Republican/Democratic Talking Heads
PostPosted:Fri Oct 02, 2009 7:32 pm
I have a father-in-law who's big on watching Fox News all the time. My parents usually watch MSNBC to follow politics. For a while, I figured these two stations were polar opposites, one liberal, one conservative. I usually don't watch any of the 24/7 news stations because they focus too much on mundane bullshit. (IE: whatever is current, not what is important.) I do catch stuff like NBC Nightly News and the Daily Show, though.
Recently, I've analyzed both of them, especially their talking heads. You know, the hosts that have their own show ranting about their own opinions and politics, etc. I feel that the talking heads are very important because it is the realistic input of what the population as a whole looks at. They are the voicebox for how people are influenced and those arguments thrown back in debates among friends, co-workers, etc. Besides, most don't want to look at people just reporting but talk passionately about what's going on. It gives out a true identity of the station... nay, the party itself.
What I have found out is that I actually like MSNBC. And this isn't because of alignment of my political views. I have been watching, reading, arguing for many years, and you can't fool me into thinking that something which is biased is not actually biased, whether it's a bias I like or not. I have also been very open-minded about this. I REALLY WANT to see what the other side thinks because it makes it easier to identify the commonalities and exactly what they feel is the problem with their issues.
What else I have found is that it is seriously hard not to find a Republican talking head that isn't totally talking out of his ass. Just look at what is out there from both sides of the party:
Keith Olbermann - Clearly left-sided but presents evidence backing up his theories. Often debunks comments presented by talking heads from the other side.
Rachel Maddow - Usually left-sided but presents evidence all of the time. Good at pointing out the truth.
Ed Schultz - Liberal and boisterous about it, but is far less crazy than Republican talking heads and isn't unfair about his guests.
Jon Stewart - Left-sided but not afraid of challenging both sides to uncover the truth. Often debunks comments from all three 24/7 networks and any other source he can find. Known to be a Truthsayer among his audience.
Bill O'Reilly - Known for fits of anger, cutting people off, goes on useless protests (France) and talks about how it's helping America, contradicts himself and is often wrong, a bigot, invites liberal guests unaccustomed to public speaking to ambush them
Sean Hannity - Very often makes comments that completely goes off the deep end, uses out-of-context soundbites to discredit the other side, patriotism borders on zealotry and will use any insult he can to promote his "patriotic" opinions, his ego and insane ideas were no match for Colmes back when he was there as his "sidekick"
Glenn Beck - Batshit fucking INSANE! Used to be a left-wing talking head on CNN and is now a right-wing talking head on Fox. Does not care about the truth of his statements. Often the fodder of liberal talking heads because he is so easy to debunk and says completely deep end comments almost all the time.
Rush Limbaugh - Says racist and bigoted comments all of the time and never apologies for them, some comments can be just as crazy as Beck's, is often debunked by liberal talking heads
Lou Dobbs - Known racist, easily debunked
I know the liberals have people like Al Franken, Bill Maher, Michael Moore, who aren't terrible at reporting valid opinions, but sometimes have credibility issues. (Moore is less credible than the other two, IMO.) However, it's really, really hard to get some sort of good opinion of what the Republican side thinks, without listening to some totally insane, selfish, wrong, or bigot/racist comments.
For example, I listened to the Obama speech on healthcare a while back and I really wanted to hear what the Republicans think, in an honest and valid fashion, because I thought the Obama speech was pretty damn ironclad. So, I flip to Fox, and here is Cavuto interviewing Karl Fucking Rove. Karl Rove, the PR machine that got Bush elected. Of course he's going to say anything to discredit the other side. He's a PR guy!
I like shows like Beltway Boys, but trying to get some good Republican opinions is few and far between. The long and short of it is that the illusion that Republicans and Democrats are equally credible and merely two sides of the same coin is just that, an illusion. The crazy:honesty ratio is definitely off-kilter on the right side.
I seriously want to know what kind of people our right-winged friends listen to. I would hope that there are SOME credible sources of information to see what Republicans are concerned about certain issues.
Recently, I've analyzed both of them, especially their talking heads. You know, the hosts that have their own show ranting about their own opinions and politics, etc. I feel that the talking heads are very important because it is the realistic input of what the population as a whole looks at. They are the voicebox for how people are influenced and those arguments thrown back in debates among friends, co-workers, etc. Besides, most don't want to look at people just reporting but talk passionately about what's going on. It gives out a true identity of the station... nay, the party itself.
What I have found out is that I actually like MSNBC. And this isn't because of alignment of my political views. I have been watching, reading, arguing for many years, and you can't fool me into thinking that something which is biased is not actually biased, whether it's a bias I like or not. I have also been very open-minded about this. I REALLY WANT to see what the other side thinks because it makes it easier to identify the commonalities and exactly what they feel is the problem with their issues.
What else I have found is that it is seriously hard not to find a Republican talking head that isn't totally talking out of his ass. Just look at what is out there from both sides of the party:
Keith Olbermann - Clearly left-sided but presents evidence backing up his theories. Often debunks comments presented by talking heads from the other side.
Rachel Maddow - Usually left-sided but presents evidence all of the time. Good at pointing out the truth.
Ed Schultz - Liberal and boisterous about it, but is far less crazy than Republican talking heads and isn't unfair about his guests.
Jon Stewart - Left-sided but not afraid of challenging both sides to uncover the truth. Often debunks comments from all three 24/7 networks and any other source he can find. Known to be a Truthsayer among his audience.
Bill O'Reilly - Known for fits of anger, cutting people off, goes on useless protests (France) and talks about how it's helping America, contradicts himself and is often wrong, a bigot, invites liberal guests unaccustomed to public speaking to ambush them
Sean Hannity - Very often makes comments that completely goes off the deep end, uses out-of-context soundbites to discredit the other side, patriotism borders on zealotry and will use any insult he can to promote his "patriotic" opinions, his ego and insane ideas were no match for Colmes back when he was there as his "sidekick"
Glenn Beck - Batshit fucking INSANE! Used to be a left-wing talking head on CNN and is now a right-wing talking head on Fox. Does not care about the truth of his statements. Often the fodder of liberal talking heads because he is so easy to debunk and says completely deep end comments almost all the time.
Rush Limbaugh - Says racist and bigoted comments all of the time and never apologies for them, some comments can be just as crazy as Beck's, is often debunked by liberal talking heads
Lou Dobbs - Known racist, easily debunked
I know the liberals have people like Al Franken, Bill Maher, Michael Moore, who aren't terrible at reporting valid opinions, but sometimes have credibility issues. (Moore is less credible than the other two, IMO.) However, it's really, really hard to get some sort of good opinion of what the Republican side thinks, without listening to some totally insane, selfish, wrong, or bigot/racist comments.
For example, I listened to the Obama speech on healthcare a while back and I really wanted to hear what the Republicans think, in an honest and valid fashion, because I thought the Obama speech was pretty damn ironclad. So, I flip to Fox, and here is Cavuto interviewing Karl Fucking Rove. Karl Rove, the PR machine that got Bush elected. Of course he's going to say anything to discredit the other side. He's a PR guy!
I like shows like Beltway Boys, but trying to get some good Republican opinions is few and far between. The long and short of it is that the illusion that Republicans and Democrats are equally credible and merely two sides of the same coin is just that, an illusion. The crazy:honesty ratio is definitely off-kilter on the right side.
I seriously want to know what kind of people our right-winged friends listen to. I would hope that there are SOME credible sources of information to see what Republicans are concerned about certain issues.