Yes, on the same day that Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn into office as da governator of California, Rush Limbaugh returned to the airwaves to prove that words don't mean things after all.
Since details of his drug addiction have become public, he's been called hypocritical for harshly denouncing drug addicts and calling for tough punishments, while he himself was addicted to drugs. His response, per WaPo:
"there's no hypocrisy . . . just because I was doing something that appeared to be contradictory. . . . My behavior doesn't change right and wrong."
Click here for a definition of "hypocrisy."
Also from the WaPo article:
"Despite his drug use, Limbaugh told his audience of 20 million, 'I was honest with you the whole time.'""He disputed critics who said he had been unduly harsh on drug abusers -- saying, for example, that they should be 'convicted' and sent 'up the river' -- insisting yesterday that such comments were taken out of context. 'I avoided the subject of drugs for the precise reason that I was keeping a secret,' he said. But Limbaugh admitted that when callers would talk about painkillers such as OxyContin, he would pretend not to know what it was."
"Had his staff known his secret, he said, 'they couldn't have stopped me. I would have found a way around it. I would have manipulated, lied, whatever it took -- I was an addict.' "
Thanks for clearing that up, Rush: you were honest the whole time, but you pretended you didn't know what OxyContin was, despite being addicted to it. And you didn't lie, but you would have if you had reason to. It all makes sense now! Thanks for being such a beacon of morality! And I'll send you a dictionary for Christmas so you don't accidentally say things like "there's no hypocrisy" anymore.
Rush Limbaugh can suck my nuts! And I'm not gonna wash 'em first!
[Those of you with good memories will recall I did a post on the evils of ellipses, and yet here I use a twice-ellipsed quote; isn't that hypocritical, you might ask? Well, no! I just said one thing and did another. What's hypocritical about that? My behavior doesn't change right and wrong.]
Posted by Chris at November 18, 2003 11:30 PM | TrackBackLimbaugh is just another dumbass media guy (in a long long long list of dumbass media people)aka 'sidline quarterback' who should have found something better to do with his life- except I'm guessing that he found that this paid exceptionally well because for some reason people will pay big money to hear what they've already decided they want to hear.
Save those dirty nuts for someone serious like Bush, Ashcroft or Streisand. (IMO) ;-D
Well, heck yeah. And it's a damn good thing.
Why wouldn't you want to listen to someone say the things you've always thought but with a professional level of charisma, wit, and talent? Even when those ideas are stupid. Especially when those ideas are stupid. Because you think they're very smart ideas. After all, they're yours, and to hear someone say them well makes you feel extra smart just for having them.
Posted by: Snack Master at November 19, 2003 05:46 PMTrue enough. Stupid ideas irritate me though. I need a cure.
Posted by: Dana at November 19, 2003 05:53 PMThe main threat I see from Rush is the reinforcement of stupid ideas, via lies. And not just individual ideas, but a whole stupid ideology. People actually believe in him to the degree that they call themselves "dittoheads." How sad is that?
Posted by: Chris at November 19, 2003 06:42 PMpeople actually call themselves that?? that's pretty pathetic- whatever happened to pride in individuality??? I blame, in part, pixar and the 'bugs life' cartoon they put out. I've yet to see anyone out there with any popularity to speak of that wasn't reinforcing stupid ideas and ideologies. Perhaps we should do with them what douglas adams proposed we do with all the hairdressers and telephone sanitizers- tell all media personalities and 'civil servants' that the earth is doomed and that it is their mission to crash land on to a new planet far far away and wait for the rest of us who, *snicker*, will be along shortly afterwards.
Posted by: Dana at November 19, 2003 09:01 PMWhatever happened to pride in individuality?! Why, one of Rush's 35 "Undeniable Truths" is "There is a distinct singular American culture - rugged individualism and self-reliance - which made America great!" So, you see, the whole point of America itself is to be ruggedly individualistic, or at least to blindly line up behind some other ruggedly individualistic guy! What's more ruggedly individualistic than calling yourself a dittohead?
Another good one: "Words mean things." Except the word "hypocrisy." (He didn't make that update yet, but I expect it shortly. I'm sure he reads this blog.)
Posted by: Chris at November 19, 2003 10:35 PMI just checked out that list-he's obviously an idiot- most obviously based on his '88 list from the site you linked- but in general for publishing a list. If it makes you feel better anyone who failed to see that he was an idiot way back then was more or less useless and would have screwed up anything useful had they attempted to participate in anything useful.. were it not for him... Y'know- they would have 'scored in the wrong goal' 'pushed the wrong button' or some such thing.
Posted by: Dana at November 20, 2003 07:40 AM