I enjoy the guests Glenn Beck has on his show. His political leanings sound closer to mine. I still don’t listen to his rants, though.

‘seester: Glenn Beck is the guy on CNN, right? I like him all right. Lea thinks a lot of him, and she doesn’t care for punditry, so that says something. I haven’t heard a bit-based morning show I could stand since Power 93, though I will say Rick and Bubba are virtuosos compared to John-Boy and Billy.

Unclaimed (who counts “radio guy” among his many talents, btw, for those who don’t know): I don’t care for the race-baiting either. However, I don’t think Rush goes any further over the line than some of the so-called “black leaders” do. I don’t say that to excuse it–two wrongs, and all that–but it does bring a little perspective to it.

Pearl: Laura Ingraham seems reasonably smart, and I love her elven cuteness, but I can’t get into her show. On Rush’s ego: I can handle nearly any personality trait as long as its possessor is honest about it, and he is, so it doesn’t bother me. I enjoy the play he gets out of it, actually. (In the profile, going on about “confiscatory ad rates”–hilarious!)

Terri: I don’t remember the first time I heard Rush, but I do remember being enthralled by The Way Things Ought to Be, which must have followed radio exposure. Even then I was considerably left of Rush socially, but I had little doubt the guy could communicate, and well.

Tami: Well, clearly, “his opinions on…oh, never mind.” I mean, I’m pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, and want to end the War on Drugs like right now, so I’m not exactly Rush’s core audience, am I?

I don’t like talk radio at all really. Even local morning shows grate on me if they drone on longer than a couple of minutes between playing tunes. Rick and Bubba make me want to drive into a concrete wall. Way too much evangelizing for my taste. I want my music, folks, not blabbering mouths.

Yes, I will admit it, I love Rush.

Rush is a radio guy, first and last. He knows listeners aren’t always with him for the entire show, so he delivers his relentless advocacy of Republican politics like hot and cold running water. You get what you expect when you turn on the station. That’s why he pulls in this incredible money. I give him a lot of credit for saving AM radio, which was sputtering when he came on the scene. His parodies are also short, sharp, and polished.

He is weakest when trying to comment on things with a scientific or technological component. He suffers from the current Republican delusion that you can spin reality. But his mad skills allow him to glibly skate by when others would hem and haw.

Sadly, I also think there is a racist-pandering streak in some of his humor that he either can’t or won’t suppress. Example: calling the mayor of New Orleans “Nay-gar” and chalking it up to a slip or getting tongue-tied when he’s busted for it. C’mon! He’s RUSH: bionic ears or no, RUSH seldom gets tongue-tied. That and the Donovan McNabb business of a couple of years ago was just plain pandering to bigots.

That’s just the way I see it. I think he’s wrong a lot, but I respect his mastery of the medium. Any, ANY other right-wing talk show host you care to mention here is a tepid, unlistenable wannabe.

Rick and Bubba are my favorite conservative talk pundits.

Conversely I’m generally done with Boortz in about 15 minutes. There’s just something about him that grates. Too bad; I love him on a lot of the issues.