Populist Talk Radio
 

So I've got a little vacation to burn up and some building projects to do so I figure I'll sample left wing talk radio to see where they stand.

Al Franken despite all his good work of tv absolutely sucks on radio. Dead air, lost train of thoughts, flying by the seat of his pants when he should have a plan etc... There are a couple female talkers who are not bad. They're as mean as Rush and as funny. They misrepresent their party as effectively as Hannity et al. I would like to welcome the Democratic Party to the anti-war side, too bad they waited for 1800 dead and a drop in Bushes poll numbers to climb on board. The bottom line: talk radio needs unaffiliated voices more than it needs party hacks. To quote another idiot, "What say you?"

What do you mean by "Democratic Party"? Progressive radio has been against the war pretty much the whole time. It's the DLC-types who were mealy-mouthed about it, and most of them still are. But, thanks to stuff like progressive rado and blogs, I'm hopeful that progressives will regain control of the Democratic Party, and the politicians who sway with the wind will sway in the right direction again.

As for the actual radio, I agree pretty much with what you said. I haven't listened to Franken in a while, but he is not a polished radio voice. Republicans have mastered the art of repeating propaganda over and over, but Franken repeats lengthy anecdotes over and over. His cohost tries to help him out, but as he's gained confidence he seems to overrule her advice a bit too much. Franken gets the best guests, though, and I enjoy his bit with his Dittohead friend.

Stephanie Miller is fun to listen to, but she's pretty fluffy - not too much substance.

Randi Rhodes is abrasive. You can get used to it, but every once in a while she'll say something unjustified.

Ed Schultz isn't with Air America, but he's carried on many of their stations. He's closest to unaffiliated. IIRC, he was Republican until Bush.

In the DC area, or on the web, WJFK has a new guy after Don and Mike, Peter Rosenberg 7-11pm, who is interesting. He's not too polished, this being his first radio gig, but he seems pretty thoughtful and open to opposing views.

I hadn't had a chance to listen before this week so I'll take your word for pop radios stance against the war. Good luck shaking up the party. I know a lot of Democrats who regret the party line last election.

Ask and ye shall receive!

Here's hoping.

And then there are those of us who look at what these "progressives" have wrought, and what they are still trying to do -- I am sick of these people trying to lose us the war! -- and conclude that the "progressives" are exactly what is wrong with the Democratic Party.

It won't get its soul back until it dumps these Mommy-Statists.

And rabid neo-con hawks who want to beat the whole world with a stick are what's wrong with the Republican Party, along with hardline religious dogmatists who won't truly acknowledge the First Amendment applying to anyone but themselves.

...and your point is?

Speaking of Ed . . . His second very controversial interaction in about 2 weeks. First he told the voters of Massachusetts he'd cheat to win
and now . . .

Link

nice, real nice.

Why is this controversial, because Schultz told Gibbs he was full of shit? Because Gibbs told Schultz, fuck you?

David Foster Wallace did a really great profile of a conservative talk show host, John Ziegler. He managed to make the point, very delicately and coherently, that talk radio is never about politics. It's about entertainment and money. And the reason why most talk radio tends towards conservative politics is that it is easier to make more entertaining.

Another one of those funny points where seeing it (entertainment) as what it's not (journalism) just leads people horribly, horribly astray.

Sure, when nobody that talks politics takes your hate seriously, the only thing left is to listen to the entertainers on talk radio.

A voice of reason.

I never said it was controversial. I did however find it refreshing that someone from the media said what they thought and mr. glib err gibbs said "Fuck you". That seems way out of character for him, from what I've seen.

:eyebrow:

lol - sorry - I make every excuse for posting after 10:00pm. I really shouldn't.

I think most, if not all, the people we see on camera/hear on the air, are playing a roll. They would most likely act differently in real life, except Cheney. who is always a dick.