Only quibble is with #2. I'd be satisfied if they held Kennedy to the same standard as they did Limbaugh. Not defending Limbaugh but he was pursued by prosecution and many times were on the edge of having their case thrown out because of some shady methods.

Kennedy's been held to the same standard as his father. Only he got lucky and didn't kill anyone so maybe it's a bit easier to sweep under the rug this time.

Aside from Kennedy, however, is the story of how the younger Capitol beat cops are having their Union sue over the older Capitol supervisors interfering in the case.

Also, wondering how Rep Cynthia McKinney is feeling about a rich, white guy getting his little crime covered up by the Capitol police and she's facing charges. Had this been a GOP Rep how quick do you think she would have been in front of the cameras?

Your analysis is very appropriate and I agree. Yet the sympathy for the Kennedy progeny is overflowing in the MSM and I am ready to vomit. On second thought, I often fell like vomiting after watching Anderson Little- oops, I mean Anderson Cooper.

The hypocrisy in the MSM is entirely expected and still is a bitter pill.

I like the one about Patrick being finally charged with DWK (Driving While Kennedy).

I remember that statement by Rush. I wasn't that enamored anyway, I've met him (I know radio talk show hosts), and why he feels the need to project a pompous blowhard persona (He's really sharp), I've never understood. But I heard that thing on Chelsea also, and it was bullshit. Even worse, except for the chain smoking, she aint too bad.

Being in business for myself, I am rarely able to listen to Rush. Over at Powerline, Scott Johnson quotes a reader who wrote to say that Rush has called the ongoing story of Patrick Kennedy a great private tragedy, and that he, Rush Limbaugh, feels it would be unworthy to "pile on."
That said, perhaps it might be time to re-examine your own bias against Rush.

Sheesh:

Limbaugh never put anyone else in physical danger during his drug use.

As far as you know -- which is not far at all, is it? So in all those years he never drove a car while on pain meds? I find your omniscience to be somewhat glitchy today; somebody get this guy a cup of coffee.

Kennedy is a public OFFICIAL. Kennedy must be held to a higher standard than Limbaugh.

Just about everybody is on Wizbang, including Beelzebub, Al Capone and Moose Moussaoui.

Limbaugh has shown a bit more responsibility, coming clean on the specifics of his problem.

Yes, after his arrest, he came wonderfully clean. As a moral paragon, I rank him right up there with "Lucky" Bill Bennett and Newt "Player" Gingrich.

drjohn:

Yet the sympathy for the Kennedy progeny is overflowing in the MSM

Can you post a link to one of these "sympathetic" stories? All I hear is that there are large gaps in his little story.

I say lets leave Patches to his own IF he gives up his elected office and further political ambitions. Otherwise he's blog-fodder.

As noted above and previously, I'm more interested in:

a) the Capitol Police Cover Up [CPCU]
b) the Prescription Drug Abuse Professionally Enabled [PDAPE]

I want to see an DOJ/FBI investigation of a) and DEA investigation of b).

PDQ.

I don't think the Kennedy genes are for indestructibility. I think they're for risk-taking and I do believe it has a biological foundation. And look at the results: a great fortune made, enormous number of family members in higher office and highly placed in various companies and institutions, three of Ted Kennedy's brothers dead as young men. Rampant substance abuse, criminal behavior, and death at an early age among the younger generation.

The pundits have been exuding nothing but sympathy for young Kennedy. The same pundits had nothing but crass and snide remarks for Limbaugh. There is currently nothing of the kind. All wee see are explanations of how hard it is to be an addict and why they need our support. Here's your link:

http://newsbusters.org/blog/40

Patches Kennedy was drunk, just like dear old dad.
The "I thought I had to vote" story was just that, a story, and he was coherent enough to use his daddy's advice when he needed to. He was seen drinking in the hours before the crash, and until somebody shows me the actual prescriptions Kennedy supposedly got filled, I don't believe him. Phenergan(the medicine he said he was taking for "gastroenteritis") WILL make you tired. In fact it wil make you SO TIRED, you don't need to take AMBIEN on top of it to sleep. I've taken phenergan, and literally couldn't stay awake.
Show me the pharmacy where he got the phenergan, and then show me the filled prescriptions. Until then, he's just another drunk.

"And look at the results: a great fortune made"

...off of running alcohol in from Canada during Prohibition.

Not only risk-taking, but law-breaking without any serious consequences.

