I expect it of the right. My standards for the left are higher.
Actually, they were interviewing some dried-up old country songwriter with a raspy voice that hurt to listen to. Talked about how Willie Nelson helped him get over the death of someone or other. Couldn’t stand it.
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None of my local stations carry Air America. We have the ultra-conservative talk station and the mega-conservative talk station. The ultra-conservative station becomes All Comedy Radio every night at 7, so they have a redeeming quality. The mega-conservative station carries Rush, Dr. Laura AND Michael Savage.
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This is why the Pubbies are trying to convert NPR to another right wing media outlet. Very often, it’s the only centrist voice in the wilderness. If they get NPR leaning right, you have NO alternative, and that’s what they want.
So, I listen to Morning Sedition and Al Franken from Air America, and now the Stephanie Miller show, and I’m having a good old time.
This seems like as good a place as any to ask. Is there a single decent right wing talk show out there? I flip around the Usual Suspects in the car, and all I hear are talking points talking points talking points. Is there a conservative radio host that:
a) Thinks for him/herself, and
b) Is funny on purpose
They’ve got to be out there somewhere.
Huh. Stephanie Miller just barely doesn’t annoy me enough for me to give up on her; I listen to her on part of my commute when she’s on the air and NPR isn’t. But she’s doctrinaire, unfair, mean-spirited, and over-the-top in her humor.
Al Franken is, in my opinion, the only good thing about Air America; he’s fantastic.
Daniel
I love Air America’s lineup. There’s a terrific variety of styles in there. I admit Randi’s self-absorption bugs me enough to keep me from being a huge fan, but her anger is a-ok with me. It’s about fucking time the Left had a real angry no-holds-barred voice on the air. Every other wingnut on the radio offers vitriol that seems to capture the audience’s attention – why can’t the lefties have a couple (especially those who actually use facts instead of shit pulled off of Drudge)? I’m sick of the notion that the left has to be all sweet and inoffensive in order to win folks over. Fuck that, it hasn’t worked in twenty years. The right plays hardball, so should the left.
Maybe it’s a woman expressing her anger that makes some so uncomfortable. (None here, of course, we’re too enlightened for that. ) I mean, it’s pretty atypical on nationwide radio to hear a strong, unapologetic female voice – I mean, who else is there, Dr. Laura? Ann Coulter? Actually I don’t even know if AC is on the radio.
As for the rest of their lineup that I listen to: Al is good and especially useful as an “entry” for middle-of-the-road listeners unused to liberal radio, but personally I’ve been disappointed that he’s not been nearly as impassioned or as funny as his books. His style is too lowkey for me – and the way he talks is too. damn. slow.
Morning Sedition is hysterical; Mark C. & Mark M. are an excellent pair – Maron especially makes me laugh, he’s such a neurotic! Janeane Garafolo and Sam Seder’s The Majority Report has become my second favorite show. They’re soooo much better than they were at the start, far more confident (but still pleasantly humble, a nice contrast to Randi), and both really know their shit.
But above and beyond all, there’s the brilliant radio vet Mike Malloy (10PM - 1AM EST). His style is not for everyone – if you think Randi gets angry, you ain’t seen nothing yet! – but it’s positively cathartic to listen to a hilarious, whip-smart, informed Liberal who’s mastered the art of radio talk. Unlike Randi (who unlike most of the rest of AA talent is also a longtime radio professional), he listens to his callers and doesn’t make everything about him. His responses to “Little Scotty” McClellan’s press gaggle are inspired.
I particularly like his fervent and only semi-humorous belief that people like Rumsfield and Ashcroft and Rove and Cheney are bound for hell, where the Devil will pinch their heads off and use them for soccer balls. Heh. It’s funny 'cause it’s true.
So if you don’t like Randi there are many others whose style might be more to your liking. That’s not even including weekend hosts Laura Flanders (extremely smart author), the Mike Papantonio/Robert Kennedy Jr. team, and Marty Kaplan. Air America can truly boast of having something for everyone.
Agreed.
Right. I hate Randi Rhodes. She does a crappy job of representing the good guys.
Eh. It may be necessary tactically, or it may not–I don’t feel qualified to opine on that. Even if it is tactically necessary, I still can’t stand to listen to them, and I’m certain that MY listening to them ain’t necessary.
Daniel
Franken is not worth listening to 90% of the time, IMO. Especially when he’s doing that idiotic “Oy Oy Oy Show” bit that bombed the first time but has kept on going.
Randi Rhodes is kind of an acquired taste, but I second that she knows what she’s talking about. I wish XM carried her entire show instead of cutting it in half to carry Ed Schultz (who I cannot stand.) Schultz is boring, long-winded and pontificates at every opportunity.
I can’t stand Mike Malloy. I think he comes off as an imbecile. He’s like the Mike Savage of the Air America lineup.
RR is okay. Stephanie Miller is great.
Mike Malloy is, bar none, the greatest talk show host who ever lived.
This whole thread is indicative of why I’m a lefty – because it’s not a one-size-fits-all, you-must-do-this dittoheaded groupthink cult.
True, true. I’ve never seen a Republican distance himself from the likes of Ann Coulter; it just doesn’t happen.
Daniel
You nailed it right on the head. I realize that some people who agree with me politically may not like the way the message is delivered the same way I do. I personally find Al Franken, Ed Schultz, and Jerry Springer boring. My tastes are more along the lines of Stephanie Miller and Randi, but that’s just HOW I want my message delivered. I take no offense to someone who thinks the opposite.
Now if someone said they like Rush and Beck, I don’t think there’s any way I can stretch my mind into thinking how that is possible. One of them is a drug-addicted hypocrite who can’t tell the truth to save his life, the other is a pompous prick who thinks it’s okay to have live abortions on the radio. I just can’t fathom why they have listeners. But I’m far left, so I’m biased.
Count me in as another person getting tired of her shtick. I liked her when she first came out, but the constant repition and the apparent inability to finish 75% of her sentences have just gotten to be too much. I think I really lost a lot of respect for her when she made her ginormous poor-me melodramatic production out of her hysterectomy. Had 9-11 happened during the first few days of her return, it would’ve only taken up 10% of the show. It was repulsive. I was shocked to hear her all-out assault on Ralph Nader when he called in - she was unbelievably rude and wouldn’t let him talk, just kept blasting him with her anger and rhetoric. Mr. singular and I were embarrassed for her - she came off no better than O’Reilly!
And I can’t stand Ed Schultz, either. Sometimes I think it’s just Rush doing an impersonation of a liberal, he sounds and hollers so much like him. I am stuck with the worst of Air America - I can only listen in my car, and I’m only driving when one of these two nitwits are on. It’s almost enough to make me listen to music again!
I believe AA has podcasts, so you can listen to whoever you want whenever you want.