I have listened to Republican Radio for over 15 years. And I have never been more disturbed by it than I have come to be this year. It has always been bad, it has always been simplistic. But this year in particular it has become blazingly clear just how destructive to the health of our country and citizenry this vile stream of verbiage really is.
Now I cannot stand to listen to it even for the sake of "hearing what the other side is saying." I've tried, flipping the dial for a quick listen. Hearing Limbaugh's or Hannity's voice is like having a bucket of sulfuric acid thrown onto me. The sound makes my skin burn. I cannot endure it more than 10 seconds tops.
What put me over the edge? It's the discovery that they are deeply deeply cynical people. They do not believe in anything that they say they believe in. Except for one thing. There is one common thread that they manage to hold allegiance to over the years. War. They like war. War makes them feel proud. War increases their sense of personal self-esteem. You can hear Limbaugh swell up like a bloated frog when he talks about US engagement in war. For him, being on the US side in a military engagement is like having one's favorite team win the Super Bowl. You feel proud of how "your guy" obliterated the other guys.
War makes Republican Radio hosts feel like good patriotic citizens. They love representing themselves as supporters of the military and the Dems as pissers on the military. They love saying "I thank you for your service" in quiet solemn tones, thinking that the utterance of those words is sufficient to prove that they are indeed great Americans, for who can utter those words as solemnly as they?
Of course, the real supporters of the Military and the troops are the Democrats. It's always the Dems who are voting to make sure the troops have the weapons and armor they need to fight as safely as possible. And the Repubs who say, "Tough it out with the tin cans you can find in the garbage can." It's the Dems who want the troops to have the best medical care to recover from traumas and injuries. While the Repubs who say, "You're injured? What good are you to me then? Get out of my hair, you ungrateful bastard!" It's the Repubs who throw the wounded onto the trash heap, and the Dems who labor to salvage and repair broken lives.
But Republican Radio is one long 50+ hours a week advertisement for Republican War. The glory of war. The goodness of war.
Oh yes, they say they stand for other things. But I know now more than ever that they do not stand for anything. They say they stand for the Constitution. But when they have a chance to prove this, they fail miserably.
This year they had a Republican running for President who ran solely and squarely on being obedient to the Constitution. That is a very principled, thoughtful stand that they should at least respect. But what did they do? What was their response to someone who really lived and breathed the Constitution, who took the Constitution very very seriously in ever vote he cast? They laughed and spit at him, acted like he was a ridiculous clown.
And what made this Republican candidate so derisively laughable? Well, the Constitution makes War a little more difficult than just starting one with the drop of a word. The Constitution gets in the way of War, a little bit. Republican Radio proved right there that they value War far more than they value the constitution. For Republican Radio, any excuse to get into war is a good excuse!
They say they are for Democracy. But I know more clearly than ever that they don't care about Democracy at all. This year, the Republican Radio Kingpin, Limbaugh, urged his listeners to go out and falsely sign sworn statements, to engage in an illegal activity that is designated as a 5th class felony, to vote in the Democratic primary for the sole purpose of mucking it up, damaging the will of the people and making a mockery of the Democratic process (this was Limbaugh's Operation Chaos.)
And hear they are doing this while saying in solemn, reverent tones, "We brought Democracy to the people in Iraq." Here we are losing American soldiers to implement Democracy when they themselves work to jig the system of Democracy in our country for nothing but a few laughs, some entertainment, and increased ratings. That's cynical!
Of course one could go on an on in listing examples. Believe me, I am so familiar with these people, I know how they think, what they are going to say. Indeed, I know them "like every square inch of my naked glorious body."
One thing I'd like to see happen is for Republican Radio to ALWAYS be referred to as Republican Radio. Forget Conservative Radio or Right Wing Radio. It's Republican Radio. This is very important.
When the Republicans they support and give 50 hours a week of free radio advertising to become unpopular, they hide behind the "I'm a Conservative, not a Republican" line. The thing is, Conservative is totally meaningless. It means whatever they want it to mean when they want to mean it.
Conservative is like the crack in the wallpaper that cockroaches scurry behind when the kitchen light is thrown on at night.
Limbaugh guaranteed his audience in 2000 that George W Bush was the real deal, a real conservative, not like his father. Okay, now we know Limbaugh's definition of a real conservative. He told us in 2000. It's George W Bush. I'd love to hear people call in and say that "I am a proud W conservative."
When you listen to Michael Savage it's very very hard to tell what he thinks "a conservative" is. With him, it always gets down to the 50s, Eisenhower, heavy chrome on cars, and girls with a bob-flip in their hair. That's the Michael Savage conservative.
They shout out "I'm a conservative" like it's a clarion call that means something. But they have hollowed the word out to the point that it is now meaningless, a hidey-hole for them to scurry into when the Republican label isn't safe. Don't let them hide in it. Call them what they are. Republicans! And their radio is Republican radio.
This is a topic I am passionate about and want to write more about. I'm posting this diary as a kind of catharsis, an effort to get this bur out from underneath my saddle. But this diary is long enough already. So I'm going to stop here for now.