Most deft insult I've heard today

Hugh Hewitt — whom I'm happy to report is no longer perma-linkless — has up a transcript of his live interview from his talk radio show today with Vice President Dick Cheney.  (As I noted on Tuesday, Hugh's most recent show can be heard either live — or any time, any day of the week, via a 24/7 looped streaming audio feed — from his program's flagship station, KRLA-AM in Los Angeles. Heckuva deal!)

The Vice President is known for his dry, deadpan wit, but that wit can have a sharp barb to it as well, as we see in this exchange:

HH: "Mr. Vice President, a few weeks ago I covered the DNC back in Boston, and Michael Moore was really the crown prince of that party.  You have been a public servant for three decades, have you ever seen anything like this, to happen inside one of the major parties?"

VP:  "(Laughter)  I can't think of anything like that, the equivalent, where somebody outside takes on such a prominent role. Maybe that's a comment on the weakness of the political leadership that we see on the other side of the aisle today."

Talk about skewering two big ole meatballs with one deft thrust!  That's actually the best offensive use of Michael Moore I've seen by any conservative.  Now I'm waiting for the Kerry campaign to react — can they admit how crushing an insult they've just been handed?  I imagine it might go something like this:

[John Kerry's stentorian baritone voice:]  How dare the Vice President ... stoop to such low, partisan politics of personal destruction ... as to demean ... and insult ... the noble men and women of this great national Party — some of them ... like me, for example ... who once sweated under the hot sun ... in the jungle-choaked rivers ... in or around Cambodia — by linking us with that—

[At this point an aide franticly tugs on Kerry's sleeve and whispers in his ear about the just-completed focus group report which reveals that Michael Moore polls 88.4 percent better with the Dems' vital Angry-Right base than Kerry himself does.]

As I was saying, how dare the Vice President ... ummm ... continue to ... ummm ... try to stiffle dissent ... and the free exercise of opinion ... by the underdog, by the politically powerless ... by the circumferentially challenged ... like my great good friend, Michael Moore ... to whom I'm now pleased to tender ... a sincere invitation ... that he formally join the Kerry-Edwards 2004 Campaign ... as our fact-checker in chief!

I want to commend Hugh for his questioning as well — substantive, topical, and articulate.  Hugh used every second that the Vice President could spare from his schedule to excellent effect.  When I read a series of tight Q&A like this, I think to myself, "Man, if only the network correspondents could do half this well, I'd turn my TV back on sometime other than just on Sunday mornings!"  But ... they don't, so I won't. 

Anyway, congrats, Hugh, ya done us all proud, my friend!  (And thanks, incidentally, for the link!)