Plus, I do't listen to talk radio for arguing. I look for different takes and tidbits about the news, plus some humor.
On the serious side, after 9/11 I've heard many callers to talk radio shows in the NYC area say they used to be FM vegheads, but discovered talk radio on that terrible day, since that was the best place to get news.
These callers invariably tell the conservative hosts they've been converted -- usually from vaguely liberal apathy to conservativism. How statistically significant this phenomenon is, I don't know.
Rush is the only really good conservative radio host IMO, and the fact is the mainstream media is so liberal, that for for me, turning to Rush is a comfort, because he articulates how I feel and think about events, much better and with deeper insight that I can muster. It's not about agreeing, per se, it's about framing the issues and putting them in perspective in the unique and entertaining way that he does.
"That you're going to use on whom?..."
A co-worker was going on a few months ago about how the rich don't "pay their fair share". I went to Rush's website and found a link to the IRS website that has a breakdown of just how much everyone pays. I showed my co-worker that, for starters, his government considers him to be "rich" and that he and a lot of people like him pay the majority of taxes.
He was stunned. At first he questioned the validity of the data, but I pointed out that it was compiled by the IRS.
About a month later I overheard him ranting about how he and everyone like him pay all the taxes. It's Reaganomics (trickle-down theory) and it works.
My favorite (apochryphal, and severely edited) PJ quote:
"When they put FDR on postage stamps, my mother and her frinds said they didn't know which side to spit on."
He's right. Not only are they shouting, they've already said whatever they're about to say. I can't handle them anymore. No mas..., no mas!!!!
And, as Rush often says, we turn to him BECAUSE he confirms the conclusions we come to, and since so much of the rest of the world is swallowing the NY Times BS, we are like a special club. We see the truth the liberal BS tries to obscure.
This is a cheapshot of a title. Later in the article, PJ asks the same of lefty hacks such as Michael Moore and Al Franken. A fairer title would be: When was the last time a screaming face changed a mind?
In 97 and 98 I worked out of the home and started listening to talk radio.
I am a conservative today because of listening to Dennis Prager, Mike Reagan and David Gold.
If Jesus Christ returns to Earth and runs for President, he better run as a Republican because I'll vote against him if he runs as a Dem.
Intelligent radio, like an astute author, can crystallize the thought process: perhaps you have a feeling about something that you can't name and suddenly some talk show host verbalizes that very thought you've struggled with - and then all the little pieces fit together in your mind.
You'll take that knowledge into the world: even if you don't ever verbalize the thought in an argument, it will make you a stronger, and hopefully better, person.
I haven't read this author before. Is he always this stupid?
Hmmmm, I have lots of friends who disagree with me politically, and have good-natured discussions with them. Maybe it's just the way I was raised. Nonetheless, I agree with O'Rourke that civil debate is sadly out of fashion.
Conservative radio talk shows - specifically Rush Limbaugh - woke me up and turned me from a mindless parrot liberal into an informed activist conservative. Yes - Rush Limbaugh changed my mind despite what the big-nosed, bitter guy with the lampshade on his head has to say.
When I first listened to Rush I was angry. "How could someone say crap like that and get away with it!?" was my initial reaction. I set out to prove him wrong - he had to be wrong - because if he was right that would mean that I'd been lied to for years and that I'd been a fool - a useful idiot.
I started reading - actually reading something more than just bumper stickers and liberal-dominated media trash (Time, Newsweek, etc.) I found that Rush was right about a number of things - a large number of things. And that would mean...yes, I'd been lied to.
I used Rush Limbaugh as a crutch for a couple of years. There was so much catching up to do and he was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction. Thank you, Rush. I know I'm not the only one that you've awakened to the awful truth around them. Now I can find my own sources of information and I rarely listen to Rush anymore. He set me in the right direction - he changed my mind as he changed so many others.
For all his wit and biting humor, I really wonder how many minds P.J. O'Rourke has changed. Sure, he's a side-splitting read. But, truthfully, he's more of an entertainer than Limbaugh. He offers far less substance than Rush. Maybe he's jealous. Or just drunk. But, for whatever reason, he's just plain wrong on this one.
I've often wondered what one would get if he did a mind-meld between O'Rourke and Hitchens.
PJ ping
P.J. is a hoot. I thought the same thing when I saw it.
The Excerptor strikes again, posting a partial of an article that was not excerpt-obligatory, and where the link didn't work for a half-hour. Thanks for nothing!
Well, one wouldn't expect the people who like to refer to themselves as 'ditto heads' to agree with O'Rourke here. Perhaps they don't quite understand the meaning of the word 'ditto'?!