Hugh Hewitt is many things, but most of all I think of a nice, polite, moderate GOPer. Have trouble imagine him giving anyone a hard time during an interview. For Corn to hang up on him says a lot about David Corn.
David was already getting uppitty by the time Hugh Hewitt asked him a question he’s asked libs (including David Axelrod) time and time again, do you think “Alger Hiss was guilty/a Communist”?
They always claim to “not know”, to not be up on history. Sometimes they claim they don’t even know who that is.
David acted as if he was being singled out for this question or taunted with a diversionary tactic. Hugh asks it quite often and not just when an interview is going off the rails.
And David tried to do the questioning. Guests don’t drive the shows they appear on.
He is actually not nice or polite.
He’s a sycophant so it can seem that way.
He’s a polite moderate, but an attorney by training. And I have heard lib guests on his show wilt under cross-examination before.
“Interviews” like this one are one reason I stopped listenting to Hugh many years ago.
He makes clear that he is not interested in what the “guest” has to say, and that he is determined to prevent his victim from passing along any facts or opinions to the audience.
Instead, Hugh launches into a barrage of bush league badgering which has no purpose or effect other than to annoy the person being interviewed.
Which is not to say that people like Corn don’t deserve to be annoyed — Hugh probably feels he is doing a public service in so doing.
But the end result is neither informative nor entertaining, — and makes for very poor radio.