Liberal talk radio? Keep laughing

TownHall.com ^ | 2/26/03 | Jonah Goldberg

[kattracks]

A group of investors and liberal radio executives wants to turn Al Franken into the left's answer to Rush Limbaugh. To be fair, the backers in the venture don't want to mimic Limbaugh -not because that would be a bad thing, mind you, but because it's been tried before and didn't work.

Jim Hightower, a man liberals believed would be regarded as brilliant if they just said he were enough times, failed miserably at talk radio. Mario Cuomo, a man who believed the world would consider him incredibly brilliant if he just said he were enough times, also botched his go at talk radio.

"This side has failed by going at Rush, and trying to be Rush -you're not going to beat him at his game," Jon Sinton, a radio exec and organizer of the Franken effort explained to The New York Times. Sinton says that picking someone like Franken is the key to success for liberal talk radio because talk radio has to be entertaining and funny.

Meanwhile, Franken, author of "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot," thinks there's another reason for not trying to ape Rush. "I think the audience isn't there for a liberal Rush," he said on the "Donahue" show, "Because I think liberals don't want to hear that kind of demagoguery."

For the millions of you who think Franken really isn't that funny, this proves us wrong. For Franken to say that liberals don't like demagoguery is like Ron Jeremy, star of such hits as "The Lust of Blacula" and "Dirty Harriet," saying, "I think the audience isn't out there for cheap porn."

Of course, liberals enjoy demagoguery. During the last few elections, for example, Democratic and liberal groups declared that a vote for the Republicans was a vote for church burnings, hate crimes and back-alley abortions. Every day we hear President Bush compared to Hitler. Conservative economics, we are told, are based in greed and cruelty. Our public policies are informed by racism. We're mean to puppies. That Franken doesn't get this is just one indication of why he won't succeed as the new Limbaugh.

There are other reasons why liberals don't work well on talk radio. Some of it has to do with economics. The market for conservative talk has been carefully developed over many years. When producers rolled out Hightower, according to Sinton, they tended to sandwich him in between Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. "That violates expectations of the listener," he told the Times. This is a polite way of saying that listeners reacted the way members of Delta House did when Flounder's picture appeared on the screen during pledge week in "Animal House" [buy movie].

Another related reason why talk radio is right wing is that most of America -talk-radio-listening America -believes the mainstream media is liberal because, well, it's true. Talk radio serves as a truth-squad for people who don't trust Peter Jennings.

But the main reason liberal talk radio doesn't work is that liberalism isn't working. Oh sure, plenty of liberal politicians, journalists and institutions are doing just fine. Too many, in fact. But liberalism as a coherent philosophy is exhausted.

In 1950, Lionel Trilling famously wrote, "In the United States at this time, liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition. For it is plain nowadays there are no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation." That may not have been entirely true then, and it may not be entirely fair to say the same of liberalism today, but the comparison is apt.

Liberalism has become reactionary. Its ideas amount to standing pat and breeding fear of change. Al Gore's central budgetary idea was a "lockbox" and his chief priorities were to fight changes to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and affirmative action. The most popular word in the left's vocabulary is "stop": Stop the war, stop free trade, stop biotechnology, stop Bush, stop the world because they want to get off.

As a political conservative, I see nothing wrong with saying stop -if you have a viable alternative to what it is you want to stop. Take the war for example. Most of the anti-war speakers at recent protests took the position that Iraq should comply with the U.N. resolution, but they also opposed war and sanctions. In other words, they oppose just for the sake of opposing.

What holds liberalism together is its accumulated grievances. Activists claiming to represent blacks, gays, women, Hispanics, animals, et al, form a coalition of the oppressed that has little to no sense of humor about anything. They consider almost any joke about their plights to be unfunny and -yes -demagoguery.

The only permissible jokes for this crowd are about rich Christian white guys and maybe a few fellow traveling right-wing blacks, women and Jews. And, the bad news for Franken &Co. is that, like liberalism generally, those jokes are old and tired now, too.

Jonah Goldberg is editor of National Review Online, a TownHall.com member group.

©2003 Tribune Media Services

Contact Jonah Goldberg | Read his biography

[Travis McGee]

LIberal talk radio will always fail because its audience is watching MTV or listening to rap while smoking dope.

"Talk" doesn't do it for that crowd; only a driving techno beat and some "E" will do.

[MadMoo]

If a liberal ever turns on a radio it is only to a RAP station. Where would a liberal talk-show host get a quality sponsor? IMO, no reputable sponsor could afford the risk.

[this_ol_patriot]

You can't "pick" radio stars. Nobody picked Larry King, Art Bell or Rush, they just happened. Don't forget it was Larry King on radio who got Perot to run for prez, that's power, Art Bell who brought Y2K, Gary North and Internet Conspiracy into the mainstream and Rush who made more Americans realize they were Conservative than any politician ever could, that's real power. None of these were appointed, they are talented people who were in the right place at the right time.

Yes, it hurts to mention Larry King but his radio show was important to talk show history and although he was liberal he wasn't always so bootlickin' left.

[Mike K]

Al Franken is a complete and utter fool. How anyone could take him seriously is beyond my comprehension.

[DoughtyOne]

KABC had Michael Jackson (local talk show host) on for decades.  It was rather funny to listen to the man, because he was great when he could monopolize the airtime, but when a caller would challenge him, he'd cut them off.  I know a lot of people say Rush does the same thing, but that isn't true.  Sure he can't take every lib caller, but he's perfectly willing to take opposing view phone calls.  He doesn't have to fear them, because Rush is a thinker.  Generally he can shoot the other person down in no time.  George Putnam, Ray Briem and others were able to do this.  Leftists seldom can.  They can't because they're totally wrong on just about every issue.  Therefore there's no way to rationally defend their position.  They're going to loose every time.

