Rush Limbaugh: Open Line Friday [Confirms Some Aspects of Drug Story, Checking In To Rehab]

[Skooz]

However, he did not lie, weasel, or deny.
He admitted addiction to pain killers.
He simply 'fessed up, and stated he would immeadiately take steps to correct the problem.

Yeah, I would consider that strong character.

Like I said earlier: He has more class than all his critics combined.

[A CA Guy]

Maybe a Jerry Lewis implant would work?

[Admin Moderator]

Peace.

[WackyKat]

I don't know how so many people can defend Rush and dump on anti-WoD people at the same time

It's because they are irrational, inconsistent,and blinded by hero worship.

They think there should be one lenient standard of behavior for people like Rush and Bill Bennett, and another harsher standard for the ordinary folk.

[blackie]

Well ~ thanks. :)

[new cruelty]

Whatever else I may have said, let's it from here on be water under the bridge.

"I'm sorry" always helps.

[huck von finn]

Rush doesn't sound good at all.

[MrLeRoy]

I'm not saying that to you, even though the Jets are playing Buffalo this weekend.

LOL! I hear Pennington will be back in a few weeks.

[Dane]

I'd be interested in your response to post 222(jmc813's reply #420

You mean this typical DU reponse from a DU fan on post #222 of this thread, rightbanker.

But I do wonder why all this sympathy for rich, white, Republican junkie, and utter indifference to the plight of all those others caught up in our insane and inane drug laws?

Rush has admitted his problem and he needs our support and prayers, and like I said to you before when this story first broke, we are not Gods, like the Libertarian party members thin they are.

Once you realize that reality, maybe you won't be so damned smug, like Hillary.

[goldstategop]

:)

[MineralMan]

"I share that hope with you. At times I've found some of the holier than though responses to people who were addicted almost enough to turn me away from FR.
"

Thanks. I'm not a rabid anti-WOD type, but I do cringe at some of the attitudes here on FR toward the run of the mill drug addict.

Many of those folks also took the drugs, at the beginning, for one sort of pain or another, but the addiction got the better of them.

Yes, addicts steal and break other laws to support their habits. Most don't have the financial resources to maintain their addictions or to get the rehab help they need.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but an addict is an addict. I think it is time to begin treating addiction not as a crime but as the illness that it is.

The high school kid just becoming addicted to crack or heroin or some other drug needs the same concern we're showing toward Rush, in my opinion. Anything less is hypocritical.

[RaceBannon]

"Rehab really doesn't work. He's screwed. Once a junkie, almost always a junkie."

I am a former addict myself. You can quit.

The main arguements that people call their adictions are actualy problems with dealing with life, Spiritual issues, answered when a person cosiders their relationship with God more than their worldly relationship.

I am a FORMER addict, not one now. Now, I am just a sinner saved by grace.

That being said, I do not feel sorry for Rush. I know what addiction is, and I know what Rush has been saying for years about who he is and what he stands for.

Rush has made himself a huge hippocrite for this. Clearly. WHile I hope he gets straight, and I mean that, this is not a time to embrace him like he is just an iinnocent fallen soul. He is a cultural icon who knew exactly what he was doing, and it took someone to corner him into admitting his problem.

If Rush had said he was an addict on his own, I would feel much better about his chances. Right now, as someone who used to do drug counseling in jails, I donot feel Rush will really face this until he truely admits to himself he is responsible for his actions and must humble himself totally.

Too many people admit addictions when they are arrested, not before. That is one sign of honesty and genuineness. Rush admitted it once he was found out, once he was cornered, not before. People might also have reason to doubt his sincerity as far as wanting to quit because of this, too.

One factor that makes people quit more than others, is money. If Rush sees this as a career ender if he does not get straight, then he might repent truely, just to keep a jobb. Many people do just that, and the change is real and permament. Some just do it for image.

Rush is human, and he is capable of all the choices I listed above: lying to himself, lying to us, facing only half the issue, and facing all the issue.

Rush needs to be humbled to make this work, not praised now. Rush did something wrong, to embrace him when he should be feeling complete remorse is wrong.

His surgery pain is not an excuse, and if Rush meant it when he said he is not a victim, he might have taken the first step. However, his money is going to be a problem when it comes to his recovery.

Being rich, he needs no new job. He can retire right now a billionaire or so. That affects people, they dont go to the bottom that makes them look up, the bottom that tels them they are in the gutter and need help.

Rush was forced into this by a media revelation, not a personal one.

Get better Rush, but lets face it: You lost credibility, and you need to rebuild it through your own actions and life. And do yourseelf a favor: do NOT come out as someone who leads othjers to treatment for at least 2 years, you will look like an idiot.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

RUSH's checking into Rehab just came across as "Breaking News" in Los Angeles Local KCAL-TV News.

Freerepublic.com Lead = 4 Hours

[eyespysomething]

His message is still right.

[LanPB01]

Well, my mental image of you is further shifting. Sweet!

[Mr.Atos]

I'm reminded of two things that Rush has stressed lately and throughout his career.

1. Don't try this at home.

2. I do not think that the American public should be forced to pay for my prescription drugs.

[Skooz]

Wow, there. You need to sit down and take a deep breath of whatever you were smoking. It's starting to wear off.

What?

Huh?

[Wolfie]

Face it, rich white junkies (especially ones who espouse your own political views) are some much more palatable than the poor, minority, street version.

[rightbanker]

Drugs are a problem. On that you and I agree. I've seen their effects close up on a member of my own family, my own brother died basically because of his addiction.

But the laws ARE a problem, a serous problem. We treat an illness as a criminal offense, mainly because of the social damage our refusal to deal with the illness as an illness causes. We do so on the basis of, god knows what mistaken view of the world. then it gets all tied up in the incredible stew of racial and class politics in our insane social order.

[weegee]

Johnny Cash didn't want to have to tackle possible pain killer addiction again and he endured a lot of pain in his final years. I don't offer this as a solution to Rush, just a comment that addiction can be a problem.