Huckabee's first caller a plant

Oops.

Perhaps well-times now that Rush Limbaugh's show has come under fire after Slutgate, Mike Huckabee launched his own radio show.  But the first caller to his show - "Mike from San Francisco" - was actually Mike McVay, a vice-president with the media company that owns Huckabee's show.

Huck's first guest was Mitt Romney, which I would have taken as a sign that hell had forzen over two years ago, but both men probably wouldn't mind seeing Rush go down a notch.

Throwing around the word 'racist'

Some conservative talkers are calling Sonia Sotomayor a reverse racist for this quote: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

But if you look at it in context, you see she is clearly not being a reverse racist.

Now a counter I've seen from left-wing bloggers is trotting out some of Rush Limbaugh's old racist quotes. The most famous is his quote from the early 1970's when working as a DJ, he told a caller to take the bone out of his nose and call him back. But there are other quotes that are getting repeated and copied and thrown around that he never said. There's a list out there of Rush's Top 10 Racist Comments, but some of them he never said, and the guy making the list provides no sources. Rush never said we miss James Earl Ray, and he never said that under slavery it was safer to walk the streets after dark.

If people are going to try to smear others, they should have their facts straight, and if their defense is that the other side doesn't care if they have their facts straight, so it justifies them spreading falsehoods, well they have no moral argument.

Talk Radio Ratings

I've been trying to find more recent rankings, but this was all I could find. From talkers.com, it's from Fall 2007 numbers, average audience numbers.

1. Rush Limbaugh - 14+ million
2. Sean Hannity - 13+ million
3. Michael Savage
Dr. Laura Schlessinger - 8.25+ million
5. Glenn Beck - 6.25+ million
6. Laura Ingraham
Mark Levin - 5.25+ million
8. Neil Boortz
Dave Ramsay - 4.25+ million
10. Mike Gallagher
Michael Medved - 4+ million

Bill O'Reilly just misses the top ten. Jim Rome is the highest sports-based talk show. I imagine when they publish some 2008 numbers we'll see a change in the order.

Rush Limbaugh - He's entertaining to listen to. If I find myself disgreeing with a position he's taken, his braggadociousness can get annoying. He's willing to debate liberals who call him up and gives them equal time if they stick to the issues. He's disliked McCain for eight years so now his support for him is "Obama would be much worse." I'll catch a segment if I go out to lunch during his time.

Sean Hannity - The heir apparent, former guest host for Rush, popular Fox News show, but I don't find him as informative. He tends to cling to one or two statements and pounds them into the ground, and callers call in who disagree with him he doesn't let them get a word in edgewise and then hangs up on him. I'd rather listen to Alan Colmes Show, which used to be on in Utah, and if it still is, I don't know where it's moved to. Hannity is all about the debate and pounding the positions through. Colmes, when not being interupted by Hannity, can do well at articulating his positions. He just doesn't do it on the TV show.

Michael Savage - Yesss. What to say about him. He considers himself so conservative that all the other radio hosts are buffoons. Her refers to Rush as "the golfer" and Bill O'Reilly as "the Leprechaun." He hates gays and Muslims and illegal immigrants, refers to liberalism as a mental disorder, and he goes into rants that I think are intended as self-parody of a Peter Finch type. He boasts of his PhD's and how intelligent he is, but he's grumpy and likes dogs more than people. Sometimes he's entertaining; more often than not, he's on one of his mean streaks and just a hater. I'll flip to him to see what he's talking about if I'm not interested in what Glenn Beck or the local sports-talk stations are discussing.

Dr. Laura - The StopDrLaura.com campaign against her when she got a TV show was vicious and dishonest. But it wasn't a good TV show. I haven't listened to her for a long time because after a few months, I know what she's going to say to every problem presented to her.

Glenn Beck - Unlike most conservatives, he's self-deprecating. He has fun on his show, and whenever I catch his TV show, it has the same vibe. I tend to listen to a segment or two when I drive home from work. He strikes me as one who can have a breezy conversation with anyone from any background.

Laura Ingraham - She's on when I drive to work in the morning, and during NFL/NBA season the local sports-talk stations tend to win, but sometimes I'll listen to her. She's under contract with Fox News, and that's affecting her freeness with her opinion. She can get snarky when she wants to.

Mark Levin - I know who he is, but I've never heard his show. he was the conservative pundit-o'-choice during the Clinton impeachment.

Neil Boortz - I know who he is; I've never heard his show. I've read he can get as inflammatory as Savage or Don Imus.

Dave Ramsay - Financial guru. Very entertaining. I'm taking his Total Money Makeover class right now. He preaches credit cards and payday loan companies are evil. I don't catch his show often, as it's on 7-10pm here.

Mike Gallagher - Never heard him.

Michael Medved - He occasionally does film reviews, but 90% of the time he's talking conservative family values. He was one of the only ones to hop on McCain's bandwagon during the primaries. He's on the same time as Hannity here, and if I'm in the car from 1-4pm, I'll see what he's talking about before flipping to Hannity.

Bill O'Reilly - He's better on TV than on the radio.

Jim Rome - When it comes to national sports, his sctick was entertaining to me when I was in my 20's. Now I'd rather hear Mike & Mike or Colin Cowherd.