Mullings: An American Cyber-column By Rich Galen

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The Limits of Hypocrisy

Monday, October 13, 2003

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The FALL SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE is still on! If you subscribed last Fall (not this past Winter) it's time. If you've never subscribed it's really time. In any event, go to the FALL SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE page and see what it's all about.

ALSO A pretty funny Nano-Travelogue about my near-appearance on MSNBC Friday Morning!

Hypocrite (according to Merriam-Webster's Unabridged - and Gus Portokalos): from Greek hypokrites: actor on the stage, pretender.

I am a hypocrite.

If you have never stolen anything - even a cherry from the produce department "just to see if they were sweet enough," then you're not. I am.

If you've never had a third drink before driving home from a restaurant or a friend's house, then you're not. I am.

If you've never been addicted to anything - from alcohol to cigarettes to cocaine - then you're not. I am.

If you've never touched another person, even a pat on the back, without their permission, then you're not. I am.

If you've never promised to keep a secret , then told another - even after having made THAT person promise to keep the secret - then you're not. I am.

We could go on and on, but you get it.

Last week, on the Sunday prior to the California recall election a big-time reporter from a big-time newspaper called me to ask if Republicans weren't being hypocrites about the reports of Arnold's groping.

I said it was not Republicans who were being the hypocrites, it was Democrats who beat us over the head with the theory that a person's actions in their private life should have no bearing on how they are judged in their public life.

He asked me what I would say to such Democrats. I said, "I would tell them 'You won. You convinced me. Now shut up.'"

The same "hypocrite" howls are coming from the Left regarding Rush's now-admitted addiction to pain-killers.

If Rush previously maintained that a chemical addiction was a moral failing - and I am not certain he ever did - then he was wrong.

I used to share that opinion until someone explained it in terms I could understand: He was talking about actor Robert Downey, Jr. whose wrenching battles with cocaine addiction have been well-documented.

This guy said to think about trying to stay on a diet while having a house full of cookies and candy.

He said, "If you can't stay away from having just a little snack at ten at night - just one cookie or a donut, and a glass of milk - imagine someone in Hollywood, in the movies, trying to stay away from just one hit of cocaine.

No one, he said, ever has just one cookie with their milk. And no one takes just one hit of cocaine.

I had, again, been a hypocrite.

Newsweek ended it's remarkable 2,500-word piece (which was by-lined by Evan Thomas but included the work of ELEVEN other reporters) on Rush with this: "Limbaugh's long-running act as a paragon of virtue is over. Now the question is whether he can make a virtue out of honesty."

Just about every person who has ever checked into the Betty Ford clinic for a non-alcohol addiction was involved in the illegal - or, at a minimum illicit - buying and selling of drugs.

The Left holds its members who admit their addictions up to high praise - heroic praise. Rush left his radio program on Friday saying, "I am no role model. I refuse to let anyone think I am doing something great here."

The Left couldn't get into print - or on cable - fast enough; laughing and pointing when the Limbaugh story broke.

Who's being hypocritical now?

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: An explanation of Gus Portokalos, the difference between Illicit and Illegal, a link to the Newsweek article, an interesting Mullfoto and a very funny Catchy Caption of the Day.

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