Althouse: "By 6:30 at night the only people who do not know what's happened that day are either drunk, stoned, or 85 years old and don't know how to use a computer and don't know how to tune a cable channel."

July 12, 2010

"By 6:30 at night the only people who do not know what's happened that day are either drunk, stoned, or 85 years old and don't know how to use a computer and don't know how to tune a cable channel."

That's Rush Limbaugh on the death of the nightly network news shows.

For me, using the computer has also made cable news unwatchable. It's just too slow. And they are always going to commercial with a teaser like "And wait until you hear what happened when..." Either I already know what happened or, if I care, I will find out in 2 seconds, before the commercial even begins, or I do not care. I just feel sorry for the people who would sit patiently waiting to ingest that stale nugget of information.

Or... wait... do I just feel sorry for them or do I secretly hold such people in contempt, the way Limbaugh does? Drunk, stoned, old, stupid... you know, this may be why I enjoy listening to Rush Limbaugh.

90 comments:

garage mahal said...: Drunk, stoned, old, stupid... you know, this may be why I enjoy listening to Rush Limbaugh.

That's hardly a way to go through life on the radio.; 7/12/10, 9:04 AM
MadisonMan said...: I watched CBS Evening News all the time as a kid (CBS was the only network we got). I never watch it now. I don't think my parents -- in their mid 80s -- watch it either.

I don't think Limbaugh's insight is particularly novel, but it is correct.

Cable News to me just oozes We are producing this for people trapped in an airport without their computer. Horrid.; 7/12/10, 9:06 AM
ricpic said...: The success of Fox's nightly news shows (okay, its news and opinion shows) belies what Rush said.; 7/12/10, 9:06 AM
bagoh20 said...: I pine to be highly uninformed, but it's hard now days.; 7/12/10, 9:10 AM
reader_iam said...: ricpic: Arguably, what people are watching the cable news shows (on whatever cable network) FOR is opinion, commentary and--sometimes--"analysis," not news, so I don't know that Fox News' relative success DOES undercut Althouse's point.; 7/12/10, 9:13 AM
KCFleming said...: TV news is NPR with pictures, Sesame street for adults, the Democratic agenda as an infomercial.

My wife and I watch our local news only to see where the recent shootings have been, and to see our weatherwoman's suit choices (generally ill-fitting, lumpy and grey; hilarious!).; 7/12/10, 9:13 AM
Fred4Pres said...: I feel the same about video podcasts, blogging heads included.; 7/12/10, 9:21 AM
GMay said...: The only time I catch any broadcast, TV, cable or whatever you want to call legacy media these days is when I'm at an airport or something and can't really get away from it.

Then again, I hate TV and only have basic cable because it's a requirement for internet.; 7/12/10, 9:23 AM
Anonymous said...: That's degrading toward stoned people, and probably drunk ones too. Using marijuana does not prevent you from, say, catching up with the day's events on Drudge-- in fact, it enhances the whole experience. Any self-respecting pothead still knows what's going on in the world, and knows it well before 6:30.

And cable news? How the hell did that shitpalace get in there?; 7/12/10, 9:26 AM
GMay said...: F4P said: "I feel the same about video podcasts, blogging heads included."

Ditto here. The only one I could make it more than 10 seconds through was the one where the Professor decapitated that one pretentious liberal brat (redundant I know).; 7/12/10, 9:27 AM
Anonymous said...: Any self-respecting pothead still knows what's going on in the world, and knows it well before 6:30.

He knows it by noon. He's forgotten it by 12:05, but he knows it by noon.; 7/12/10, 9:32 AM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: One of the reasons I enjoy Limbaugh is that he refuses to go along with all the PC nonsense. He calls it straight, and I like that, even when I don't agree with him.

I'm a farmer. We talk about cow SHIT, not "manure." Even worse, I have heard a nearby academic refer to the problem of cow "droppings."

And under the current administration we have an Attorney General who refuses to say "radical islam," choosing instead the mealy-mouthed equivalent of "droppings."

Limbaugh is an effective antidote to that sort of destructive self-deception.; 7/12/10, 9:32 AM
Paddy O said...: Here in socal, broadcast news is still far and away the best resource for watching live car chases.

