Right Wing Radio, a Listeners Guide

There seems to be a growing audience for the most extreme of the talk show hosts, and they seem to be getting more emboldened to spew their hate tinged rhetoric without thought or excuse. I have listened to talk radio at least a little for years. Lately I have been spinning the dial to listen to as many views and different hosts as possible. What I have found is that it is getting harder to find anyone who isn’t spouting different versions of the same thing. It is entertaining to listen to them as the Bush Administration flounders about. Most of them would defend him if there were photos of him eating children’s housecats. One of the most disturbing things to hear is how they defend the torture issue. I have not heard one right wing host come out against Dick Cheney on that one. Whatever mistakes the Administration makes, they blame it on the “Liberal media bias” or something of the sort. In this article I have compiled a review list of some of the different hosts, with references to some of their opinions. If they don’t scare you, they should.

First, the man who is probably the most well known. Rush Limbaugh. A complete apologist for the Bush Administration and hater of Hillary Clinton, (as most of them are) he is also the most full of himself. It takes a large amount of self confidence to host a radio show, true. Rush has more than enough. He thinks he is God’s gift to America and the World. (Talent on loan from God) is a quote he uses frequently. Like most right wing hosts, he equates having a different opinion with being a stupid Liberal who hates his or her country and everything good in the Universe. And like most, he will let a caller talk all day if he is praising Rush (mega dittos is a phrase the hardcore supporters use) but will talk over any differing opinion. The worst offender in this category is Bill O’Reilly. More on him later. Rush Limbaugh is a blowhard and as such is dismissed by many. To do so is a mistake, he holds many radical views that can be dangerous. Here is a good one, he recently compared the torture pictures from Abu Gharib as less offensive than porn pictures made here in America. Note to the ditto heads…porn and torture are NOT the same thing! To compare porn, whether you like it or not, to prisoner abuse is just idiotic. It is understandable that Rush was addicted to pain killers, all those years of having to listen to himself took their toll.

Bill O’Reilly. Loud mouthed and hate spewing, he does get a little credit for questioning the Bush Administration, at least a little. But he really gets weird on some topics. And he is about the worse offender when it comes to shouting down a dissenting opinion. One of his most recent rants was directed at the city of San Francisco. A recent ballot measure, approved by about sixty percent of voters, called on public schools to restrict military recruiting. In response, he suggested that Al-Qaeda bomb them. “And if Al-Qaeda comes in and blows you up, were not going to do anything about it. Were going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to come in here and blow up the COIT Tower, go ahead.” He said on November 8th. Now I am very much an advocate of free speech, and in no way am suggesting that free speech be impeded. On the contrary, I am saying that concerned Americans need to listen to these fruitcakes, because many people are, and take the seriously.

Definitely the most hate-filled is Michael Savage. The host of the so-called “Savage Nation” seems to have lost his mind, or least lost track of what he says. He wavers between carpet bombing and accommodation when talking about Iraq, for example. He says entire areas should be utterly destroyed. He says that Bush should consider splitting up Iraq to appease Iran, to a degree. And he has thrown hateful words at homosexuals, women, disabled, or anyone who is like him. And he thinks that he speaks for God. Again, he is free to speak as he likes. We should all be aware of what he is saying.

Bill Bennett, the former Reagan Administration official, now hosts a morning show. He is another Bush apologist. He is mostly just an egotistical blowhard, not spouting all the hate of some of the others. Michael Medved is another one that thinks he speaks for God. One of his recent rants was in support of cutting off the thumbs of graffiti vandals. I don’t like graffiti either, Mike, but come on! Laura Ingraham is another one, a Bush can do no wrong supporter. Janet Parshall, on her show “Janet Parshall’s America” is more a religious show, and hopelessly pro Bush. She has a way of speaking that can instantly irritate a free thinking person. Sean Hannity is another one that cannot seem to find anything at all possibly wrong with the way the Bush Administration is handling the situation in Iraq. And he is almost as bad as Bill O’Reilly when it comes to not letting a dissenting opinion speak.

There are more, many more. My biggest complaint is that it is hard to find liberal radio. Jerry Springer can actually be informing to listen to, as can Air America Radio. The problem is that it is not carried in all markets, unlike the nutty ones, which seem to be all over the radio. At least I can watch Jon Stewart and Bill Maher on television!