And another thing: we have not yet gotten close to the truth about the drugs yet. As noted in the link above, Chip Reid speaks of he himself being addicted to "painkillers." Let's forget for the moment that Reid was not as forthcoming during the Limbaugh epsiode.

Phenergan is NOT a pain killer. It is an anti-emetic. Ambien is NOT a pain killer. It is a sleeping pill.

So where are the painkillers? Is Kennedy taking more drugs than we already know? Is he doctor-shopping? Phenergan and Ambien potentiate each other, i.e. together they enhance the effects of each drug. What doctor would prescibe both Phenergan and Ambien to a known addict?

drjohn:

Here's your link

That's the best you can do? A link to someone's carefully spun characterization of a story on a soft news show that features lost dog stories and this week's weight-loss gimmick? Your proof that the monolithic mythical MSM is being soft on a Kennedy is that you can spin a story and distort some newshack's comment?

Pathetic.

...off of running alcohol in from Canada during Prohibition. Not only risk-taking, but law-breaking without any serious consequences.

Cirby, ya dink, running booze is one of the better things the Kennedys ever did for this country. Think of how dry we were back then, how desolate -- and here come the Kennedys, hauling Canadian rye and barrels of precious malt, in all kinds of weather. God bless them.

What, you're against alcohol? Shame on you for showing up on a political blog.

No spin No win..

Another apologista link:

http://www.exposetheleft.com/2006/05/05/bash-kennedy-alcoholism/

And another:

http://www.floppingaces.net/?p=1616

And here:

On the opening of last night's edition of Countdown, host Keith Olbermann said "now he can wizz all over himself instead of everybody else" on the subject of Rush Limbaugh's mandatory random drug test. Olbermann presented this as if it were "news", when instead Rush has had to do them for years.

Later in the broadcast, Olbermann ran a smear segment on Rush, as if there was any more news, saying "at least now when he wizzes all over himself, there is a good reason for it".

Olbermann ended his Limbaugh coverage with a jab at his weight saying, "and while no specifics about the random drug screenings were revealed, there is no truth to rumors that Limbaugh will also be tested for steroids and meatloaf."

Courtesy exposetheleft.com

http://www.exposetheleft.com/2006/05/02/olbermann-rush-wizz/

"Cirby, ya dink, running booze is one of the better things the Kennedys ever did for this country."

That it was against the law is no problem, eh? That law was foolish, but it was the law. It was not for Joe Kennedy, the Nazi sympathizer to decide whether the law was worth following or not.

Wait a minute- what the hell am I saying?

The Kennedy's always do that.

"astigafa"---can you say hyp-o-crit?

That it was against the law is no problem, eh?

None at all, person who in all likelyhood does not drive the speed limit at all times; none at all.

It was not for Joe Kennedy, the Nazi sympathizer to decide whether the law was worth following or not.

Joe was not the only Nazi sympathizer back then, sweetie: lotsa people, Republicans such as Charles Lindburgh and social conservatives foremost among them, were Nazi sympathisers before the war, and, although I know neocon history textbooks don't go back that far, the Republican party was against America's entry into that particular war -- did not see anything wrong with Hitler until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Thanks for posting further links to still yet more additional spins on MSM stories, BTW: I have once again been validated.

-- Wait, isn't the Nazi party over there on the political right, somewhere to the left of Kim Priestep? This changes everything...

Poor old "Lard Hair" (K.O.) can't get over the fact that that he runs next to last in ratings on cable shows. (just mention O'Reilly-LOL)
P.S. Heard that he owns majority stock in Crisco.

jhow66:

"astigafa"---can you say hyp-o-crit?

Okay, "hyp-o-crit." Feel better?

Hypocrisy is the norm, bowb, wherever you go, whoever you are. The difference between me and thee is that I know this, and I am not hobbled by consistency.

drjohn:

So one of your links links in turn to a Boston Herald story that quotes a bartender at the Tune Inn as having seen Chippie drinking.

Now, I have a lot of neoconservative friends, and I see the struggles they have in their daily lives -- shaving, dressing, tying shoes, scars all over their faces from learning how to eat with a knife and fork, etc. -- and so I know that neoconservatism alone can have very debilitating effects, more so than pain meds, crack or Courvoisier, or indeed any combination of the three.

But here we have solid evidence of real impairment, and I must say that I fear for your well-being: Your proof that the MSM is coddling Kennedy is based on a story in a major MSM publication that says Kennedy had been seen drinking before his little fender-bender three weeks ago.

