Partisan Radio

Something Ryan said recently has had me thinking...

In more than one recent post, Ryan has commented on my "dislike" of Rush Limbaugh and his radio program. While I am the first to admit that I have had serious issues with what the man has said in the past, I can't say that I have heard his show in the last 24 months at all. I am almost exclusively a Sirius listener now, and if the host doesn't have a show on Sirius or the local ESPN station, chances are I don't hear them at all.

However, I did hear the comments he made about Powell endorsing Obama.

For EVERY reason Ryan, Rush, or even I have to NOT vote for Obama, someone else is going to name a reason TO vote for Obama. Charismatic. New ideas. Reform of the system. Responsible government. Popular with the public. Friendly with the world. The list goes on and on, I'm sure.

And YES, there are going to be people casting their vote for Obama BECAUSE he is BLACK, and they feel it is the RIGHT TIME to cast the vote for an African American. Do you know what?

That's fine.

I mean, when it comes right down to it... what difference does it make? Is Rush going to respect the decision to vote for Obama any MORE if the reason is given clearly, plainly and without hesitation? I find it very difficult to believe that any conservative is going to be any more "understanding" of an Obama vote than a liberal is of someone casting for McCain. Let's face it, in the eyes of people like Rush... if you are NOT voting GOP, you're an idiot. Do you know what?

That's fine, too.

As Ryan has explained to me countless times, Rush gives OPINION, not NEWS. Thus, he can't be expected to uphold any degree of objectivity, right? It is antithetical to "opinion". MY beef with Limbaugh has always been in his derogatory manner that he delivers his opinion about those he disagrees with.

Femi-Nazis, SoccerMoms, the Looney Left... all make great attention-grabbers, but do little to further the cause of driving home the irrefutable message of "conservatism". Instead, they make ratings.

That, too, is fine.

The crux of my post was to say that I also spent 3 hours listening to the Sirius Left Channel (146), to see if I could find anything to relate to anymore from the liberal path the Party of my youth has taken.

I was shocked to a degree that I am really not sure I can relate here. I wouldn't know where to begin to list the things I found offensive during those 3 hours of airtime. The most shocking use of racist language, employed to show how "tollerant" the host was. Language even I wouldn't use in front of strangers (and I have a notoriously foul mouth, believe me) employed to describe ELECTED officials of this nation. To top it all off, referrences to violence and criminal acts SO vile that even the DNC called out Clinton for HINTING at it during the primary. ALL this rolled up into ONE show called the Mike Malloy Show.

In all the years I have heard Limbaugh, or Hannity, or Ingrahm, or Wilkow, or Mark Levin... they have USUALLY kept referrences to Dems and liberals within the bounds of decency. If I had to point to a "conservative" that took the debate format of modern political commentary out of the realm of REASONABLE and into the realm of DESTRUCTIVE... I'd use names like Coulter and Savage. But not even these two have ever said what Malloy has said, to the best of my knowledge... at least not over the radio.

I really have yet to hear ANY conservative commentator or pundit spew even a portion of the pure, enadulaterated HATE this man can share in his 3 hours slot. I can see why no fewer than 3 mainstream (and prestigious) terrestrial radio giants (one of them WLS in Chicago) FIRED his ass, and his only option now is to hope he can keep a job on satellite radio, where his hate won't get him canned (at least as long as Stern is on the same station!).

In the long-ago days of the ACTUAL Driveway Bund... when I would argue with Ryan about the validity of Limbaugh's rants... my "liberal" radio experience was limited to Jim Bohannon, by far the most out-spoken radio critic of the Bush Administration that I had heard to that point.

I honestly had no concept that the VOLUME of the Left had been turned up so HIGH.