Hughcifer Descending

Bad news for our favorite unintentional radio comedian, Hugh Hewitt. According to the latest Arbitrends, the audience for the lawyer/pundit/Nixon fetishist/blogger/moralizer/George W. Bush worshiper/professional Vermont boycotter is shrinking right along with Bush and Cheney's approval ratings. Predictable really. This far into Bush's faith-based presidency, with its failures and mounting body counts from Baghdad to New Orleans, people must be wearying of the sort of nonsense that Bush and Hewitt peddle– a religio-political hybrid that envisions Jesus demanding tax breaks for the moneychangers in the temple and cheerleading for Caesar as he sends off his legions for yet another bloody conquest.

Meanwhile, the brilliant radio satirist Harry Shearer is busying himself with something Hewitt avoids: facts. In his Eat The Press column on the Huffington Post, Shearer has been reporting on Carnival season in post-Katerina New Orleans. The posts reflect his sharp eye and deep knowledge of the city, and are an excellent antidote to the dimwitted reporting that has been clogging TV news. Especially worthwhile is this Chris Rose column from the New Orleans Times-Picayune that Shearer cites– it punctures the fact-free bloviating that's surrounded discussions of New Orleans. You know, the sort of fact-free bloviating that's Hewitt's specialty.