Is Blodget occasionally disingenuous about his past? Of course. But Milken doesn't seem to like much about the good old days either. His biography on his foundation's Web site has one paragraph about his legal problems, which includes this sentence: "Although such conduct had never before (or since) been prosecuted criminally -- a fact rarely mentioned in sensationalized press reports -- he resolved the case without a trial to prevent further impact on his family."

Does the good Milken has done through his philanthropy make up for the bad? That's tough to say. Blodget is the same boat as the former junk bond king. No matter what he says or does, he'll still be known as THAT Henry Blodget from the internet bubble. Maybe as the memory of the late 1990s fades, people will shrug off his notoriety. That day, though, has yet to arrive.

American likes to build people up, knock them down, and watch them rebuild. In his post-bubble life, Blodget has managed to become an entertaining blogger, regularly needling Jim Cramer and the high-tech establishment.. He shoots from the hip and sometimes misses, like when he wrote that my colleague Peter Cohan was "presumably a Time Warner employee," which he's not. Nonetheless, his pieces on valuations such as how Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) may reach $2,000 is a must read for anyone interested in tech stocks.

Anyone who wants Blodget to go away should ignore him. By continually harping on his past, in fact, they are adding to his notoriety. That makes the media even more interested in what he has to say. Plus, Blodget is a great writer. He was a journalist before becoming an analyst, and no doubt wishes at times he would have stuck with his old career.