To the surprise of no one, the Anti-Defamation League has condemned Judith Regan's alleged remarks about a "Jewish cabal" at HarperCollins. "If Ms. Regan did make the charge that a Jewish cabal was conspiring against her, she clearly stepped over the line by employing the age-old anti-Semitic canard that Jews conspire against non-Jews," ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said to AP's Hillel Italie yesterday afternoon. "She also gives credence to the conspiracy theory that Jews control the media. Whatever her dispute with HarperCollins, the Jewishness of her critics had absolutely no relevance to the matter at hand, which leads one to question why she resorted to raising the Jewish issue."

Meanwhile, Ron's report of his stint on Regan's radio show last week brought Harry Shearer out of the woodwork to detail his account on the show the Thursday after Thanksgiving - when the OJ book deal cancellation was still fresh. "For the record," he notes, "there was no mention or suggestion of Jews or anti-Semitism in any of this half-hour-long conversation, even by her." (This matches up with Ron's experience; before the formal taping began, he heard Regan's interactions with the production staff over his headphones, and while her employees come under just as much verbal fire as is suggested in the stories you've heard, the prolonged criticism never once broached the Jewish question.)

The most salient exchange in Shearer's taping came after Regan ranted about "people gunning for successful women" and not understanding why it had come about:

"I think one reason people may have reacted so angrily and energetically against this project was because it was an opportunity to attack Rupert Murdoch."

"Why would they want to do that?" she asked. She really did.

I decided to be comedically blunt: "Because he's evil."

That really set her off. "You take his money. You're like all the Hollywood hypocrites, you criticize him but you're happy to take his money."

"Judith," I said, trying to get her back into a mood which might allow for mentioning my book again, "a good friend once told me that the only way to really hurt Rupert Murdoch is to take as much of his money as humanly possible."

"That's demented," she replied.