Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: A kinder, gentler Rush?

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003 | 8:28 a.m.

A RUSHING TO judgment.

Depending upon whether you are a fan or not, the reaction to the news earlier this year that Rush Limbaugh was addicted to pain killers was either a time of celebration or concern. Celebration by those who consider Rush a loudmouth who has tapped into a gold mine of discontented people; and concern for those whose every breath is taken in the hopes that Rush's great and simplistic wisdom will imbue them with same kind of moral and political superiority that has made Rush the darling of the right.

The reaction was not that different from what followed William Bennett's fall from grace when the self-proclaimed arbiter of American morality was, himself, outed as something of a hypocrite for hiding from his adoring public a gambling addiction of sorts that had numbers in the millions floating about as potential losses. It matters not that the money was Bennett's to lose and that his particular vice was legal in almost all states, what matters is that the former drug czar of the United States was so busy telling the rest of us how to live that he forgot to share with us his own shortcomings. Americans can abide a sinner. We don't, however, like being made the fool.

Millions of people tuned in Monday to Rush Limbaugh's return to the airwaves following a self-imposed respite during which, we understand, he underwent drug rehabilitation and whatever other kind of therapy is prescribed under the circumstances. I did not listen to his show yesterday -- I don't have the time nor the inclination to drop whatever else I am doing to tune him in -- but I suspect that most, if not all, of his listeners did.

There is no question that Limbaugh has a large radio audience. It is beyond question that the right-wing radio talk show hosts have found the combination to unlock the key to millions of disenchanted Americans who get a daily dose of satisfactory reasons why life isn't going their way and who is to blame. It is just a wild guess, but I'd say you would be in line with Rush if you said it was liberals who are responsible for what ails us. Regardless of what that ailment is or what the real cause happens to be.

There are many Americans who feel left out or put upon by the right wingers among us and who believe that some fairness and balance need to be re-installed onto our airwaves, both radio and television. That is difficult to do because my research shows that the more liberal thinkers are too busy trying to worry about tomorrow to take the time to move us back to yesterday in our political, cultural and economic lives. In short, those at the center and to the left don't take the time to assign blame for what ails us, those to the right have not much better to do.

It is simply a sign of the times that the conservative media empires that have been allowed to be built over the past few decades have seen the light at the end of the tunnel and the gold at the end of the rainbow. In both cases, it is powered by a fundamental shift in American values that claims this country for those who belong and those who think in unison and by a more fundamental shift in dollars -- mostly toward those who play along with the in-crowd.

Fear not, though, this will all sort itself out once Americans realize that their own greed and fundamental religious fervor has caused this country deep financial and emotional pain. It is the pendulum thing that swings too far rightward and too far leftward without stopping at a much safer and saner place somewhere around the middle of rational thought.

And one of the people who will start moving that pendulum back toward a responsible center is Rush Limbaugh. For regardless of what he says or does to assuage his devoted listeners, the fact remains that he has fallen far short of the kind of lifestyle he preaches for everyone else. Whatever his stance on drugs and addiction, from now on Rush is one of them, one of those people who can't stand up by themselves.

It matters not that he accepts responsibility for his actions, the jackpot in which he has found himself is one in which millions of Americans can be found.

So, to accept his shortcomings and move on down the road, the public will have to be more accepting of the shortcomings of others. And for Rush to expect any thinking member of his large listening audience to show him mercy and forgiveness, he will have to show it to others -- something he has been less than willing to do in the past.

Bottom line?

A kinder, gentler Rush Limbaugh. Or a more callous hypocrite of the first order willing to continue tapping into a sea of discontented malcontents all for just one reason. Money.

Get your bets down fast and save a little room for a Bill Bennett wager. The odds on redemption are getting longer by the day.