You're on acid, right?

WASHINGTON - Angry conservatives are driving the approval ratings of President Bush and the GOP-led Congress to dismal new lows, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that underscores why Republicans fear an Election Day massacre.

Six months out, the intensity of opposition to Bush and Congress has risen sharply, along with the percentage of Americans who believe the nation is on the wrong track.

I have been a Conservative Texan for a long Time.
We here in Texas are FED UP with this corruption.
That is not the way of our good Lord.

Why you want to HARP on the Kennedys is beyond me. The Liberal Elites of Ivey League is what Bush, Kerry, Kennedy and many others belong.
DO NOT THINK OF PARTY FIRST!!
These people are addicts, the Media Pandering to, or apologizng for the behaviour of the Few only serves to REINFORCE the addicts drug use.
Medicizing or Apologizing FOR ANY PERSON, because thats all they are, IS TANTAMOUNT to Appeasing that Persons drug Habit. YOU become the ENABLERS.
DO NOT PUT THESE PEOPLE ON A PEDESTAL
KENNEDY, RUSH whomever. STOP APOLOGIZING for the ELITISTS.

I for one, sees that the Republican Party has abandoned any of Ideas of Christianity for the love of the money God Mammon. That, as a servant to the LORD, I cannot and will not Support.

John 1;1
AETZI

"...he (Limbaugh) was assailing Bill Clinton's pandering nature and said "did you know the White House has a dog?" and put up a picture of then-13-year-old Chelsea Clinton. Limbaugh's defense is that his staff set it up and he didn't have time to go back and edit it out. I refuse to accept that explanation; it was a completely reprehensible and despicable action, and any person of decency, honor, and character would have MADE the time to prevent it from airing."

Yes, that pretty well sums the sliminesss that defines Rush Limbaugh, and the crowd who adores him.

"Limbaugh, in all likelihood, broke the law in seeking relief for a back injury. He was arrested, he has sought treatment, and now it looks like he will not be prosecuted."

Remember that he still lies about his innocence to this day, claiming he didn't break the law. The liar did plea bargain and seek treatment, but has never admimtted to breaking the law.

"1) Limbaugh never put anyone else in physical danger during his drug use. Kennedy got behind the wheel of a car (possibly twice) and could have injured or killed someone. (In that respect, he shows he's definitely his father's son, but a smidgen luckier. There was no Mary Jo Kopechne this time.)"

We don't know that Rush never drove while intoxicated - how cna you make that statement? We can't prove that one way or the other to be a fact. He just wasn't caught -- but I think it is a fair assumption that he drove while under the influence since his addition lasted for a long period of time.

"2) Limbaugh is a public figure, but Kennedy is a public OFFICIAL. Kennedy must be held to a higher standard than Limbaugh."

I agree.

"3) While both men have obviously succumbed to weakness, Limbaugh has shown a bit more responsibility, coming clean on the specifics of his problem. Patches, though, is still apparently trying to bluster and lie his way out of accepting responsibility. He's probably expecting a hero's welcome when he returns from drying out at the Mayo Clinic -- and will probably get it."

Rush only "came clean" after the story of his addiction was plasterd (wink) all over the tabloids. To this day he maintains he hasn't broken the law (a fact disputed by the D.A.) - so in effect Rush hasn't admitted anything that wasn't already known by all.

"4) Patches is about 16 years younger than Limbaugh (and, oddly enough, barely three months older than me). But he's still well past the age of majority, and in fact is old enough to have adult children and be a grandfather. The "sins of youth" excuse expired, for him, about 15-20 years ago."

I agree.

"In brief, both men have shown their weakness and have been pilloried for their deeds in catering to those weaknesses. But in the long run, Limbaugh will succeed or fail on his own efforts, while Kennedy will, in all likelihood, continue to coast through life riding his family's coattails, falling down and being picked back up, until he either learns to stand on his own and take responsibility for himself, or he ends up in an early grave -- fate that has befallen many of his family."

Big difference - Kennedy sought help on his own (or with the help of his family). Rush has to be forced into admitting and seeking treatment for his problem by an angry (and no doubt biased) press. Rush, to this day, says he didn't break the law, while Kennedy has admitted to driving while under the influence. Big difference.

I like the one about Patrick being finally charged with DWK (Driving While Kennedy).

LOL Very funny - great line!

astigafa

Thank you for posting your ignoranced of the anti-war movement of the post-WWI, Depression era.

