They're Just "Smarter" In DC

The WaPo article deals with what they call a "cool reception" when it comes to conservative talk radio in Washington, DC. You can read it here. But check out the very last graph I placed right below the lede. He's a radio exec, not a pol ... but would you be surprised were the sentiments echoed in Congress? I wouldn't be given recent events. And his station airs Limbaugh and Hannity. I don't think their fans are going to like the quote very much.

After conservative radio pundits encouraged opposition last month to the immigration bill that was before the Senate, Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) was moved to declare, "Talk radio is running America." It is not, however, running Washington....

Chris Berry, president and general manager of WMAL, says there's nothing particularly unusual about Washington and political talk radio, except that "people in D.C. are smarter" than talk audiences in other towns. "In Boston, Chicago, even L.A., it's more emotional," he says. "In D.C., people really do know the issues."

What idiots like this don't realize is that Americans outside the beltway know the issues very well, mostly because we live with the consequences of the often poor decisions made by all the smart folks we pay to live there.

Comments

[bloodrage bob]

are those the same super-duper smart washington people who succeeded in killing so many of their neighbors that DC was the 'murder capitol of the US' for many years running?

until the even smarter people in philadelphia wrested the title away from them? you mean THOSE ultrasmart rocket scientists? what a pompous, arrogant prick that radio station guy is. naturally, he gravitated to....media. surely there must be a lesson there somewhere ....

[Barak Your World]

It's funny, because D.C. consistently goes Democrat in nearly every election. I mean, you think Massachuetts and California are liberal enclaves, but D.C. has'm beat in spades.

Perhaps they don't like conservative talk radio because... they're not conservative? Crazy idea, I know.

[ME]

God forbid someone point out that if you actually know the issues, Hannity and Limbaugh lose their value pretty quickly.

I mean, if you're going to listen to some gasbag lie to you for hours and exploit your emotions for the political benefit of getting you riled up about something you don't even understand, it helps to not understand the issues.

Talk radio listeners spew the most blatantly provable lies on a regular basis... and they really know very little about these issues beyond the GOP slogans that they've digested from Hannity et al. I know this because I'm an informed person living in the south, and I have to deal with that sort of boneheadedeness all the time.

I don't thinks "smarter" is fair..."less ignorant" would have been better... but I also think that the he clarified his statement with "people really do know the issues".

[templar knight]

They may know the issues in Washington, D.C., they are just on the wrong damn side of the issue every time. Why is that?

"I know this because I'm an informed person living in the south(sic),...."

I just bet you are. Living in the South, that is.

[Todd]

ME spews the typical left-wing elitist meme. I grew up in New York, so I'm used to dealing with egotistical snobs like this.

"I mean, if you're going to listen to some gasbag lie to you for hours and exploit your emotions for the political benefit of getting you riled up about something you don't even understand, it helps to not understand the issues."

I will give you credit for the above quote, though. You nailed Al Gore and his followers down nicely...

[ME]

Yeah, I'm an elitist snob for noticing that right wing talk lies blatantly and unapologetically to it's listeners... let's see:

Lies that most of you believe:
Plame wasn't covert
Clinton didn't do anything to stop terrorism
Bush wasn't AWOL from the Natl. Guard
Kerry intentionally injured himself to get a purple heart
Gore claimed to have invented the internet
Lefties don't like alberto gonzales because they are elitist racists, and thats the only reason!
In fighting a war against radical Islam, invading one of the few secular governments in the middle east was a GREAT idea!
Oh, and the kicker: The war in Iraq can be "won".

That last lie has cost many american lives, and those of you who believe it are complicit in letting a stupid and reckless policy continue.

[Capitalist Infidel]

ME lies when he claims others are lying. Talk about projection. According the person who wrote the law Plame was not covert.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2305-2005Jan11.html

Bush was honorably discharged so that proves ME a liar right there.

It sure is easy to smackdown intellectual nitwits like ME.

[Dan Riehl]

ME: "I don't thinks(sic) "smarter" is fair ... I'm an informed person living in the south(sic),....""

lol Well, hot damn, ME. Why donch ya'll just go start sum elitist blog from da south(sic) and clew us po' dumb sumbitches in? We can hardly wait to "reed" it, if'n you's gonna use English, dat is. ; )

[Capitalist Infidel]

Damn, it sure is easy to prove ME a liar. I didn't even keep up with much of this stuff but Kerry even admits he shot himself in the butt. Well, he shot a bag a rice and the ammo ricoched and hit him in the butt. That's how he got the last purple heart. I don't remember that but it's damn funny!

http://www.factcheck.org/republican-funded_group_attacks_kerrys_war_record.html

[Capitalist Infidel]

Even funnier, I never thought Gore said he invented the internet but by golly he did.