For everything else, including local disasters like earthquakes and fires, the internet is better and significantly more accurate. Television news isn't just often slower than the internet, it's also often quite wrong and very often wrong because it it trying to sensationalize everything.

It has also gotten quite worse because of the felt need to make everything a community discussion.

For instance, we had a earthquake last week. I turn on the news, just to see, again, if there's something more interesting. Then I realize, again, that the coverage which interrupts regularly scheduled programming is about 2 minutes of actually helpful information and an hour or more of news talent giving tips on what to do in an earthquake and news talent talking to random people who call in to talk about what they felt when the earthquake happened. Which isn't interesting when nothing really was damaged.

But the car chases still make television news worthwhile. At least until the internet gets some helicopters.; 7/12/10, 9:39 AM
Bender said...: I used to watch CNN, years ago, you know, when it actually provided newscasts, and not constant "analysis" and commentary, and that with the same ten or so has-beens that have been talking heads since the Carter years (and all saying the same thing, as if, oh, I don't know, they were all on the same listserv e-mail list). And "Headline News" is even worse -- when is the last time they did an actual newscast? It's all talk and fluff now.; 7/12/10, 9:52 AM
Phil 314 said...: I would be interested in seeing a survey of his shows demographic and then a demographic of the nightly news shows. I would wager they have more in common than Mr, Limbaugh would care to imagine.

Likewise, I would wager that the younger demographic neither listens to him nor watches the nightly news.

Therefore, this statement would better be made by Jon Stewart.; 7/12/10, 9:54 AM
Sal said...: Watching my parent's generation or even a lot of my own, they watch the 6:30 (5:30, here) news because it's what they know and what they're comfortable with. It doesn't work for me, but seems plenty enough reason for them.

Go ahead and *feel sorry for them* - whatever makes you feel better. It's my experience that they couldn't care less.; 7/12/10, 9:57 AM
Bender said...: I feel the same about video podcasts

I have never, and will never, watch one.

And besides podcasts, I refused to watch those imbedded videos in posts that don't bother to tell you what was actually said or done. It was two weeks before I learned what Helen Thomas said because it took that long for someone to actually provide a transcript. Why should I spend five-ten minutes watching a damn video to find out what happened when I could (or should be able to) read it in five-ten seconds?; 7/12/10, 9:57 AM
damikesc said...: So, Switzerland has not only decided to not extradite Polanski, they have freed him completely.

So, in the last year, Europe has freed a mass murderer of Americans and a kiddie rapist,

Is it time to just admit that there are no actual extradition treaties? That Europe will keep any criminal of ours safe from justice?; 7/12/10, 10:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Yes, the teasers, LOL. "The world might end...film at 11."

Well, guess I'll check google news and try to save myself!; 7/12/10, 10:05 AM
traditionalguy said...: This weekend we were over at my son' house all day Saturday for a Granddaughter's 3rd birthday. Trying to find the Braves/Mets game on his different cable system lead me into the CBS Evening News, and EVERY commercial on it was for relief of old age aches and pains and MediCare Supplement plans.; 7/12/10, 10:09 AM
former law student said...: Big talk from a guy whose listeners are retired, unemployed, or who don't have to think much on the job. Or who somehow consistently have three hours of continuous free time in the middle of the workday.

The big problem with the network news is that it's on too early. But you can put it on and listen as you prepare dinner.; 7/12/10, 10:11 AM
AllenS said...: fls,

If you've got time to post comments on this blog, at this time of the day, you also have an ability to listen to Limbaugh. What do you do for a living? Are you retired?; 7/12/10, 10:31 AM
Opus One Media said...: That says a lot obout his audience doesn't it...80% conservative, 80% male, >50% 55+ and audience ranking behind most news commentary shows of any worth.

Primary evening news draws about 13 million housholds with half of the audience A2554.

Evening news draws more females than Rush and a younger crowd with better education and knowlege of events...other than that what is the point again? I must have missed it?

OH...Rush was dissing his core audience. I got it now. Thanks.; 7/12/10, 10:33 AM
Opus One Media said...: AllenS said...
"If you've got time to post comments on this blog, at this time of the day, you also have an ability to listen to Limbaugh."

