Why do so many people on the left dislike Ed Schultz?

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

I listen to him at work and I've heard all the rumors of bineg a GOP plant, etc- but I think he makes a great case for our side. sure he's not as leftist as I am, but he's extremely effective in taking democratic positions and making them seem mainstream

is this all because of stuff randi rhodes said? or something else?


hell, he converted my rightwing landlord to questioning Bush-that's very impressive, if you know my landlord

[bluestateguy]

1. I didn't know that was the case

I bought my father his book and he loved it.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

4. i hear him bashed all the time

here and elsewhere

[indianablue]

2. i think he was GOP till 2000

It is hard to believe a ray shined down form heaven and he changed over to being a democrat well non DLC Democrat.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

7. of course, so was david brock

but look at the great work he does now

people should give him a chance

hell, deniis miller and zell miller used to be on our side...

[indianablue]

8. U R Right

I am just being cautious.

I have listened to his show and although I don't agree with him on everything.

He seems to be more of a Democratic Party Cheerleader than most.

I am not saying he is bad just pretty moderate.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

9. i agree with you

i'm far to the left of him, but i admire his populist appeal and think he's a good advocate to have on our side

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. that happened during a date with wife

she took him to the local vets shelter, and as they say the rest is history... he has covered this in his program quite a bit

[noamnety]

3. I'm having a chuckle at your post

democratic positions ARE mainstream. :)

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

5. right

but the way the media has framed it, the general public doesn't believe that. guys like schultz or hightower use a populist place to reframe them back into the mainstream

[WLKjr]

6. I don't dislike him....

I actually enjoy his show, rhandi's, Malloy and Franken's shows. A balance of red meat and plain discussion and disagreements, along with outing lies

[kohodog]

21. He's no Chomsky, for sure

And while he's too centrist for my personal taste I think he is an important voice to radio. We need more like him and fewer like limpbot and insHannity. Randi and Franken irritate me sometimes too, along with the rest of them, Ed included. He is good with interviews with congressmen/women, but always cuts them short.

[GOPS Worst Fear]

10. Ed May Just Be Able To Sway The Red States

I like Ed Scultz alot in spite of the fact he's anti abortion.He isn't liberal on everything, but he may just be what the left needs to win over the moderates and even some conservatives in the RED States.

[MissMarple]

11. I like Ed Schultz. He said he didn't change so much as the party changed.

And then there is the positive influence from his democratic wife, Wendy. He makes a lot of sense to the average working for their daily bread Americans. He's populist progressive.

[Buddyblazon]

12. Well...he's the only one on AA that my Freeptard Father will listen to...

and that's important. I believe he will be our "transitional speaker"...you know...the guy that lure's "them" in. He's polite, but quick with conservatives. And if you listen to the conservatives that phone in (and there are a lot) they all voice how they listen to him regularly and although they disagree with him...they respect the way he voices it.

Schultz is a blessing for our party. He's going to bring those "on the fencer's" over. Once they're over...then we can feed them a little Franken. Then move onto Randi. And finally we'll having them screaming with the beautiful but angry alliterations of Mike Malloy.

I listen to Schultz. He's not my favorite. But I'm compelled with the way he's pulling them over. And pretty darn quickly. I'm a Malloy guy. So you know I'm an angry Liberal. But I've known many moderates and moderate Liberals. And they need a voice too. It is better to give them a moderate voice from OUR side...than THEIR side. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar (did I just destroy that saying?)

And he came over in '98. He's future wife had him work a soup kitchen with her...and then they went on a cross country tour for his sports talk show. He claims that when he actually started talking with citizens across the US...he realized that more of his views were liberal than conservative. And that some of his conservative beliefs were incorrect. It makes sense to me. And I believe him. Then he was approached about doing a political show.



He is someone that the conservatives don't poo-poo. They haven't labeled him as "angry". He may not be to your liking...but I think his role is very important. He's just going to be the first weapon in our "truth" arsenal.

[Buddyblazon]

13. BTW....

What DID Randi say?

I love her to death. But sometimes I cringe when I realize the stuff she's saying is going out for moderates to hear. I know that I love it...but I know how the moderates get turned off by anger.

[indianablue]

14. Ed got donations to start his show she did not.

The Freepers are saying she got her money from Democratic Donors which she did not.

