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the problem with limbaugh is not that his audience is stupid--i don't think that's the case---the problem with limbaugh is that he offers 3-4 hours of entirely self-enclosed infotainment based largely on riffing from newspaper articles and other published material that he cycles through, interpersed with little comedy segments and such. but it's infotainment. and he's good at it. it makes little sense to underestimate the guy because you disagree with his politics--and i totally disagree with his politics. but he's good at what he does.
personally, i think he is an important element in what was the conservative ideological system. i think his influence on it has still not been entirely appreciated. for example, when the right was in opposition last time out, under clinton, limbaugh was able to perfect a self-enclosed, self-referential little world made up entirely of glosses on other's people's research. people seemed drawn to its internal coherence---but most of the folk i know who were sucked into that world were sucked into it because they found it entertaining. the comedy lead, the politics followed--the self-enclosed character of the world limbaugh made was of a piece with the dissociative conservative politics he advanced and so on and so on.
i don't see any reason for obama to interact with limbaugh. i don't see anyt reason for limbaugh to interact with obama either--limbaugh never allows coherent oppositional voices on his program. if you know that's the case, why would you bother?
i don't see limbaugh as a journalist--i see him as a smart and effective entertainer who happens to be quite good at articulating a kind of politics i find to be beneath contempt.
hannity, on the other hand, is just a fool.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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