Ability and desire are two clearly different things.; 7/12/10, 10:35 AM
Opus One Media said...: Drunk, stoned, old, stupid...

I didn't think Rush still drank...hmmm; 7/12/10, 10:35 AM
Unknown said...: I got sick of being lied to by four different networks.; 7/12/10, 10:37 AM
Chase said...: fls,

If you've got time to post comments on this blog, at this time of the day, you also have an ability to listen to Limbaugh. What do you do for a living? Are you retired?

BUSTED!; 7/12/10, 10:41 AM
Meade said...: But I have never listened to anybody else on the radio. There's a specific reason. I don't want to end up copying anybody, accidentally or on purpose. The best way to eliminate your own originality is start getting ideas from other people.

*cough*

*cough, cough*; 7/12/10, 10:41 AM
Anonymous said...: I liked cable news to have on for background noise, usually while I'm working in the kitchen or doing something else. Cable is good because it's constant; I don't like to match my kitchen time to the network schedules (plus I live in a pretty boring area- the local is dull as dishwater).

But as for just sitting and watching- I don't get that at all. Ditto for the 'net videos- I almost never watch them, and often if I do, I wind up giving up after a few seconds.; 7/12/10, 10:42 AM
damikesc said...: The median age for network newscasts is 62. Last time I saw stats about Rushs, the age was 51 (both figures from Pew). Was 2d in education level of audience as well..

Where are your stats from, HD?; 7/12/10, 10:45 AM
Christopher in MA said...: Well, I can't access the complete Rush quote, but if his point is that people who only get their news from Obama's state-sponsored fellators have no idea what's going on in the world, he's spot on. Just look at Byron York's July 7 Nexis search for mainstream reporting of Bambi's NASA effort to make Muslims feel good about themselves - the story, while flying around the web, gathered zero coverage in the NYT, WaPo, NBC, ABC or CBS.

I think that example alone makes El Rushbo's point. But I'm a racist teabagger, myself.; 7/12/10, 10:48 AM
former law student said...: Three hours a day every day?; 7/12/10, 10:48 AM
damikesc said...: The only people who seem to listen to him 3 hrs every day are progressives.; 7/12/10, 10:55 AM
Wince said...: Reminds me of the "Grandma Joint" poster that was popular in the 1970s.; 7/12/10, 10:56 AM
Scott M said...: Where are your stats from, HD?

I'd like to see this as well, especially the break out graph showing how being better educated = having more knowledge of events.; 7/12/10, 10:58 AM
Michael Haz said...: Crap. Harvey Pekar just died.

Loved his comic books. American Splendor (the comic book and the movie) were both good.

RIP Harvey. Your death is a bigger loss to Cleveland than was LeBron James.; 7/12/10, 10:58 AM
Henry said...: I don't pay much attention to the news -- or to Limbaugh. Most news is trivia or gossip. What you're missing when you miss the daily news is nil.

Even when the news is serious it's very limited in scope.

Take Afghanistan, for example. For all the serious news reporting from Afghanistan, including in-country reporting by independent journalists like Michael Yon, it's still almost impossible to get a big picture view of what is happening in the country. Even the most serious reporting is anecdotal, personality-based, and transitory.

I learned more about Afghanistan from reading The Accidental Guerilla by David Kilcullen than through 8 years of media reporting and opinion.

Forget the news. Read history.; 7/12/10, 10:59 AM
X said...: Or who somehow consistently have three hours of continuous free time in the middle of the workday.

you mean like the government regulator of my financial industry who told me he never misses Rush? He calls it monitoring the enemy, as though his taxpayer funded job is to be a propaganda policeman.; 7/12/10, 11:22 AM
bagoh20 said...: What do you really accomplish by being well informed on current events?

There are a lot of people here who are well informed, yet many can't agree on the most basic truths about the events they see. You have to conclude some of us are wasting that time.

I doubt that for most of us that our lives would be much different if we had no idea what was happening in the world. In fact, there is far more that we don't know than what we do. But, we do know what some actor said to his girlfriend in private. So there is much wisdom to be gained if we just listen.; 7/12/10, 11:28 AM
Phil 314 said...: And I would certainly hope that rush's listeners aren't getting their news from him; 7/12/10, 11:29 AM
Beth said...: I don't enjoy feeling contempt for people, just for the fun of it. I guess that's why I don't enjoy listening to Rush Limbaugh. In fact, that sums it up very well. Thanks for clarifying that for me.; 7/12/10, 11:33 AM
Unknown said...: damikesc said...

