Randi Rhodes - AirAmerica - Liberal Radio

The BBQ Pit
1

So I get XM Satellite Radio for Christmas! Yay me! Lots of diverse music, few commercials, a spectrum of talk…

You see I cannot get Air America, or any non-right talk where I live. I have heard a lot about this new liberal response to right dominant radio, and have been anxious to give it a whirl.

You see I have always leaned right politically. I have within the past 5 years become a devout Christian as well. The further along I go in my spiritual walk, I realize that the right, who claims a stranglehold on religious values, is not really towing Jesus’s line. But that is another thread. The bottom line is that my politics have been trending leftward lately, and I was looking forward to some intelligent, issue oriented talk from that perspective.

I activate my XM account and dial up Air America.

It’s Jerry Springer…blech…

So a little while later I find that Randi Rhodes is on. I have heard alot about her and settled in for a listen.

So she is talking about Bill O’Reilly. In just a few minutes she calls him several names and berates him for not addressing the issues in an interview with Katie Couric. Finally she compares him to Hitler in that he is campaigning for Christmas and in doing so is offending the Jews… :rolleyes: The ironic thing is that she actually AGREED with Bill in this instance. She was quoting him asking why it takes 18 months to train an Iraqi when an American recruit gets 8-12 weeks and is sent to Iraq.

It seems she is O’Reilly in a dress and high heels. Same hateful rhetoric and bashing of personalities you get from him, only in an annoying accent.

No discussion of the issues. Just O’Reilly bashing and the proclamation that we cannot win in Iraq and we should pull out immediately.

So should I give anyone else on AirAmerica a listen or is it all this shrill? I sort of thought she was the crowning jewel of the network. That doesn’t really bode well for the network if she is its best offering…

So should I pit Randi, AirAmerica, or liberal radio in general?

2

She’s horrible. She’s really not all that different than Limbaugh. Very disappointing.

Franken is bright and funny though and he doesn’t resort to the idotic name calling, twisting of facts and hyperbole of the likes of Hannity, Mike Reagan and Rhodes. He is worth a listen but the rest of them are dipshits.

3

If you want liberal radio, I suggest Bernie Ward on San Francisco’s KGO here; he’s on from 10pm to 1 am; if you don’t want to listen then, just download from the 24 hour archive. Late night Ray Talioferro is also liberal, but more annoying and less reliable I think. He also does a liberal-oriented religious show from 6 to 9 on Sundays. Note : He’s on Christmas vacation at the moment.

4

Randi’s not a taste for everyone; I may agree with her much of the time, but even I find her grating in large doses.

On the other hand, she’s hardly representative of Air America or “progressive” talk radio; Al Franken is polite and genial to the point of almost becoming a stereotypical spineless lefty, while Ed Schultz (on the Jones Radio Network, but carried with AA in some affiliates) is very salt-of-the-earth for the most part.

I continue to maintain, though, that the most overall entertaining “radio lefty” is Stephanie Miller. She and her two-man crew are neither shrill nor milquetoast, but poke at right-wing targets with a combination of sarcasm, fart jokes, and ROTFL impersonations. The only thing preventing her from being an Air America “crown jewel” is that she’s not on AA, but (as with Schultz) she gets carried with AA on some affiliates. If nothing else, you can listen to her show via podcast/streaming…

5

If you are put off by Randi Rhodes (whom I can listen to only in small doses as well), you should listen to Ed Schultz instead. XM carries his show on channel 165 in the same slot as Randi. I typically switch over to him after Al Franken’s show ends on the Air America channel.

Ed is not abrasive like Randi and he doesn’t screen his callers, so he’s not afraid to let righties express their views on his show. But he is very good at exposing the weaknesses and fallcies of those views.

6

Of course, if I had previewed, I would have seen that rjung had already recommended Ed Schultz. :smack:

I’ve heard a lot about Stephanie Miller, but I’ve not had an opportunity to hear her show. Unfortunately, she isn’t carried on XM or on my local progressive talk station.

7

Despite my leftist political inclinations, I just can’t enjoy Air America. Oh, I try now and again, but I always seem to just end up disgusted. Other than the rare Al Franken bit, it’s all just name-calling and poo-slinging. Pass.

On the positive side, however, I’m glad you’re trying satellite radio. I was very skeptical, but got a 3 month subscription with my new car. Plus, you can listen online for free.

8

Pit Randi. I’m very liberal, but I can’t stand her. Not a good representative of the left.

