Rush Limbaugh's NFL comments

Perhaps he resigned over this controversy instead? Two controversies on the same man in one week. Looks like someone is out to get him!



http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-110349c.html

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Rush Limbaugh
in pill probe
By TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, October 2nd, 2003

Talk-radio titan Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug ring.
The moralizing motormouth was turned in by his former housekeeper - who says she was Limbaugh's pill supplier for four years.

Wilma Cline, 42, says Limbaugh was hooked on the potent prescription drugs OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone - and went through detox twice.

"There were times when I worried," Cline told the National Enquirer, which broke the story in an edition being published today. "All these pills are enough to kill an elephant - never mind a man."

Cline could not be reached for further comment yesterday, but her lawyer, Ed Shohat of Miami, said his client "stands behind the story."

The Daily News independently confirmed that Limbaugh is under investigation.

His lawyers, Jerry Fox and Dan Zachary, refused to comment on the accusations and said any "medical information" about him was private and not newsworthy.

They said Limbaugh - who has a top-rated syndicated radio show but resigned early today from a weekly ESPN football segment amid criticism of racial comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb - was traveling and had no comment.

The Palm Beach County state attorney's office, which is running the probe, said it could not confirm or deny the allegations.

Scoring in parking lot

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 to the conservative commentator 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 missive, Limbaugh pushed Cline to get more "little blues" - code for OxyContin, the powerful narcotic nicknamed hillbilly heroin, she said.

"You know how this stuff works ... the more you get used to, the more it takes," the May 2002 E-mail reads. "But I will try and cut down to help out."

The account Cline gave the Enquirer is that she became Limbaugh's drug connection in 1998, nine months after taking a housekeeping job at his Palm Beach mansion.

It started after her husband, David, hurt himself in a fall, and Limbaugh asked how he was.

"He asked me casually, 'Is he getting any pain medication?' I said, 'Yes - he's had surgery, and the doctor gave him hydro-codone 750,'" Cline said. "To my astonishment, he said, 'Can you spare a couple of them?'"

Husband's pills

Cline said she gave Limbaugh 10 pills the next day and agreed to give him 30 of her husband's pills each month. When the doctor stopped renewing the prescription in early 1999, Limbaugh allegedly went ballistic.

"His tone was nasty and bullying. He said, 'I don't care how or what you do, but you'd better - better! - get me some more,'" Cline said.

The housekeeper said she found a new supplier and arranged to hide Limbaugh's stashes under his mattress so his wife, Marta, wouldn't find them.

After several months, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox and didn't need any more pills, Cline said.

But a month later, he said his left ear was hurting and asked her for hydrocodone, followed by an order for OxyContin.

Limbaugh, 52, suffered from autoimmune ear disease, a condition that left him deaf and had to be corrected with cochlear implant surgery two years ago.

Cline said she continued to make deliveries to Limbaugh even after she quit as his housekeeper in July 2001 - but he became increasingly paranoid, even patting her down for recording devices, she said.

In June 2002, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox a second time.

After he returned, "I went to talk to him, and he cried a little bit," she said. "He told me that if it ever got out, he would be ruined."

She claimed that a lawyer for Limbaugh gave her a payoff - $80,000 he owed her, plus another $120,000 - and asked her to destroy the computer that contained the E-mail records.

Soon after, Cline and her husband retained Shohat and contacted prosecutors.


Feeling no pain


The drugs Rush Limbaugh is accused of abusing are legal only with a doctor's prescription. All are habit-forming.

- Hydrocodone

Anti-cough agent and painkiller similar to morphine. Side effects include anxiety, poor mental performance, emotional dependence, drowsiness, mood changes, difficulty breathing and itchiness.

- Lorcet

Brand name for the combination of Tylenol and hydrocodone, prescribed for moderate to severe pain. Side effects include dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite, dizziness, tiredness, muscle twitches, sweating and itching.

- OxyContin

Potent time-release medication for relief of moderate to severe pain, known as hillbilly heroin because of black-market popularity in some rural areas. Side effects include drowsiness, dizziness, sweating, muscle twitches and decreased sex drive. A large dose can be fatal.

I'm not holding a lot in the drug scandal either. If it was just the Enquirer, I would have completely ignored it, but I find it curious that the NY Daily News picked it up also - they have claimed to have confirmed it thru 2 sources.

