It is his own mythology Fred, but it is still a mythology about someone else's people. Therein lies the rub, IMO, and in the opinion of others who have strong feelings about that aspect of his Lake Wobegone act. No make that one man Lake Wobegone INDUSTRY!

Hey, this isn't anything I think the guy ought to be lynched for or anything. I said at the beginning of this thread that we all are free to express an opinion. I'm not saying mine is right. But it is mine, and it is one shared by some other Minnesotans too, the majority of whom have never even heard his show. It's not like PHC is competing with the radio programs with the biggest audiences, after all. So a lot of Minnesotans with strong negative opinions about Keillor have never heard the program.

OTOH, Mudcat is a forum of folkies, people who will listen to PHC religiously, because they get to hear folk music on a national broadcast in the US. That is rare, but not unprecedented. There are national broadcasts of other folk, blues, Celtic music too. Grand Ole Opry still has a radio show. Fiona Ritchie does a fine program. So I guess it just depends on what you listen to, and whether you have been exposed to Keillor the (not very) folk musician, or Keillor the Minnesota Celebrity.