You've especially been a critic of comedy on the left, of the "jejune style" you associate with David Letterman, and others. And yet this year, there seems to have been a real renaissance of political satire -- especially on "The Daily Show." Have you become a fan?

I have friends and colleagues who are big Jon Stewart fans. I respect him -- especially after that fabulous ass-kicking he gave to those empty suits Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala on "Crossfire" -- but in these troubled times I just don't want to listen to a comic refraction of the news. I've been obsessed with hard news since the yearlong buildup to the Iraq war. Every day's been agonizing -- in imagining not just our forces dying and being mutilated over there but also the thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens -- who barely get any press here at all -- who are suffering and dying under our bombardment. So I'm in no mood to watch comedy infotainment shows -- just as I can't bear to watch the late-night show monologues, whether it's Leno or Letterman.

My worry is that young people aren't being encouraged to explore and absorb hard news. They haven't been raised in an era of news as I was as a child during the Cold War 1950s. Daily newspapers used to be a central medium of delivery of hard news. If young people prefer to get their news mediated through comedy, is this a prelude to a state of passivity or ironic detachment from the pressing events of their day? Young people may feel they can't do much to change the world -- as if the world is something that happens to them. So they want a patter or commentary on it that allows them to laugh at it. Everyone and everything becomes small and ridiculous. Politics is no longer a noble cause, as it was for John Kennedy, whom I campaigned for in Syracuse when I was 13.

A more interesting question than political satire remains: Why can't we get strong talk radio on the left? What is it about AM radio -- a medium which I've loved since the Top 40 1950s? The dominance of AM radio by right-wing shows has been incalculably damaging to the Democrats in this campaign cycle because the anti-Kerry fusillade goes on all day long.

Air America?

I can't get it even in Philadelphia. I've heard a little swatch of it on the local African-American station, and I found it totally soporific. What a bore! It lacks the propulsive energy of someone like Sean Hannity. Liberal pundits underestimate Hannity because they see him on his Fox TV show, and he's just not that good on TV. But he's a dynamo on the radio. Even though I don't agree with his politics, I find him riveting. He's funny, he's ebullient, he has endless energy, and when he gets going on a tirade, he has the rhythmic passion of generations of Irish-Catholic priests! If anyone is in doubt about Hannity's talents as a radio man, just listen to his commercial for Ruth's Chris Steak House. It's a classic of American advertising -- his mellow, succulent description makes you want to RUN to the nearest Ruth's Chris! It's like pop opera. But the limitations of Hannity's global worldview upset me deeply. Nevertheless, this is a guy who's not acting -- he's speaking from his profound core values.

But it's a terrible cultural problem that liberals these days can't produce a decent AM radio voice. Al Franken is moribund -- that horrible sleepy, whiny, infantile voice! Michael Moore is bouncy and playful, but he's not a radio personality. To do AM, you have to love the microphone. Moore does visuals -- he has a real gift for editing and montage. I have problems with his films, since he plays fast and loose with facts. But he can be a brilliant prankster, as when he came onstage at a Nader rally in 2000 (I saw this on C-SPAN) and threatened to nominate "Ficus" -- a big potted plant which he picked up and shook next to the podium. Or that classic moment when he brought a squad of squealing, cavorting girls dressed up as Puritans to reenact the Salem witch trials in front of Ken Starr's house one morning! Why isn't he doing more stuff like that? As a teacher and writer, I can't laugh off the fabrications and exaggerations in his films -- like the phony staging of the shotgun he carried out from a bank in "Bowling for Columbine." I'm sorry, I cannot respect people who deliberately try to fool the public.

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