“The cant & prattle of the usual leftie dullards here is condescending “???????

That's why Air America failed. By and large the Left is condescending toward hate-mongerers and blow-hards on the left as well as the right. They don't allly themselves with destructive forces just becasue they are on the left.

Did someone mention principles and Rush in the same sentence?
I suppose you could say that, but then, you'd also have to admit that binLaden is sticking to his pronciples. BinLaden doesn't even have a multi millinon dollar contract. to help him do it. He is sticking to his principles at great economic cost, risk to his safety and the sacrifice of personal comfort. .

If sticking to principles is the measure, then Rush loses to even the likes of Osama bin Laden.. .

The Pew Study is probably correct, as I began listening a year ago—the level of discourse is a lot higher than the cliche'd “CW” that passes for thinking on NPR & PBS, which I also listen to and watch. The sophistication of Rush's listeners belies the silly criticisms of guys like Vanity Fair's Wolff & other liberal class warfare nasties who think Rush is being overpaid. His audience goes way over 30 million on occasion, as opposed to 500,000 max for any lib talk show except the anodyne Alan Colmes. Hannity gets close to 20 million.

I can remember when Bill Clinton used to gush over the “essential wisdom” of the American people. Those people listen to Rush rather than the sky-is-falling crowd on the left.

The fact is, he sticks to his principles and millions of people agree with Rush's principles.

So principled that he admitted to “carrying water” for Republicans.

He is a self admitted shill. He might as well call himself a Republican strategist. He's certainly not an intellectual.

Randi Rhodes and others like her have floundered on the air, probably because even the most rabid lefties find her foul-mouthed and intolerant. Air America was a disasterous experiment—proving to me that the far right has more of an appetite for viscious diatribe. BTW, Rush's “principles” don't seem to include sticking to factual evidence—but I guess twisting and spinning the truth to smear as many liberals as possible generates better ratings which translates into an elite position as a radio host.

I totally agree with you on this, DLS. It's something I've been kicking around in my head since reading Joe's post earlier…. I'm still working out a couple issues though… for instance if Obama is pres and he does a better job than Bush, will the Limbaughs of the world credit the Bush Administration for laying the groundwork? A perfect example is Iraq… if Obama pulls our troops out relatively painlessly will Rush say that it was Bush's perseverance in keeping the troops in Iraq which allowed Obama the ability to pull out? Also it will be interesting to see if/how they play up the race or Muslim card… Assuming Obama becomes prez and people realize that he's not a closet Muslim trying to convert America, then what material will they use to keep up their ratings? I'm not saying that there won't be any material, I'm just wondering what will appear…. I never underestimate the power of creativity, especially when one's livelihood is at risk.

Limbaugh is certainly hated, along with others who resist the PC party line.

And let's not even spend much time about the pathological hatred of Reagan and now Bush, on this site as well as elsewhere.

* * *

“Few would turn to them for voting guidance or real, meaningful information.”

Ha. Try _voting for them_. Even when they're not innovative, but copycats.

http://www.alfranken.com/content/splash

Actually, he appealed originally to the more educated, better-reasoning crowd so neglected (when not savaged) by the liberal media, and in so doing put AM radio back on the map along with introducing everyone to the talk radio show. Limbaugh did not join Air America and the far left radio market, which hasn't grown or thrived, but has flopped.

Even the louder-mouthed Hannity or Beck is better than Randi Rhodes (who behaves as if she is psychotic) or, frequently, Al Franken, or the louder-mouth logic-free man (lefty poster boy, as well as well representing so many listeners) who at least used to be on the air with Garafalo, or childishly silly Stephanie Miller.

The remarkable thing here is the risk that Limbaugh's sponsors took by paying him so much money for so long a period, when he and his program are getting old and tired (and out-shouted). I would not bet on any post-2008-Democratic-leftist-lunging controversy to give Limbaugh and his program a revitalization for many, many more years. A few months, maybe.

The Left has its own personalities pretending to be founts of wisdom, but at least most left-ish viewers see them for what they are: sometimes comics, sometimes blow-hards, someitmes just mouthing the 'feel good' phrases.
Few would turn to them for voting guidance or real, meaningful information.
Most watch FOX, as well,to broaden perspective. They lack the tunnel vision of Rush fans; that's the last thing they want. When they say 'informed', they mean informed broadly, not selectively.

If you don't already know Rush is a pandering throwback for white guys that wish it was still the 50's, nothing is going to open your eyes at this point.

Similarly, Sean's listeners brag about how they have been “Hannitized”.

Neither of these “personalities” seems to cope well when dealing with opposing viewpoints, preferring the callers who fawn all over them and refer to them as “Great Americans” before mimicking their viewpoints. Callers who do voice an independent point of view soon find themselves speaking to a dial tone.

I've watched some conservative talk shows and the hosts tend to talk over the “liberal” and not let the “liberal” have their say while allowing the conservative time to talk.

rjspeleton, “These commentators are distilling and succinctly reflecting what the majority of the listeners believe; end of story.” No, it's not the end of the story because the listeners, thankfully, don't represent the views of all of America. You may be right that the shows reflect the views of the listeners, but that doesn't make the shows logical, fair, balanced or even right. Thankfully more Americans are against these shows, which do absolutely nothing to further real and beneficial political discourse in the this country, than Americans who watch them.

So the most that can be said about your “end of story” comment is that it is exactly that attitude which many people exhibit when they see an issue one way and they don't want to invite other viewpoints to either affirm or challenge their beliefs. And when people don't want to take the time to think critically on important events/ideas then we get into trouble as a country.

No, what keeps America stupid is Democrats who would rather have the teacher’s union vote than educate minority children.

Why? Because when minorities become educated, they vote with more independence. When they are deliberately left poor and ignorant, they vote reliably democrat.

I’m sure you want the best for all people. That’s why I’m sure that one day, when you realize what you’ve been an accomplice to all these years, you will spend the balance of your life apologizing to everyone you meet.

Im sure they're better informed, in a self-seving way, because they want to know what to smear, what to hate, and what to willfully remain totally uninformed about.

That kind of 'informed' is a dead end street, because it doesn't requie comprehension. It requires living in an insular echo chamber, where they're happy knowing a lot of factoids but understanding nothing.

It's the kind of informed that leads to teaching creationism in Louisiana schools.
It's the kind of 'informend' that leads to pseudo science.
It's the kind of 'informed' which leads to unnecessary wars and economic devastation.

It's the kind of 'informed' that keeps America stupid.
Actually, It's a form of extreme dependency, like children who are afraid of the dark.
They need daddy Rush to keep them safe from the dangers lurking in free thought.

Some people blather on about this being a Christian nation and then tune in to Rush to get their decrepitude fix for the day.

Another sign of our times: the adult pornography industry reports boon business as a result of the economic stimulus package.