It was a mixed week for the Avenging Angel, punisher of conservative miscreants. Two evil doers of the right, Lester Crawford and Rush Limbaugh, found themselves in trouble this week for doing bad things with prescription pills. Sadly, only one faces the prospect of true justice.
Dr. Crawford, the former head of the Bush FDA, faces a criminal inquiry for financial misdeeds and lying to Congress. Last fall, Crawford, a vet by training and a friend of big Pharma, reneged on a pledge by HHS chief Mike Leavitt to finally allow the Plan B pill to be sold over the counter. Then, the "Morning After" FDA commissioner mysteriously terminated himself after only two months on the job. Now we know why. For Crawford, the Angel chuckles, the bitter pill of jail time could be just what the doctor ordered.
But Limbaugh, the original blowhard of right-wing radio showed us all once again why he may be the luckiest man in America. Nailed on charges involving prescription pain killers that would have landed most people in jail, Limbaugh on Friday got a sweetheart deal on one count of doctor shopping. Rush faces only 18 months of treatment and supervision, rather than the more fitting punishment of years as a jail house love slave.