Blog Watch: Rush judgments

Stephen Green (vodkapundit.com), back after a long hiatus-he thought he needed a break after he started dreaming about blogging-weighed in on the Rush Limbaugh situation with a hint of compassion: "I've seen firsthand what chronic pain can do to a person. I've seen it warp and diminish personalities, destroy relations, and cause near-equal suffering to third parties ... knowing my own nature, I'm not sure that in a similar situation, I would have made any wiser choices."

Of course, many on the left are taking the opportunity to kick their hated opponent while he is down. From hard-liner Atrios (atrios.blogspot.com): "A few people have suggested the new street name for OxyContin should be 'dittos,' and a new name for OC addicts be 'dittoheads,' a la 'crackheads.'" Meanwhile, the more moderate Jeff Jarvis (buzzmachine.com) uses the hypocrisy charge (see p. 7): "If I heard Limbaugh now say that he is reconsidering what he has said about drug users given his own personal perspective ... I might listen. If I heard Limbaugh admit that he has been a hypocrite, I might respect that. If I heard Limbaugh say that he's human and so is Bill Clinton, then I might turn on the sympathy pump. But I didn't hear any of that."