A PAINFUL ADMISSION

If the tables were turned, there is little doubt that Rush Limbaugh
would be fulminating full-bore on the story of a liberal talk-radio
host who confessed to being a drug addict.

But, hey, that was what we would expect from the old Rush, who has
gone from being a vociferous opponent of legalizing drugs a decade ago
to more recently suggesting outright that legalization would be more
effective than the government's so-called war on drugs.

Now it turns out that this evolution in viewpoint might have been
forged not on the ringing anvil of conservative certitude but in the
intense state of euphoria attained by ingesting copious quantities of
OxyContin and other painkilling drugs.

In any case, it is admirable that Mr. Limbaugh has admitted his
addiction and is seeking professional help to beat it. We do, however,
understand the satisfaction for his plight felt among those who have
been skewered over the years by his absolutist brand of political moralizing.

William J. Bennett should know just what Mr. Limbaugh is going
through. The secretary of virtue in several Republican
administrations, Mr. Bennett had his halo knocked askew several months
ago when his addiction to high-stakes gambling was exposed.

This time, Mr. Limbaugh wasn't outed by the mainstream media, which he
so relentlessly portrays as liberal, but by a supermarket tabloid,
which published the story of his $373 a week housekeeper and how she
allegedly passed thousands of pills to him in a cigar box over several
years.

It's a seamy tale, bolstered by Mr. Limbaugh's confession, although it
won't likely get the relentless, day-after-day rehashing on the
talk-show circuit for which the commentator himself has become famous.

As for moral condemnation, don't hold your breath. No, Mr. Limbaugh's health
"is our first priority," says the head of the syndicate which markets the
daily three-hour show to some 600 stations nationwide. The syndicate's
investment in Mr. Limbaugh: $285 million over nine years.

No wonder they want him back - and healthy.

And, while Mr. Limbaugh is abandoning his microphone temporarily for a
detoxification center, there is little chance he will be prosecuted
criminally. The state's attorney in Palm Beach County, Fla., where Mr.
Limbaugh lives in a $24 million mansion, reportedly is expressing
little interest.

All this comes in the wake of the controversy generated by Mr.
Limbaugh's racially tinged comments that cost him his weekend job as a
television sports commentator.

A lesser mortal might be out of work entirely, but we suspect that the
economics of the broadcasting industry will have more to do with his
future than the confessions of an errant pain-pill addict.