Rush Transcripts

Not surprisingly, various sources are turning up quotes from Rush Limbaugh in which Rush demands jail time for those using drugs illegally. ABC has this quote:

Back in 1995, Limbaugh told his audience on the syndicated Rush Limbaugh, The Television Show that people who are obtaining drugs illegally should be held responsible.

"Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. 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," he said to his audience during the broadcast.

And here in Newsday, Rush is quoted as follows:

"What this says to me," he told his listeners that day, "is that too many whites are getting away with drug use. Too many whites are getting away with drug sales. Too many whites are getting away with trafficking in this stuff. The answer to this disparity is not to start letting people out of jail because we're not putting others in jail who are breaking the law. The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too."

Now these quotes predate his alleged illegal drug use by three years.

But Rush's lack of sympathy for the addicted is very current. Three months ago, he wrote this commentary (presumably either a script prepared for his program or a transcript from it):

Drunks Sue Big Booze

July 21, 2003

Last week, I brought you the junk science study making the absurd claim that fast food is as addictive as heroin....

Now this from UPI: "Glasgow, Scotland - A dozen alcoholics ranging in age from 18 to 60 are going to sue drink makers for not warning them about the dangers of alcohol.... Attorneys representing the group said they will employ tactics used by attorneys representing cancer victims in suits against tobacco companies in the United States."

I just don't believe it! Attorney Jim Price said, "Alcohol is now promoted in the same way that cigarettes were in the 1950s. Manufacturers want us to believe that drinking alcohol is sexy and trendy.' Yeah, Captain Morgan is the new Joe Camel. You know, there's this problem of not accepting responsibility for what you do. Somebody else is always to blame for the decisions you make. It's just maddening, this mentality to blame someone else for your thirty-seven adult beverages a day, and then find some greedy lawyer to buy you a ticket for the big-money lawsuit gravy train.

Maybe some good can come out of this story, apart from giving me such an easy target. Such as greater public support for drug law reforms. Is there any great benefit to jailing people for drug use, except maybe to keep them away from the drugs (assuming they can't get drugs in jail)?