Got to listen to the Randi Rhodes show on Air America Radio

Is this the point where the conservatives adopt the liberals' pathetic tactics and start referring to you as a mindless dittohead whose master has him on a leash? Why, I think it is!

 

Speaking of Ditto, I thought the EXACT same thing.

 

I also like Franken's show. I have had a chance to listen a bit and I love the resident dittohead (Mark something). He is a very intelligent sounding Republican who is very cordial with Al.

Morning Sedition is cool, I like Chuck D, but some of it runs into the Rod Ryan show. I like winning stuff and his questions are slam dunks. I answered 10 of 10 to win the "Master and Commander" DVD yesterday.

 

I too thought of the dearly departed.

 

Not sure why he slept with Sharon Osbourne.

 

I don't listen to talk radio. No matter what side of the political fence it comes from, I find its effect on me somewhere between a tranquilizer and sharp rock stuck in my shoe.

 

I have listened to Randi and Franken once or twice. Frankly, Franken is boring to me. I think his best medium is books.

But Randi can actually keep my interest for more than 5 minutes. Unlike Franken, she sounds passionate.

IMO, Air America doesn't have enough hoodspa (sp? - and yes that is a technical term) to last. Other than Randi, it is more of the democratic wishy washy messages that has put the whole party behind the 8-ball.

If there were more Democrats out there like Randi that can make a strong point and back it up (rightly or wrongly) then the party would be in better shape.

That's why the Republicans are doing well. Because they make a strong case (even if they have twist and lie about it) and stick to it. It's sad but it works.

 

I listen to AAR on XM Radio sometime and they go to commercial WAY too damn much. Janene Garafalo is the biggest idiot I think I've ever listened to in my life. Her conspiracy theories are rediculous. I heard her claim the other day that Republicans are purposely weak on education so they could keep people dumb so they would have no other option but go into the military to have a decent career. I do like the Ed Schultz guy, even if he is a loud mouth (isn't that what talk radio is for?)...

 

God, this is hilarious. You people are so desperate for an alternative to Rush and Hannity, yet look what a miserable failure left-wing nut radio has been. Only one major market (NYC) still carries this psychobabble network and it won't be long before Air America's money, which they use to pay stations to carry their propaganda, runs out. I guess they can't get little funding drives like real liberal talk radio, NPR, does or get the govt. to help them out.

 

Do you feel better now?

Are you opposed to choice? Are you anti-American for wanting to squelch people's voice different from your own.

And if Air America is "left-wing nut," then would you concede that Hannity and Rush are "right-win nut?" Or are you too biased to concede that?

 

<b>chutzpah</b>
<i>n : aggressive boldness or unmitigated effrontery</i>

Using <i>Grit</i> or <i>Audacity</i> instead probably would have worked well enough to get your point across.

 

I'm not opposed to "choice," but I hate to tell you, the free market will take care of that rather quickly. No one wants to hear the same slant that is delivered on every major news outlet, the editorial pages of every major paper in the country and on NPR, which is liberal talk radio. Talk radio is the only place (besides FNC) where people can get a more right-slanted view of the news. And that is why millions listen to Hannity and Rush, neither of which I'd describe as a nut. But after reading some of the silly conspiracies weaved by the likes of the Moveon.org folks and on the nexus of the left-wing nut universe, Democraticunderground.com, you can't tell me those people are certifiable and need to some serious therapy, just as the folks who believe that Hillary Clinton and the UN are conspiring to take over the U.S. via black helicopters.

 

My personal opinion is that liberal talk radio doesn't work in the mainstream for two reasons:

1. Often, liberals are focused on conspiracies.

2. Liberals aren't at their best when they are angry. The most effective liberal open dialogues in the past 30 years came by means of peaceful demonstration or through humor.

Because of these two things, you get people like bamaslammer immediately calling everyone nuts. Some of those conspiracies may be true and maybe heaving things at police during WTO conferences gets attention, but it also makes you look wacko,

On the flip side of the coin, conservatives have managed to turn what is legitimately crazy talk into mainstream discussion because...

1. They talk more about people or groups than conspiracy.

2. They don't get angry so much as they APPEAL to anger.

Both are subtle differences, but they are very effective. Rather than talking about some secret consortium of the powerful meeting in dark rooms to plan the world's future, they say, "Look at how Janet Jackson flaunts the conventions of society on national television." They turn one partially-covered boob into a cultural revolution.

And, they don't get angry so much as they MAKE people angry. They point at a person (Bill Clinton, for example) or a group (the ACLU, for example) and tell us that he/she or they are to blame for all our problems. They back it up with circumstantial evidence and speculation and it pisses people off. That motivates them to do something about it.

That doesn't mean that their ideas aren't just as nuts. Sometimes, moreso. It just means that their strategy for convincinng people that crazy really isn't crazy is effective.

 

Good insight, Jeff. Never quite considered it that way.

Another weakness i've seen (heard?) with leftish radio, is that it tends to be more than a little condescending. The 'other' side is dismissed at either uneducated or ill informed, and almost pitied for their unenlightened views.

Right wing radio either tries to convert its detractors -- or challenges their point of view (or manhood - if that doesn't work). Much more entertaining. Though certainly no more insightful or informative.

 

Right wing radio is extremely condescending. ANY of the shows that allow a democrate to speak, they make them look like fools. More often than not, the person they allow to "represent" the left can barely form a sentence. So they sound like idiots already. Then the host giggles and snickers or openly laughs at the caller and is outright dismissive of anything said.