Rush Limbaugh received moral support from unlikely allies this weekend.
Fox News Geraldo Rivera used his "At Large" program this weekend to highlight the Palm Beach Post’s report that suggests Rush is being unfairly targeted by local prosecutors for doctor shopping.
Geraldo said: "A review of the record by the Palm Beach Post newspaper says what I said on this program three weeks ago: Essentially, that if you are going to investigate every senior citizen in Florida that went doctor shopping, the jails down there would be overflowing."
Doctor shopping is a felony in Florida and involves a person seeking the same medications from multiple doctors at the same time.
Limbaugh, through his attorney, Roy Black, has denied the charge. The conservative radio host has acknowledged a prescription painkiller addiction.
Geraldo, a liberal who was an ardent defender of the Clintons during the Whitewater scandal of the '90s, suggested a political motive for the prosecution of Limbaugh.
The TV host said the Palm Beach Post found that only one other person in five years had faced any charges even remotely similar to those possibly facing Rush.
Geraldo also noted that the local prosecutor, Barry Krischer, has ties to Janet Reno and is a Democrat.
Geraldo's comments drew surprising support from a guest on his show: well-known liberal and Democratic pundit Susan Estrich.
"This one stinks, this one really stinks," Estrich told Geraldo about the Limbaugh investigation.
Estrich has impeccable credentials and is about as far from a "dittohead" – a fan of Rush – as one could imagine.
A former Harvard Law School professor, Estrich clerked for Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. She also was a senior aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. In 1988 Estrich was national campaign manager for Michael Dukakis’ presidential effort.
But Estrich believes politics, not simple justice, is motivating the prosecution of Limbaugh.
"I have been sitting here stewing about this Rush Limbaugh one for a long time. First of all, this doctor shopping: How many senior citizens decide which doctor they like better? This notion they are going to get him for going to two doctors in the same thirty-day period to dupe them into giving him a medication, this is an utterly ridiculous charge."
Estrich contends the real issue is that "a lot of people are mad at Rush Limbaugh because they think he is a hypocrite."
She continued: "Well, you may or may not agree on that, but the last time I checked, hypocrisy is not a federal or state offense. And I don’t think that is a basis on which we should prosecute people."
Editor's note:
Ed Asner brags about getting Rush Limbaugh and vows to nail Hannity next. Get the full story - Click Here!
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