With the announcement last week that Rush Limbaugh would be heading to rehab for a month to try to shake his addiction to pain pills, the media has decided to jump all over this guy. I expect it from the smarmy liberal types like Al Franken and Bill Maher, but to read it in mainstream news magazines simply reinforces the perceived liberal media bias so many conservatives have:

But Limbaugh’s story owes more to the “Wizard of Oz” than “The Scarlet Letter.” The man behind the curtain is not the God of Family Values but a childless, twice-divorced, thrice-married schlub whose idea of a good time is to lie on his couch and watch football endlessly.

“Schlub”? Everything else in the sentence is pretty objective. But to punctuate a description of a person with a word like “schlub” seems to be out of bounds, if you ask me. I had to look the word up, myself, just to see what it means: “A person regarded as clumsy, stupid, or unattractive.” I guess my Yiddish isn’t what it should be. I don’t know how any honest, objective reporter could use that word in a NEWS story.

The other disgusting thing I’ve read is that Don Imus, of all people, has decided to ridicule Rush. Imus has his own history of substance abuse, and he thinks it’s fair to make fun of those who are currently suffering through it:

“Rush is a fat, pill-popping loser and an undisciplined slob who was turning his maid into a drug pusher, and she’s the one who’s gonna go to prison, and - as soon as he gets caught - he starts whining,” Imus ranted yesterday on his WFAN wake-up show.

“He’s going to rehab because he can’t get any more pills and he’s gonna go to prison,” Imus said.

Wonderful. Rush hasn’t always been the most compassionate guy, but I think he deserves some compassion despite that fact. Perhaps he will emerge from this a changed man, willing to extend grace and compassion to those who suffer like he is suffering now.