Right-Wing Loonies R Us

Michael Savage, right-wing talk radio host and total lunatic has this to say:

"You can expect the Bible to be declared a hate book if Kerry wins."
"You can expect the complete and total elimination of border with Mexico if Kerry wins."
"You can expect a rampant increase in partial-birth abortion and the sale of baby body parts if Kerry wins."

The full rant - those statements are only a part of it - is available at Media Matters.

Now, I don't take this stuff seriously. Michael Weiner (that's Savage's real last name, for those of you who didn't know) is as far off the edge as a man gets, and anybody who listens to his broadcast for anything but laughs wasn't about to vote for Kerry anyway.

But what I want to know - and it worries me - is why the hell is someone who is obviously bonkers on the radio at ALL. Heck, they gave this guy a TV show which they only cancelled after he told a gay caller, "I hope you get AIDS and die."

That is a basic difference between the left and right in the United States right now. There are plenty of nuts on the left - but nobody would even think of giving them a radio show because - well, because they're nuts. They may be handing out pamplets on the street or something, but they aren't on large cable news channels. You meet them at odd parties; you DON'T see them on the news.

But the right-wing nuts ARE on the news. The right-wing takes its lunatics - and turns them into pundits.

As long as you tout a right-wing party line, ALL responsibly for actual content goes out the window. You can be a convicted criminal - like Ollie North - and still get a major forum. You can be clearly mentally imbalanced - like Michael Savage, Anne Coulter or Michelle Malkin - and still get a major forum. You can be both a convicted criminal AND clearly mentally imbalanced - like G. Gordon Liddy - and still have a major forum.

The So-Called Liberal Media (SCLM) exercises NO judgment as to what they allow on the airwaves - as long as the sentiment is right-wing. Left-wing commentators are not only fewer, but they are more moderate. They cover the political spectrum from moderate to liberal. Right wing commentators cover the polical spectrum from moderate to insanely radical.

And it works. The result is to pull coverage further and further to the right, aided and abetted by rank and file right wingers who bombard media outlets with phone calls any time anything airs that makes the right-wing look bad. So the networks skew further and further to the right in an attempt to achieve "balance."