Nothing but a Rethuglican/Nazi sympathizing movement, eh?

ahem

The America First Committee initially had seemed only the latest and most extreme example of isolationist opinion in the United States that had grown up in the 1920s, and which had become stronger during the Great Depression. There had been a widespread belief in America since 1919 that the country had gained nothing out of the First War. That this was not true had little effect. The earliest important anti-war organization, the Keep America Out of War Congress, had been created in 1938 by Socialist Norman Thomas with the help of liberals like John T. Flynn, Oswald Garrison Villard, the former editor of the Nation, and Harry Elmer Barnes, revisionist historian of the First World War.[9] Anti-war organizations on American campuses were similarly led by liberals, Socialists and Communists. The Committee itself had been created by two Yale students. (One, Robert Douglas Stuart Jr., a 24 year old Princeton graduate, and son of the senior vice president of the Quaker Oats Company, was a law student sympathetic with New Deal reforms.[10] The other was Kingman Brewster.[11]) America First therefore appeared neither particularly conservative, nor pro-German. It was not surprising that Thomas and Villard soon joined the executive board.[12]

However, most AFC supporters were neither liberal, nor Socialist. Many simply wanted to stay out of the war. Since many also came from the Midwest, an area never as sensitive to European problems as the east coast, isolationist arguments was soon buttressed by more traditional prejudices against eastern industrial and banking interests. (Almost two-thirds of the Committee's 850,000 registered supporters would eventually come from the Midwest, mostly from a radius of three hundred miles around Chicago.)[13] Many AFC supporters were certain industry and the banks wanted war for their own profit.[14] Many other supporters were Republicans who flocked to the AFC for partisan political reasons. Still others were covertly pro-German. Some were German-Americans whose sentimental attachments had not been diminished by the crimes of the Nazi regime. Others, whether of German origin or not, were attracted to Hitler's racism and anti-Semitism.Lindbergh may have indeed been tainted with antisemitism -- his speeches about the cabal of FDR/Brits/Jews conspiring to drag the US into a "needless" "illegal" war certainly would indicate a visceral animosity...

hey...wait... FDR/Brits/Jews = illegal war... where have we heard THAT one before?

GW/Neocon/Zionist = illegal war

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

whoops.... I didn't preview and I didn't get the "blockquote" tag working right.

The second quoted paragraph ends, and my commentary begins with the sentence Lindbergh may have indeed been tainted with antisemitism

Darleen:

Thank you for posting your ignoranced of the anti-war movement of the post-WWI, Depression era.

Any time, kid. My ignorance spans many decades, wars, movements, physical laws, directions, fragrances -- encompasses truths, falsehoods, whoppers, balderdash, planks, pundits, papers, pills, feelings, ideas, whims -- it's all at your disposal, at any time.

But when I post some quote, however dubious or crapulous or obvious, that post will include the source, so that people can vet that quote by judging the reliability and relative prejudices of that source. (But I must say, those little numbers do look impressive and so-o-o-o academic.)

Again, think nothing of it. I will surely provide more.

BTW, why didn't Lindbergh give that Nazi medal back?

Oh the hypocrisy and dissumulation on both sides of this argument. I guess where you stand on this issue depends on your political leanings. Hey, PK was wrong to get behind the wheel of a car, period! I don't buy for a minute the ambian-- I didn't know where I was excuse. He has a problem, and yeah, being a con...well a white congressman bought him a break.

And as for Rush, well he is a drug dealing--Dr. shopping drug dealing what's the difference?-- phony who should have been prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and would have been were it not for his money and profile.

But having said all of that -Here it comes Virgo- If PK were a black female with a new hairstyle; he would have gotten his ass kicked, and thrown in the pokey!

Double Standard. MMM you think?

hey field

I work in a DA office in CA. Limbaugh's plea agreement is very SOP, especially if the DA doesn't feels they can't get a conviction on the evidence at hand.

Do a little footwork on CA's PC1000 (diversion) PC1210.1 (prop 36) and Drug Court statutes and practices and the suspension of criminal proceedings with subsequent dismissal of the case upon successful completion of drug treatment is SOP for thousands upon thousands of non-celebrities.

Now...having the police departments upper brass call a halt to field sobriety tests, no PAS or BAC testing plus a chauffered ride home??...show of hands of how many ordinary people get that kind of service at 3 am after crashing a car while under the influence?

asti

I did source my quote. Hyperlinks too tough to click?