Respectful conservative talk show hosts?

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I don’t know if this counts as endorsing a political party. If it does, feel free to delete it. I’m curious if anyone knows of a conservative American talk show (particularly on the radio) that’s basically like Catholic Answers in that the host or hosts and guests are respectful with people of differing views? It seems that no matter how intelligent conservative talk show hosts are, they can be extremely rude and I feel like listening to them makes me feel uncharitable to people with differing views. My favorite one is Andrew Wilkow because he is somewhat respectable, even though he gets worked up. Mark Levin is clearly an intelligent man, but he seems to be getting angrier and ruder by the day. Finally, I used to sometimes listen to Michael Savage, but he has no manners, as in if listeners call in and ask him how he’s doing, he will eithere say that’s none of their business or he will just hang up outright. Also, I looked him up it and it seems that he is somewhat racist (and I don’t throw this term around lightly). I don’t listen to Rush at all.
 
Just want to make sure that you know that the hosts of the liberal talk shows are even ruder and cruder. I was absolutely shocked and embarrassed to hear them. My husband listens to both liberal and conservative talk radio (he works from home and can leave the radio on all day while he works, and he also does lots of pod-casts when he travels for work).

I think that Mike Huckabee is the most polite and soft-spoken of all the conservative talk show hosts.

In Northern Illinois, we have a great radio talk show with a host named Michael Koolidge. Here is a link to his website: koolidge.com/home

He is extremely polite (most of us are here in the Midwest!), and very intelligent. You can listen to his show on the web even if you aren’t from Northern Illinois. I’ve met the man in person and found him to be as nice in real life as he is on the radio. (He was attending a fund-raising breakfast for our local music competition.)

Koolidge doesn’t just talk about politics on his show. He often has guests that have nothing to do with politics. It’s a regional show, of interest to people in Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin.

But he does have a lot of political discussion, too, and he is definitely on the conservative side. I’ve never heard him get rude or crude or insulting to the other side.

I also like Dennis Miller, but we don’t get to here him here in Northern Illinois. I’ve only heard him while travelling. I think it’s great when a “star” is conservative! (He used to be on Saturday Night Live, and IMO, did the best Weekend Update in the 40 years of the show’s history!).
 
Michael Medved (he was a guest speaker on a CA cruise years ago) and Dennis Prager.
 
I understand that it is better to be more respectful (you catch more flies with honey), but with all the horrible changes in our country, I certainly understand why they get emotional.

I feel the same way, although it might be called anger, frustration, desperation, etc.
 
Its hard to be a respectful talk show host of any political persuasion because so much in the media today is about hype and shock value. If you dont try to sensationalize things or get angry about things, it is as if you dont have any real passion for what you are doing. These hosts are merely responding to what their target audience wants.
 
namax91 said:
I don’t know if this counts as endorsing a political party. If it does, feel free to delete it. I’m curious if anyone knows of a conservative American talk show (particularly on the radio) that’s basically like Catholic Answers in that the host or hosts and guests are respectful with people of differing views? .
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Maygen Kelly’s The Kelly File is one of several.
 
In the late '70s I entered the conservative movement, impressed by the cleverness and courtesy of William F. Buckley, Jr. who was able to tweak liberals elegantly.
I left the movement in the late ‘90s when buffoonery and ballyhoo took over. It was the very sort of thing that the leftists who dominated the news did when I was young. The liberals, for a brief period, went back to their pre-1950s civility. Then after being steamrolled in the buildup to the Iraq invasion, they decided they were ad as hell and wouldn’t take it. Jon Stuart, having appeared as the voice of reason on ’ Crossfire,’ became one of the practitioners of venomous mockery (the liberals forgot that he had vented his malice on liberal opponents to the Iraq business).
It’s a nasty show I’ve seen as the sides seesaw back and forth, each eventually turning into the caricature that it’s opponents originally attacked.
In many ways, this simply goes back to the horrors of two-party politics which have inflamed the poor citizenry from the nation’s founding.
 