"During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the internet."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_controversies

[Fred Beloit]

Oh goody, thanks ME. We have a new game to play. Wanna bet you will loose? Blatant lies folks like ME believe, just a sample: (1) Bush lied about intelligence on WMD in Iraq. (2) Bush became a fighter pilot, this proves he is a coward. (3) Everyone in the National Guard is a coward hiding from service in Iraq. (3) Libby outed Plame under Cheney's orders (two lies). (4) Hillery Clinton made an honest profit trading cattle futures. (5) Bill Clinton was disbarred and found guilty of a crime by a judge because he committed a non-sexual act with an intern (two lies in this one also). (6) 9/11 was a US Administration/CIA operation. (7) John Kerry is a war hero who was seriously wounded in Viet Nam. (8) There is scientifically gathered observation that proves there is global warming and that it is caused by mankind. (9) Government-provided health care will be good and is free (two lies). (10) Higher taxes are good for the economy and make for more jobs. I'll stop now to give my friends a chance to play.

[Fred Beloit]

Sorry, Cap, while I was typing you were already playing.

[Chris]

Dan,
Having spent some time in talk radio (marketing/ad side), that sort of sentiment coming from an exec is completely unsurprising to me. You'd be amazed at the cynicism those on the business side have for their listeners (that would be the people who pay their bills). Not all, mind you, but a significant number.

ME is typical of many on the left. I'm sure he supports the Orwellian "fairness" doctrine as well. Can't have the unwashed deciding anything based upon cognitive reasoning. "We" must control the input, otherwise people might determine that Clinton didn't do "enough" to fight the threats that were gathering on his watch. Notice that no one says he didn't do anything; just not enough. He did law enforcement, primarily. I particularly love the "secular" argument wrt Iraq. Well, that makes the mass graves and defiance of 17 Security Council resolutions OK then. What a moron.

[Todd]

No, ME, you're an elitist snob because you consider yourself "informed," while considering anyone who disagrees with you "ignorant."

I love how you conveniently ignore all of the lies the left spits out all the time. Guess you're just as ignorant as all of the "hicks" around you...

[Tom]

Even funnier, I never thought Gore said he invented the internet but by golly he did.

"During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the internet."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_controversies

Posted by: Capitalist Infidel

I'm almost certain you are aware of this fact, but I will remind you anyway: Wikipedia allows ANYONE to post items such as the distortion you cite. ANYONE can post whatever 'facts' they want on that website. Are you going to highlight your foolishness by harping on the distorted words of a former vice president? Words that were never attributed to him in the context that you are selling us. You must be wiser than this, no? Don't show the entire planet you simply parrot whatever limbaugh tells you. The internet story is (and always has been) false. And just to make sure you know: BILL CLINTON IS NOT PRESIDENT ANYMORE!!!

[Fred Beloit]

Tom, your Lefty friends here are always throwing Wiki entries into our faces. Why can't we do the same? And, yes, Bill Clinton is not President. But there is a chance he will soon be the first First Man. And you know, don't you, that if that happens he will be right back into politics, as if he ever left.

[seekeronos]

One thing we do know about Algore: He has a thing for ManBearPigs. :P

[Robert]

ME getting smacked down by the RNC Talking Point:
"Sure Republicans lie and are full of shit.
But some Dems do too".

BTW, Plame WAS covert. Republican, Fitzgerald, stated so in May (and he is as disinterested a party as you will find opining on it).

Since you like to point out Dems are as guilty as Republicans, let's play this one:

What would happen if VP Gore's office outed a covert CIA agent during time of war.
Extra Credit for bringing up the idea of charges and/ or impeachment in the first paragraph.

[Fred Beloit]

People like ME and Robert probably believe these blatant lies: (11) The Iraq war is lost. (12) The surge is failing. (13) The AP and Reuters are accurate and objective sources of factual news, just as are the BBC and the NYT. (14) Talk radio has turned good Liberals into Conservatives by telling them lies. (15) The Iraq war is a high casualty war for America. (16) Bloomberg is a viable candidate for President. (17) The Constitution is made up of language. Judges and lawyers should always decide what words mean. That means the Constitution is a fluid document and "Congress shall make no law..." may mean "Congress may make a law..."

[templar knight]

Whew, I just can't stop laughing at that idiot ME! What a moron. Oh, well, at least he has some goofy friends to comfort him. Thanks, CI and Fred, for the smackdown of the "so informed of the issues guy who lives in the south". I wish nowinger would come back, as I'm tired of these goofy Kos Kids.

[Robert]

Democrats outing a covert agent in time of War.
Wow! Ballsy!
Talk about "lending comfort to the enemy".

I'm sure Rove and the boys would've let that one whistle past the graveyard. (sarcasm alert)
In fact, I'm thinking pitchforks and torches on the White House lawn.

