I HAVE WRITTEN OF MY DISLIKE OF RUSH LIMBAUGH IN THE PAST, BUT USUALLY I HAVE FOUND HIS BRAND OF IDIOCY TO BE SOMEWHAT AMUSING.  NOT THIS TIME.

VIDEO: Imus on Rush Limbaugh attacking Michael J. Fox

VIDEO: Rush Defends

There are some people who are just so despicable that they defy description.  Yet, somehow, scholarly poets always manage to find ways to describe them.  When I lived in the South, the locals would describe people on this level as being “lower than a worm’s belly crawlin’  in the mud.  Them thar good ole boys sure have a way with words.

And from the south there arose such a person.  A person with no moral turpitude,  a person with no honesty, whatsoever,  a person who truly was lower than a worm’s belly.

This person set himself up on a pedestal as one to admire and one to emulate.  Yet, when the bloom was off the rose, it turned out that morality was not his strong point.  Rather, his motto turned out to be, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

He would get on his pulpit and tell us about those awful people who were addicted to prescription drugs.  He would demand that they be sent to jail and that the key be thrown away.  And, then, it turned out that he was addicted to Oxycontin, one of the strongest and most addictive prescription drugs now on the market, a drug known to cause severe hallucinations and create the desire for suicide in some of its less stable users.  As if that weren’t enough, he was then arrested for coming into the country with unprescribed  Viagra. 

His support for the administration is legendary, and his facts always turn out to be lies.  He supports the war and tells us that there really was a connection between al Qaeda and Sadaam Hussein, even though report after report shows that no such connection existed.  He tells us that we are winning the war, even though every general who has left the military because of their disagreements with the administration’s war policies tells a far different story.

And, now, he is making light of Parkinson’s Disease and one of its most prominent victims, Michael J. Fox.

As you know, some years ago, Fox, a highly successful actor, was diagnosed with this horrible ailment.  What you may not know is the awful effect of Parkinson’s.  Those inflicted with the disease shake uncontrollably.  While there are drugs that can temper the shaking, those drugs also have a near numbing effect on the personalities of many of their users.

Michael J. Fox takes those drugs when acting, and, when he takes them, his disease is barely evident.  Recently, however, he began appearing in a series of political ads to support Democratic candidates who are in favor of embryonic stem cell research, research which could put an end to diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

The far right is against this research because the stem cells are usually harvested from unused embryos at fertility clinics.  There is no logic to their stance, because those embryos have already been set for disposal.  Yet, the good Christian fundamentalists who make up Mr. Limbaugh’s audience oppose this research because, they claim, it kills the unborn.  They are far more concerned with fertilized embryos that will be destroyed than with the lives of the truly born, the folks that live and breath and are actually productive in this world, people like Michael J. Fox or my father and his sister, both of whom passed away last year after long bouts with Alzheimer’s.

Michael J. Fox does not take the medications needed to control his tremors when appearing at events supporting candidates who favor embryonic stem cell research.  The vision created at these events is far from that of the rock steady Alex J. Keaton, the character he played in his youth.  He trembles, sometimes violently, and his voice has a shaky quality to it that cannot be faked.  He needs to do this to get his point across.  He needs to let his listeners know how devastating his disease is and how evil those on the right who claim to be doing the work of G-d really are.  He places himself in a terrible position to let the world know the truth that G-d cares more about the living than the mythical unborn.

And how did Rush Limbaugh act when Fox began appearing for these candidates, visibly ill from his Parkinson’s?  This is what one of radio’s greats jerks said, “That is really shameless of Michael J. Fox.  Either he didn’t take his medication, or he’s acting.”

Limbaugh went on to say that this was the first time he had “ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has.”  Note the use of the word, portray, a word generally used to describe the work of an actor.  Limbaugh was subtly insinuating that this was all an act. 

Although Limbaugh eventually did apologize on the air, advocates for Parkinson’s sufferers made it clear that the commentator had crossed a line over which he could not return.  Limbaugh went too far.  John Rogers, a spokesman for the Parkinson’s Action Network, called Limbaugh’s words “insulting” and “appallingly sad, at best.”  Michael J. Fox showed amazing restraint and grace by not commenting.

I have no such grace.  I have written of my dislike of Rush Limbaugh in the past, but usually I have found his brand of idiocy to be somewhat amusing.  Not this time.  Mr. Limbaugh has stooped to levels that I consider to be even below his normal level of disgust. 

This is America, and it does allow for free speech.  However, there are limitations that should sometimes be placed on that speech.  Mocking people with serious life altering diseases, simply because of a difference in political opinion, is unacceptable.  It should not be tolerated by his listeners, and it should not be tolerated by his network.  It is time for it to end.  Rush Limbaugh is an irresponsible fool who should leave the airways of this country to those who speak the truth.

He is a liar who has prospered, and the time has come for that prosperity to end.

HENRY A. HONIG – THE PUNDIT