Ed Schultz got private donations from people who are of the Democratic ideology.

Ed Schultz is not on AAR, AAR and his show share some of the same airwaves but they are not the same company.

[lonestarnot]

19. Big Eddie with the Jones Radio Network...

He pissed me off with the Walmart ideology one morning and I can't stand how much he sounds just like the fucking Lumburg cheese, but I have to listen to AAR so I began listening critically to him and he's not all that bad...don't agree with everything he says, but he's got his way that is beneficial, so I'm tolerating his sometimes less than thought out comments.

[pookieblue]

15. We only get two hours of Progressive/Liberal Talk Radio

And that is Big Eddie. I love his show.

I hope soon that Air America will make it down to Columbus. But two hours is better than nothing. (I know that his show is three hours, but the station only airs the first two hours).

[Quixote1818]

16. I think he is just what Democrats need to bring in new people.

Every stereotype image you might have of a Democrat is shattered when you hear Ed Schultz. He is a man's man and thats what we need to bring in the male vote. He is kind of the strong but sensitive type. A big teddy bear who sticks to his message in the same way the right does. That's why he is so effective! You don't get lost trying to figure out some kind of abstract argument because he states things simple and to the point. He is teaching us everything he learned from the right. He is awesome and he is becoming extremely popular.

[Tactical Progressive]

17. I like the way he sounds just like Rush

You could barely tell them apart if they were talking to each other. Except by what they say.

That similarity in voice and cadence is good, as is Shultz's moderate liberalism, as a bridge to a different audience.

Only now some truth comes out of the voice.

[AlCzervik]

18. i like Ed, the ed bashing threads I've seen are usually

the same all the time...If i wanted to hear Limbaugh I'd listen to him" sure Ed's a little loud, s'ok by me, we need them bombastic as well conversational tone. I'm happy to have any liberal hosts.

[roguevalley]

20. I love him because he changed. God bless him and David Brock.

They have guts, smarts and know how to get the other guys. Love Ed.

[OneMoreDemocrat]

22. Randi told us to.

.

[Chicago Democrat]

23. He's fine, he's just not left wing enough for me...

Its a big tent and I'm sure he has a big audience. I prefer Randi. Or Signorelli.

[DemonFighterLives]

24. Eddie is getting better everyday

First he was getting along good with Scarborough, but now he sees the light. He thought Dennis Miller was ok until Dennis and 2 other whackos hacked away at him.
He totally balled out a conservative radio guy that said someone who knew Eddie said he was not liberal. He asked for an example and the guy said that he was anti-choice. Eddie said, "so is Reid" and went on to list about 10 things that he is liberal about and ended it with. "That guy can Kiss My Ass if he thinks I'm not liberal enough."
Even called Ann Coulter a bimbo. :toast:

[onecitizen]

25. Mark my words...........

something's just not right with him. Can't tell ya what, but something.

It bugs me that his ultimate goal is to be on TV. He thinks he's good looking. And a day doesn't pass that he doesn't say he wants a show on TV. I don't care for that from anyone really. Seems self-serving. BUT people do like the guy & it seems (I sometimes wonder if the callers are rigged) and we need all the help we can get so I'm keeping my mouth shut from here on out. :-)

[linazelle]

26. I agree...I can't put my finger on it but I don't trust him

Maybe it's because when he debuted, NBC announced his show--I distinctly remember Katie Couric doing the piece. In contrast, they didn't announce AAR, and have yet to mention any of the AAR hosts in the same way. Now why is that? I listened to him briefly one or two times--once during the conventions when he was sucking up to Scarborough and once more recently. Although his discussion the last time I heard him was on point, I just won't allow myself to get sucked in by him because I believe his remarks are tempered and that he has a hidden agenda.

[Rockerdem]

29. Some above said that he softens up conservatives

They claim that he ripens up conservatives for the plucking. I think its the other way around, and its very subtle. Some easily pliable liberals will get lulled into thinking hes one of them, and soon they will be receptive to some of the harder edge rightwing talkers.

If you are older, no problem, hes an easy listen. But young people should be on their toes. I see him as a possible infiltrator on liberal talk radio, maybe an agent provocateur without any real commitment one way or the other.

