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It's been one heck of a two-week ride for Rush Limbaugh. This past summer, ESPN hired Limbaugh to provide controversial opinions and to boost the ratings for its Sunday NFL Countdown pre-game show. On Thursday, October 1, Limbaugh resigned over controversial racially-charged remarks he made on the Sunday, September 28th program. But his resignation did not end his troubles. Now, he's tackling a much bigger problem; charges that he's been involved in illegally obtaining thousands of prescription drugs without the requisite prescriptions and a six-year drug addiction. Kickoff to controversy A lot of heads were turned but no organized protest developed when ESPN added Limbaugh to its Sunday pre-game roster. It was, however, a head-scratcher because while no one disputed Limbaugh's interest in football, he had no special knowledge of the game, he never played the game at any serious level and he didn't have a reputation for having spent hours breaking down game tape. Clearly, ESPN hired Limbaugh for his opinions. Despite a reputation for being a multiple offender when it comes to racial issues, ESPN management expected Limbaugh to be controversial, but within the orbit of nuts and bolts football; weaving in some contentious opinions but keeping it within the sports realm - doing for ESPN what he's done for radio stations across the country - boost audiences and revenues. While ESPN veteran Chris Berman, the host of the program, and former National Football League stars Steve Young, former San Francisco 49er quarterback, Michael Irvin, former Dallas Cowboy wide receiver, and Tom Jackson, former Denver Bronco linebacker, are capable of providing basic insights on football, Limbaugh was supposed to take it up a notch: Some compared Limbaugh's hiring to when ABC hired Howard Cossell for its initial Monday Night Football broadcasts. 'Media…desirous that a black quarterback do well' However, on Sunday, September 28, Limbaugh went for it when he probably should have punted. He said: ''I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well,'' Limbaugh said on Sunday's show. ''There is a little hope invested in [Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan] McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team.'' Limbaugh's remarks brought down the house and not in a good way. On its merits, his comments showed what skeptics had charged all along, that he really knows little about football. He wrongly criticized the skills of McNabb, an all-pro quarterback who has helped carry his team to playoff games over the past few seasons. And Limbaugh's larger point that the so-called liberal media was trying to shine an uncritical light on black quarterbacks was also patently ridiculous: All you have to do is go into the archives and check out the negative coverage African American quarterbacks Tony Banks and Cordell Stewart have received over the past few years. On Thursday, October 2, Limbaugh was forced to resign from ESPN. The network quickly accepted his resignation. As Jim Rome, popular sports radio talk show host and the host of "Rome is Burning" on ESPN television pointed out on his radio program on Thursday, "He [Limbaugh] crossed the line when he brought race" into the conversation. "Anyone in football, in all of sports should be offended [by Limbaugh's remarks]. Donovan McNabb made a believer out of me last year. He is one hell of a football player in all aspects of the game," Marvin Lewis, the African American coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, told Jim Rome on Thursday. Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie accused ESPN of "institutional racism" for its decision to hire Rush Limbaugh in the first place. "Some of the events of this week are built with institutional racism," Lurie told the Associated Press. "It exists. Let's not hide it. Let's not make us believe the problem is a single person. It's far from that." Limbaugh, however, launched a counter-attack based on freedom of speech issues. "In certain places…you can't express an opinion," Limbaugh told a convention of the National Association of Broadcasters on Thursday in Philadelphia. Look for him to play the martyr card on upcoming programs. Prescription drugs without a prescription
Various news services reported that "Cline told the Enquirer she went to prosecutors with information about Limbaugh and others after four years of drug deals that included clandestine handoffs in a Denny's parking lot….[and that] she wore a wire during her last two deliveries and gave the tapes to authorities." Cline maintained a "ledger documenting how many pills she claimed to have bought for him - 4,350 in one 47-day period - and e-mails she claimed Limbaugh sent her, including one e-mail in which "Limbaugh urged Cline to get more 'little blues,' the street name for the powerful narcotic OxyContin, she said." "'You know how this stuff works ... the more you get used to, the more it takes,' the May 2002 e-mail read. 'But I will try and cut down to help out.'" Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates the politically focused Rush Limbaugh Show, issued a statement from Limbaugh saying: "I am unaware of any investigation by any authority involving me. No government representative has contacted me directly or indirectly. If my assistance is required, I will, of course, cooperate fully." Then came the "bombshell." On Friday, October 10, Limbaugh told his audience: "You know I have always tried to be honest with you and open about my life. So I need to tell you today that part of what you have heard and read is correct. I am addicted to prescription pain medication. "I first started taking prescription painkillers some years ago when my doctor prescribed them to treat post surgical pain following spinal surgery. Unfortunately, the surgery was unsuccessful and I continued to have severe pain in my lower back and also in my neck due to herniated discs. I am still experiencing that pain. Rather than opt for additional surgery for these conditions, I chose to treat the pain with prescribed medication. This medication turned out to be highly addictive. "Over the past several years I have tried to break my dependence on pain pills and, in fact, twice checked myself into medical facilities in an attempt to do so. I have recently agreed with my physician about the next steps. "Immediately following this broadcast, I am checking myself into a treatment center for the next 30 days to once and for all break the hold this highly addictive medication has on me. The show will continue during this time, of course, with an array of guest hosts you have come to know and respect. "I am not making any excuses. You know, over the years athletes and celebrities have emerged from treatment centers to great fanfare and praise for conquering great demons. They are said to be great role models and examples for others. Well, I am no role model. I refuse to let anyone think I am doing something great here, when there are people you never hear about, who face long odds and never resort to such escapes. They are the role models. I am no victim and do not portray myself as such. I take full responsibility for my problem. "At the present time, the authorities are conducting an investigation, and I have been asked to limit my public comments until this investigation is complete. So I will only say that the stories you have read and heard contain inaccuracies and distortions, which I will clear up when I am free to speak about them.
On October 5, 1995, Rush "was roaring about the scourge of illegal drug use," New York Newsday columnist Ellis Henican recently wrote. "There's nothing good about drug use," Limbaugh said. "We know it. It destroys individuals. It destroys families. Drug use destroys societies. Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies and neighborhoods which become consumed by them. And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up." Limbaugh's compassion for those harmed by drug addiction?" When the Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia died from a drug overdose Limbaugh told his audience: "When you strip it all away, Jerry Garcia destroyed his life on drugs. And yet he's being honored, like some godlike figure. Our priorities are out of whack, folks." For more of Limbaugh's compassionate conservative views of people dealing with drug problems and other personal issues, read some of the transcripts gathered from Limbaugh's past programs collected at Eschaton's Web site ( http://atrios.blogspot.com/ ). Years ago, popular televangelist Jimmy Swaggart was brought down when he was found to have been cavorting for years with prostitutes; Jim Bakker, served time in the pen, lost his multi-million dollar religious empire, and his wife Tammy Faye, as a result of a series of sex scandals and fraudulent business activities; William Bennett, the self-appointed maven of morality has thankfully been silenced after it was revealed that he had/s a major gambling jones. Now we find that Limbaugh has been hopped up on pills for several years. What's next? There never were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? |
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Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has had a rough October. First, he makes a racial comment about an NFL quarterback, then revelations about the abuse of pain killers 
Rush Limbaugh's misfortunes are the blessings of political commentators like Al Franken who have skewered the portly right winger for years 
A Rush Limbaugh parody mocks the talk show hosts past support for the Revs. Falwell and Robertson