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Same Old Rush

November 18th, 2003

Be hypocritical and deny it. Par for the course.

Limbaugh, who received far more sympathy than he ever gave, is showing clear signs that he is still going to be as crass, dumb and hypocritical as ever. Returning to the airwaves to what must be sky-high ratings (for now), Limbaugh made it clear that he does not see the fault of his ways. “I don’t want anybody to get frightened about this, now. This has no impact on what you have come to know, love and respect here because I’ve not been phony here,” he told his anxious listeners.

Everyone has been wondering how Limbaugh will handle his own drug addiction in light of his conservative politics. Would he change his opinions on drugs? Of course not. “Many people feel and think that when you go to a rehabilitation center for addiction or other things that the people turn you into a linguini-spined liberal, and that’s not true,” Rush assured his audience. “I was a drug addict from about 1996, 1995 or whatever, to just five weeks ago. The truth of the matter is I avoided the subject of drugs on this program for the precise reason that I was keeping a secret.”

Uh huh. Right. Ahem. Mr. Limbaugh, what about:

“What this says to me is that too many whites are getting away with drug use. Too many whites are getting away with drug sales. Too many whites are getting away with trafficking in this stuff. The answer to this disparity is not to start letting people out of jail because we’re not putting others in jail who are breaking the law. The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.”

— Rush Limbaugh show, Oct. 5, 1995

Some hoped that Limbaugh, now publicly outed, would at least remain consistent to the truth and realize that treatment, not incarceration, was the more effective answer. But he has made it clear, in principle if not in details: his tough-on-addicts principles don’t apply to him.

Note that he specifically mentioned a date from which he became addicted (95 or 96), and it seems to follow his prior remark on drugs (October 95), not concurrent with his addiction–so he claims. So will he end up try to somehow claim that a time difference between statement and illegal drug purchases was relevant? That it wasn’t hypocritical because he made that remark before he was addicted? Or will he try to spin what he said before, or spin what he did in buying illegal drugs? Or will he try to maintain the tension and, eventually, never bring it up at all, just ignoring the whole issue?

He did say this much: “This is something I am not able to be as blunt and open about now as I’d like to be. That day will come and it will come soon.” Meaning he’s covering his ample behind until he can cut a deal or otherwise get off the hook.

You can be sure that he will find some rationalization for his not being jailed despite his public statement on the matter in 1995. And, in true Rush form, it will be hypocritical, untrue–and he’ll undoubtedly find a way to make it insulting and denigrating to some group he doesn’t approve of. You can bet on it.

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  1. Ron Andrews
    November 18th, 2003 at 12:27 | #1

    Hi Luis,

    I tried posting the blurb below to expat.org (The Expat) but kept getting errors. The posts seem to take but the comment count wasn’t getting updated nor was my name/email info being saved as I requested. Anyway…

    Slightly [now, very] OT here, but good a place as any…

    For those not aware of it yet, the site below looks like a pretty good one to not only nicely complement The Expat here but also get the latest info on Bush’s visit to the UK this week. Cowardly pulling out of giving a speech to a joint session of parliament because, as some sources said, Bush might have been “heckled”, will not go unnoticed.

    Luke Robinson, the site’s spokesman, is a web developer from S. Carolina now living in London.

    Check it out!

    Expats Against Bush

  2. Ron Andrews
    November 18th, 2003 at 13:39 | #2

    Here’s a link for the story about Bush pulling out of his planned parliament speech. Posting here because expat.org still looks hampered.

    BUSH PULLS OUT OF SPEECH TO PARLIAMENT

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