Doug, I'm afraid I couldn't venture an opinion on this particular brand of talk show host. I listened to a few talk shows when they first became popular some years back, but it soon became obvious that they were not a reliable source of news, or even reasonable discussions of the news.

The host invariably has a viewpoint that he wants his audiences to buy, and rather than reasoned discussion, he relies heavily on heated confrontation with guests or callers. When someone with an opposing view calls in, instead of being able to participate in a rational discussion, he or she gets thoroughly insulted, abused, and generally trashed. When the host stomps someone into the ground with a load of invective, people who share the host's views get a little thrill of satisfaction, i.e. "Boy! He sure told him!" That's where the entertainment comes in. These shows generate much more heat than light (that's the whole point), often spreading a lot of factual misinformation in the process.

They've been around for a long time, but the dean of the right-wing talk show hosts is Rush Limbaugh. As far as Conservatives are concerned, I would rather hear someone like William F. Buckley or the late Barry Goldwater. They have brains, their beliefs are sincere, and much of what they say deserves serious consideration. Limbaugh, on the other hand, is a non-intellectual (who takes pride in the fact) and a blow-hard. His commercial success predictably spawned a whole bunch of clones.

I guess it was inevitable that liberals, feeling that those such as Rush Limbaugh seemed to have a monopoly on talk shows, would try to come up with some sort of counterbalance. I've heard Cuomo a couple of times on the evening news, and I'm familiar with Donahue's old television program (which I didn't watch regularly), and, frankly, I tremble for the liberal point of view if it has to rely on this sort of thing. I've heard several liberals who can match wits with Buckley and Goldwater any day, but as far as the usual run of political talk shows are concerned, I have no idea who I'd nominate to host a liberal talk show. Honest political debate should be on a higher level. Which is why I don't think you'll ever find Buckley indulging in this sort of thing.

My point is that these programs are primarily intended as entertainment (granted, with a message); they were never intended to be a source of reliable information or rational debate.

What I would like to see are a fewliberal politicians who have the guts to stand up for a genuine liberal point of view and offer the American voter a genuine alternative instead of a watered-down version of the current consevative view. Then we'd see where things really stand. I hear faint rumblings in the far distance, but I'm still waiting.

Don Firth