BTW, great job on the Iraq War, boys.
Always a pleasure to see the greatest military in the history of mankind getting their butts kicked by a ragtag bunch of middle eastern teenagers.

So Fred Beloit won't soil his pants and whine, we'll say "fought to a standstill" vs. "getting their butts kicked".

Either way, outstanding job showing the world how strong, I mean stupid, America is.

[IslamoLlama]

Seek, why do I suspect that ManBearPig was perhaps the only South Park episode you have ever watched without smashing something because of the blasphemy? You should really step back and watch the "Goobacks" Episode. Then get back in the pile.

[legaleagle]

It's really kind of cool how every single day brings more and more evidence of how intensely the Republican base inspires loathing and disgust among the vast majority of the American public. Among real Americans, in other words. I love how Republican fanatics think they're insulting us when they call Democrats "elitists." They're quite right, of course; liberal, educated, patriotic Democrats are, indeed, the elite of this country, while the racist, reactionary, religious fanatics in the Republican base can be accurately designated as "the Dregs."

Given the state of public opinion in this country, here's a comprehensive long-term solution to the twin problems of immigration reform and the continuing attempts of the Dregs to undermine American democracy. Let's enter into a treaty with the Mexican government to grant permanent resident status to two illiterate, unemployed, pregnant Mexican convicts for every single member of the Republican base they'll agree to accept into their country. Of course, Mexico will admittedly be getting the raw end of the deal, but perhaps they'll go for it if we throw in a few extra billion in foreign aid.

[Todd]

LOL! You do know, don't you legaleagle, that study after study shows that Republicans are more educated than Democrats, right? A more apt description for the Democratic party would be race-baiting, America-hating, socialist, moral relativists who think global warming is a bigger threat than terrorism and that Al Gore is intelligent.

I've got a great solution as well. How about every liberal who threatened to leave the country if Bush were elected actually do so. Should create quite a few job openings...

[Robert]

Republicans are so much smarter.
But of course it was the Dirty F'n Hippies who called the Iraq War 4 years ago.

It's OK, as a Republican you can smartly say, "No one could have foreseen the Iraq War turning into a clusterfuck."
(Since you're so smart you can't remember it was us DFHs who were 100% spot on).

Nice country you had.

[Todd]

Yeah!!! Another smarmy elitist. Welcome Robert!

[JML]

Todd,

What studies, exactly, prove that Republicans are more educated than Democrats? Extra points for biased studies commissioned by conservative think-tanks or media outlets. A higher percentage of home-schooling doesn't necessarily mean better educated.

It seems to me that terms like "elitist" or "uneducated" could be used to describe various groups under both the Democratic and Republican umbrellas.

This raises the question - what's wrong with being part of the elite? To paraphrase Bill Maher; in virtually every pursuit other than American politics, being elite is a good thing. If you need surgery, you want an elite surgeon. Tiger Woods is an elite golfer, which means he's very good. But in politics, candidates have to prove that they're just regular Joes/Janes, the kinds of people that you'd like to have a beer and go bowling with, to win elections. Elite and arrogant are two very different things.

Frankly, I'd rather have people in charge who have an "elite" understaning of the issues, and maybe even a better understanding than I have. I could care less how likeable they are otherwise. Unfortunately, in order to appeal to the lowest common denominators among voters, most elections are little more than congeniality contests, hence the alarming number of idiots running our country.

As far as which is the bigger threat to America, global warming or terrorism, I have two questions for you:

1) If global warming gets out of hand, it might kill all of us eventually. Terrorism, which we will never completely eliminate since it is an abstract concept that can be employed virtually any time, any place, by anybody, and for any reason (or no reason at all, I suppose) and not a concrete thing, will almost certainly kill some of us again at some point and provide the rest of us with countless conspiracy theories, fear-based politics, and some good video if we're lucky. So, which do you think is worse?

2) Is there a reason why we have to chose to fight global warming or terrorism? Why can't we fight both? (Unfortunately, it looks like we'll have to wait until 2009 to find out.)

[Todd]

JML,

Pew Research does a typography breakdown after each national election. Go look at the results for yourself.

1) That's a mighty big IF. As more and more research comes out, man-made global warming looks less and less plausible. If, as the data seems to suggest, this is natural, just what will spending trillions of dollars actually accomplish?

Terrorism, on the other hand, is real. No ifs here. Which do I think is worse? Terrorism, hands down. You look at it simply in terms of lives lost, which is a very simplistic view of things. Look at the effect 9/11 had on our economy, our lifestyles, etc. HUGE impact.

2) According to researchers, the Kyoto treaty will have no impact whatsoever on global warming. So, how exactly are you going to "fight" something that is increasingly becoming clear to be a natural phenomena? By all means, work to increase conservation and decrease our dependence on foreign energy sources. But to play chicken-little and tell everyone the world's going to end when you haven't any data to back those claims up is not only irresponsible, it's idiotic.

