Hearing Aid

Hugh Hewitt's still on the warpath for a congressional inquiry into the CBS News bogus-memos story, and Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.) has taken up the call with a letter to the chairman of the House telecom subcommittee. Says Hewitt in reply to critics of the idea:

Congress has investigated the content of radio talk shows, and it didn't bother me at all, and it didn't chill the way I do my show, and if they investigate bloggers, I won't mind either. It is just another television appearance, another part of the great conversation. If you think you are right, and you aren't lying or cheating, there's nothing to worry about.

Emphasis added… hauling bloggers before Congress to justify their opinions? That would be an interesting sight… though without the pretext of public airwaves to ride on, it's (fortunately) unlikely. In any event, it's hard to decide what part of this is most off base: The notion that if he isn't chilled by something, there's no chilling effect? The insistence that there's nothing special about a "part of the great conversation" that takes place with a regulatory sword of Damocles suspended overhead? The ingenuous invocation of the old "if you're not guilty, what are you afraid of" line? Maybe we can launch a congressional inquiry. Then we can get around to the hearings Frank Lautenberg's requested into "corporate censorship" of Michael Moore.