This may surprise you but I do listen to Hannity - mainly his radio show as I'm driving through the midwest. He has been critical of the administration especially on the issue of immigration and border patrol. However, if there is one network that is friendly to the administration , its Fox. You don't have to walk lockstep with them to be considered friendly.

 

When it comes to intelligence with historical backing, KO is hands down #1. However, his hatred for the current administration derails him and the show. I watch it because its not what you hear on Fox and the majority of talk radio. It allows one to have perspective IMO. However, you have to be smart enough to read through the agenda and discern what is important and interesting.

 

IMO watching only Fox or only MSNBC is akin to not learning about other races or cultures. How can you discern what is good about your side if you don't know the other side's thinking?

I never said that I do not listen to the "other side." I have listened to most of the Air America lineup before the network began self-destructing. I listen to Alan Colmes show fairly often (it is on very late locally), I have also listened to top rated liberal talker Ed Schultz when he was on the Air America network.

 

Your lofty opinion of Keith Olbermann is laughable. His hatred goes well beyond the current administration and the only area in which he ranks #1 is extreme bias. He annoyed me when he did the sports and it sickens me to listen to his take on politics.

 

I used to be a regular Hardball viewer until Chris Matthews dropped off the left wing of the political spectrum. He used to be a relatively good host for liberal and conservative guests alike. In fact, at one time I preferred Hardball to Bill O'Reilly. I think Olbermann must be a bad influence on Matthews. Both are more biased than either O'Reilly or Hannity.

 

Almost invariably, the biggest Fox bashers are the biggest KO fans. It is just difficult to understand a mindset that would allow one to bash Fox News for biased coverage while singing KO's praises. :lol:

I am going to try to take you up on your challenge. I will watch FoxNews during the times that I would normally watch CNN. Watching Greta Van Susteren at the moment.

I generally like Fox News and even I cannot stand to watch Greta for long.

 

If you watch O'Reilly for awhile, you will find that he is not nearly as conservative as his critics on the left attempt to portray him. You also might notice that O'Reilly sometimes seems poorly prepared and resorts to shouting to cover up ignorance of the topic. O'Reilly is a very capable journalist and at his best, he is a very tough interviewer. Unfortunately, IMO, he is not at his best very often. He strikes me as somewhat lazy.

 

I agree with swamp thang as far as O'Reilly trying to be fair and balanced - at least compared to Olbermann and Matthews. However, being less biased than those two is a pretty low bar to clear

I'm also one who believes you have to listen/watch a variety of the news/commentary shows to get near the truth in a story. That said, Olbermann is the only one I cannot sit and watch for any length of time. He really seems disturbed sometimes.

I'm also one who believes you have to listen/watch a variety of the news/commentary shows to get near the truth in a story. That said, Olbermann is the only one I cannot sit and watch for any length of time. He really seems disturbed sometimes.

:thumb: I agree completely. I have listened to every major talk show host from Al Franken and Randi Rhodes to Bob Grant and Michael Savage. I have a pretty high threshold for intolerant talkshow hosts but I cannot bring myself to watch Olbermann. However, I despised Olbermann when he was a jerk of a "sports commentator" on ESPN - before I knew that he has a liberal Democratic hack. At least Franken had a sense of humor in the distant past.

That said, Olbermann is the only one I cannot sit and watch for any length of time. He really seems disturbed sometimes.

 

:thumb: Sometimes?......imo you are being kind :lol:. Olbermann was a pompass, sick jerk on espn and he has only gotten worse. That man is more arrogant than Rush Limbaugh and Alan Colmes (to name a couple on complete opposite views but equally as sickining) combined. I just assume Rush is still as bad, I don't listen to him at all and as for "Super Lib"/idiot Colmes, I will hear his bullcrap every great once in a while if I watch Hannity and Colmes, not a big fan of that show either.

I will watch O'Reilly bc I do feel that he is not one sided, imo his t.v. show is fair to both sides and he has equally blasted any and all if he disagrees. I never listed to talk radio. Life is too short me to waste part of it on that.

 

I can't help but wonder if all of the people that claim to hate Fox News are really watching it as well? I mean, they have very high ratings and a couple of their shows are the #1 rated shows on cable news. Seem to me there are quite few "closet" Fox fans, LOL.

Almost invariably, the biggest Fox bashers are the biggest KO fans. It is just difficult to understand a mindset that would allow one to bash Fox News for biased coverage while singing KO's praises. :lol:

 

Pay attention. I bashed Fox for THIS STORY regarding receiving talking points. I also said that KO is very far to the left which would obviously show that he has a bias. I said he is very intelligent but his hatred for the administration causes him to go too far.

 

What part of that are you having trouble following?

IIf you watch O'Reilly for awhile, you will find that he is not nearly as conservative as his critics on the left attempt to portray him. You also might notice that O'Reilly sometimes seems poorly prepared and resorts to shouting to cover up ignorance of the topic. O'Reilly is a very capable journalist and at his best, he is a very tough interviewer. Unfortunately, IMO, he is not at his best very often. He strikes me as somewhat lazy.

