Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Levine, Savage, Huckabee and Thompson who owns them? Who pays for their voice? by Mark Vogl
(conservative)
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Follow the money. Where does the money come from? Who is crafting the conservative portfolio on America's conservative talk shows?
Previously I wrote an article which described the many factions of the conservative movement in America; the religious right, Constitutional constructionists, nationalists, isolationists, capitalists, hawks, defenders of Israel, and fiscal conservatives. These groups and others come to conservatism from different directions, and explain why self-proclaimed conservatives can sound so different. For example, isolationists and defenders of Israel, how can they both be conservative?
When you listen to Rush, he is slightly different from Hannity. When you listen to Savage he is very different from Beck! Huckabee and Thompson are lightweights in this arena. So they are different. Beck's sponsors talk about Gold... and Beck seems to reach out to Christian conservatives. Hannity tends to play to liberals like Dick Morris who was an adviser to Clinton, and Pennsylvania's governor, and the defenders of Israel. Some themes seem to play through some of the shows each day. Like the main stream media, they don't always seem able to create their own shows, or focus on different news. They tend to bunch up...to all cover the same thing.
And there do seem to be times when they all take off time together...are there conservative planning sessions? Not saying there are...just asking. Could I be invited?
Rush seems to own his own voice. If that's true it may explain why he is the best. He seems the most politically nimble, the most open to thought. He is by far the best with phone callers. Hannity and Savage are rude to people who they disagree with. They provide no real opportunity for dialogue. Hannity can't hold a two sided conversation.
Now Mike Savage is unique to himself. I love his ethnic slant. I love his pride in the old times, and in New York. I love when he tells stories of his life. And he is a smart man, no doubt about that. At one time I would not listen to him, but now I look forward to him. And by the way...England its your loss.
What all conservative talk show hosts do, with maybe the exception of Thompson and Huckabee is insult the South. They all do it. The people who are the most conservative in outlook they trash repeatedly. And they will not touch the Confederacy. Never mind that the Confederate Constitution calls on the wisdeom and strength of Almighty God in the Preamble, or addresses many of the issues which irratate us the most today, earmarks, bailouts, bundling of bills, out of control spending, the Line Item veto and many more.
Homosexuality is another one which seems to be taboo on conservative talk shows. Hannity claims to be Catholic, and the Pope and the Cahtolic Church have come out very strong against homosexuality..so where's Hannity? And Rush, well, he moves from side to side. But he never comes out and condemns it. Some of the money, maybe alot of the money for these shows comes from or is influenced by gays! I would bet on it.
I am a conservative because I am: a social conservative, a Constitutional constructionist, a nationalist, an isolationist, and was a hawk during the Cold War.
The Conservative movement is truly fragmented and always will be. From time to time, world events will create the pressure necessary to compress the conservative movement into a more solid political organization, but in these days, when there is no real foreign threat and when internationalists have convinced much of corporate America that trade is vital to our economy, the conservative movement is more fragmented than usual.
So who is funding all these conservative radio talk shows? I know nothing about the business, but if we want to know who is behind these shows, and thus what is their real purpose, we must follow the money!
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Posted By: Bentree
Date: January 19, 2011 07:32:27 AM
Air America's demise answers the question,no talent, no message, no listeners, no advertisers, no show. except in the case of NPR of course, we pay for that. Not all of it, just enough to make it viable. For those of you in Rio Linda, that means to keep it's head above water. Yes, of course there are liberal talk show hosts/commentators but only the kool aid drinkers and Alan Combs give a hoot. His facial expressions when Monica Crowley has her say cracks me up. Crowley is Alan Combs sister in law, wouldn't you love to be the fly on the wall at thanksgiving. Of course then there is Ed Schultz............
Posted By: Interested Catholic
Date: January 26, 2011 06:05:43 PM
I have lurked nearby and read your sanctimonious, incoherent rants, and have even chimed in a couple of times (with no reply from you, of course) but there are a couple of things about this article that really irk me and I felt I had to speak up. First off, how can a so-called conservative "Christian," who, if I remember correctly from other articles that you have written, was raised a Catholic sit by and listen to a mean-spirited lunatic like Mike Savage without being the slightest bit offended about the way he speaks about your Christian brothers and sisters?? Here is an excerpt from one of HIS rants about illegal immigration:
"It is a pig story! It’s animal farm all over again. And also make no bones about it, it’s the greedy Catholic Church that was behind it because the people of America walked away from the molesters’ dens and they need to bring in people from the Third World who are still gullible enough to sit there and listen to the molesters…the Roman Catholic Church was behind this, the Roman Catholic Church started this a year ago. The Roman Catholic Church flooded the streets because they cannot get parishioners anymore amongst educated white people who have caught onto the racket and instead they need to import dummies to sit in the church pews. That’s the story and it is not difficult for you to understand—I’m telling you the truth. It’s all about greed. It’s greed at the top of the Catholic Church.
Make no mistake about why this is happening. This has nothing to do with compassion for Mexican workers. This has nothing to do with fairness for Mexican workers—it has to do with the greed…. That’s all there is to it. And that includes the Catholic Church pigs. And if you don’t like it, don’t listen to the show—I really don’t care anymore. I’m not going to be duped by this sanctimonious garbage that all churches are good and that the institution itself is good. Bah humbug. The institution is rotten from the top to the bottom."
You, as a so-called Christian, can stand by and let your Church be bashed repeatedly in the media, by people like this guy (yes, I realize it's all supposed to be entertainment and gimick and yes I DO in fact have a sense of humor) and yet I envision a meltdown coronary if your beloved Confederates were bashed in this manner. Or how about your Bible-church friends? Is it ok to bash those guys in the same way?
And I take issue with your beef with Hannity not bashing gays because he's a, in your words, a "so-called Catholic." To my knowledge, Jesus never bashed homosexuals or anyone else for that matter. Why is it ok for you to do it? Yes, the Catholic Church is against homosexuality and homosexual "acts" but does not condone condemning the individual (YOUR brothers and sisters). God created us all Mark, even "those" people. And, though I listen to very few of these nitwits I do seem to recall Hannity (and most of the others) coming out strongly against gay marriage. Isn't that strong enough for you? What do you want them to do, carry signs that says "God hates Fags?" Sorry for the language everyone, but I am fed up.
So many people who call themselves Christians and talk about how pious they are and how righteous they are wouldn't know Jesus if he walked right up to them and kissed them on the forehead. You have shown that you know little to nothing about the Catholic faith, and from what I understand of other denominations (yes, NOT religions but "denominations") your preferred method of calling on the few, the proud, the divine sparked and leaving everyone else out in the dust is NOT Christ's way. We are not called to condemn our brother because he's not "one of us," we are called to love him like Christ loved us. Why do you people insist on doing this holier-than-thou routine? When Christ watches you, what does he see? Much of the rhetoric in many of your articles is not enlightening in any way, about the faith of Christianity. Small minded and simple, yes, but not enlightening.
All that said, I agree with a lot of your views about the issues we have with the evil that has infested our world and culture. Where we part ways is in the ways to solve the problems. You think that, if we just elect the right guy in office and form our own little Bible-believing political party (and you still haven't figured out which "denomination's" doctrine we would use or who would be interpreting it), and secede from the Evil Empire Union, it will all work out, praise God. I agree that the horse (of relativism, hedonism, and every other ism) has been let out of the barn. But the problems can only be solved by the people. You and me. And allowing the hate of our choice and condemning the others won't cut it.