[linazelle]

32. Exactly. He's softening us up...not "them"--or trying to anyway

And you're right about the younger people who will believe him just like they believe what we see as news today is the way news is supposed to be. Had Faux on earlier for no good reason in the background while working and their lead story, for about ten minutes, was a stalker of a tennis star. :eyes: This is a very sad time for our country.

[Rockerdem]

34. He will never change my politics

But the math bothers me. I calculate that at least 75-80% of listeners on his channels are liberals, many of who are there mainly to hear other hosts. If a middle of the road guy has appeal roughly equal to both sides, that means he has the potential to "convert" more of ours than theirs. Many more.

Instead, I wish that he followed Rush. Then the math would be in our favor.

[OnionPatch]

27. I like him

He converted a Republican-voting guy I know and that's enough for me. He may not be the biggest liberal or whatever but I think he does a fine job relating to moderates. I'm not going to bash anyone who wants to speak out on our side. He gets my trust until he proves he doesn't deserve it.

[pauliedangerously]

28. I don't dislike Ed Schultz...

...but I don't care for his style; he's an opportunist who recognized that there is a surplus of conservative blowhards and decided there might be better money blowing hard from left-of-center.

Quite frankly, I don't care for any of them...Rhodes, Franken, O'Reilly, Limbaugh...there all in it for the money and fame. This country is being manipulated so easily, it's pathetic. It's no coincidence that the last election was so close, vote count fraud aside; television and radio are more effective than "God" ever was.

[Steve L]

37. You got it!

I'm beginning to be leery of the pundits and talk show host on both sides. Many of these people come from journalism backgrounds and fell into political talk as their "shtick". The question I ask myself when I listen to any of them is this- Would they become political activists for their cause if they lost their shows or book deals? I would bet that most would drift into unrelated journalism or become local news anchors or weathermen before they would work as poorly paid political activists for the causes that they believe so strongly in. I would much rather listen to scholars or activists in the first place.

[pauliedangerously]

42. Righto Steve!!

The funny thing is, what you just described sounds like something right out of the New Testament. I wonder how many of those people call themselves Christians? :think:

[cry baby]

30. He is no plant. He is genuine and he thinks Dean is the best thing

for the dems. He loves that Dean support comes from the grassroots. I really like him and listen to him some every day.

[linazelle]

33. It's easy to be "for Dean" after the fact. I think he's full of it n/t

[cry baby]

35. He said that way before anyone dropped out of the DNC race.

[bbgrunt]

31. The best part about Schultz is

that he sounds so much like Limbat, I'll bet a lot of rightwingers accidently catching him on radio either

a. have heart attacks at the thought that their dittoleader changed sides, or

b. just continue listening to the cadence of his voice to get their fix, absorbing his message without realizing how different the message is.

[zann725]

36. I can't even stand the sound of his "Rush Limbaugh-like" voice.

That aside, I find many of his comments troubling. And on a gut-level, he sets of my "alarms" so much, I have to turn him off.

I do NOT believe he has ANY place on AAR...anymore than the Sports they've been playing in Prime Time evening hours on the AAR channel in Los Angeles. Neither the sports, NOR Schultz, seem a good fit for a Progressive channel. To draw an analogy, it would be like having "rap music" played on a Classical Music channel. Not only is it a bad fit, but it's counterproductive, and curious at best.

[BuyingThyme]

39. Ed Schultz panders to less-educated Democrats

Relative the the Air America crowd, he's very poorly educated. Half the time, he doesn't understand what the callers are talking about because he's a few months behind on the news or simply doesn't understand the issues.

He is the Democrat's Limbaugh in that he panders to the uniformed. And there are less simpleton Democrats out there than simpleton Republicans, so he appears to be something less than progressive.

All said, I'm glad he's out there.

[kaitykaity]

40. He called Randi "Randi Slut" on the air.

He meant it, too.

After that, I had no use for him.

[otohara]

41. I Don't Like His Show

at all - sorry - but his show is on when Randi is on and she is taped delayed starting at 4PM. He sounds like Limbaugh, (meaning his voice) I think he appeals to men more than women - you can tell by the callers. The whole lefty - righty thing is dumb.

I'd rather hear anyone on the Air America line up vs this guy - they are smarter, funnier, more variety.