Al Frankin, Michael Moore and others think that if someone gave them a mike, they'd be an instant success.  The truth is they'd last about three months.  Michael Jackson lasted as long as he did, because KABC was willing to stick with him through (thick and) thin, simply because he was a exreme leftist.  One the Left Coast, people like the Clintons had to have someone on the air they could guest with when the going got tough.  Jackson filled this bill very nicely.  Nobody listened, but what the hey, the Clintons at least felt like they were doing something successful.  The rest of us just laughed, and thanked our lucky stars they wasted their time.

[FastCoyote]

Here is the left's real problem regarding talk radio. Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, Savage - aren't always right, but they do take calls day after day after year. If they can't answer their call-in people with some degree of logic, they get eaten alive. As a failed philosophy based on emotion, liberalism does fine in undirectional venues like TV talk, or the Evening news, because there is no give and take. But put them up against viewer questions and they crumble. Al Franken is not just going to tell jokes, he is about to become a big joke.

---

Here's the kicker- WHAT HAPPENS IF LIBERALS FAIL AT TALK RADIO? I think the embarassment and cognitive dissonance are going to be huge.

[leadhead]

Al Franken is a complete and utter fool. How anyone could take him seriously is beyond my comprehension.

Franken is out of work (and out of hope); he'll ride this thing for the bucks and the exposure. When it fails, he'll be able to go to the lib. entertainment establishment and say "Hey, I took a big hit trying this. You gotta give me another gig". Good ole All Frankenfool.

[gop_gene]

Not only that, he's just plain-old mean-spirited. His book not only trashed Rush, but also his fellow liberal Oprah because she has a little weight problem. Even Rush never resorted to that one.

AND calling naming the title of his book "Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot" (?)--Does Franken ever look at himself in a mirror?--He ain't exactly a slim jim himself.

[Lion Den Dan]

The Louisville KY area recently introduced its version of Liberal Talk Radio (LTR) featuring a defeated state senator Mike Ward. They are advertising for listeners on the local conservative station. I personally am not sufficiently interested in LTR to check it out or recal the station call sign.

[Claire Voyant]

Was Al Franken EVER funny?? I first saw him 8 years ago on TV and he wasn't funny then, so just when were his humorous years?

[Kip Lange]

I agree that this is a pathetic effort, as liberals just don't have senses of humor, *however*...

A group of investors and liberal radio executives

...includes one Hillary Rodham Clinton and if there is one thing I *have* learned, it's not to underestimate that frickin' pit viper. So beware. ;-)

[Jimmy Valentine]

Al Franken is a recovering (?) alcoholic. In my limited experience, those people tend to get very self righteous and humorless along the way.

regards,

[RushLake]

The 14 year talk radio veteran and vile leftist Ellen RATner was interviewed on FNC yesterday about liberals in talk radio. Her main point was that libs haven't been given a fair chance to succeed. 14 years apparently isn't a fair chance.

Anybody know whatever happened to the liberal radio talk hosts Victoria Jones and Allan Gardner? Does anybody care?

[Rocko]

they are talented people who were in the right place at the right time.

And willing to work their toohookies off. How many liberal commentators or entertainers are as hard-working and persistent as Rush is?

[Kip Lange]

People listen to Rush because Rush can connect with people easily. So can other conservative talk show hosts. Because the majority of America is...basically conservative. And, I repeat, liberals have no sense of humor. Really. They take everything WAY too seriously and preach from on high. Liberal talk radio? It's called NPR. And it's boring as all hell.

[smreiter]

I haven't heard any liberal talk radio yet. No surprise living in rural Nebraska. As I teach my philosophy courses at a local college, I encourage my students to listen to both sides of an argument. They will be reporting to me in a few weeks about the quality of programing (since many of them have access to satilite radio). I will say this without any impunity: The liberal positions of today, in my opinion, are dated, have run the course, or have been emulated to such an excess (slave reparations for instance) that they defy logic. Hell, even my 19 year olds scoff at the anti-gun lobby, the so called unbiased mainstream media, and the endless harping on diversity, multiculturalism, and political correctness.
Now if liberal radio wants to have an effect, it needs to look to the future, to propose ideas that counter the excesses of conservatism. The only problem is that, at least until the present Bush administration (which I support for the most part)and its arrogance, the conservative movement is not really in power, or has not been in power long enough to become the prey of its own success.
Here are some suggestions for those on the left:
1. Balance the secularism and allow for the voice of religious believers. We are tired of being treated as simpletons; after all, many of the traditional issues of liberalism like concern for the poor and anti-war efforts fit well into religious mind sets.
2. Look to the future. What can liberalism offer to counter the underlying reasons behind terrorism other than American self-loathing? Can liberalism counter the daring, possibly brilliant, effort of the Bush administration to have a world view that believes that true democratic freedom will qeull the support base for the radical Islamist?
3. Recognize the next generational turning. You're lying to yourself if you think you own the X-generation. They become more conservative by the hour. After all, they inherited the fruits of the liberal baby boomer excesses. Even at nearly forty, I cringe when ever I see Ted Kennedy. If his type of leadership (and sadly that of John Kerry) is all liberalsim has to offer, give it up. Yet, the next generation has a blank slate. Can you write upon it? Can you offer to the next generation fresh issues, fresh concerns, and an underdog spunk that youth respect? I doubt it; you're too busy spewing hate and sour grapes. Yet you have an opportunity.

Steve R

[Petronski]