Getting a GetReligion writer on ’30 Rock’

I’ve been on a month-long Sabbatical from GetReligion while I suffer through 1L finals. Filling in for me has been Mollie Ziegler Hemingway’s husband, Mark. Until recently Mark Hemingway worked for the National Review; now he’s at the Washington Examiner. I imagine it was prior to joining GetReligion, but it seems Mark got the attention of the writers of “30 Rock,” who mentioned his name on last night’s episode.

In the above scene Jack Donaghy tells Liz Lemon that she’s making no sense, that she sounds just like Hemingway. “Mark Hemingway, that is.”

Hemingway thinks that the reference may have been a political dig at conservatives from Baldwin, who has made his liberal views quite clear over the years.

“I don’t know about the writers room at ‘30 Rock,’ but an obsessive Huffington Post guy like Alec Baldwin probably reads National Review Online and the editorial page of the Washington Examiner — if for no other reason than to scoff? From there, my famous last name just lent itself to an easy punchline and an inside joke.”

Hemingway is not bitter, however, calling the joke “funny” and “the whole thing is just an honor and a privilege.” He says that he and his wife are big fans of the show and he’s already heard from friends jealous of his 15 seconds of fame