Thursday, October 02, 2003

Rush Limbaugh is a drug crazed idiot
I’m home sick today and I slept in. When I got up and fired up the computer, the first thing I saw was that Rush is being investigated for prescription drug abuse. He is accused of buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug ring. I had two immediate thoughts.

First, is it connected to his quitting ESPN? Last night I thought it strange that someone who had so enjoyed provoking outrage over the years folded after three days of complaints from the very people he most enjoys annoying. I chalked it up to him getting wimpy in his old age. Now I wonder if someone in the Disney/ABC/ESPN corporate structure got wind of the drug probe and offered him the choice of leaving with some dignity or being tossed out on his ass.

Second, how should lefties respond to this? As a bleeding heart liberal, my first impulse is to feel compassion for the suffering and tragic trajectory that have led this poor man to the degrading depths of addiction. But Rush wouldn’t want it that way. As a champion of the personal weakness theory of addiction, I’m sure he’ll want us demand that he take some damn responsibility for his life and grow the fuck up. However painful it might be for us, the only way we can respect the man’s belief system is to gang up and kick him while he’s down.

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