Is Rush a Conservative or a Salesman?

The New Jersey Star-Ledger ^ | 8 Oct 03 | Paul Mulshine

[jimt]

First off, we don't know if the allegations about Rush's drug abuse are true.

If they are, then his attitudes about drugs are not only emotional and unthinking, they're also hypocritical to the nth degree. A guy who rants and raves about "dope smokin'" while popping "hillbilly heroin" is laughable, not heroic.

[secretagent]

I believe also that most current "victimized" drug users support the WOD. It fits with their outlook.

"Drugs made me do it" segues to "Please force me to stop".

Drug users and drug warriors: made for each other.

[GigaDittos]

Geee, I wonder what NPR and PBS would do if it weren't for TAX DOLLARS. No, they wouldn't sell anything, right? I did buy the "Hell Freezes Over" video when the Eagles were on one night, but that doesn't count.

[sauropod]

Salesman.

[freebilly]

Is Rush conservative or salesman?

Both

Damn right! You don't get to be worth what Rush is worth without having a great product (Rush's show), a great audience, and advertisers who are willing to shell out umpteen bazillion $$$$ for the right to get their products and services in front of Rush's listeners.

No one in the media is more prototypically American than Rush. He is a terrific model for all entrepreneurs in this country (most of whom are conservative, by the way)....

[dangus]

I think you and the author confuse conservativism with libertarianism. They may have some common interests and alliances, but they are different.

[joesnuffy]

a teaspoon of sugar
makes the poison medicine
go down

[Orangedog]

It makes more sense to not place such a big emphasis on stopping people from using more of the stuff than their doctor feels like prescribing. Especially considering the fact that all of these drugs are legal.

Ask Jeb Bush's daughter how little emphasis is put on the prescription side of the drug war.

[dangus]

Come to think of it...
Conservative *or* salesman?

That presumes that a profit motive is irreconcilable with doing the right thing, a notion which is the denail of the very heart of conservativism, and libertarianism. Only a died-in-the wool left-winger would suggest that they are in conflict. Only someone who never listened to his show wouldn't know that he openly espouses both roles. Only a left-wing hack would invent that crappy fake ad.

Why is it that as conservatives are holding liberals' won words against them, liberals are having to resort to fuction to make their points? If Limbaugh's ads were so bad, couldn't he have found a true-life example?

[Barney Gumble]

I've gotten turned off to talk radio for a few reasons:

1. Lots of commericals. They're probably at commerical near 50% of the time. It's radio. TV 44 minutes of show per hour. Radio has about 32.

2. Radio host read ads. They're big turn offs. Not to mention some are bad advice... such as the "Buy Gold" ads. Why would a talk host want to tell his listeners to buy gold.

3. Some are just mouthpieces for the RNC... which is good 90% of the time, but they're not strictly conservatives as they claim. However, I got ticked off at Sean Hannity for defacto supporting Arnie. Arnie is a big liberal who's amongst other things pro-abortion. Why is such a pro-life conservative like Hannity comprimising on his beliefs and support arnolD instead of McClintock?

"Arnie can win!?" Well, the big difference between McClintok and Nader for the Dems in 2000, is that if Arnie dropped out of the race, McClintock would win. If Gore had dropped out of the race, Nader would have been crushed.

[capydick]

Q: Is Rush a Conservative or a Salesman?

A: Rush sells conservatism. We need more salesman like him.

[TheCrusader]

The thing with Oxycontin is that it addicts many, many people. No matter who you are or how strong and 'straight' you may think you are, it is more powerful than any human will once you take it over a period of time.

There is a reason why addicts rob drug stores for this specific drug, and these same addicts would not rob a store for other pain killers like Percoset, etc.

My point? There are an estimated 25 - 30 million people in America addicted to alcohol, drugs, or both. A great many of them are doctors, lawyers, judges, poets, pilots, police officers, business owners, politicians, clergy, actors, singers, soldiers and millionaires; you name it. The malignant monster of addcition does not discriminate in whom it subjugates. Brains, willpower and human decency are no match for the demon once its tentacles have you in its grasp.

It snares its victims first through alleviating pain, then by creating a sense of well being, and finally by incrementally increasing the need of a higher dosage to get the job done. It keeps one enslaved in a most insideous fashion. It will make the body feel ill when it is not present, and it reverses the virtue of human pride to strengthen its grasp on the person. The proud man or woman finds it difficult to admit they are being kept in servitude by a pill or a drink. So they fight it by themselves, hoping for a victory that is always just out of reach. Finally, a disaster strikes; a disaster which either kills the person or causes such an upset in their lives that they must get help. There is usually no inbetween, the person either is forced to get outside help to combat the multi-pronged power of addiction, or they die a miserable death. Oxycontin is the lastest and greatest in the arena of addictive substances.

[tahiti]

Hello Mr. Mulshine,(the author of the article)

The theme of your article is correct.

Your only error is confusing a “conservative” as being equal to conserving liberty.

A conservative and conservation of liberty is an oxymoron.

That is why I hate being labeled a conservative almost as much as I hate being labeled a liberal, a Democrat, a socialist or a communist.

[Lucky2]

I love Stern and I love Rush. Stern is more libratarian although he was a consistant supporter of Algore and isn't interested in hillary and her presidential ambitions. Stern is all over the map politically. Rush however is consistent in his conservative beliefs. He doesn't waiver.

[Orangedog]

I believe also that most current "victimized" drug users support the WOD. It fits with their outlook.

"Drugs made me do it" segues to "Please force me to stop".

That's the problem that I've had with AA and all the other 12-step programs. They insist that you admit that you are powerless...horsesh*t!

I like Rush but disagree with him and a lot of other conservatives on the drug war. The conservatives have the war on drugs and the liberals have their war on poverty...both misguided and unconstitutional, but both are massive jobs programs, so they aren't going anywhere. Do people who use drugs ruin their lives?...some do, others don't. But if you're not free to ruin your own life, how free are you? Somehow this country managed to keep from self destructing for the 100+ years that things like pot, morphine and cocaine were legal. IMO, we would survive if they were legal again.

[Orangedog]

Not to mention some are bad advice... such as the "Buy Gold" ads.

Gold has gone from about $260/oz to over $375/oz in the past two years...sounds like it was good advice to me.

[Soliton]

You must be Mulshine. Nobody could really confuse Stern's hedonism as a political philosophy.

Rush is a fiscal and a social conservative, social conservatives are moralists and ethicists.

Illegal drugs hurt people. Even marijuana. (See WHO Rreport). Social conservatives are against legalization on these grounds alone.

If Rush is guilty as charged, his opposition to legalization would not only be consistant with Conservatism, but would be consistant with his statement in the posted article that legalization is "selfish". Certainly, if Rush is an abuser, being pro-legalization would be selfish on his part. He isn't pro legalization, he isn't selfish, and he is a true conservative.

Mulshine is no conservative, fiscal or social. He is a poorman's libertarian. Whatever is good for Mulshine is good for all according to his poorly thought out creed.

[Soliton]

I immediately thought that this poster was the author himself too....

[.cnI redruM]

That's what I would say too.