The accolades on Rush Limbaugh's self-surrender to drug rehab are annoying. Rehab undertaken because prosecution looms is not "courageous." Entering rehab before the maid spills her mercenary guts to the National Enquirer would have warranted an "atta boy!" or two.

America's No. 1 radio personality was in a corner, up against a Palm Beach County investigation. Candor emerged as the vise closed. One week before taking his 30-day leave for rehab, Limbaugh spoke of the National Enquirer pain killer addiction stories, "I really don't know the full scope of what I am dealing with. And when I get the facts, when I get all the details of this, rest assured that I will discuss this with you."

What's to know? The maid is either correct or nuts. Limbaugh could verify the former. The latter would bring forward corroborating witnesses, possibly in the form of progeny of Hillary and aliens, if the National Enquirer holds true to its usual sources and genre.

Limbaugh became evasively Clintonesque when he failed to mention, as the drug stories congealed, that he had already hired high-powered lawyer Roy Black. Limbaugh's reticence was not, as he implied, from utter confusion in the eye of a media hurricane, but from a criminal defense attorney hissy fit about clamming up. Limbaugh employed the formula of his nemesis, Bill Clinton. When pushers came to pill shovelers, Limbaugh relied on the law, not the truth. Whether he's under investigation depends on the meaning of "investigation."

Praise for Limbaugh's "courage" and "class" rivals the warm and fuzzy embraces for William Bennett, following revelations about his multimillion-dollar gambling addiction. Conservatives do turn a blind eye to hypocritical misdeeds of their icons.

Now the chickens have come home to roost because OxyContin addiction found its way into the tabloids. Yes, yes, human frailty. Mega dittoes on weakness of the flesh and demands of back pain. Disappointment comes not from their mistakes but because both men had teaching moments as the spotlight glared upon their addictions to do what has brought them their popularity and wealth: inform, warn and, above all, offer no excuses.

Both men have been crafters of bright lines in a world that sees only hazy shades of moral relativism. Both men have been absolutists on everything from abortion to fidelity in marriage to drug use. Both men embrace personal responsibility and accountability. But when third parties revealed their addictions, neither man seized the moment for sounding a warning call or advancing conservative views against legalized drugs and the expansion of gaming.