Opinion Forum

Leftist Talkers Shooting Blanks

October 22nd, 2009

The race is on to carve out a place for a “hard left” talk show host to counter the Glenn Beck phenomenon. So far it’s a rout as Beck rolls over the best the left has to offer. I expect to see the nasty brothers, James Carville and Paul Begala, show up in prime time if Beck continues to score night after night on Fox News.

As it stands so far the left is just shooting blanks. MSNBC recently aired the Ed Show. Ed’s last name is Schultz, but so what. It’s never gonna become a household word anyway. Watching him makes you wish that someone would do a show about a talking horse or something and call it the Mr. Ed Show. Every time the horse showed his behind in a scene, we could think of Ed the political talk show host.

We all recognize the name Chris Matthews. Chris. A self-proclaimed disciple of Obama, he is so wrapped up in his hero that he can no longer be taken seriously. After his proclamation of experiencing almost erotic feelings for Obama during the campaign, I’d be afraid to expect anything objective from the man.

Keith Olbermann is a caustic and venomous orator, but his television persona of a crybaby who picks his nose a lot just ruins the entire image. After seeing him I’d be more afraid that he’d hit me with his purse.

Bill Maher is a totally anti-God, anti-blue collar, anti-everything white-headed dwarf. Bill seems to seek some sort of redemption for his miserable life by being a little left-wing people eater. You might say he’s a pint-sized version of Glenn Beck — minus the ratings, the talent, and the following

Rachel Maddow is a late-comer stuck in a bad time slot opposite Sean Hannity, which means she can stay home every night — who’s going to miss her? I do enjoy her monotone delivery, though. Sort of like she’s talking in her sleep.

Joy Behar is an effort by CNN to come up with a big gun in the left-wing attack-and-destroy arsenal. So far Joy has been more of a loose cannon than heavy artillery. Joy’s claim to fame is talking dirty on a daytime network show called The View. She has proved herself in two areas — venom against Sarah Palin and graphic stories of her own sex life, neither of which is really of any concern to the majority of us. However, if Joy needs the work, let ‘er rip, plus I like it when she foams at the mouth.

Looks like the only hope for the liberals is to keep looking for more talent or re-institute the so-called Fairness Doctrine. But won’t that be a violation of the First Amendment?

Go get ’em, Glenn.

Articles written by Larry Ennis
Tags: cable TV, conservatives, fairness doctrine, liberals, talk radio
Categories: Humor, Media, Politics | Comments (10) | Home

10 Responses to “Leftist Talkers Shooting Blanks”

Harvey | October 22nd, 2009 at 9:32 pm

And go get ’em Larry . . . you’re on a roll!

Brianna | October 22nd, 2009 at 10:18 pm

I do not own a TV, so I can’t watch the guy straight from Fox, but I have seen many of the clips posted on YouTube. Scary though it is to say it, his premises are sound and his facts are accurate. I admittedly have caught him in *one* factual error*, but it was very minor.

Frankly, I would much prefer that he was just blowing smoke. It would help me sleep at night.

*The error was on his clip about “An Inconvenient Debt”. He stated that we were on the gold standard during WWII. This was not actually true, because we went off the gold standard briefly during the Great Depression. But because we went back on a form of the gold standard after WWII until Bretton-Woods was abolished in 1971, I consider the error to be *very* minor, especially as it did not affect his analysis.

Tom | October 23rd, 2009 at 5:50 am

Well done, Larry! I agree with your evaluation of these hot-air artists. I would add that I don’t think any more of the right-wing talkers. All of these guys twist facts, disregard information they don’t agree with, and confuse their own biases with reality.

Kevin | October 23rd, 2009 at 5:20 pm

Another way to look at this is to ask why the Left is less receptive to demagogues than the Right is?

I mean, just getting on TV or on a radio slot accomplishes precisely nothing of note UNLESS a viewership/listenership develops. No?

Perhaps the answer is as you say… leftist demagogues are shooting blanks. But it seems much more likely that it isn’t so much an issue of the quality of the demagogue as it is the receptiveness of the respective (rightist/leftist) audiences to patronize demagogues.

Brian Bagent | October 24th, 2009 at 4:39 am

Kevin, that argument might hold water if leftist politicians weren’t demagogues as well. They very clearly have a loyal patronage as well.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that demagoguery sells a lot easier on the left than the right. Politically, blacks and Hispanics are led around by the nose, voting 19:1 and 3:1, respectively, for democrat politicians. Those are not insignificant stats, as together they comprise somewhere between 1/5 and 1/4 of the voting population.

Global warming is another heavily demagogued issue championed by the left. Talk to “the man in the street” that supports legislation to ease this horrible catastrophe-in-the-making and they couldn’t even describe the chemical process of the formation, destruction, and reformation of ozone.

“Paying your fair share” of income taxes is another championed by leftists. “Fair” has nothing to do with it. If I have earned $10 dollars legally, ethically, and morally, how is it “fair” to take 3 of those dollars away from me? And when it comes to “paying their fair share” for corporations, it just gets even easier for the unsophisticated to be bamboozled. Corporate income tax is merely a hidden national sales tax that is paid, not by the corporations (they merely collect the money), but by the people that buy the products and services that those corporations sell.

I could go on and on, but you’re selling rotten cabbage, and I can find that in my own garden.

Kevin | October 24th, 2009 at 11:51 am

If what you claim is true then Schultz, Maher, Maddow and the rest ought to be totally creaming their rightwing competition.

I submit that the fact that they are not totally creaming their wingnut competition puts the lie to your allegations.

Brian Bagent | October 24th, 2009 at 12:57 pm

I wasn’t talking about the no-talent hacks on Air America and other lefty shows, I was talking about lefty politicians and their shills on the networks, CNN, and MSNBC. You deny that the left demagogues global warming and “paying your fair share”? You deny that blacks and Hispanics vote (D) in the numbers I cited? Allegations and lies, indeed.

Kevin | October 25th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

My bad. I didn’t realize that you were trying to move the goalposts on a post explicitly about pundits.

Hey, whatever gets you through another day and allows you to rationalize your ideological choices to yourself…

Personally, I don’t watch or listen to the pundits of either side.

Brian Bagent | October 25th, 2009 at 3:01 pm

Wow. Can’t refute it, so you assert that I am somehow mentally deficient or am dishonest with myself. Beautiful.

Kevin | October 25th, 2009 at 8:17 pm

Again, whatever gets you through another day.

Larry explicitly talked about pundits. I responded to that point. You wanna talk about something else. That’s moving the goal posts, whether you wish to aknowledge it to yourself or not.

The simple, demonstrable fact remains that pundits from the Left don’t get near the audience that pundits from the Right do. Meanwhile a recent poll found that only 34% of Americans approve of the GOP while 51% approve of the Dems.

Slice and dice away, dude. Taking my cue from Occam’s Razor… I think those numbers speak for themselves.