Dear BBC: If you call me, I'll pick up. Sincerely, Grace Nearing

Well la-di-friggin-da: the gang lounging about at The Corner are all nodding their heads and rolling their eyes: the BBC's got cooties.

The gang just dreads getting phone calls from those pesky BBC producers seeking talkingheads. The BBC is so unkewl that the kewl kidz not only can't be bothered, they're ticked.

It all starts with Rick Lowry.

Whenever I call a friend of mine who is a Middle East expert, he never answers the phone. I leave a message and invariably he calls me back within seconds. His explanation is always the same, “Sorry, I thought you might be the BBC.” It turns out when you call someone from an NR phone, it comes up “unknown” on caller ID, just as it does when someone's calling from the BBC.

I now realize that my friend isn't unusual--that an epidemic fear is gripping the conservative movement.

The other day I was standing in a colleague's office when his phone rang. He refused to answer it. In response to my puzzled look he said, “It might be the BBC.” A few moments later, my cell phone rang--caller ID: “unknown”--and I answered: it was the BBC, looking for my colleague, who began waving his arms in don't-tell-them-I'm-here gestures.

Why the fear? As far as I can tell, it's because the BBC is relentless, clueless, and anti-American. Conversations with its producers tend to be long and pointless, and no media appearance is as unsatisfying as one with the BBC, since no one you know will hear you and you will make no head-way against a tide of maddeningly conventional leftism. [emph added]

Don't you just love that -- there's no point doing a BEEB interview because no one you know will hear you.

Lowry's no martyr for the cause, is he? He refuses to waste his time doing interviews when no one residing in his inner circle will be able to compliment him on his fantastic performance.

And am I wrong to interpret Lowry's "you will make no head-way against a tide of maddeningly conventional leftism" to mean BBC interviewers have an annoying habit of being persistent and asking multiple follow-up questions that just might reveal one's superficial knowledge and erratic thought processes? Really, am I that far off?

Of course, it wouldn't be The Corner if we didn't get a bunch of tag-team responses.

Here's K-Lo's scintillating contribution: A dear D.C. friend tells me: "Rich and Jonah are SOOOOO right about the BBC. I stopped talking to them a couple of years ago, and that’s probably why the Redskins are doing better…"

And here's Jonah Goldberg's: Imagine my terror. When my phone rings it's no lady-or-the-tiger choice. It's either going to be National Review calling to harass me about a late -- or non-existent -- article or it's the BBC asking if my Zionist handlers will let me do an interview. It's a lose-lose for me.

"Zionist handlers" is Jonah's code for "Mom and Dad."