Instead of defending his premise, he mentions the relatively small total audience both these groups get as a percentage of the population. He claims that when radio talk shows are on, "real people are at work" and that their audiences "consist primarily of listeners who are retired, unemployed or goofing off when they should be working." Way to stereotype you enlightened soul you. Interpreting an Arbitron study, he specifically identifies Rush Limbaugh's audience as "over 60, mostly male and mostly retired or unemployed." Amazingly, the DNC's own website (in the Women�s Leadership Forum) points out the upscale demographics of talk radio listeners that is drastically different:

1. have an income over $75,000.
2. have graduated college.
3. read a newspaper daily.
4. own their residence.
5. are likely to use the Internet.
6. have opinions that mirror those of the general population.

Hmmm, his conclusion leads one to believe we're talking about morons here. Biased? I'll let you decide. At least in a moment of weakness, he does in fact admit that "Left-winger" talk radio is guilty of the same sins of bias but that since their agenda is far less focused than conservatives, their "passion is often spread too thin to find solace in something as simplistic as talk radio." What a concession, liberal dogma is too complicated for the common man to "get it" without hours and hours of mind-numbing indoctrination.

Interesting enough, he compares cable news to "being the top bowler in a town with one alley and one league." Has he forgotten that CNN and MSNBC have been around for years and use to be the first place Americans went to for breaking news? (well, no one ever went to MSNBC). If cable news channels represent one-fourth of the television viewer ship and overall have been in free fall over the last 18 months, what does it say that the FOX News channel had been steadily increasing it's viewer ship during the same period PRIOR to the start of the war?

And this myth that the average Fox viewer is a "63-year-old white Republican conservative male whose religion tends to be fundamentalist Christian,� give me a break. Almost half of the O'Reilly Factor's audience are democrats. More than half are women. Show me you data Mr. Thompson. For this to be true with his 5.2 rating last night, every old white Christian guy in the country must have turned on his program. Everyone!

And this... his 'coup de gra' (fuck the French...) supposedly reveals some "interesting facts." He explains that, "the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is considered one of the most liberal newspapers in America and Rush Limbaugh�s talk show is the most popular syndicated show on KMOX-radio in that Mississippi River city. Yet ratings reports and circulation figures show more people in St. Louis read the Post-Dispatch than listen to Rush Limbaugh or watch Fox News Channel. In fact, Access Hollywood, a mindless entertainment news show, has higher ratings in St. Louis than Fox News and Rush Limbaugh combined."

I checked out St. Louis' cable providers. NONE OF THEM offer FOX News channel as an option. Can't watch it if you can't get it. Well, that kind of makes that argument...biased? Slanted? Stupid? I'll let you decide.

Now on to commenting on his last paragraph. "But don�t bother presenting these arguments to any of your conservative friends. I learned long ago that facts, like truth, are too often wasted on partisans. Facts get in the way of causes and screw up perceptions and no partisan wants their jaundiced view of the world messed up by the truth."

Hmm, I'm trying but I'm not seeing his facts. I'll conceded that Fox News channel isn't liberal and has a patriotic bias. But I've also shown you this writer's laughably misguided "facts." What more do you want? There is a reason FOX is growing in popularity. There is a reason that radio talk shows took off in the 90's. And there is an effect too. How about the 1994 Republican revolution? How about Democrats attempting to wearing the mantle of "deficit hawks?" How about the 2002 election cycle when everyone expected large republican losses only to take back control of the Senate and increase leads in the House, Governorships, and State Legislators? Does free speech, patriotic flag waving, happy uplifting balanced coverage really bother you that much?

Never mind, I'm just going to rewrite Mr. Thompson's last paragraph here...

"But don�t bother presenting these arguments to any of your liberal friends. I learned long ago that facts, like truth, are too often wasted on partisans. Facts get in the way of causes and screw up perceptions and no partisan wants their jaundiced view of the world messed up by the truth."

Anyway, for them what care...

CABLE NEWS RATINGS RACE
TUESDAY, APRIL 1

SHEP SMITH 5.5 [FOX News]
O'REILLY 5.2 [FOX News]
HANNITY/COLMES 5.0 [FOX News]
GRETA 4.1 [FOX News]
LARRY KING 3.8 [CNN]
BRIT HUME 3.7 [FOX News]
CNN 8 PM 3.2 [CNN]
AARON BROWN 3.2 [CNN]
MTV REAL WORLD 3.2 [MTV]
MSNBC 8 PM 2.0 [MSNBC]
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1.6 [MSNBC]
MSNBC 10 PM 1.6 [MSNBC]