The median age for network newscasts is 62. Last time I saw stats about Rushs, the age was 51 (both figures from Pew). Was 2d in education level of audience as well..

Where are your stats from, HD?

As they say in Airborne, his fourth point of contact.; 7/12/10, 11:40 AM
jamboree said...: True. I rarely watch TV at all for any purpose - and this has been true since the 90s.

HOWEVER, when something's really big - I still turn it on. Something about the communal validation aspect of it.; 7/12/10, 11:43 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I watch our local news once in a while to see what is happening since the local newspaper decided it was too much trouble to deliver the paper to our rural area.

I get my weather reports from the internet and almost all of my news from the net. I will watch Headline News, Fox News, Fox Business Channel. Every now and then I might watch some of the evening opinion shows but not all that often, they are basically repetitious boring gasbags.

I remember when all we had were the 3 major networks. Just think how badly we were served by them. Spoon fed the lines from the government and the powers that be.

Today...we have a multitude of choices. Information literally at our fingertips.

Watch out though. Obama and the progressives have figured out that an informed population is dangerous to their agenda. Can you imagine a movement like the Tea Party springing up almost overnight nationwide back in the Walter Cronkite era. The ability to communicate across the country instantaneously is the power that we have..for now.

Soon....we will see them clamping down on internet access, in the name of safety of course. However, we know it will be only for them to try to preserve the power that they have taken from the people.; 7/12/10, 11:51 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Three hours a day every day?

That's Hannity, not Rush.

Get your snark correct.; 7/12/10, 11:54 AM
Scott M said...: As they say in Airborne, his fourth point of contact.

My family is full of paratroopers. I grew up being told to get my head out of my fourth point of contact. I eventually did.; 7/12/10, 11:56 AM
Joe said...: What I find remarkable is how irrelevant most "news" is.

(Our main local paper used to have an excellent business section on their web site which was highly relevant. Two or three years ago, they redesigned it and now it totally sucks. Besides a terrible--but fancy looking--interface, they don't have a nice list of the local business headlines. Worse, they now pack the damn site with feel good stories.)

Speaking of newspapers. My wife picked some up yesterday for coupons. The headline of one was a feel good story about rehabilitation of some sort [didn't bother reading it.] And newspapers wonder why they're going broke.; 7/12/10, 11:59 AM
Sokmnkee said...: Most of the younger generation I know are clueless about what's going on in the world and don't care to become informed. They just want to know what's happening on Survivor and American Idol.

That's what's wrong with the country now. I do not have a college degree; and when I ask a younger person with a bachelors or masters degree a deep, thought-provoking question, they look like a deer in the headlights and tell me they don't know.

I work from home, and yes, I'm listening to Limbaugh as I cruise the news on the net during my lunch break.; 7/12/10, 12:00 PM
AllenS said...: I'm an exparatrooper. I only used three points of contact. Feet, ass, head.

One time I used only two. I called it the toes and nose.; 7/12/10, 12:05 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Three hours a day every day?"

I subscribe to the podcast, which gives about 105 minutes a day -- and no commercials. I listen to it on my iPhone while I'm doing something else. I rarely listen live.; 7/12/10, 12:09 PM
Ann Althouse said...: As for Bloggingheads, maybe it is too boring. I don't sit around watching it myself. It takes a lot of effort to do, because you have to speak spontaneously on camera and listen carefully to the other person for an hour. Any given moment can be clipped out and used against you too. It's really impossible to be interesting and really on for the whole hour and be on guard about creating little snippets that will hurt you.; 7/12/10, 12:12 PM
former law student said...: Three hours a day every day?

That's Hannity, not Rush.

Get your snark correct.

Rush is on from 9 to noon where I live. Or do you mean he takes weekends off?; 7/12/10, 12:27 PM
Scott M said...: Rush is on from 9 to noon where I live. Or do you mean he takes weekends off?

