Rush Limbaugh, the longstanding undisputed king of conservative talk radio who’s been dogged by controversy recently, is about to face some more heat. Not from the left, but this time from the right.
On Monday, former Arkansas governor and one-time Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will launch a three-hour radio program on almost 200 stations across the country, going voice-to-voice with Limbaugh in the noon-to-3 p.m. time slot, Monday through Friday.
Cumulus Media, which owns and operates the new program, is already pitching Huckabee to listeners and advertisers as the “safe alternative” to a man who has recently found himself under weeks of intense fire – not for the first time – and who some believe could be vulnerable to a challenge from someone offering a kinder, gentler conservative voice.
“Our tagline is, ‘More conversation, less confrontation’,” Huckabee told POLITICO. “I’m going to treat every guest with respect and civility. Nobody is going to come on and get into a shouting match with me. That’s just not my style.”
Making a direct comparison with Limbaugh, John Dickey, the co-COO of Cumulus Media, adds, “This is going to be safer from a commercial standpoint, and more respectful from a listener’s perspective. I think that environment has been sorely lacking in talk radio.”
I might give Huckabee a listen. My problem is needing to focus on work during that time of day and usually listening to nothing other than music. I haven’t listened to Rush in a long time and never liked Glen Beck. I can’t stand any of the conspiracy-theory, tinfoil-hat crowd. I’m an old William F. Buckley, Jr. fan and that sort of intelligent, issues-oriented, respectful discussion is hard to find any more. Maybe Huck can make a difference.
Mike Huckabee certainly reflects the image Republicans want to put forth far better than does Rush. Huck is a pastor and faithful family-man. How many wives has Rush been through since he started his national show back in the 80s? Huck has always been respectful and polite in campaigns and on his show. As possible considering work, I’ll give him a listen. This could be a very positive development for Republicans and how the public perceives them.
NTK, doesn’t that go back to the days before radio? Just kidding just kidding!!!
I agree with you about the tinfoil-hate crowd.
I would think Huckabee would be a far better image. I listen to him sometimes. I am not in to evangelical politics but I often like his interviews and I particularly enjoy his musical guests. He is pretty decent on the guitar himself. His wife apparently has made him stop buying guitars.
Mike Huckabee is a person who generally manages to seek some sort of common ground regardless of how difficult it is to find. He has never been one for slash and burn politics that I am aware of. I hope he does not lose that quality.
His show starts today.
I don’t think Huckabee has jumped on the contraception bandwagon or other distractions that have plagued the Republican primary campaign. The more I think about that one, the more I think it was a clever move on the President’s part to throw the Republican candidates off message. I don’t deny that the social issues are important, but as I wrote in a thread last week, this election will be decided based on who is seen as the most committed to job creation and economic recovery. Those issues dominated the Republican campaign until the contraception debate arose. The media poured lots of gasoline on that fire and Romney was forced to deal with it rather than the economy.
Let’s see where Huckabee goes. Do you have a radio station or website address to listen to his show?
Moon, you wrote, “I agree with you about the tinfoil-HATE crowd.” Was that a Freudian slip reveling some of your inner feelings about Glen Beck and his followers?
Freudian slip for sure. 🙄
Huckabee is very anti abortion and he is also a creationist. (Is that what you call folks who believe the earth is only 6,000 years old?) To his credit, he doesn’t try to bring the latter into the political scene. Abortion yes, which I don’t care for.
I disagree that the election will be decided because of jobs etc. I think many people will vote for their party or they will vote for their special interest. Certainly jobs in this area wouldn’t be a strong consideration. Economic recovery in Northern Virginia might be seen as how well one’s 401k is doing. The rust belt might have a whole different set of criteria for ‘economic recovery.’
I don’t know where he will be heard. You might find it on his website.
what does that say about some of the candidates if the president did intentionally throw contraception out there as a gotcha? Those who caught the fly ball should have stuck to dodge ball. Contraception is decided law in general. As for health care, what moron is going to say it is better for insurance companies to pay for birth than it is for contraception? ker ching ker ching.
I know Huckabee is pro-life (from the campaigns) but don’t know about creationism. I put the crowd who argues for the 6,000 year-old earth in the same credibility category as the tinfoil-hat people. Why would God have given us brains if He didn’t want us to use them?
It’s a bigger topic than I have time for now, especially after just finishing my long post about the Rural Crescent in the eminent domain thread, but I don’t think seeing a role for God is anti-intellectual. When I read Genesis, I see an account written for people of very limited knowledge thousands of years ago that is perfectly consistent with theories about the Big Bang and evolution we have today. Faith and science are not mutually exclusive.
*I* don’t think that faith and science are mutually exclusive either but….many disagree with me. In fact, we are having some of the same arguments that people had back in the 1920’s.
I guess I don’t care what people personally believe as long as they don’t try make it public policy. Unfortunately, that is exactly where most disagreements go. Straight to the state houses.
Not that the truth matters to a liberal, but Huckabee does not believe the Earth is 6000 years old. That’s a trick the left uses to discredit anyone who believes in a higher power. He believes God was involved in the creation, but when, where, and exactly how he doesn’t know. He doesn’t pretend to know. The liberals, though, can explain how the big bang happened and what was going on before that…….oh…wait…no, they can’t.
Slowpoke, if you want to call me a liar, just do it. You do what you have to do and I will then do what I have to do.
Plenty of people believe that the earth is 6,000 years old. In the debates preceeding the 2008 presidential election, one of the questions asked was who believes in creationism and cited some specific attriibutes. Mike Huckabee was one of 3 candidates who raised his hand. Brownback was another one and I forget the third. If you can provide specific information where Huckabee says he believes in creationism but that the earth is actually billions of years old, then I will issue a correction. Meanwhile, strong warning, don’t start with the liar business.
Slow,
There is a difference between “creationism” and “intelligent design”, neither are taught in schools as science because they are NOT. What the hell does liberal have to do with creationism? I believe in a higher power but NOT in the literal sense.
Young-Earth Creationism
Young Earth Creationists (YEC) claim a literal interpretation of the Bible as a basis for their beliefs. They believe that the earth is 6000 to 10,000 years old, that all life was created in six literal days, that death and decay came as a result of Adam & Eve’s Fall, and that geology must be interpreted in terms of Noah’s Flood. However, they accept a spherical earth and heliocentric solar system. Young-Earth Creationists popularized the modern movement of scientific creationism by taking the ideas of George McCready Price, a Seventh Day Adventist, and publishing them in The Genesis Flood (Whitcomb & Morris 1961). YEC is probably the most influential brand of creationism today.
•Institute for Creation Research (ICR), El Cajon, CA.
http://www.icr.org/
I actually do care if a potential president does not believe in science, and evolution, is accepted science!