I asked Jerry Springer, "are those people FOR REAL?" "Yes...they REALLY are real," he said. And it was as SIMPLE as "getting a trip to Chicago and staying at a nice hotel," that enticed these trainwrecks to apply as guests on his show. That's what he said in the LATE 90s when we had him in for a radio interview.

Now look where we are: no more Chicago hotel rooms, but multi-million dollar Gravy Trains.

Hmmmmmmmm... A fascinating characteristic of talk radio is the credentials of the hosts; specifically, the higher education of so-called "conservative" hosts vs. "liberal" hosts. No joke: it's clearly lop-sided. Truth: Lib talk leaders ain't as edjakated. This explains why listening to "conservatives'" arguments is compelling and motivating. They typically bring solid facts and hard-hitting truths that makes me wanna go home and Google, versus the "easy talk show content" of smears and pot-shot/character assasinations that are typical of "liberal" hosts. BTW: I was front/row center when Air America came on. I'm in the industry & wanted to hear what they could offer. In those early days, Franken and Lizz Winstead's lightweight content slammed the coffin-lid down tout de suite! Sheesh! Oh! And Zogby Int'l did a study in '07. "Liberals" statistically enjoy MUSIC on their radios more than news talk. The rest? NPR, baby, NPR.

I'm hoping for a news story that will likely never happen. In either house, wasn't there ultimately ONE person on staff in charge of the Xerox machine and/or the electronic distribution of the 1,073 pages to members? WHO is this person? WHAT was running thru his/her mind as this bill mushroomed in size faster than Roger Clemens biceps? And is there a staffer's spouse who exists somewhere DC that heard, "honey...you're not gonna BELIEVE what's happening at work..." Is he/she sleeping OK at night? Where's Deep Throat when you need him?

Where does "foment anger" stop and "schtick" start? Worse yet, vice-versa?

Michael Savage is Michel Alan Wiener. Choosing "Savage" for a radio name over, say, "Johnson" or "Stevens" should tell you something right there regarding his formula. But add a log on the fire: the guy's VOICE. Take the same paragraph and have it uttered by the mellifluent John Gibson or psuede pipes of Dennis Prager? Different brand of potency. Somehow, the "fire power" of the message changes when the messenger has a bulldog NYC accent given to sudden empassioned rants. He gets so jacked up that I swear beads of sweat actually project out of my car's speakers. Savage parodies hate. A Gibson or Prager? Perhaps a greater outrage if they would ever parallel that content (they wouldn't.) And so, to me...Savage is in the category of the WWE; another highly successful entertainment organization that fashions itself on fake violence / fake hate. And makes boatloads of money.

Ahhh... Here's yet another sparkling proof...
Had the previous Commander-in-Chief said this: a news media blitzkrieg.
I'd like to sit down with a Markos Moulitsas and be told "why" it's AOK if an Obama sez this... versus a Dubya.
The news media's "double standardness"...is starting to REALLY annoy me...