The Left is Such an Angry Bunch

The leftist blogs might be an angry bunch, but listen to talk radio and you'll have all the rightist bile you can stand.  From Hannity to Limbaugh to Beck (and even worse, their crazy call-ins), they're just as bad if not worse than anything I've seen on the 'net.

That really all depends on your point of view SanCho. I don't usually find the stuff I hear from them as bile or angry. Sure, some things are upsetting and the people who call aren't always "well mannered" but compared to, say, the last article ID wrote about how the internet tends to be more Liberal, he got comments that made it seem as if he insulted half the world. I've seen people here defend Obama as if he was a small, weak, starving, little man in a room full of WWE wrestlers mad at him for one reason or another. The anger when Ayers, Wright, Distribution of wealth, 57 States, 95% of Americans, etc are mentioned is mind boggling. The Obama camp themselves get upset whe questioned about any of these things as if it is wrong, illegal or downright immoral to question Obama about anything he did in the past.

I find it interesting that you picked those 3 guys but chose to ignore people like Randy who when on the radio sound like they live miserable lives 24/7. The mere mention of Bush to her is like sticking a hot butter knife in her back. She excuses anything Obama does by basically pointing towards something someone else did wrong and therefor making the new concept of 2 wrongs do make a right.

Dont listen to them I see.  Just take your talking points from the angry left who thinks that questioning Obama is racist and inflamatory.

well I've got a feeling we won't be hearing much of these guys in the near future if the Dems have their way.

I just returned from Maine and was told by many in different conversations over the period of a week that the local "talk radio" station which basically had those you mentioned plus alot more disappeared.  Yep.  They took it all off the radio and turned the whole station into some sort of sports talk radio instead. 

I've never even heard of Glenn Beck until he came here to my neighborhood last fall and is scheduled here again soon.  But I did find out he is Mormon and was told by someone in the know that Beck is the only one who is really connecting some very important dots between what is happening in the world and biblical prophecy.  I've never listened to him before but would like to hear what he has to say for myself. 

A pox on both houses: people are, indeed angry, the right that a liberal has such a strong and growing base, the left that Rebulican conservatives have driven us into the ground (from their POV).

I cannot stand the talking heads screaming at each other regardless of the side they are on.

So, I agree ID, we should learn to discuss without anger.  It is hardly productive to have heated arguments.  Yet, the buttons are there for everyone to push: on this list you have done it against liberals, I have done it against conservatives.  Both of us are invested in our POV. 

I am hopeful that as this election passes the rhetoric will ratchet down.  One way to do this is to avoid talk radio of whatever POV, and the rabid right and looney left of TV.

Perhaps we will listen more carefully and bloviate less.

Be well.

Heh.  Wrong again, as per usual.  I listen to both Limbaugh and Hannity on a regular basis - if only for the kicks and giggles.

Gotta keep a pulse on the madness of the opposition, after all.

I can't recall either Hannity or Limbaugh reveling in the death or illness of someone on the politically opposite side (i.e. as was done to Tony Snow or Nancy Reagan), but those types of posts were rampant on the Daily Kos and the like. I do give some credit to the liberals on JU, as I've not seen it for myself here.

No one listens to Rush and Hannity for laughs dude, just like with Howard Stern, people listen because they wanna hear what they will say next and it's only because they may be right. I don't listen to Randy. Why? Because when I did she talked nothing but BS, complaining, crying and basically using her show to simply BS everyone. No substance, no seriousness, all jokes and insults. Her hatred for Bush is beyond belief. That's not to say people like Hannity and Rush and even Schnitt don't make jokes and poke at people like Obama, but at least they give you more than jokes and insults.

The problem with those kind of hosts (both left and right) is that when you are on their side of the political spectrum (either totally or merely moderatly) you will always see what they say as "making sense" (even when they are shouting populists arguments, or spinning news the way you want to hear it), and you will see the hosts of the other sides as crackpots (because they are spouting populist arguments, and they are spinning news in a partisan way). These radio hosts are extremely polarising media elements in any society - ANY society -, which is why I consider all of them detrimental to a nation.

It's always a matter of perspective for those who listen. When you believe in something (justly or because you've been brainwashed to it as a kid) you will always prefer to listen to radio hosts that think the same way you do, because you will have justification of your views. People don't want to have their beliefs challenged, they want to have their beliefs catered.

Which is why both those polarised sides jumps and cries [Socialist/Fascist] when there is a politician on the other side of the political fence that is about to win. And those radio hosts cater to those cries, by even more spinning news and finding every little freaking point to denounce the politician. It's a self-feeding phenomena.

I just hope polarisation in America will never come to the breaking point. I believe both sides deeply misunderstand the other, since each use their own values to evaluate the other - which is a mistake -. Simply go read the "Reb and Blue America at odds" to understand by point.

For those who really do listen to them, they would know that.  For those that just get their facts from mediamatters.org, and other left wingnuts, they dont know it - and it shows in their comments.

