...and I don't have all of the answers--but I have paid attention to right-wing talk radio for years. I was a reporter in college and I began listening to Limbaugh in the early 1990's and I wrote a regular column about him. I was very concerned about the propaganda he was spewing.
What bothers me about Rush is that he is connected to so many important people. Clarence Thomas officiated at Rush's latest wedding. Thomas is a close personal friend of Rush's and Rush has Thomas and his wife over for dinner regularly. As we all know, the criminals who are destroying our country with Fascism are in the upper echelons in our government, on the Supreme Court and in powerful corporations.
Rush always sides with the corporations (BP, big oil, Monsanto, etc.). I do think Rush and others keep their behind-the-scenes dalliances on the down low. However, Rush is a total name dropper and he's always talking about having dinner with our politicians and big names in the corporate world.
If you listen to talk radio--you'll notice that they have the same talking points. It's really riveting. They cover the SAME topics on the same day. It is very clear that right-wing radio is a concerted effort to propagandize a segment of the population--in order to use them---for votes, for manufactured protests and for campaign donations. These radio hosts get their daily marching orders from somewhere--and it's most likely from this corporatist-politicial group of thugs.
Glenn Beck openly thanked the Koch Brothers for several talking points that he read on his show. Beck has mentioned meetings and other "summits" that he's been involved in--where the Koch Brothers were present.
So yes--I think these right-wing mouthpieces are used. I think the corporations and the politicians work in concert with these radio hosts to poison the mind of of America and to create horrible divisions in this country. I think these radio hosts play a very central role in spreading the talking points and the propaganda that these corporations, politicians and other corrupt individuals want spread.
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