all of this is only making his show more well known; so much free press. He's sitting back and lovin it.