9

Randi has her uses – I find her therapeutic, in a “scream room venting of the id” sort of way.

And to be fair to her, she doesn’t (as far as I can see) go around spreading half-baked rumors as reliable fact, unlike her compatriots on the right. And she’s served in the military, which is worth a brownie point or two, unlike some folks I know.

10

Yep. You need that. :rolleyes:

11

I managed to get Air America on an internet station a few months ago - was thrilled. No non-Right radio around here, very conservative city, etc.

She started babbling about Ben Stein speaking at some public Republican function or another, and then started chortling over the republicans “resorting to speeches from game show hosts!” Oh, what a clever lass. Except at that point I started yelling at my radio, “HELLO, the man was also a SPEECHWRITER for NIXON, and implying that ‘game show host’ is his only qualification is as misleading, disingenuous, and assholish as anything the conservative talk show hosts do!”

I’m ridiculously socially liberal, and the idea that blowhard bilious bitches like this are supposed to be my representation on the radio makes my stomach turn.

12

Get all your panties out of a twist for a few seconds here kids. Almost all the shows on liberal talk are different. Randi can be loud and angry, but I like her and she always backs up what she says. I personally can’t stand Ed Schultz and find Al Franken boring.

Stephanie Miller is my favorite, she reminds me to laugh at the hypocracy that has become the Republican party. Randi reminds me that there is plenty to be angry about with the slew of incompetent morons running this country. I listen to both daily and they balance one another out.

Bottom line is, there’s something for everyone. Over generalizing an entire group based on your tastes is ignorant. Since you seem to be more of a moderate, you will find Schultz and Franken far more entertaining and suiting your needs.

13

Franken is the real deal. Randi is too screamy for me. Jerry Springer is somebody I didn’t like long before he went to Air America. Mike Malloy in the late evening is sharp-edged and ruthless, but he’s calm.

14

Hey, it could be far worse – I could be an unabashed ear-plugging Bush apologist like yourself. :wink:

15

Randi Rhodes is Rush Limbaugh for the left, nothing more. She is very entertaining, makes you feel righteously indignant and reinforces your views with spectacular examples and stats. Of course, her information is complete batshit. Like Rush, some of it is true, some is exaggerated, some is pulled directly out of her ass.

Ed Schultz is better, but he isn’t intellectually up to the task. His logic is often flawed, and I’ve heard him on several occasions resort to name calling, shouting down his caller and hanging up on them. That’s a loser, in my book.

The most honest and accurate is Al Franken, but the funny doesn’t flow the way it used to. Thom Hartmann isn’t exactly broadcast magic–and his views are more extreme than most of the lefties I know (and I live in Oregon, for God’s sake), but he’s informative and accurate.

16

Everyone needs that at some point or another–no matter their political stripe. Maybe they don’t need it for politics, but for something else-YMMV.
I am leery of people who profess to never need to vent or express indignation.
I don’t mind Randi in small doses. The reception for the Chicago station is so bad that it’s more frustrating to actually hear what they say vs what is said.

I miss Kathleen Lampfer with Al Franken–she was good.

17

I just wish I could get her more often. The nearest AA outlet to me is in Ann Arbor, sometimes I can get it, most of the times not. I have listened to her at times and do find her grating, but no nearly so much as Rash. Jerry Springer is disappointing. Ed Schultz is top notch, I wish other stations would pick him up. Al Franken is great too. I hope AA makes it and at least partially levels the playing field, now tipped dramatically to the right.

18

Just for the record, as a pretty conservative kinda guy, I agree that in the realm of talk radio, the “media” as a whole has a very clear and undeniable bias to the right.

19

Katherine Lanpher. Yeah, me too; she was a great counterpoint for Al. Even though they generally agreed, she never toadied, and didn’t hesitate to give him the business if she thought he was being unfair.

I tried listening to Randi Rhodes, but she’s just too irritating. And fairly often, she’ll say something that’s either completely illogical or demonstrably factually incorrect, so it really is almost like a liberal female version of Rush Limbaugh. (Except that she’s not a pompous, drug-addicted hypocrite.)

My favorite show on Air America used to be Morning Sedition; but now they’ve effectively fired Marc Maron, so I don’t know what they’ll be doing in the mornings. Mark Riley is still there, and he’s very professional, but they used to have some great comedy bits. (I’ll miss Future Marc most of all.)

20

I’m an avid listener of Randi, and I wish someone would give me an example of something she says that is “demonstrably factually incorrect”, or “pulled from her ass”.