Not true.  There is no secret that I am on the same side of the spectrum as Hannity and Limbaugh, but I often disagree with them on points (Limbaugh is kind of like Brad - who Limbaugh attacked earlier this year - he hates McCain, but is conservative).  But Franken and Rhodes do not deal with substance (Limbaugh devotes his show to them, while hannity about 60% is substance), but to whining and complaining "poor me".

Many liberals do actually listen to Limbaugh and Hannity - because they are at least entertaining!  The same cannot be said for Rhodes and Franken (objective proof is in the numbers).  People want to be entertained - even if they do not agree with the guy (and why Jon Stewart is going strong).  Both Hannity and Limbaugh do that.  They have a point to make, but make it entertaining in making the point.

You know, I feel compelled to point out how often people were grilled on this site for generalizing things yet generalizations are done with just about every argument, the only difference in many cases is the use of words like "tend to" or "usually". In this case you said always, which is not true. Like DrGuy, I too find some of the stuff they say exagerated and wrong. But then we are all different and won't always agree on every point. But at least when they prove a point, they do it, as DrGuy said, in an entertaining way with very few if any insults and with facts (most of the time), while Randy Rhodes is nothing but a 3 hour rant about Bush. The only thing I can't stand about most Democrat leaning shows is that they excuse everything Obama does or says by basically pointing to something Bush said or did, as if 2 wrongs make a right. Either Obama can do no wrong or he can be wrong too because Bush did it.

This may not be a product of politics as much as it is of the business of radio.  Radio is one of those mediums that can switch formats literally overnight with no warning to the public (and often none to the radio station in question).  I remember a few years ago when I was living in MD the morning show that I regularly listened to had caught wind that a local station was going to be switching formats but there was no way of knowing which one.  A few days to weeks (I can't remember which) sure enough one of the local stations switched formats overnight (it wasn't the one that I usually listened to so I really didn't care).  When I was younger and living in a different part of MD it did happen to a radio station that I used to listen to, it went from playing alt. rock to country over night.  So the bottom line here is that while it is highly likely that the talk radio station went under for political reasons it could also just be the normal business of radio that did it.

He works on CNN Headline News and has a semi-regular column on cnn.com.  The columns that I've read of his seem to be pretty good.

I don't know what your daily schedule is but I do know KVOR.com plays glen beck's radio station at 4PM (MDT).  You can stream them online. 

Or it looks like WIOD 610 plays glen beck 9-12 (EST) at LINK and just click on listen live (upper left corner). 

I don't remember where you live in Florida in order to tell you but these are two options to stream online.

At least with Talk Radio, you have the option to change the channel. With TV Media, you don't have that option because it's 98% Liberal.

Meh, I like to listen to NPR, IndyMedia, Democracy Now, etc..

Oh, have you heard about some young conservatives at Texas A&M throwing eggs at a picture of Obama. Seems a bit disrespectful (stupid even), even if they are "using their first amendment right." Meh, silly college kids.

Here college students are ripping up McCain Palin signs and placing them on cars or door steps of the house owner with poo.

Elections can bring out the best or the worst in some people.

Meh, either way Gov't always gets in.

A big part of the reason politics can bring the worst out in people is that people get too emotionally involved in the issues that they are fighting for.  It quickly turns into an us vs. them issue where you are either in 100% agreement with the person (or people) or you must be 100% against (even if you only differ on one little aspect of their issue).  At this time in the election cycle people start to feel like their time is running out and that if their chosen candidate doesn't win then the world to come to an end in January.  In short some of them have simply lost sight of reality.

Ah, the famous lie from the Right.  All media is CORPORATE.  It'll say whatever it needs to in order to increase profits.

End of story.

Mmhmm, mindsets like that piss me off. It just isn't about us vs them, it's about our country and what is right for it. It's about solving the issues, period. To fight to win is to ultimately lose.

I can understand being passionate about politics, I am myself. Still, there's a difference between being passionate about it, and passionately insane. I would say that my passion is mostly passion about the issues; they matter immensely to me.

You must not actually listen to these guys. They're not angry.

Angry is an apt description for the typical left winger. You can't even discuss the issues with them because they often start foaming at the mouth in anger.

If they're not angry, then they must be stupid, insane, fools, ignorant, or all of the above. (I actually listen because I believe in an open mind.) Anyways, that being said, they're all a bunch of loons, right and left.

Go NPR and PBS!

Well I was starting to think maybe the fairness doctrine had started a bit early.  Maine is a very solid blue state. 

I didn't like the fact we were all "forced" to look at Obama last night.  We had no choice but to either watch him or turn him off.  Maybe, just maybe we didn't want our regularly scheduled programs to be pre-empted.  It was like in your face last night.  Am I the only one who thought like this? 

Thanks El-D and AD.  I'll be sure to look this info up.  I just haven't had much time to do this yet. 

And a 9-12 show on radio.  He is actually the most entertaining (and no way a republican, but very conservative).

I love his More-on Trivia during Football season.