WHILE IN HOSPITAL, RUSH SHOULD GET EMPATHY TRANSPLANT

It doesn't take much imagination to think what Rush Limbaugh would say
about an outspoken liberal who admits being hooked on prescription
painkillers. "He's weak!" Limbaugh would shriek. "That's what happens when
the liberals take charge!" He'd urge police and prosecutors to spare no
compassion, nor would he show any.

"If people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused
and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up," he said on
his 1995 television show. Actually, he's said so repeatedly.

But now the most popular talk radio host in the country - with 20 million
listeners weekly and a $285 million contract - has a problem. Friday he
acknowledged he's been addicted to painkillers for some time. He said he
started taking drugs to relieve back pain, tried twice to free himself from
the addiction, and would try again by entering a medical facility. He's
taken a 30-day leave of absence.

Limbaugh said he takes "full responsibility for my problem" and did not
seek sympathy, though he may deserve some. He's not the first person to
become dependent on drugs prescribed to make pain more bearable, or to
wonder how experimentation turned into addiction and threatened a life.
Many people under such circumstances do recover, partly through willpower
but also with medical and psychological help, very often financed by -
gasp! - the government. For Limbaugh to want to try again after failing
twice is admirable.

Still, the murmurs of sympathy will have to compete with the "I told you
so's." His detractors are comparing him to televangelist Jim Bakker, who
was caught embezzling from his church empire, and conservative Bill
Bennett, who wrote "The Book of Virtues" despite being a compulsive
gambler. Limbaugh is believed to have obtained his prescription drugs
illegally; does that mean he should be jailed? Those who claim to be a
moral compass should expect to be criticized when theirs points in the
wrong direction.

While in for the cure, Limbaugh might inquire about an empathy tune-up as
well. If a radio booth serves to magnify people's failings, then
face-to-face encounters just might turn the focus to their common humanity.
He'd find it, under all those imperfections, if he spent more time seeking
it in others and less time belittling them.