That Oxycontin Rush

Unlike the rest of his get-tough-on-crime rhetoric, Rush Limbaugh has been pretty consistently opposed to the War on Drugs. I give him points for the stand, just about the only one where he and I share common ground. Well, except that Donovan McNabb is overrated (at least thus far in the season), though not for reasons of race. I drafted him in the 2nd round of my fantasy football league and he's languished on the bench all season with miserable stats. Thank goodness for Steve McNair and Marc Bulger, who have led The Mustard Truck to a rumblin' 4-0-0 start in his stead.

Anyhow, the big news is that Rush's resignation from ESPN, nominally for his ill-considered remarks about McNabb, may have been more about the swirling allegations that his housekeeper has been supplying him with thousands of painkillers for years. Now, the real reason he should have resigned is that, having watched him all season, I can state with full confidence that the man knows far less about football than politics. His "challenges," as they were called on the show, were so utterly wrong time and again that you could hear eyes rolling every time he threw out his little red flag.

But to the matter at hand: the story was broken by the National Enquirer, which has some credibility issues (to say the least), but then was picked up by the New York Daily News and the investigation has been confirmed by CNN. According to this Atlanta Journal-Constitution article:

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. She said she wore a wire during her last two deliveries and gave the tapes to authorities. She also gave the Enquirer 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.

In one e-mail, 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."

Over 4,000 pills in a month and a half? Jeebus. That's a whopping huge number of painkillers. Huge. As rightwingnews.com points out, "if Rush was buying more than a few ounces of OxyContin or hydrocodone -- we could be talking 15-20 pills here -- he could be facing a conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance charge. [...] That would mean Rush could be facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years."

Oh my. Let me state for the record, that is a completely stupid law and mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses are one of the worst ideas to roll out of any legislature in years. What Mr. Limbaugh needs is rehab (which, his housekeeper alleges, he has been through twice already), just like anybody with a drug addiction. All the same, I have to admit to a certain amount of schadenfreude, after listening to his pompous barrage of slander and distortions over the years. I have no desire to see him in jail, but I sure would like him to sweat about it for a while. Life grants few spectacles more pleasing than self-righteous moralists hoisted upon their own petards.

Now, could somebody please find video of Sean Hannity and Joe Scarborough partying with R. Kelly? Because in all honesty, this one is starting to lose its luster. (Despite initial appearances, that link is safe for work.)

UPDATE (5:37 pm): Over at Fantastic Planet, Jeremy Puma deserves kudos for pulling on the hip waders and trudging through the Free Republic sewer. Why would any sane person do such a thing? Why, to bring us the hilarious moral contortions the Dittoheads are putting themselves through over this, of course. Oh, they are avatars of compassion and fairness now, aren't they?

UPDATE (6:04 pm): As Kynn notes in the comments, and Atrios demonstrates across several posts, while Rush may have opposed the War on Drugs, he has displayed precious little sympathy or compassion for the people caught up in it. So yes, I definitely want to see him sweat, sweat, sweat on this one.