No, it's a line Hannity uses as a bumper. Frankly, Hannity is one of the least compelling of the conservative talkers. Setting aside whether he's right or wrong on a given issue, he repeats himself incessantly, allows way too much kiss-ass from his phoners, and tends to loose control in interviews (ie too much cross talking).

I can't listen to him even when have the time.; 7/12/10, 12:34 PM
reader_iam said...: Seeing news alerts (online) regarding an [in-progress?] shooting at a fiber optics factory near Kirtland Air Force Base.

Now, this is the sort of thing (though maybe not this *particular* thing, depending on what's up) I DO find full-time cable news stations useful for, and I will turn to them in those situations (at least for a while, again depending).; 7/12/10, 12:35 PM
Scott M said...: I DO find full-time cable news stations useful for, and I will turn to them in those situations (at least for a while, again depending).

That's exactly my point of view on the topic. During breaking news, the internet tends to lag a bit for video. I think that' changing, but for now at least, I think most people find a TV when something big is going down.; 7/12/10, 12:36 PM
reader_iam said...: fiber optics and/or solar panel; 7/12/10, 12:36 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: "I can't listen to him (Hannity) even when have the time."

Ditto. (lol)

Although I'm probably going to have to suffer through Hannity and Rush for the next couple of days as we take a road trip. My husband likes to listen to them.

I plan to knit in the car and nap.; 7/12/10, 12:39 PM
mesquito said...: Yeah, Hannity is unlistenable. I download Dennis Miller and listen to that instead. Vy good. I recommend it.; 7/12/10, 12:44 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Unfair to 85 year olds - my father who is north of that has checked in online several times during the day by then. I may fault the objectivity of his online sources, but he still has a better grasp on the news by that time of day than when he and my mother would watch the nightly news together.; 7/12/10, 12:50 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Yeah, Hannity is unlistenable. I download Dennis Miller and listen to that instead. Vy good. I recommend it.

I can handle small doses of Hannity. I think he is better on TV. But Miller is a good pick there. Of the conservative voices out there, he is one of the nicest. He doesn't tend to attribute extreme malice to anyone slightly liberal, but may suggest, with humor, that they may be a bit misguided. And, as a professional comic, he is funny.; 7/12/10, 12:56 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Things that bug me from our local nightly news shows:

The weather lady feels compelled to tell viewers to make sure their pets are inside and have water during a heat wave.

Last night, the weather guy told viewers to beware of sun glare in the morning on the way to work.

WTF?; 7/12/10, 12:56 PM
reader_iam said...: Ditto on Dennis. I think he's funny and not particularly mean, though he can be pointed. I don't listen to everyday (or any talk radio everyday), but I do like to listen to parts of his show via an app on my iPhone if I'm cleaning or something around the house and don't feel like doing a podcast.

Somewhat OT, a few weeks I enjoyed listening to his huge belly laugh when Ruth Anne Adams--yes, THAT, Ruth Anne Adams--called in to his show to opine on some topic or another and ended up explaining to him the origin of the saying "tit for tat" via a limerick her dad used to recite. (He'd been riffing on the phrase, wondering where it came from, while she happened to on hold, awaiting her turn).

It was fab, really hilarious. She totally cracked 'em up.; 7/12/10, 1:24 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Ann Althouse:

"I enjoy listening to Rush Limbaugh."

Speaks volumes. do you also like his racist rants, too?; 7/12/10, 2:02 PM
GMay said...: Why don't you tell us of some of his racist rants AL. Since you're apparently such a fan.; 7/12/10, 2:13 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: More racism from the drug addict Lush Windbag:

"Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it."

"Take that bone out of your nose and call me back (to an African American female caller)."

"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."

"[Obama] wouldn't have been voted president if he weren't black. Somebody asked me over the weekend why does somebody earn a lot of money have a lot of money, because she's black. It was Oprah. No, it can't be. Yes, it is. There's a lot of guilt out there, show we're not racists, we'll make this person wealthy and big and famous and so forth.... If Obama weren't black he'd be a tour guide in Honolulu or he'd be teaching Saul Alinsky constitutional law or lecturing on it in Chicago.:"

Ah yes! The White Man can't get a break in this country! Racial resentment and hatred from Ann Althouse's favorite hate radio host!