[Robert]

Shorter Todd,

Playing chicken-little is only to be used to drum up support for wars.

"By all means, work to increase conservation and decrease our dependence on foreign energy sources."

OK Todd, you start by taking on the auto and energy industries.
Let me know how that works out.

[Todd]

YAWN. You're becoming increasingly boring, Robert. Playing chicken-little to drum up support for wars is wrong as well. I don't support the war in Iraq. Never have. You'd know that if you'd bothered to ask, instead of ASSuming things. Typical of your ilk.

I'm not going to take on the auto and energy industries. I recycle, drive fuel-efficient cars and use energy-saving appliances at home. I save money and help the environment at the same time. I also don't think the world would end if I didn't do these things.

By all means, keep preaching doom and gloom Robert. Let's see how that works out...

[JML]

Todd,

I'm not sure if I found the same Pew data that you came across, but I found this: http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=82

Per the findings:

For "Liberal Democrats" - "Most highly educated group (50% have a college degree). Least religious of all typology groups."

I also found, for "Partisan (Democratic, 85%) Poor" - Have very low incomes (40% make under $20,000), and two-thirds (66%) are female. Nearly four-in-ten are African-American and 14% are Hispanic. Not very well educated.

So, under the Democratic umbrella, we have a group that is very well educated and another group that is bottom-of-the-barrel. Likewise, I would bet that a Republican that I might meet while walking down Wall Street would be a highly intelligent and educated professional, while a Republican that I might meet at the Assphuck County, Tennessee annual tractor pull would not be nearly as bright or well educated. To categorically declare that Democrats are less educated than Republicans is ridiculous. When you tally the Republicans with advanced degrees, don't forget to include graduates from such intellectual powerhouses as Liberty, Regent, and Oral Roberts Universities.

1) That IS a mighty big IF. Mighty big consequences if we gamble and lose. I have seen no definitive evidence that the tons of pollutants that we all dump (no, not just the USA!) into the atmosphere every day have zero effect on climate. I'm sure you can find some if you peruse the American Petroleum Institute's website. The Earth might very well be entering into a natural warm phase; there have been radical temperature fluctations in the past. Here's something that nobody's talking about: What if the Earth is naturally warming AND pollution is exacerbating the phenomenon?

Terrorism is no more or less real an issue. It is, however, potentially more immediate. This doesn't mean that the consequences global warming wouldn't be less significant in the end, but that those consequences wouln't likely manifest themselves for years, or decades. Florida isn't going to be inundated by 50-foot tidal waves next week as a result of global warming, but long-term effects of melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and shifting climate can wreak havoc on economies and lifestyles that might well dwarf the effects of 9/11. Suppose we have to relocate entire coastal cities/populations? What sort of impact do think that will have? (Hint: Hurricane Katrina was a dress rehearsal, and we're obviously not prepared for opening night.)

Terrorism is shocking, alarming, terrifying, and we will see shit blow up on TV, whereas the effects of global warming will take their toll over time. Also, while nobody will deny acts of terrorism as anything other than terrorism (okay, you'll find a few nuts on the fringes), we can always count on those with vested interests in fighting pollution controls, because they interfere with profits, to deny, via commissioned "scientific" reports, any links between rising temperatures, man-made pollution, and the damage done to the environment by climate change, some of which is under our control.

Of course, it would be difficult to "prove" that any particular weather event is or is not a product of global warming (this would be akin to trying to explain evolution to a Christian fundamentalist), but pay attention to climate-related trends in the future. It will get to a point where even a child will be able to figure it out.

By the way, Lake Okechobee is way down, as is Lake Superior. The Aral sea is a puddle of its former self. What do you suppose has happened to all that water? It's real hot out west these days, and the southeast(!) has seen numerous wildfires. It might be sheer coincidence, or...

2) "But to play chicken-little and tell everyone the world's going to end when you haven't any data to back those claims up is not only irresponsible, it's idiotic."

The world isn't going to end. We might, but the Earth will be just fine for billions of years to come. To dismiss global warming because it isn't immediately obvious to a majority of citizens who might, at best, have a limited understanding of climate science, is indeed idiotic.

When the Titanic struck that iceberg, some passengers took to the decks and began to play shuffleboard with ice chunks while laughing at those who nervously made their ways toward the lifeboats. The ship, after all, was touted by company officials as "unsinkable." Of those two groups, whom do you suppose lived to tell the tale?

Have we drifted from the original topic?

At any rate, while I almost always disagree with Mr. Riehl, but he's got this right, "...we live with the consequences of the often poor decisions made by all the smart folks we pay to live (in Washington, DC)."

[Fred Beloit]

Robert, er ah, Boob in Bridgeport. How do you feel about the enemy we are facing and their views of homosexuality as a capital crime which they enforce with chilling diligence?