Conservative Los Angeles radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt says he received a bundle of mail this morning about Joel Stein's Los Angeles Times op-ed (Tuesday, January 24, 2006), the one in which he declared, "I don't support our troops." After reading Stein's column, Hugh understood his listeners' anger. So he did what a good journalist should do. He booked Stein for an interview.

If you really want an inside look into a sheltered, out-of-touch, Hollywood mindset, Hugh's interview is a must-listen / must-read. A full transcript with audio is available at Radio Blogger (Thanks, Duane! You rock!).

A couple highlights:

HUGH HEWITT: All right. Now who is your...this is a column about the troops that begins, "I don't support our troops." ... But who is your closest family member or friend who is on active duty?

JOEL STEIN: That's an excellent question. I wouldn't say I have a very close friend. I would say only acquaintances. No family at all.

HH: Who are your acquaintances?

JS: There was a guy who works at Time, that's where I worked last, who quit to serve in the military.

HH: What's his name?

JS (a looong, six-second pause): You know, I'm blanking on his name. But your point is well taken that I don't have many people that I even know who are in the military.

And ...

HH: Now, and in your piece, you wrote that, "when you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you're not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse. Sometimes, you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times, it's Vietnam."

...

HH: And so, should they [the troops in Kosovo] come home now?

...

JS: To be honest...I'd like to know more about Kosovo before I said.

HH: Joel, do you know anything about the U.S. military? I mean, in a really serious way, the way that you know about like ...

Ouch.

Check this interview out.