As ye sow...; 7/12/10, 2:15 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: More recent racism from the leader of the Republican Party:

He said somebody else said, "This is payback," meaning, "All right, look. We don't care if it's the New Black Panthers or whoever it is. Black people in this country have never, ever had a fair shake. This is payback. O.J. Simpson was payback. How does it feel?" That word "payback" is not mine. It was J. Christian Adams quoting some people in the Department of Justice. It is exactly how I think Obama looks at the country: It's payback time."

But, you know what? Conservatives have no problem with racism, they do not speak against it, they tolerate or just plain ignore it and deride people who do speak out against it. (the exception being when they play the race card, themselves, against racial minorities).; 7/12/10, 2:21 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Judging from her silence and continued promotion of the oaf, Ann Althouse is OKAY with Limbaugh's racism.; 7/12/10, 2:23 PM
KCFleming said...: AL, you've posted that crap before.

Give us the audio or official transcripts, not your e-mailed urban legends.

Yer a waste of time.; 7/12/10, 2:33 PM
Dark Eden said...: The problem with lefties trying to demagogue Rush is anyone who actually listens to him knows for a fact he isn't a racist. So all this stuff just makes us laugh.; 7/12/10, 3:07 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: AL

I love how you take things out of context and reargue discredited talking points.

In the Crips and Bloods statement, it was aimed at the fact that a lot of the football players were acting like ganstas, with their dress, tats, etc. And, yes, it was more the Black players. Playing and hanging around such low lives is how some of them spend their off time, and is why you occasionally hear of one getting shot.

Or, are you trying to sanitize this less than savory side of the NFL?; 7/12/10, 3:08 PM
former law student said...: via a limerick her dad used to recite.

The one about the new mother of triplets?; 7/12/10, 3:20 PM
Scott M said...: I've got a t-shirt that says simply, "I Am The Man From Nantucket"; 7/12/10, 3:24 PM
damikesc said...: AL, you got links to transcripts for those sayings?

I mean, not to criticize, but progressives who quote Rush tend to, you know, make shit up.

A lot.; 7/12/10, 3:24 PM
Opus One Media said...: stats are from last arbitron book, premiere radio which syndicates him (rush) and various advertising sources including adweek. they are readily available except Premiere Radio which sends I think mostly to serious radio buyers.; 7/12/10, 3:41 PM
wild chicken said...: "are you trying to sanitize this less than savory side of the NFL?"

We're not allowed to notice it.; 7/12/10, 3:42 PM
virgil xenophon said...: Once again Beth reveals herself to be the sort of lefty "reasonable" "progressive" that is so typical of those that drank/still drinking the Obama and the extreme left's kool-aid. How much of Rush do you ACTUALLY listen to, beth? As Ann A. has said here before; unless one's listened to him in entirety over a period of time you (or anyone else) don't know what you're talking about when making such statements.

(I might add, as Rush himself oft repeats, a recent Pugh survey has found Rush's listeners to be the single biggest radio/tv audience who are also listeners/readers of "hard" news, iirc)

As a matter of fact, beth's comments, to my mind, reveal her to be the very sort of contemptuous, condescending sort of person she labels Rush as being--although she would, I am sure, heartily dispute this as it would never occur to her kind (never does to those on the left.) beth reminds me of that uber-lefty trust-fund baby Jilia Louise-Dryfuss who, in a LOL interview actually had the effrontery to opine that: "I could never marry a Republican--I'm too morally centered." By the same token, beth is the kind of New Orleans "progressive" Uptown lefty who would have voted for Mark Morial and found his Administration both just peachy keen AND cleanly run--not to mention being "morally centered."; 7/12/10, 4:43 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I don't enjoy feeling contempt for people, just for the fun of it. I guess that's why I don't enjoy listening to Rush Limbaugh. In fact, that sums it up very well. Thanks for clarifying that for me."

Most people -- including you? -- don't enjoy *admitting* to enjoying to feeling contempt... even to ourselves. It's very easy and comfortable to say you don't enjoy it, just as I initially said I felt sorry for some people. I went on to concede that maybe I did enjoy it. That was self-deprecating, as opposed to self-complimenting. Of course, now I'm complimenting myself for being self-deprecating... but you see my point?

