Let's see -- it's nobody's business, it's his private life, he and his wife clearly were estranged anyway, it wasn't like he was cheating on her, he's been a great mayor and he has prostate cancer.

But do you think there's a double standard in the media relating to its coverage of Giuliani's philandering as compared to President Clinton's? Most of the New York press, for instance, tactfully refer to Nathan as the mayor's "girlfriend" rather than "mistress" or "lover."

Well, with Clinton there were a lot of problems. He wasn't totally upfront. [Laughs] I think that was a problem. Also, there's a difference being estranged from your wife and finding companionship as supposed to being married and having a fling. There are some distinctions. Also, he was the president and this was just the mayor. [Laughs]

On a recent episode of "Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher," you got into a heated argument with conservative lobbyist Marjorie Strayer over the fairness of President Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut. If you could pinpoint it, what is it about right-wing commentators that make them so goddamn irritating?

She was taking a very small side issue that had nothing to do with anything, which was the earned-income tax credit. For some reason, she claimed that Republicans had been instrumental in the increase in the earning of tax credits when -- ever since it was expanded under Bush -- Republicans had been fighting that. The only thing you've ever heard them say about the earned-income tax credit is that it's subject to widespread fraud. You'll remember, President Bush had to chide his own party 'cause they were going to balance the budget on the backs of the poor and then send the earned-income tax credit into another year. The lack of intellectual honesty was what was bothering me; the willingness to actually engage as opposed to just shouting over me. She got out of control. Either she didn't know what she was talking about or she was being dishonest.

	Print story E-mail story

Among Ann Coulter, Barbara Olson, Laura Ingraham and Peggy Noonan, who would you most like to muzzle and why?

Oy oy oy. That's hard -- really hard. I think that's a false choice. [Laughs]

Don't you find it somewhat amusing that the aforementioned women have all made their literary careers off the Clinton name? What do you make of their unhealthy fixation on the former first family?

Well, I'm vulnerable on this score 'cause my biggest literary success was the Rush Limbaugh book. So, who am I?

Do you plan on writing another book in the vein of "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot" and, if so, who would be your new whipping boy now that Limbaugh is not as fat as he used to be?

By the way, I saved his life. [He] has not thanked me. [Laughs] I don't know. There isn't anyone as silly and as easy a target as Rush. I'm just going to have to hunker down and actually get more substantive and just go after the whole Bush administration. I'm flirting with a couple of ideas right now.

What's your favorite Bushism to date?

Of course, my favorite is, "I don't mind being misunderestimated."

Which is more offensive to you -- Vice President Cheney's $20 million golden parachute from Halliburton or a speech by Louis Farrakhan?

It depends which speech. [Laughs]

Are you convinced that Cheney and Bush's refusal to impose price caps in California has anything to do with protecting their own oil interests?

I don't think it does have anything to do with defending their own oil interests. I think it might have something to do with the oil interests they know and are familiar with and see socially. [Laughs]

This past April, Barbra Streisand issued a memo essentially calling Democratic leaders a bunch of weak-willed wussies. Do you agree with her assessment of the current party?

You know, I think Hollywood celebrities have a big role to play. For example, on the environment, not too many people realize this, but Hollywood celebrities make up just 0000000000.1 percent of the world's population ... and yet consume nearly 36 percent of its resources. Seventeen acres of rain forest are consumed every day by Barbra Streisand alone.

Sleazier town -- Hollywood or Washington?

I think there's a certain honor in both industries that people don't realize, and yet there's sleaze in both that people don't quite understand either. It's more subtle than I think people outside those industries understand. You can't condemn the whole business either way.

Describe the experience of hosting the White House Correspondents Association dinner -- it seems like a tough crowd to win over.

They're both easy and hard. They're easy in the sense that it's like a trade association. It'd be like doing the scrap metal convention if I knew an incredible amount about scrap metal. So, you can do jokes there about Dennis DeConcini [former Arizona senator] and they'll laugh. That's the good part. The bad part is they are looking to be offended. They will do everything they can to find a way to be offended.

Do you get more satisfaction writing books, TV shows or films?

It's all pretty much the same. I get satisfaction when I write something I like, when I'm happy with it.

If it's possible to be objective, can you critique "Saturday Night Live's" coverage of the political scene compared to when you were writing for the show?

I thought the stuff Jim Downey did this year was brilliant. Jim did the debates and I think he really revitalized the show in terms of its political stuff.

Do you ever get the itch to return to "SNL"?

Every once in a while, I feel it would be nice to be there this week. But I did 15 seasons on it, and unless something really interesting is happening I really don't get that nostalgic.

In a fight between Stuart Smalley and Mary Matalin, who would win?

Well, Stuart would lose if it was about politics. Stuart doesn't know anything about politics.

What inspired you to become so politically oriented?

My parents were really political. The news was very important in our home. We basically had dinner every night while watching the news and then we'd discuss it with our parents. My dad had been a Republican all his life until 1964, when he switched because of [Barry] Goldwater's stand on the '64 Civil Rights Act. And my mom had been a Democrat. Until '64, there had been that sort of back and forth. The civil rights movement was very important in my house and then Vietnam was very important 'cause there were two boys, so I came of age during a very heated political climate.

Have you ever thought of becoming a political strategist à la James Carville?

I've offered to give advice and stuff like that, but they don't take me seriously.

Who would you like to see as Democratic presidential candidate in 2004?

I don't know.

Now playing: Read all the recent movie reviews by Salon's critics