The crush of other business has forced me to take at least a temporary break from writing this blog. Sorry for the interruption. I don’t know when we’ll return. Read Full Story

Atlanta-Journal ConstitutionOne of the favorite mantras of conservative talk radio is that Congressional Democrats are to blame for the mortgage crisis that sparked our economic meltdown. But a meticulously researched article in today’s New York Times traces the roots of the crisis to President Bush’s campaign to encourage lower-income Americans to stop renting and buy homes.   For much of Mr. Bush’s tenure, government statistics show, incomes for most families remained rela... Read Full Story

Around the radio dial today, some conservative talk show hosts are livid about — while others sound resigned to — President Bush’s decision to give more than $17 billion in emergency aid to GM and Chrysler. Bush says it would be irresponsible to let the auto industry collapse in the middle of a severe recession: It would worsen a weak job market and exacerbate the financial crisis. It could send our suffering economy into a deeper and longer recession. And it would leave th... Read Full Story

Several more personalities from the radio right have weighed-in on Caroline Kennedy’s drive to be replace Hillary Clinton as U.S. Senator from New York. We reported yesterday that conservative feminist Tammy Bruce predicted the right wing will be at odds with any Democrat named to the seat; and that if she’s going to disagree with someone, it should be someone like Kennedy, who has “led her life with some dignity.” As one might expect, many of Bruce’s colleagues ... Read Full Story

The spirit of Christmas in in the air. I could feel it today when right-wing radio talker Sean Hannity and Media Matters for America, a liberal media watchdog organization, exchanged awards. Hannity proclaimed Media Matters winner of his “First Annual Left-Wing Obamamania Media Propaganda Sleaze Award” for being the group that “does more lying and smearing than your average left-wing Obamamania media supporters.” His gift: A continuous tape loop of Barack Obama campaig... Read Full Story

The way conservative talk radio has been so quiet about Caroline Kennedy’s efforts to replace Hillary Clinton as New York’s junior Senator is something of a surprise. In fact, the only person I heard talking about it yesterday was Tammy Bruce, who was filling in for Laura Ingraham. Bruce, who hosts a syndicated weekend radio program, is a conservative feminist who calls President-elect Obama a “misogynist.” You might expect that she would dismiss Caroline Kennedy as ... Read Full Story

Madoff.   Why is this man smiling?Sometimes conservative talk radio hosts are more compelling when they step away from their predictable political pronouncements to deal with other issues of the day. Case in point — the discussions led by Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh about the Bernard Madoff affair. Madoff is the investment advisor accused of scamming $50 billion from some of the richest people and institutions in the world in the financial version of a pyramid scheme. Mad... Read Full Story

Rush Limbaugh wasted no time responding to Colin Powell’s weekend warning to Republicans about taking their cues from el Rushbo: What’s going on here with this Colin Powell thing is that the Washington establishment — Powell’s not a Republican. McCain’s not a Republican. These guys are not even mavericks. They are Washingtonians. Washingtonians have their own culture and their own desires, and it is to matter. They don’t care who’s in power, they jus... Read Full Story

Now that Senate Republicans have blocked a plan to bail out the auto industry, President Bush seems to be the only one who can save GM and Chrysler. But if the President does that — by giving them money from the Wall Street rescue fund — he’s sure to become the whipping boy of his former defenders in conservative talk radio. And they’re ready to break out the whips. Dennis Prager told his audience yesterday that nationalizing the automobile industry would sound the ... Read Full Story

While most of talk radio’s conservative personalities are taking their licks, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin are leading the charge to smear President-elect Obama in the Blagojevich “pay to play” scandal. Levin, whose program follows Hannity’s on WABC in New York and in syndication around the country, said last night that Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and senior advisor David Axelrod “need to get in front of a grand jury” because “they can’t ... Read Full Story