I think the reason you don't enjoy listening to Rush, assuming you've actually seriously tried -- that is, you've listened to the whole show at least a few times -- is that he's making fun of things you want to believe in and poking holes in arguments you'd like to succeed.; 7/12/10, 4:45 PM
TMink said...: I know plenty of drunks and stoners who keep up with what is happening!

Trey; 7/12/10, 4:46 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "do you also like his racist rants, too?"

I doubt that I would, but I have never heard one, despite listening to nearly every show for 2 years.

Please give me a link to something that's been on the show within the time period when I have been listening (2008-2010) that would deserve the label racist rant." If you can't, and I am virtually positive you can't, will you apologize for your mistake? If you won't, explain why.; 7/12/10, 4:48 PM
Paddy O said...: "I think the reason you don't enjoy listening to Rush, assuming you've actually seriously tried"

I don't enjoy listening to Rush either, and if asked it might be the same as Beth's reason.

I remember I watched his, rather old, television show back in the day, and would occasionally listen. But it wore me down rather than built me up. So, I stopped at some point.

Even though I generally agree with most of what he says.

At the same time, I don't think Rush is valued simply because he is a reasonably smart guy with a sense of humor and shows contempt for his political opponents. He's a daily dose of conservative apologetics, giving positions and offering disagreements, but more often than not providing good, or at least useful, arguments for his beliefs.

The market for apologetics of any sort--political or religious--tends to be those who already believe but who want a stronger case for their belief.; 7/12/10, 5:19 PM
Robert Burnham said...: All material in video form — including movies — is unwatchable for me because it unrolls at a speed of 1 second per second.

With print, I hop, skim, dig deep, or glance and and keep moving.; 7/12/10, 8:30 PM
Known Unknown said...: I watched the local CBS news cast for Tom Holden, he of the glorious mane of bluish-silver hair!!!!!; 7/12/10, 9:34 PM
Known Unknown said...: Those racist rants.

Really AL?; 7/12/10, 9:39 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @Alpha I said "Please give me a link to something that's been on the show within the time period when I have been listening (2008-2010) that would deserve the label 'racist rant.'"

I'm still waiting. You cut and pasted some stale old stuff from some anti-Rush site with quotes that go back -- what? -- 20 years and are taken out of context. I want a link to something, so I can see the context, that happened in the last 2 years, the time I have been listening. I want to be able to read it/hear it in context.

That is what is required and without which I regard your taunts as bullshit.; 7/12/10, 10:38 PM
Barristers Handshake said...: This is tangential, but I've lived in Eastern Standard Time my whole life (with the exception of a year in Asia). I just moved (this week) to the West coast, and it SUCKS!

I wake up in the morning and the entire world has already started doing things, blogging, etc. My 6:30 Special Report is a re-run. Reality T.V...already happened. My poor wife checks her Facebook account only to have her Bachelorette show ruined by her friends feed.

Yeah, we've got sunshine and tan babes...but we live in the past. SUCKS!; 7/12/10, 11:04 PM
Beth said...: Think what you want, Althouse.
But I come to this blog and read lots of comments from people who disagree with me and seek to poke holes in arguments I hope would succeed.; 7/12/10, 11:14 PM
Beth said...: But it wore me down rather than built me up.

That's a great description, Paddy O. I like it - in a non-Rush specific way. Apply as needed.; 7/12/10, 11:42 PM
Revenant said...: The success of Fox's nightly news shows (okay, its news and opinion shows) belies what Rush said.

Fox is by far the #1 cable news network, yes... and its prime time viewship is under 2 million. Around one out of every 160 Americans. So no, I don't think it belies what he said.; 7/13/10, 1:59 AM
Revenant said...: Three hours a day every day?

What makes you think that the average listener listens to the entire show? Limbaugh broadcasts from 12pm-3pm EST, which means that he overlaps with lunch breaks in every time zone.; 7/13/10, 2:02 AM
Revenant said...: More recent racism from the leader of the Republican Party:

Which was the racist part of the quote? Or did you mean "racist" in the modern Democratic sense of "any accusation leveled at Barack Obama"?; 7/13/10, 2:03 AM