 

I

 

 

Agreed. You can't shout down people that you eithe disagree with or that have caught you offguard.

:thumb: I agree completely. I have listened to every major talk show host from Al Franken and Randi Rhodes to Bob Grant and Michael Savage. I have a pretty high threshold for intolerant talkshow hosts but I cannot bring myself to watch Olbermann. However, I despised Olbermann when he was a jerk of a "sports commentator" on ESPN - before I knew that he has a liberal Democratic hack. At least Franken had a sense of humor in the distant past.

 

I did enjoy listening to Franken simply for the humor aspect.

:thumb: Sometimes?......imo you are being kind :lol:. Olbermann was a pompass, sick jerk on espn and he has only gotten worse. That man is more arrogant than Rush Limbaugh and Alan Colmes (to name a couple on complete opposite views but equally as sickining) combined. I just assume Rush is still as bad, I don't listen to him at all and as for "Super Lib"/idiot Colmes, I will hear his bullcrap every great once in a while if I watch Hannity and Colmes, not a fan of that show either.

I will watch O'Reilly bc I do feel that he is not one sided, imo his t.v. show is fair to both sides and he has equally blasted any and all if he disagrees. I never listed to talk radio. Life is too short to waste part of it on that.

IMO, you are totally wrong about Rush's ego. Rush's inflated ego is part of his schtick. He deliberately uses language that he knows will push liberal hot buttons such as "half my brain tied behind my back," "Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies," "Excellence in Broadcasting Network," etc. I believe that, as talk show hosts go, Limbaugh's ego is normal sized. The large egos belong to people like Olbermann, Savage, Franken, and O'Reilly, IMO. Those guys really do believe that they are as smart as they say they are. I am not saying that Limbaugh does not have a healthy sized ego - most entertainers do - but don't confuse Rush's act with the person performing it.

I did enjoy listening to Franken simply for the humor aspect.

I haven't found much of anything Franken has said remotely funny since his Saturday Night Live days and I think that is why his talk show flopped so miserably. Franken did not take phone calls from listeners, lined up one boring guest after another to lecture his audience, and he ridiculed conservatives without humor. He is no Steven Colbert and his political knowledge is not so great either, IMO. I just do not believe that he understands the concept of a talk show.

I haven't found much of anything Franken has said remotely funny since his Saturday Night Live days and I think that is why his talk show flopped so miserably. Franken did not take phone calls from listeners, lined up one boring guest after another to lecture his audience, and he ridiculed conservatives without humor. He is no Steven Colbert and his political knowledge is not so great either, IMO. I just do not believe that he understands the concept of a talk show.

 

He is running for congress in Minnesota.

I haven't found much of anything Franken has said remotely funny .

 

No kidding. I'm stunned.

The real problem here is that something like 6 major conglomerates now own approximately 99 percent of all media outlets. Not only does this open the door for bias and corporate agendas, but it also changes the mission of the "Fourth Estate" to being totally driven by profit and loss. Obviously, it is much cheaper and easier to print and broadcast information that is handed to you than it is pay journalists to go out and actually investigate events and stories. Add to that 24 hours of programming to fill each day, and that is how we've gotten to where we are. Fox is by far not the only guilty party. But I will say they are masters at propaganda. I guess if you say "Fair and Balanced" enough times, many people will believe it.

 

Actually, I think I liked life better when the tv and radio stations signed off after the 11:00 news.

IMO, you are totally wrong about Rush's ego. Rush's inflated ego is part of his schtick. He deliberately uses language that he knows will push liberal hot buttons such as "half my brain tied behind my back," "Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies," "Excellence in Broadcasting Network," etc. I believe that, as talk show hosts go, Limbaugh's ego is normal sized. The large egos belong to people like Olbermann, Savage, Franken, and O'Reilly, IMO. Those guys really do believe that they are as smart as they say they are. I am not saying that Limbaugh does not have a healthy sized ego - most entertainers do - but don't confuse Rush's act with the person performing it.

 

I normally agree with you and I can understand what you are saying about Limbaugh pushing the Liberal wacko's buttons (which isn't too hard to do by the way,lol).

I normally agree with you for the most part on things but on this, especially about O'Reilly we will have to agree to disagree. Yes, he has a huge ego but imo most if not all of these type news show host do (on any network). I just think that Limbaugh's (although I do agree with some of his points) is a little too much. I love watching the Libs squirm as much as anyone but I just don't like Rush. I will certainly agree with you on Olberman, I could not stand him when on espn and he is proably worse now, Franken as well.

One thing is that I think that we agree on more things than we disagree on and I respect your opinions, we just disagree on a couple of these points.:thumb:

He is running for congress in Minnesota.

...and your point is?

 

Actually, Franken is running for the US Senate in Minnesota but he "forgot" to pay taxes in several states over the past few years. In most states, such a "mistake" would be fatal to a campaign but Franken is still running.

 

Just because somebody runs for office is no indication that they understand the process. Even long time incumbents sometimes cannot understand the American political process (see Maxine Waters).