Personally, I really think that Rush has just p*ssed off someone in power bad enough that he is about to take a fall. How many people have back to back scandals thrown at them in a single week? Not many unless you are are high-ranking politician or something.

Rush has been bashing people for years on his radio show and he did no different on ESPN. His mistake on ESPN is that he was on a show where people came for sports, not to hear his bashing. Of course his listening audience is going to take offense at it!

I am biased in this regard, since I view 'Talk Radio' and the elevation of its hosts to something other than paid performers & loudmouths, as utter nonsense. What special distinction does Rush Limbaugh have that allows him to bea sports commentator? I have to assume that ESPN hired him specifically because he was likely to
say things that ranged from the controversial to the rediculous, not because of his knowledge of sports. I don't follow the NFL that much anymore, but when I did, I had the impression that everyone understands that the quarterback's success depends on his skills and those of the offensive line that protects him, and that the team's
success depends on everyone. If he felt that McNabb was overrated, he could have commented on his abilities, on a sport's analysis level, without referencing the fact that he was black. IMO, he added the comment that McNabb was over-rated because he was black, specifically to be controversial, and in this case, it bit him on the a$$. Why did the 2 men sitting on the stage with him not respond to his race comment? Because they work for ESPN. I cannot imagine that ESPN management had not previously discussed with their employees how to react to Limbaugh's comments if he strayed into his radioshow rhetoric.

I didn't really see it as Limbaugh having an issue with the man's race, either. I'm not a fan of Limbaugh or his politics, but I agree this has been taken WAY out of proportion.

I think everyone is getting TOO sensative these days. Everything is politically incorrect anymore. I just think we need to lighten up a little bit. Life is too short for everyone to be offended over silly little things that someone like Rush Limbaugh said. If he'd have said something similar about a Jewish person, I as a Jewish person would have let it roll off my shoulder.

I agree with you. I also think that a lot of this big hoopla is due to the fact that it was Rush Limbaugh who said it. If another commentator had have said the same thing, no one would have thought a thing about it. However, the press and the media are usually biased against Conservatives, and Rush Limbaugh is Conservatism's BIGGEST mouth, so of course, they are looking to find "any" thing in what he said.

Sorry, Hope. I didn't hear the report on CNN.The only show I watch on CNN is Larry King from time to time. I read the Associated Press article on what had happened. I've lived long enough to have my own opinions on things, which is what I stated in my post. (And by the way, I watched the coverage of the war in Iraq on FoxNews.)

Unfortunately, race is still a HUGE issue in the U.S. People don't like hearing that, but it is true. It isn't mentioned on a daily basis, like during the Civil Rights movement in the 60s, but many times, on all levels, race plays a part in decision-making. I guess we are supposed to know it, but just not mention it. I have heard from a number of people that Tony Dungy (head coach of the Indianapolis Colts) would have noramlly been canned by now, but because there are so few Black head coaches in the NFL......

I agree that this was blown out of proportion. Didn't Limbaugh also say something about Democrats wanting the black players to succeed? I don't see where he should mix politics and sports, he can make his political comments on his radio show, and save ESPN for sports talk.

I am not at all sure of my facts here, but I do remember a few years ago that there was a statistic about racism in football, in that despite the racial diversity of the sport, the "glory" position of quarterback was still overwhelmingly white. So his point could be, that an African American QB gets greater scrutiny, because he is in some ways, breaking racial barriers. And good for him! But he said it all wrong. Very very wrong.

And I have McNabb in my Fantasy Football league. I know nothing about American football, (and very little about the CFL, but that's another story). I had not idea he was black. Go McNabb!!! Win me some points!!!!

I'm sure most of you have read this or something like it, but Rush is checking himself into treatment for an addiction to painkillers.

Story on CNN.com is here.

I think the point of the resignation was not that what he said was particularly racist or meant in a degrading way (although I could see how black people could see it that way) but rather about the response to it. If it had a huge negative response and groups were calling for his dismissal, it would make it seem as though ESPN was taking sides if they kept Rush. Like how you wouldn't play marilyn manson to a group of christians, you should make arguably racist comments to a bunch of sports fans.. If people are upset something has to be done, after all, ESPN is a business like all others. Are they going to stake their reputation on Rush?

And isn't it strange that he chose to go public about his addiction right after this controversy? It seems to me like he's trying to take the focus off of him being a racist and onto him being a victim.. Even though he specifically said that he doesn't want to be thought of as a victim, etc, he's still going to get pity now..