Sometimes for as long as half an hour!

One particular recent episode captured my attention to the extent that I was almost late for work. He did a "Hollywood Squares" send-up in which he put a racist, a black employee of the station, a flaming gay man, a fundamentalist woman and her two children (same square), a woman handcuffed to a guy who's a drunken bum (it was an endurance contest: she was in it for the money), a mentally handicapped person, and three other people on the panel. As -ahem- moderator, he then proceeded to ask a series of incendiary questions. No lie, the "regular guys" and the one with the mental handicap came out looking the best of all of them, judged by the stuff that came out of their own mouths. And what have we learned today, boys and girls?

Rush pontificates. The opinions you hear are his own, ad infinitum. If I want to hear one voice go on and on about anything when I turn on the radio, I'll tune to a preacher. Oh, wait...

Howard, even though he's gross more often than not, puts other people on who obligingly trash their own dumb positions by acting like morons. He lets stupidity speak for itself. He makes fun of himself. He also has a very clear-headed "sidekick" in Robin, who isn't afraid to speak up. That's part of the dynamic. I've also heard him conduct decent interviews of people.

Yeah, there's a lot of vulgar discussion of body parts and what one does with them, particularly those that are gender-related. I would never put Howard on in a room with anyone under the age of 20, or over the age of 60, for that matter. But hey, there are lots of guys who mentally never made it out of high school. They deserve someone who caters to them too. Free market, right?

He also says things about African-Americans that are not flattering, but he insults everybody, so it's equal opportunity, just like Henry Higgins. And like Eliza, when I have enough, I chuck his slippers at him and leave.

I thought it was just fallout from Janet Jackson's boob. If the Salon article cited by jms has a grain of truth in it, especially the part about that soul of moderation and politesse, Mr. "Get-AIDS-and-die", it does shed a little different light on the whole decency thing.

Meanwhile, I notice that Howard is still on E!, on cable late at night, where the FCC can't get their hands on him.