MAYBE NOW HE WON'T RUSH TO JUDGMENT

The urge to gloat was almost overwhelming. And I'll admit, I did allow
myself a few "Ha! I knew it!'' moments.

A week after the National Enquirer named him as one of the targets of
a drug investigation, conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh
admitted that he was indeed addicted to prescription pain killers.

The announcement came on the heels of a bad couple of weeks for
Limbaugh. Earlier, he quit his job as an ESPN football commentator
after saying that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was
overrated, and that part of the reason was that the media wanted to
see a black player succeed in that position.

For a non-"ditto-head'' like me, it was hard not to take some pleasure
in the downfall of this radio icon, who so gleefully over the years
has delighted in the weaknesses and downfalls of others who don't
happen to share his views.

Just imagine if it had been Bill Clinton or Jesse Jackson or - worst
of all - Hillary Clinton in the same position.

How much understanding and compassion do you think Rush Limbaugh would
have shown them? I can almost hear him now: "Heh, heh, heh ... '' He'd
already have one of his trademark political parodies up and running.

But then I caught myself and tried to tune in to the better angels of
my nature. Addiction is an insidious disease, after all, and it
couldn't have been easy for Rush to own up to it, in front of an
audience of millions, no less. Good for you, Rush, and good luck with
the recovery.

Not a fan

As you no doubt have discerned from the tone of this column so far,
I'm no Rush Limbaugh fan, either of his politics or the way he
presents them.

Rush is a pioneer of the "take no prisoners" style of political radio
so popular today. Forget about presenting both sides of the story;
Limbaugh and his ilk seem to deny that more than one side could even
exist.

That's what burns me more than anything. Not that someone has a
different viewpoint than me, but that someone ridicules, insults and
demeans me for having a different viewpoint.

My father was an opinionated guy, to say the least, and most of his
opinions were the kind that Rush Limbaugh would have been comfortable
with. He idolized Barry Goldwater, blamed the Democrats for the
downfall of Richard Nixon and thought the election of Ronald Reagan
was a restoration of all that was good and decent in America.

As you can imagine, there were a lot of heated dinner table
conversations in our house. But my father never denigrated me for
having different opinions than him, never implied I was stupid or evil
for thinking differently than he did.

Occasionally, he persuaded me to see things his way and occasionally
he saw the logic of what I was saying. That happens when there is a
free exchange of ideas.

Search for common ground

That's missing from much of political talk radio these days. It's all
black-white, good-evil, with no room for common ground, not even the
occasional acknowledgment that the other guy might have a point after
all.

And now the king of conservative talk radio has fallen, at least
temporarily. When Rush returns, will he just pick up where he left off
or will there be a new tone to his discourse? I hope for the latter.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper put it this
way:

"... While we're praying for Rush, how about another prayer that when
he recovers and he's back at full strength, he finds it in his heart
to be a little more understanding and forgiving when his opponents
fall on hard times?''

Mega-dittos to that.