Rush Limbaugh, the Right

The big difference between Rush Limbaugh, other radio talk show hosts and Republican politicians is that Republican politicians have to get elected. Limbaugh and the other hosts do not. Getting a small slice of market share on AM radio is success. But if you are running for office as a Republican, anything less than 50 percent on election day is probably failure.

I will give Limbaugh this much. He is fairly consistent in his conservative views. Back in 1993, even though his position favoring NAFTA put him in a temporary alliance with Bill Clinton and Al Gore, Limbaugh spoke out in favor of the agreement. (And Al Gore, in his debate with Ross Perot, mentioned Limbaugh as one of the "distinginushed Americans" supporting NAFTA).

Personally, I rarely have time to listen to Limbaugh because his time slot doesn't match up with my free time.

My favorite radio talk show host right now is Mark Levin. He's very conservative. He has more "edge" than I usually like in talk show hosts. But he is the most hilarious when he is most outraged (or is pretending to be).

identifying with culturally conservative candidates is a reasonable response.

Well, I think the point about being "duped" is that the candidates they're identifying with are often "culturally conservative" in rhetoric only. I think you're sort of conflating/confusing various talking points and theories.

Other than that, I enjoyed the article.

quote: "Democrats see these Republican voters as closet racists at worst or, at best, dupes of Republican wedge politics."

I've always found the "dupes of Republican wedge politics" a bit odd, especially coming from upper middle class and wealthy liberals. After all, the Democrats are much more likely to raise their taxes and taxes on corporations. So in voting for a liberal Democrat over a conservative Republican, aren't upper middle class and wealthy liberals "being duped" by the Democrats on social issues to "vote against their economic interests"? Strange how one can only be "duped" by hot button social issues such as abortion or "gay marriage" if one is conservative and not wealthy. I guess the type of people that Stuff White People Like are never duped.

rr

The Daily Show's viewership pales in comparison to Rush Limbaugh's show, so comparing the two is silly. His reach is far, far greater. I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss his ability to influence natl. politics.

I'm really shocked. imo Jon Stewart/Steven Colbert are equal opportunity offenders that are slanted to the left.

I find it sad when Limbaugh accuses Obama of plagarism, and fox news repeats it only Jon Stewart accually put the 2 texts side by side to show that it was not plagarised. There where only 3 words in common.

It's stuff like that that makes me feel Stewart isn't slanted to the left. The slant, I feel, comes from the fact that the news media uncritically repeats whatever the right tells them, which results in total inanities like the 'plagiarism' crap and Stewart having to point out how silly that was, or his jokes about Obama being a secret Muslim and having a crazy Christian pastor and other nonsensical combinations of right-wing smears.

And the media totally misses it when Republicans aren't very honest, hence segments where McCain of 2008 argues with McCain of 2004. That wouldn't be funny if the media was already covering his changing positions...but they aren't. He sometimes, in fact, does the same with Obama...but it's not that funny, because the entire world is talking about it by then.

This is because the right wing has a magical ability to make the media talk about anything, or present any absurd claim equally with actual facts. These means the media produces a lot more inanities WRT the right than the left, repeating pure nonsense and ignoring actual issues that it would find amazingly relevant had the parties been switched. (Like their coverage of Obama 'breaking his word' WRT to public financing, when in actual fact he just said he'd be willing to discuss it, and their totally ignoring of McCain quite possibly breaking the law WRT to public financing.)

Hence there's a lot more for Steward to mock on the right than the left, as the media has turned into a easily lead sheep, and the right knows how to lead it with nonsense and the left doesn't. The nonsense is pre-existing, he can't control where it is.

Colbert, OTOH, actually does have a left-wing bias, because he's a parody of a right-wing bias and part of his shtick is saying right wing ideas either really stupidly, or really 'honestly' while putting the worse possible motive behind them.

Limbaugh is an immoral and unethical gasbag who has aided and abetted the cause of fascism in America and shame upon any Christian who defends him.