In response to assisted suicide law, Limbaugh offered alternatives, including a Lake George cruise
During a discussion of Oregon's assisted suicide law on the October 5 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh suggested alternative ways individuals could choose to end their lives, including "[a] six pack, and hose, and go sit in your car, and wave sayonara. You can take a cruise ship on Lake George in New York." The Oregon law is currently under review by the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in the case on the morning of October 5.
Limbaugh's comment about Lake George is an apparent reference to an incident in which a tour boat on the upstate New York lake capsized, killing 20 passengers.
Limbaugh also referenced the suicide of writer Hunter S. Thompson in February: "I love the Hunter Thompson method. You go into your kitchen. You grab a shotgun. You aim -- and the shotgun -- and you can't miss. You blow yourself up in the kitchen sink so you don't create a mess, then Johnny Depp comes out to your house and blows your ashes into outer space via a cannon."
From the October 5 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: So in asking yourself about this Oregon assisted suicide law, OK, the people of Oregon voted twice for this by pretty good majorities. But there are people who said, "Oh, you can't do that." Then they said, "Wait a minute. We're the people of Oregon. I thought you conservatives believe in states' rights. I thought you believe in the rights of the people over the federal government."
Uh, yeah, but that's not monolithic. I mean, these are --these issues go deeper than just states' rights versus federalism. Because if we're able to ace out of the equation, if government as we were founded is not going to protect, stand for, defend the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, then who will?
Furthermore, after we wipe that out of the equation, then we're gonna turn over the decision to the patient, i.e., victim, and his or her doctor. Well, why do we want to corrupt the medical profession here? If people want to kill themselves, there are ways of doing this. A six pack, and a hose, and go sit in your car, and wave sayonara. You can take a cruise ship on Lake George in New York. Uh, there are any number of ways [Laughter], I'm sorry, but there are any number of ways that -- yeah, well, I'm just saying -- that-that was incompetent situation up there.
But my point is nobody is stopping anybody from killing themselves.
[...]
This, this is not an exact science. You're putting a lot of power, even though it may not sound like it, in the hands of the doctors. So you, as a patient, go in, "Yeah, doc. Oh, man. I'm in bad shape. I want that, I want that medicine, man. I want to wipe myself out."
"OK, pal I see your pain and, ah, ah, I'll look at you. Yeah, you've got six months." Then another doctor does the same thing. Doctors are still making the decision. "Yep, six months. Six months. We concur. Ah, patient is of sound mental state." Ah, and bammo! [Claps hands]
The excitement over this is something. It, it just kind of gnaws at me. There's this- - we've got death activists out there. You know, I -- there's a lot of things I understand in life but I don't understand death activists. I -- well, in a political sense I do. But just in a strictly human sense, I don't.
I, folks, let me -- I love the Hunter Thompson method. You go into your kitchen. You grab a shotgun. You aim -- and the shotgun -- and you can't miss. You blow yourself up in the kitchen sink so you don't create a mess, then Johnny Depp comes out to your house and blows your ashes into outer space via a cannon.
So, if you want to kill yourself because you're in daily agony and don't want to die a long lingering death, Rush's solution is to blow your brains out. Well, yeah, that would work. Not very dignified, and much more traumatic for the family. Of course, remember, this is Rush Limbaugh. When tens of thousands lost their jobs in the Rust Belt, his solution was for them all to start their own businesses. I guess making $25 million a year makes it hard to stay in touch with reality.
Excuse me??? One hardly expects anything even remotely approximating sensitivity from Rush, and he goes way over the top on a regular basis -- but this latest comment scrapes the bottom of the barrel even for him (which is saying something!), and he deserves to get hammered for it. An earlier post described him as "tacky", but it goes way beyond that -- this comment was, quite simply, cold-blooded and sick. For the love of all that's sacred -- it hasn't even been a week yet since the Lake George accident and the families of the victims are probably still in shock, never mind really starting to mourn.
Hey!!!
What happened to my comment and the one about "T-A-C-K-Y"?!?!