namax91 said:
I don’t know if this counts as endorsing a political party. If it does, feel free to delete it. I’m curious if anyone knows of a conservative American talk show (particularly on the radio) that’s basically like Catholic Answers in that the host or hosts and guests are respectful with people of differing views? It seems that no matter how intelligent conservative talk show hosts are, they can be extremely rude and I feel like listening to them makes me feel uncharitable to people with differing views. My favorite one is Andrew Wilkow because he is somewhat respectable, even though he gets worked up. Mark Levin is clearly an intelligent man, but he seems to be getting angrier and ruder by the day. Finally, I used to sometimes listen to Michael Savage, but he has no manners, as in if listeners call in and ask him how he’s doing, he will eithere say that’s none of their business or he will just hang up outright. Also, I looked him up it and it seems that he is somewhat racist (and I don’t throw this term around lightly). I don’t listen to Rush at all.
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To me Rush is the most polite. It is his show’s policy not to hang up on people and not to interrupt them while they are speaking. He will disagree and tell them where they are wrong, but he will let them have their say before he does. I like Sean Hannity personally, but I can’t stand his show because he never lets the other guy get three words out before he is talking over them and interrupting when they are speaking (he claims that is his “style”). Roger Hedgecock was good too, but he retired a few weeks ago. Michael Reagan is usually ok.
 
TexasCatholic13 said:
Its hard to be a respectful talk show host of any political persuasion because so much in the media today is about hype and shock value. If you dont try to sensationalize things or get angry about things, it is as if you dont have any real passion for what you are doing. These hosts are merely responding to what their target audience wants.
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I think you’re right. The “business” of talk radio is so competitive, they try to stir things up to get people to listen.
 
CarmelJerome said:
In the late '70s I entered the conservative movement, impressed by the cleverness and courtesy of William F. Buckley, Jr. who was able to tweak liberals elegantly.
I left the movement in the late ‘90s when buffoonery and ballyhoo took over. It was the very sort of thing that the leftists who dominated the news did when I was young. The liberals, for a brief period, went back to their pre-1950s civility. Then after being steamrolled in the buildup to the Iraq invasion, they decided they were ad as hell and wouldn’t take it. Jon Stuart, having appeared as the voice of reason on ’ Crossfire,’ became one of the practitioners of venomous mockery (the liberals forgot that he had vented his malice on liberal opponents to the Iraq business).
It’s a nasty show I’ve seen as the sides seesaw back and forth, each eventually turning into the caricature that it’s opponents originally attacked.
In many ways, this simply goes back to the horrors of two-party politics which have inflamed the poor citizenry from the nation’s founding.
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You don’t “join” the “conservative movement” because you are impressed by personalities. :mad:

That’s one of the reasons our country is in such a mess–because the cleverest, handsomest, funniest, or the most “elegant” personality wins over people and leads them around by the nose, feeding them a train of thought and convincing them that all others are fools or bigots.

But cleverest, handsomest, funniest, or most “elegant” person isn’t necessarily “real.” It is very likely that many of these “personalities” were/are invented and sustained by a crew of entrepreneurs who are trying very hard to make a good living and continue staying on the top of the ratings.

And most importantly, the cleverest, handsomest, funniest, or most “elegant” person is NOT necessarily telling the whole truth, but merely using words and “schtick” to titillate, agitate, and above all else, entertain in order to capture an audience who will attract high-paying sponsors. The motive is earning money, the more the better.

The ONLY reason we should ever “join a movement” is because that movement is THE TRUTH! We don’t need personalities, elegant or otherwise, to educate us about what’s true and what’s nonsense.
 
I used to listen to all the guys you mention. What changed? I decided being Catholic, you can’t really choose a side since neither is a perfect match. Ewtn, relevant radio, occasional robin kelly and i do watch cbs sunday morning But that is little news. As Michael Kelly says if it doesn’t make you a better person…find something that does.
 
Cat said:
You don’t “join” the “conservative movement” because you are impressed by personalities. :mad:

That’s one of the reasons our country is in such a mess–because the cleverest, handsomest, funniest, or the most “elegant” personality wins over people and leads them around by the nose, feeding them a train of thought and convincing them that all others are fools or bigots.

But cleverest, handsomest, funniest, or most “elegant” person isn’t necessarily “real.” It is very likely that many of these “personalities” were/are invented and sustained by a crew of entrepreneurs who are trying very hard to make a good living and continue staying on the top of the ratings.

And most importantly, the cleverest, handsomest, funniest, or most “elegant” person is NOT necessarily telling the whole truth, but merely using words and “schtick” to titillate, agitate, and above all else, entertain in order to capture an audience who will attract high-paying sponsors. The motive is earning money, the more the better.

