A FASCINATING THESIS FROM THE RIGHT'S MOST BRILLIANT DOCTOR OF THINKOLOGY -- IF ONLY WE COULD TEST IT!

You know that Victor Davis Hanson is a Really Bright Guy because he writes thick books about the ancient world and sentences so convoluted that they're harder to get through than hip-deep Mississippi mud. For further proof of his brilliance, consider the provocative and astonishingly profound thought exercise that begins this Hanson post (emphasis added):

David Axelrod's moral-equivalence argument that Limbaugh's smear is worse than Maher's because the former is both more influential and more identifiable with Republican circles is a sad sort of sophistry. Limbaugh may have a larger audience, but I suspect if you googled "Rush Limbaugh" and compared it to "Bill Maher," the so-called hits would be about the same, given the latter's ability, through political profanity and contrived P.T. Barnum–like antics, to find enormous publicity and influence beyond what his mediocre talents as a comedian might otherwise earn.

Hanson suspects that "the so-called hits would be about the same"! Ever consider that possibility? I know I certainly hadn't.

If only there were a way to determine whether it's true!

... Oh, wait -- I've been informed by an eight-year-old that there actually is a way to determine whether it's true:

Google "Rush Limbaugh"
Search About 32,200,000 results (0.29 seconds)

Google "Bill Maher"
Search About 14,500,000 results (0.18 seconds)

There you go -- more than twice as many "so-called hits" for Limbaugh -- which I believe, according to wingnut math, is "about the same."