WTF is going on here?
It's pretty clear now that Rush's weight loss was the result of one of those gut-rearranging operations.
It's also pretty clear that the operation was botched and Rush's colon was re-routed to his esophagus.
Scares me to think what's next. I wonder what's going to happen when the public finds out the tour boat operator's political affiliation. If he's a lefty, you know all the Hannitys, Coulters, and Limbaughs are going to run like wild with that one.
This is miles beyond any partisan political commentary. This is just plain out of control, mean spirited and abhorrent. There should be universal outrage over this; it can't be explained or rationalized away by saying he's a pundit or that he's being humorous. This is about as funny as Abu Ghraib. This should be reported verbatim in any and all media outlets; let the sick bastard try to defend it. It's an abomination and a frightening reflection of a large part of our society that this kind of hateful crap is given ANY level of credibility. Throw the bum off the air!
I sincerely hope that Keith Olbermann names Rush as today's Worst Person in the World.
From Rush's discussion, he doesn't seem to have any problem with suicide as long as it is done in a manner such as blowing your head off or breathing exhaust from your car. He just doesn't want it done in a humane manner.
Death Activist - Is this a new right-wing word coinage?
Or you could think about Rush having sex with his CNN anchorette "mistress" and die of uncontrollable retching.
Rush missed the most obvious method, and that is to shop doctors for excess oxycontin so you can blow yourself away on a pain killer overdose.
The whole point of the thing is dignity, and that is the one thing the right will never give another human being if possible.
This man has been such a vile, emotionless opportunist for so long that I honestly thought that nothing he could say could surprise me but the callousness and stupidity of this statement is shocking even coming from someone as out-of-touch and coldblooded as he is.
I've got a question for him though: my 80 year-old grandmother is in hospice right now. She's been there for seven weeks, it'll be eight on Monday. She weighs barely 80 pounds, can't walk, can't eat, barely knows her own name most of the time, and when she does speak, she begs to "go to sleep and stay asleep forever".
How exactly could she blow her brains out or go on a "death cruise"?
I'd also love to know why it is that the conservatives, who claim to believe in and serve God so much more than anyone else, are so freaked out by the notion of death.
There does appear to be something of a paradox there, doesn't there? One would be inclined to assume that most of the self-professed Christians on the right would perceive God as infinitely more loving than any human being could ever be, and that heaven is a place where there is no more pain and suffering -- yet at the same time, many of these same people are willing to fight virtually tooth-and-nail to prevent people from exercising freedom of choice in this matter. I frankly can't understand why many of them are determined to keep people alive -- in some cases against their will and in conditions of intense pain -- if they really trust God as much as they purport to.
I'm saddened by what you and your family must be going through. I worked for a period of time during my nursing career with hospice and hospice patients. I have come to the conclusion that the reason so many "good Christians" fear death is the uncertainty that the choices they have made will actually lead them to their ever lasting salvation. To me this is a type of projection for if they are not certain of there on path others must be condemned for sure.
The sickest thing I have ever witnessed was the conversion and baptism of a patient during the middle of the night. Four male visitors with the assistance of one adult child removed her from her room and baptized her in the whirlpool on the wing the patient resided. I was called by staff and arrived at the completion of the event. This patient was not capable of making an informed decision. She was heavily medicated and had not been capable of making the most basic of decisions for months. This action was instigated by a born again child against the will of other grown children. She was submerged and could have drowned due to the fact she was also suffering from Cerebral Palsy and was almost completely paralyzed at the time of this event. This patient had been a practicing Catholic her entire life. The events that transpired that night ran contradictory to every decision that she had made her entire life concerning here religious belief. The actions I saw that night were the pinnacle of respect for human life.
Peace be with all.
oh my gawd how crass ! making fun of the deaths of 20 elderly people !
DARYN: ARE YOU REALLY ATTRACTED TO THIS DRUG-ADDICTED PIECE OF SH*T ?
