Why do I listen to Republican Radio?

I wish I could find an answer to the question I pose. Why the hell listen to talk radio when 95% of what you here is neo-conservative babble from mental midgets. Most of the time I try to crank up a little Neil Young or David Crosby when driving around town. On occasion, like today, my curiosity takes over and I succumb to the temptation to listen to fools.

President Obama's trip abroad to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Germany and France peaked my interest in what "the dark side" is saying. Except for one exceptional caller, what I heard was hatred, lies and ignorance. One caller this morning on Rhode Island's WPRO moaned on about Obama's religion. He needed to say; "I told you so, I told you he was a Muslim". Here we go again; somebody needs to straighten the idiot out, but don't count on the talk show host to do it. Obama is Christian and has been attending Christian churches most of his adult life. We all knew that his father was Muslim (although he was a non-practicing Muslim).

Callers went on to insist; the media was not allowed to use Obama's middle name during the campaign and nobody dared say Hussein. Where the hell were you people? Were you all living under a rock? Republicans across this country used his middle name to make sure that voters would identify him as a Muslim. Obama wrote a book; "Dreams from My Father" that fully outlined his early life. The book was written before his vaulting onto the national political scene so it is clear that he was hiding nothing. Intelligent voters knew his story during the campaign while others kept trying to make things up. It feels good today to have intelligent voters in the majority from my perspective.

A couple of callers went on to blast NBC for the recent Brian Williams, 2 part story on the Obama White House. Callers insisted that this never happened with past presidents and again there was no correction from the talk show host. I remember seeing a story on the Bush White House on prime time TV during the early part of his administration. I think it's true that there is a different relationship between the Obama administration and the Bush administration when it comes to the national press corp. While it is clear that Obama respects the press, Bush was very negative towards the press.

The old saying that you "reap what you sow" seems appropriate here. Obama is obviously trying to sow the seeds for peace in the Middle East, while Bush was sowing poison ivy. While the jury is out on Obama's ability to change the dynamics in that part of the world, at least he is leading this nation towards a new positive image. Gunslinging Bush did not get Osama bin laden "dead or alive". Obama's reaching out while remaining firm has gained respect around the world.

I think many more problems are solved when people respect each other. The hatred displayed on Republican radio will never solve problems. While talk show host after talk show host allow the continual vitriol to be spewed at Barack Obama, respect becomes the casualty.

Yes; my respect for many Republicans has also become a casualty because of the continual non-sense, hatred, lies and ignorance that we hear on radio. I think the FCC needs to take a new look at the Fairness Doctrine. If that does not happen, maybe progressives could start an Internet viral boycott of sponsors to these hateful, unbalanced Republican radio talk shows.

tomtoak