Miller's Crossing

Miller may be up front about his own political affiliation, even to the point of shilling for the Republicans, but despite his increasingly aggressive America-first humor, he is unusually evenhanded in his selection of guests. “When it comes to protecting our country,” he said a couple of weeks ago, launching into a characteristic Ugly American rant, “I’ll call a guy who does his talking in a universal language all terrorist punks understand — big MOABs dropped right on their heads that say KABOOM for five city blocks. And we know who that is, don’t we?”

And then Miller introduced (by video screen) not, as you might expect, Ollie North or Attila the Hun, but the former U.S. secretary of labor under Clinton, Robert Reich, who proceeded to deliver an elegant editorial on the true meaning of the word patriotism. This boiled down — “I’m going to be accused of class warfare,” Reich warned — to a convincing argument for why, contra Miller’s beloved president, the rich should pay higher taxes. Somehow I can’t imagine the Michael Moores and Al Frankens of this world — not even the Jon Stewarts — being quite so generous toward their adversaries.

There was a little coda, though. After Reich had finished, we rejoined Miller, who was hanging out with the chimp. “What’s that, Mo?” he asked, bending down as if to catch something the little critter was saying. “I know! He’s trying to instigate class warfare!”

So that’s why Miller likes Mo — he’s a Republican.