The Rush drug story is — no pun intended — a pretty
big downer. I hope it’s all untrue, but the fact that he’s refusing to talk
about these charges tells me that there’s probably something to them.
Assuming that what’s been reported is true, how should we think about it?
Well, first we should feel compassion for the guy. Addiction is a terrible
thing, and if Rush is fighting this, he needs our prayers and our help. That
said, I hope the Right doesn’t go into knee-jerk defensive mode over this.
If the reports pan out, this deal with Rush involves more than, say, a
weakness for booze. This involves breaking the law, and worse, pressing a
housekeeper into doing the same. Those of us who excoriated the Left for
throwing their principles overboard to defend Bill Clinton — I’m thinking
of Nina Burleigh in particular — must be true to what we believe in. Again,
let’s hope the reports are false, and that Rush can file a big fat libel
suit when the smoke clears. But we need to be prepared to react without
hypocrisy if the worst proves true — no matter what Al Franken and the
usual gang of idiots have to say. Politics isn’t everything, you know.