Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Neal Gabler's gotta take outlandish swipes at the Bush administration on Fox Media Watch. And, perhaps in a form of childish defiance, Gabler also has a penchant for biting the Fox hand that feeds him.

On tonight's episode, Gabler:

• Claimed that Vice-President Cheney "doesn't believe in a free press."
• Described the shooting accident as "idiocy" on the VP's part.
• Accused Brit Hume of not asking the 'major question' in his interview of Cheney [having to do with the timing of notification].
• Seconded the notion that the shooting might have been a 'conspiracy' and 'good PR' for purposes distracting attention from the latest Abu Ghraib photo release and other administration problems. Cal Thomas had floated the notion as a joke, but Gabler seemed to pick up on it seriously.
• Mocked Fox's objectivity, saying "when the Vice-President shoots somebody in the face, it's big news. I don't care where you live, even on Fox News, it's a big story."

Alright Neal, you've met your quota for the night. See you next week.

One might add that, in the talking-head corollary to Gresham's Law, Gabler's bad punditry drives good punditry out of circulation, as he regularly seems to get more than his fair share of air time.