I don't get it. I suggest that being with Rush is probably like having an overweight, sweaty, and out breath walrus wallowing on top of you for a partner and it is removed from another thread and you get to refer to him with profanity on two different posts and they are not removed. I agree with you one hundred percent but wonder who decides what stays and what is removed. Dobson got to say man and donkey union what is wrong with Kagan and Walrus union? Oh, to keep on topic. Nice way to make light of the tragedy that has befallen the drowned seniors family Rush. Compassionate Conservatism at its best.
oh well. someone removed my doboson donkey sex post in another thread. >:-) it was actually a legitimate post, not a flame.
As Holly says.
Everytime I think he has sunk lower than he could, he surprises me all over again. This is getting to be a weely event as well.
What a piece of garbage. I guess he is paying Daryn quite a bit of.....money to keep her around.
Just pathetic.
Just the usual; more incoherent, hypocritical, swill from Rush Limbaugh. What else is new?
Yes, Rush there are other ways of ending your life if you're really determined to do so, but like these conservative media wingnuts who just rant, he MISSES THE POINT (to no one's suprise). Rush addresses like how many ways can you kill yourself.
The point of an assisted suicide law is to allow people who don't have long to live anyway (and are in great pain), to die with honor-you don't think they call it the Death with Dignity Act for nothing do you? Assisted Suicide is not to be confused, as it sometimes is with euthenasia. Assisted suicide the person inflicts on themselves, and dies. In euthenasia someone else decides for them. Think what happens when you take your cat or dog to the vet and then get euthenized-did the animal get to say "yes" or "no." The point is not animal rights or intelligence thereof. The pet example is to prove a point; someone calling the shots and having someone killed without their consent. Euthenasia seems to closer to Rush's territory than assisted suicide.
Tough on drugs Rush-yet just a little addiction problem with the Oxycontin.Rush: State's, States right's, except when I say otherwise. The response for why if he was truly a strong proponent of states' rights, the federal government should still have the right to regulate suicide was weak and HYPOCRITICAL.
I believe the answer is that they know what they will have to answer for when they come face to face with the Lord. As it says in the final exam found in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25:31ff."I was hungry and you gave me no food,..." Sadly, they continue to ignore the truth. "Hey Rush, you ARE going to die some day, and YOU WILL have to answer for the times you ignored me speaking to you in the lives of others, but don't worry, you will have plenty of company."
This is the SADDEST thing about the believers in the Heaven v. Hell myth.
Perpetrators of evil like Rush need to pay for their abominable behavior BEFORE they escape this life.
There's also El Rushbo's world-renowned Starvation for Serenity Center located in downtown Rio Linda.
Hey, just trying to help!
Wow, i never thought someone could be such a dumbass! That's it, nothing more, just Wow......
End of life is a personal issue. IMO people with a terminal illness have every right to end the their lives in a dignified way at a time of their choosing. Without having to endure months of pain and suffering and the depletion of their lives savings to futile procedures. Speaking for myself, I would try to fight for every minute of life as hard as I could as long as there was still hope of recovery. UNTIL all hope was exhausted. Then the goverment has NO business in telling me how to spend my final days. Even if the right-wing religious kooks are able to get it to be illegal to take a lethal dose of opiates to end ones life and the doctor won't prescribe me the morphine, hey - I can always call Rush and ask him for some of his stash.
Rush is nothing if not consistent as it suits his religious agenda. Right, religious agenda. I hope he is not a self-identifying Catholic or Anglo-Catholic: no recognizable Church needs someone like Rush fronting for their ideas. While I do not know what "flavor" of faith he practices--surely some right-wing version of Christianity which would make Jesus weep--but as long as he's been on the air, he's done vulgar and tasteless routines like accompanying abortion discussions with the sound of a vacuum cleaner and/or a toilet being flushed.
So he Lake George comment is just more of the same. State something in as vulgar a manner as possible so people will get the idea. Subtlety has never been the man's long suit.
I believe that on the 18th, "El Rushbo" is doing a one-man show at some midtown Manhattan theater. How many oxycontin peddlers will be outside? What would be the right thing to do?