Jay Severin wants us to bring it on

On March 13, Jay received a sycophantic call from a woman who lauded him for what she perceived as a heroic effort defending himself from callers who disagree with him. Jay said it was no big deal:

I come to the radio with two things: a vast amount of experience debating some of the smartest people in the world, and secondly –and its related — I know what I believe. You know, my statements, my analyses, my comments, my opinions all derive from a lifelong body of beliefs and values. [Rambling digression on a decades-old interaction with Mario Cuomo deleted.] If you’ve debated Mario Cuomo and professor Alan Dershowitz and everybody else you can think of on the left — those guys are all way smarter than I am. My point is, if if you’ve gotten through that and you know what you’re doing, you know what you believe — and that’s the key, the moral of the story here — if you know what you believe, you don’t ever have to worry about being called hypocritical or inconsistent or anything like that. If you have a set of beliefs and values, then your opinions and commentaries will flow from them. And I don’t want to discourage people from challenging me. I love it. I think it’s great radio and it’s great fun and it’s great exercise for the brain. But in terms of worrying that anyone will ever come on the radio and make me look silly or catch me in a lie or any of those things — believe me, I’ve been bullet tested for twenty years, so bring it on!

To which I respond:

• “If you know what you believe, you don’t ever have to worry about being called hypocritical or inconsistent” – But Jay, what if your beliefs themselves are hypocritical or inconsistent? For example, what if you believe that the government should play the smallest possible role in regulating relationships between consenting adults but you are also opposed to same-sex marriages (as you were until recently)?
• “I don’t want to discourage people from challenging me” – Really? Then why do you insult your on-air critics and hang up on them?
• “in terms of worrying that anyone will ever come on the radio and make me look silly or catch me in a lie or any of those things” – Be afraid, Jay. Be very afraid. I’m already doing it in my blog.
• “those guys are all way smarter than I am.” – At least we agree on one thing.

You want me to bring it on, Jay? I’m happy to be a guest on your show any time you want.