Francis X. Murphy
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2003

Since they favor banning handguns, liberals have sharpened their long knives this month. Their target: Rush Limbaugh.

As everyone knows, Rush has gone into rehab to kick a prescription drug habit he acquired after failed back surgery.

Based on press reports, liberals could have attacked him on many points:

1. He engaged in clearly illegal and immoral activities.

2. He asked a woman who was dependent upon him for her livelihood to abet him in these illegal and immoral activities.

3. He gave her money to buy her silence.

4. He did not admit to these illegal and immoral activities until they were exposed.

Liberals chose not to attack him on these grounds because:

1. If they attacked drugs as illegal, no celebrities would come to their Hollywood fund raisers.

2. Bill Clinton.

3. Bill Clinton and Vernon Jordan.

4. Bill Clinton, Vernon Jordan and Hillary Clinton.

Hypocrisy is a favorite liberal smear.

Hypocrisy and the murder of abortionists seem to be the only unforgivable sins in the liberal Bible. Rush is guilty of the first.

In short, he spoke in favor of a strong moral system and then failed to live up to that system. That makes Rush a hypocrite, they say.

But the truth is that anyone who subscribes to a moral system a hypocrite.

A man once said that he didn’t go to church because it was full of hypocrites. The pastor told him, “That’s OK, there’s always room for one more.”

I welcome Rush to the hypocrisy club, of which I am a member, with open arms.

Indeed, if you told me that Rush was a perfect exemplar of the moral code he advocated, I would question that claim.

Looking at the Bible, we see that salvation history is replete with hypocrites. The Israelites constantly renew their covenant with Yahweh and then go out and worship alien gods. Damn hypocrites.

St. Peter tells Jesus that he would die before he would betray Him, and then, surprise, betrays Him! Another hypocrite.

In Romans, St. Paul says that he is troubled that he does the evil he does not wish to do, and he does not do the good he wishes to do.

Hypocrisy abounds. Why should we follow the advice of a man who cannot even keep his own impulses in order?

So, Rush, when the media calls you a hypocrite, rejoice. You’re in excellent company.

And don’t worry, Rush. Liberals won’t be joining the hypocrisy movement anytime soon.

Whenever a liberal’s failing is exposed, he opens the liberal playbook and looks at possible strategies:

1. Blame it on society. Cite some “ism” that has attained protected status in our society. Insist that the government is not giving enough money to deal with the problem.

2. Call Dr. Phil and have him declare it a syndrome. Insist that this syndrome relieves you of responsibility. Use the syndrome as a defense in court.

3. State that anything that affects you personally is a strictly personal matter. Decry the “politics of personal destruction” at work in the media. Remind people that it’s “your body, your choice.”

4. State that your action isn’t really wrong. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan would say, “define deviancy down.” Remember, if you have no moral system, you can’t fail to live up to that moral system.

The fourth idea is the crux of the liberal moral mindset. Liberals have no fixed moral system. So, they don’t worry about not living up to a moral system.

In liberalthink, values are not universal. Your truth is just as good as my truth. Your vision of the good is equal to my vision of the good, as long as my vision of the good doesn’t call for the protection of the unborn.

So, Rush, you could take a page from the liberal playbook. You could:

1. Blame your addiction on “hearingism.” Those with no hearing problems can never understand what you have gone through, and to pass judgment on you would be unthinkable. Demand more government money be allocated for studies.

2. Have you eaten too many Oreos? Maybe you could mount an Oreo defense.

3. Start a crusade that the government has no right to tell you what you can or can’t do in the privacy of your own home.

4. Adopt a liberal moral relativism. If too many students fail their courses, educrats blame the test. Blame society’s prudish standards for your situation.

But whatever you do, never take responsibility for your actions. To do so would be to admit that you have failed to live up to your moral code, and that would mean you’re a hypocrite.

Better to be a liar, adulterer, perjurer or worse than to be a hypocrite.

Of course, you waited until you were exposed, but since I don’t send a check to the DMV every time I violate the speed limit, I can understand that. People with severe addictions usually don’t go running for help and turn themselves in. But you should have, the liberals say, because you are different.

Rush, your fans, hypocrites one and all, are with you and pray for you.

When you return to the air, we will be there for you. Like you, we have high moral standards and, like you, we often fail to live up to them.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Media Bias

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