The ONLY reason we should ever “join a movement” is because that movement is THE TRUTH! We don’t need personalities, elegant or otherwise, to educate us about what’s true and what’s nonsense.
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Amen to all of the above.

I have never come across a news personality who I agree with completely, but I do agree with the Mike Huckabee recommendation.
 
My talk show trinity:

Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, and Hugh Hewitt. They used to air in a row on 870AM in LA, but Hugh got pushed out of the 3pm spot to make room for Mark Levin who (as you say) is angry, and now Hugh comes on after Mark.

I think they all have online airing of their broadcasts.

I like Dennis Miller, too, but he’s more entertainment than information.
 
Bill Bennett is my fave. I really think he tries to see both sides of an issue. I don’t think he call names, either.

I also like Michael Medved and Dennis Prager. They have strong views, but they are respectful of their callers and are good at making an intelligent case for the things they believe in.
 
I think Glenn Beck and Rush are respectful radio hosts and Hannity most of the time. I don’t get to listen to Medved or Praeger very much. I like Mark Levin. He gets angry, but to me that is good. We should be angry at what we see happening today in our world. I like Mark Levin’s passion for speaking out on the injustices we see in the media and in our government.
 
7_Sorrows said:
I think Glenn Beck and Rush are respectful radio hosts and Hannity most of the time. I don’t get to listen to Medved or Praeger very much. I like Mark Levin. He gets angry, but to me that is good. We should be angry at what we see happening today in our world. I like Mark Levin’s passion for speaking out on the injustices we see in the media and in our government.
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Gotta disagree with those calls. Hannity is one of the least respectful hosts of any show I’ve seen or listened to. Rush spends a lot of time engaging in partisan snipes, so I don’t have a lot of time for that, either. I haven’t heard Glenn Beck in forever, but he always struck me as a good man, but a man who gets worked up extremely easily.
 
Havard said:
I haven’t heard Glenn Beck in forever, but he always struck me as a good man, but a man who gets worked up extremely easily.
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Glenn Beck has REALLY mellowed out since his Fox News days. He is, to the best of my recollection, the only host mentioned on this thread who has openly apologized for being so “Fox News”-y.
 
namax91 said:
I don’t know if this counts as endorsing a political party. If it does, feel free to delete it. I’m curious if anyone knows of a conservative American talk show (particularly on the radio) that’s basically like Catholic Answers in that the host or hosts and guests are respectful with people of differing views? It seems that no matter how intelligent conservative talk show hosts are, they can be extremely rude and I feel like listening to them makes me feel uncharitable to people with differing views. My favorite one is Andrew Wilkow because he is somewhat respectable, even though he gets worked up. Mark Levin is clearly an intelligent man, but he seems to be getting angrier and ruder by the day. Finally, I used to sometimes listen to Michael Savage, but he has no manners, as in if listeners call in and ask him how he’s doing, he will eithere say that’s none of their business or he will just hang up outright. Also, I looked him up it and it seems that he is somewhat racist (and I don’t throw this term around lightly). I don’t listen to Rush at all.
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Rush Limbaugh rarely has guests on his show, but they won’t screen out someone on the phones just for being liberal.

Sean Hannity is probably the best of what you are looking for. He’s the polar opposite of El Rushbo when it comes to guests. I also think he’s VERY fair-minded about allowing other points of view.

You probably can’t call Mark Levin well-mannered ALL of the time, but he is a Constitutional lawyer who used to work for the Reagen Administration and he knows the Constitution quite well.

I doubt Michael Savage is racist, and that term is over-used against conservative-leaning whites because the progressive left doesn’t have substantial arguments most of the time. :rolleyes:
 
randomuser said:
Glenn Beck has REALLY mellowed out since his Fox News days. He is, to the best of my recollection, the only host mentioned on this thread who has openly apologized for being so “Fox News”-y.
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Did he say Fox News-y, or are you making that part up?

BTW, those of you who criticize FOX NEWS may actually want to watch it for a while and make your own opinion instead of relying on left-wing talking heads with lower profiles and ratings.

The fact is several democratic strategists are frequently on FOX, and short of terrorists and active KKK, they accommodate diverse viewpoints on their network.
 
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