From my interview with Francisco, Tuesday: HH: Joined now on the Hugh Hewitt Show by a veteran of the White House Counsel’s office, Noel Francisco. He is presently of counsel to the firm of Jones Day, I believe, in Washington, D.C. Welcome, Noel. It’s good to have you on the program. NF: My pleasure. It’s good to be here. HH: Let’s get a little background down here. You graduated University of Chicago in economics, and then you got your J.D. from the University of Chicago as well, correct? NF: That’s right. HH: Associate counsel to the president for two years, 2001 to 2003. Deputy attorney general,...

From yesterday’s interview with NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen (complete transcript at Radioblogger): First, did the media do its job in warning people to get the hell out of there? JR: Well, yeah, except that a lot of people felt that they received false warnings before. It’s not really failing to warn. HH: Well, I don’t know. What about the semiotics of standing in the rain on the Gulf Coast, and then moving your car back a few yards as the waters get bigger. What’s the message that the mainstream media really sent to the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast ten days ago, Jay Rosen? JR: Well, I...

One of the exchanges the e-mailers like most from my interview with Los Angeles Times columnist and senior writer Tim Rutten: TR: Hey, you know what? There are millions upon millions of individual decisions that go into the production of a newspaper every day. It’s a miracle that more of them aren’t wrong. HH: Especially since everyone making them is a liberal. TR: No, particularly…No, because they’re all humans. For more media criticism, see Scott Johnson’s “The Media Quagmire” in today’s Daily...

Here is the transcript of my long interview with Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times, the paper’s media essayist and senior writer. We will play most of it on tomorrow’s program if the news from New Orleans doesn’t overwhelm everything else. After Rutten named a number of blogs he reads and they all turn out to be center-right, I ask Rutten if he reads any of the lefty blogs: HH: But any lefties? TR: Lefties. Um, no. HH: You just can’t stand the snarling? TR: There…no, they’re not as interesting, are they? That’s a teaser. There’s a lot of new media/old media exchanges in this...

Professor John Eastman is my colleague at Chapman University Law School, and a scholar on the American founding. On the program today we discussed the difficulties of 1787 and their parallels in the Iraq of 2005: HH: Joined by Professor John Eastman, my colleague at Chapman University Law School, and a PhD, in addition to being a J.D., and for that reason, my guest expert today on how we approach the Iraqi constitution debate. John, good to have you here. JE: Thanks, Hugh. HH: John, I was reading over, and George Allen and I were talking about this earlier today, the Iraqi draft constitution in the New York Times today. And...

I interviewed Jay Sekulow from the American Center for Law and Justice today about Judge John Roberts, an exchange which should be very reassuring to those who have been raising questions about whether Judge Roberts is another Justice Souter: INTERVIEW WITH JAY SEKULOW: HH: Jay, welcome to the Hugh Hewitt Show. JS: Hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. HH: Jay, you’re the only guy on radio who talks faster than I do, and I love that about you. I want you to take a little time and explain, especially to my center-right listeners, why you are confident that John Roberts is not David Souter, and what this latest...

University of North Dakota President Charles Kupchella was my guest on the radio today. I will try and get a transcript of the conversation up later, but if you haven’t done so already, be sure to read his “Open Letter to the NCAA.” It is a masterpiece. You can e-mail President Kupchella at c_kupchella@mail.und.nodak.edu. Here is the transcript of the interview: HH: President Kupchella, welcome to the Hugh Hewitt Show. CK: Well thanks, Hugh. I’m please to be on. HH: Tell me a little bit about the University of North Dakota first, how big it is, what your mascot is, and how you came to be its president,...