ENTERTAINER VS. TRUE BELIEVER

Publius at Obsidian Wings makes an interesting point about Coulter and Malkin: Coulter sees herself as an entertainer, so making shocking statements is just part of her personal PR campaign but Malkin is not only a true believer, she thinks she's reality-based, so when she gets criticized, she takes it personally and that's why she can't get over the justified attacks made on her for her attempts to discredit the Frosts.

Limbaugh also sees himself as an entertainer but that doesn't stop him from whining whenever he gets some push back about his outrageous remarks, so I don't think the Entertainer/True Believer distinction accounts for much of the differences in behavior. I think the moral question is how much of the crap they peddle they actually believe. I think Hannity is a true believer, Limbaugh much less so.

On a moral basis, I would say that the true believer is somewhat less culpable than the conscious liar because the liar has the added sin of duplicity.