Inside the Beltway

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By Jennifer Harper INSIDE THE BELTWAY

SAVAGE JUSTICE

Rep. John Culberson has come to the defense of embattled talk-radio host Michael Savage in his quest to have his name removed from a list of undesirables banned from Britain.

In a Nov. 17 letter to Secretary of State HiIlary Rodham Clinton obtained by Inside the Beltway, the Texas Republican requests Mrs. Clinton to "use all diplomatic tools at your disposal" to remove Mr. Savage from the list, which includes terrorists and muderers. British officials had accused Mr. Savage of hate speech and placed him on the list last year.

Mr. Culberson call the designation "defamatory and disturbing," saying the ban "demeans and diminishes" Britain as a free and open society.

"Michael Savage is a loyal American, and he is passionate about protecting America, which is why I enjoy listening to him," the lawmaker continues. "I have never heard him encourage hatred or incite anyone to engage in violence."

Mr. Culberson suggests Mr. Savage be granted a travel visa forthwith and says he will be working with colleagues in Congress to protect Mr. Savage's First Amendment rights.

"If he were at the fringe of society like the other people on the U.K. list, he would not have a nationally syndicated radio show," Mr. Culberson adds.

MEAN NUMBERS

And we do mean "mean." In a report released Tuesday, the Culture and Media Institute analyzed 69 recent stories on Sarah Palin that were broadcast on CBS, NBC or ABC to reveal that 37 of the stories were negative, two were positive, and 30 were neutral.

Most telling: Not a single evening news show ran a positive story about Mrs. Palin, they found.