You said: And I think sometimes that talk hosts, like congress critters, should have term limits. After so long a time, it becomes really more about their celebrity status, their golf, etc., than about the concerns of the people who “sent them there” or who “keep them there.”
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Ah, but there is an election every day, every hour, in talk radio. Those who find Rush unworthy of their time may simply change the station or turn off the radio. I have done so from time to time when the topic didn’t interest me. I agree that some of Rush’s schtick is less funny than it was when first introduced, and I lament that he had fewer “updates” than in years gone by, but there is no real dispute that Rush remains King of the Hill. Laura Ingraham is good, and Sean Hannity is loud, but they don’t really touch Rush. I like Levin, but he is a little too abrasive for many.
But the article dealt with why there is no liberal version of Rush, and the answer to that is simple. The liberal point of view cannot be intelligently discussed over a three hour time slot. There is just too little to it. Just as liberal callers to Rush and other conservative talk shows usually last less than a minute before insults and name calling take over, liberal talk shows cannot maintain substantive discussion for any meaningful length of time. They inevitably rely upon bashing the opposition rather than promoting their own agenda, which is government baby sitters for all but the powerful, and the butt of a gun for those who think they don’t need government help. Check out the Young Tur(d)ks on Air America sometime, or Randi Rhodes, if you can stomach her. Listen for the liberal point of view to be explained, and you will be listening a long time.
Rush is a phenomenon. I marvel at how in tune he is with his audience. He is very bright, great memory, and funny. Sometimes he’ll lapse into faux arrogance (ha ha) but I feel a tinge of sincerity that he may be approaching the edge of really being arrogant (he does not well suffer fools. But at other times he is humble, and becomes sincerely touched by compliments. He can be schmaltzy and a “sentimental slob”. He is patriotic, and a shining example of the Mississippi (Moon) River heritage from which he sprung (Mark Twain?). The trouble is he will not be forever. He’s been behind the golden EIB mic for what? 18-20 years? With his vast wealth and all his other distractions (hostile treatment in Florida, cigars, gold, other venture offers, etc), he may choose to walk soon, and in no event will be be there longer than 20 more years, then what? No one is like him. Glenn Beck and Shawn Hannity try, but they are not close to pinging upon all the facets that Rush delivers. Than God we’ve been able to be here when he was.
On the other conservative talkers, I completely agree with your comments. Completely.
But Rush has the big microphone -- which he earned -- and I frankly do not believe he did a good job on immigration. Although he laid out the threat very admirably and in some detail on a few days, on other days he expressed his annoyance with the constancy and fever-pitch of the debate. He wanted to talk about his damn golf.
We almost lost the immigration debate. It mattered a lot that someone with an audience of the size of Rush's would come on the air on some of the critical days and DEFLATE the ferver of people upset at shamnesty, explaining that he no longer gets too upset by these things.
He no longer gets too upset by them, because he is not the least angry anymore, as all conservatives need to be. What has he got to be angry about? He can build his own wall, have his drivers carry him about in Hummers. He doesn't shop at Walmart. Nobody is going to put a car up on blocks in the yard next to him. He cares about golf and fancy restaurants and a celebrity lifestyle. Good on him...he earned it and he has a right to enjoy it. But he is not longer doing much of a service for the conservative movement, IMO. I'd like to let him play golf EVERYday and give over that golden EIB microphone to someone with some fire in the belly.
In my (NC) area, Rush is the ONLY conservative national talkshow host who is on a stations that covers the market. When he is slacking, it hurts the cause.
Rush wins because Rush won. It’s as simple as that. He succeeded because of his talent, drive, and perserverence. These same qualities keep him on the top.
A lot of Rush wannabes have failed because they did not possess these qualities in sufficient quantity. The beauty of the marketplace is that those guys are washing cars and pumping gas, and Rush is on the radio three hours a day.
The AM station that first brought Rush to Houston (he's on another one now) and still carries Mike Savage and Mark Levin and others, runs Ed Schultz's show in the evenings. Good slot, too, 7pm and later. He's kind of a liberal Rush. A real brawler, and he's plugged into the labor movement, but not really resource-rich like Rush (in terms of info sources, and so on). I listen to him sometimes, but he's 90% attitude and doesn't bring the arguments -- just the hortatory stuff, throwing a few names out of liberal candidates who need help, that kind of thing.
I've wondered why that station runs his show, maybe some other Houstonians can explain it; they're more plugged-in to the local AM radio story than I am.
Pinging some Houston/Galveston-area conservatives for possible interest and info.