Ann Coulter’s Legs, Talking Heads on AM

Conservative Talk Radio, what I listen to, and why.

I bring this up because, today, Ann Coulter's new book Guilty was released, with little fanfare, at least, here in this neck of the woods. Although I'm sure she'll be on Sean Hannity's radio show tonight, being as controversial and as arrogant as ever. One could easily have retitled the book, "Orgasms for Republicans," as this is her function in the Conservative news base. Her job is to be self-assured, obnoxious, controversial, and to keep her legs looking as attractive as possible for the viewers oogling at the TV screen. And while what she says might have some factual basis and be true, as far as opinions go, there are much more effective ways of conveying the information. I got to thinking about the Conservative Talk radio that I listen to, and I realized that each speaker has a different way of presenting basically the same points.

Take Sean Hannity (and his female counterpart, Ann Coulter). They are good basically for a cheap thrill. They yap over the radio the same thoughts, be they Conservative principles, or mathematical ways of making Democratic figures look horribly wrong, or spewing out references to ex-terrorists, fasicist leaders, and liberal philanthropes. They remind me of a poodle, whose bark is loud, but is too scared to bite much. They have very little influence in the true scheme of things. They are not where the truly original ideas come from, they are simply the loud air horns that blast the juicy parts into simple conservative folk's minds.

So where do we find truly original and inspiring ideas? Well, Rush Limbaugh has been on the radio for years now, and he definitely has influence in the Republican party. Bombastic and self-centered (which is his thing), Rush can intelligently analyze a situation and see the ulterior motives behind any Democratic strategies, whether they're actually ulteriorly there or not. I have always admired his ability to see the underlying causes to people's actions, although his predictions (especially in the 2008 election) are sometimes a little off. To him, McCain should have easily won the election. He was wrong. He's usually upbeat about things and he has a good sense of humor.

Which is the combination I wish Glenn Beck would have. I love listening to his show, as his ideologies are much closer to mine (Libertarian) than the true Republican beliefs that others have. His wit and sarcasm leave me in stitches (read my reviews of his Inconvenient Truth book earlier), and his analysis of things is sound and well thought through. His show gets tedious, however, when he starts with the doom and gloom of the coming economic downturn, as if we all can go out, buy a year's worth of groceries, and shut ourselves off from the present economy, along with all the gold we've bought from goldline.com. He gets depressed sometimes, which, if his ADD symptoms ring true, fits with who he is. But it's hard to listen to all of that when there's not a whole lot I can do to be other than what I am right now.

A more practical host is Herman Cain, a local host who ran for Senate and has been the CEO of companies that have turned around with his policies (see the Wikipedia article on him.) He gives out sound, practical advice and sees the conservative movement as independent from the Republican Party. He despised a lot of the things Bush did (especially recently) to increase spending in the government ranks when what he should have done was to make it easier for private enterprise and individuals to help themselves. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work, since Greed will overturn the most positive of motives. I will listen to Cain (7 to 10 on WSB 750 in Atlanta) much more than I will turn my new MP3 player on and drown out reality with music.

Which brings me to Michael Savage, who comes ..wards. He doesn't have any particular political leanings, only that he criticizes everyone who does something idiotic. He reminds me of Dr. House, in that he's brilliant, but he has a sarcastic outlook of the human condition, except for when he doesn't. I think he truly believes in the goodness of the human soul, but he realizes that society and the government corrupts those intentions. I would describe him as a hyper and angry Henry David Thoreau. And there are times I sit and listen to his ramblings, as he switches from history to literature to memorized passages of Shakespeare, simply and easily, and I can't help but be in awe of the ability he has. If only he didn't say things that throw audiences away in disgust. Although, sometimes that can be a good thing.

There are times when people need to hear the truth. Cold, unadulterated truth. And although in olden times, you would call them "shock jocks," there should be someone that could give their opinions over the air that would have an unwavering belief in the human spirit, and yet be appalled at the reality of who people are nowadays. Someone needs to tell the idiots and morons out there that they are just that. Although maybe I've just been watching House too much. And I guess that Michael Savage is about as close as we're going to get.

Audio Book Review: Glenn Beck’s Inconvenient Book

It's fitting that Glenn Beck's television program should end up on Headline News, CNN's cut and paste station that, ironically enough, is on channel 35 here, between CNN and Fox News. I've always wondered why Beck didn't end up on Fox, as he is a conservative talk radio analyst and a fresh voice in what has become an argumentative, almost Springeresque, atmosphere. The show flows with easy humor, intelligent wit and commentary about society that is filled with common sense and optimism for the human spirit. It also bounces with the spark and drive that only someone with ADHD could have. There's nothing else on television, anyway, and I'd much rather listen to his outlook on the world than CNN's "woe to the world" view, or the hundredth rerun of Sportscenter on ESPN (which at this point is beating the Superbowl into a over-analyzed dead horse).

So it should come as no surprise that getting the audio book provided me with many hours of laughing and thought provoking ideas as I drove back and forth to work. Actually, Beck only reads 2/3 of the actual book, and the book includes many graphics that don't make it into the audiobook, so getting the book itself is much more satisfying than listening to it, but it was good nonetheless.

The one thing that I wanted to focus on was on Beck's optimism and faith in the free market system. I have stated my own political views in a previous blog, that briefly, every person and business has the responsibility to self-regulate themselves based on what's right and wrong. This is the basis for the Libertarian ideal. What Beck focuses on in the chapter on Poverty is the prevailing view that increasing the minimum wage, handing out food stamps, and providing for the poor is the best way of improving the lives of its citizens. And while certainly that is needed for some people (and I know some personally, even one of my friends right now that is homeless), there are multitudes of people for whom the support by the government lessens their drive to improve themselves. It is up to the citizens of this country to achieve their own dreams. As Beck says, the Declaration of Independence talks about the "pursuit" of happiness. There is no guarantee that citizens should have happiness, or that the government should provide that for its people. People should have the drive and ability to work toward their dreams, whatever those may be. Further, the current system of capitalism provides the best road to achieving those dreams. From the garage origins of Apple to the CEO's that started off their lives working in the lowest levels of that business, people have been using the system of commerce we have to become successful. For example, my grandmother worked with a stocker at Orbach's Department store named Gene Knippers. He rose through that department store, and achieved enough success he was able to move to Florida and invest in many restaurants and other businesses. He is now a millionaire and had been given a lifetime achievement award by the association of restaurants there in Florida (I forget the name).

Glenn Beck goes on to describe the millions of dollars invested by private enterprise to the gulf coast states after Katrina. The example he gives is two bridges that were destroyed outside New Orleans. The privately owned train line bridge was repaired and operational within 6 months of the hurricane. The public bridge he talks about (which I can only assume is the shorter of the two bridges that crosses Lake Ponchatrane) is only partially fixed, and will take much longer to repair. It is up to the private sector to invest in its citizens. From education, to emergency assistance, to providing the citizens of the United States with jobs and the opportunity to become successful, business have the ability to make this country much better than anything the government can do. So while I often complain about the negative parts of capitalism, what I call "Consumerism," or consuming the customer to gain profit, I have the utmost faith in the current system to do what's right for the people that it serves. This is where the self-regulation comes in. I am an idealist in this regard, because there will be many people that say, "But you know they're not going to do that, so it's up to the government to step in and provide where businesses won't." Well, that may be true, but if the government does this, there won't be any pressure on the private sector to provide the help that only they can give. It is up to us to lift each other up, to improve the lives of the people around us.