OK, in TV, radio, news paper articles or magazines, when it comes to political commentary, the writer or author is either clearly a democrat or republican. But are there any well known independants/moderates?
Bill O’Reilly calls himself an independent, but of course he isn’t. Although I would call him a right leaning independent as opposed to a full blown conservative.
But who out there is right in the middle of the political spectrum? From time to time I see Dick Morris and think maybe he’s one. But then again, maybe he’s just wishy washy since he’ll work for a democrat, then a republican, then a democrat, then republican.
Well, the only other person I can think of is maybe radio talk show host Lionel
I believe he’s a card carrying Libertarian, but from the few times I’ve heard his show, he seems pretty much in the middle to me. But I could be wrong.
So, anyway, who else is there, if anybody?
Fareed Zakaria, Nick Kristoff, Robert Samuelson, David Broder, Joe Klein all count as moderates I think. Their columns are easily available on the Newsweek, NYT, WaPo and Time websites in case you want to check.
The names don’t sound familiar…well, maybe David Broder.
Anyway though, I think I will check them out. Thanks.
David Gergen worked under Nixon, Ford and Reagan and then with Clinton. He’s on TV quite often, and seems to be more middle of the road than “wishy washy”.
I think right wingers or left wingers make the most noise, I rarely see anyone getting “angry” from a centrist point of view.
The problem is that TV talk shows seem to be set up to reduce everything to a simplistic left v. right dichotomy instead of genuinly trying to solve problems. Your best bet is magazines. I favor The Atlantic and the Economist which are both moderately conservative, but also fair and intelligent. (mostly)
I don’t know if Lionel can be called a moderate per se (mainly because he’s “moderate” on nothing), but he is without doubt The Man.
'Course, where I live, his affiliate dropped him for Michael Savage, then moved Savage live and filled in Lionel’s old spot . . . Dr. Laura, on tape-delay. Obviously, Clear Channel runs this station.
Anyway, Larry Borgia hit it straight; thus, I’d say the word isn’t “moderate,” but “open-minded.” For some reason, Leonard Pitts, columnist for (IIRC) the Miami Herald comes to mind. Pitts is probably a liberal, but he rates high on the Surprise and Interesting Point of View Factors.
Thanks. I’m surprised that so many names are comming up.
And as for the term moderate, what I mostly mean by that is someone who seems to have 50/50 conservative/liberal views.