Listening to Conservative Talk Radio Lately

I've been listening to my local talk radio station, 97.3/WSKY "The Sky", for the past week while at work...and on the way in my car.  In particular, I've been following four different programs, all conservative right-wing shows: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Michael Savage.  Although all of them are very much against President Obama, Democrats, and anything politically liberal or even moderate, I have discovered some significant differences among them.  But they all share an enormous talent at elucidating their opinions while managing to daily fill a three-hour block of time: pretty impressive, whether or not you happen to agree with what they are saying...

While in non-campaign times, these four are all usually railing at their political enemies on the left or center, we happen to be in an election year and they find themselves divided concerning the Republican race for president.  Limbaugh and Hannity have each deliberately taken a neutral stance towards the candidates and have cultivated on-the-air interviews with them, while Levin and Savage have made their own personal choices known without equivocation.  Let's take a look at these latter two, whose shows I listen to from 6-9 pm and from 9 to midnight, respectively...

Mark Levin and Michael Savage take themselves very seriously with their own "movements": Levin with his insistence on the U.S. Constitution being only interpreted one way...HIS way...and Savage with his slogan of "Borders, Language, Culture" defining his take on the news.  Both remind me at times of the insane Peter Finch character of the newscaster in the 1976 movie Network, who one evening goes off the deep end and beings to rant incoherently...remember "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore"?  But then again, at times, both of these guys can sound quite lucid and make their arguments compelling.  That makes me want to compare them to Don Quixote, the delusional fictional knight of Miguel Cervantes's imagination, who, when not dealing with the realm of chivalry, seems quite sane and reasonable...even wise and personable.  Only with Levin and Savage, it's not chivalry that turns them into mad ravers...it's the Democrats and Obama...

Mark Levin has decided that Ted Cruz is the only true conservative candidate in the GOP field, something I find laughable.  And since Donald Trump and Marco Rubio have been criticizing Cruz a lot lately, Levin has been treating them with barely-concealed contempt on his show.  Of course, Cruz is a frequent call-in guest.  What a surprise.  It's also not very surprising that Donald Trump has appeared on Michael Savage's show, since Savage is strongly supporting him...and consequently is, in turn, running down his Republican opponents.  Each host has his ongoing conspiracy theory: Levin thinks that the Republican Party establishment has a plan to prevent either Trump or Cruz  from obtaining a majority of delegates going into the convention and to force a deadlock, resolvable with an establishment candidate getting the nomination at the end.  Savage, for his part, keeps insinuating that Obama somehow was responsible for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's recent death at a west Texas resort without showing any evidence...instead, he keeps replaying a Godfather Part II scene where a Nevada senator is framed in a "family"-owned brothel...

Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, by contrast with Levin and Savage, seem to be downright gentlemen...that is until they begin to talk about Democrats, especially our president.  And then they, too, jump into the mud and wallow around.  Still, they can be pretty funny at times... 

As for me, I want the politicians I vote for to have well-thought out positions on the issues, although it is well-nigh impossible that I'll agree with them on everything.  Conservatives have some really good points to consider, but I am sick and tired of the tendency of some of them to tar and feather anyone left of far right with epithets, conspiracy accusations, and predictions of apocalypse.  Likewise, I don't appreciate progressives on the left smugly acting as if theirs is the only intelligent, caring political philosophy and that those on the right are bigots, ignorant dupes, and sell-outs to the rich and powerful.  I want politicians to take clear stands on the important issues, but also to understand and compassionately accept that, if elected, they become the leader of all...even those who opposed them in the election...and that their responsibilities extend beyond those within their own political camp...