Ed Shultz...What do we know about him? I've tried to listen and watch...

[KoKo]

but I find him "stealth" Republican who gives a voice to the Dem Left but yet on his TV show seems to give more air time to the Repugs. I guess he counts his rants as Progressive Lefties Talk so he balances it out with two Repugs to one Dem..(figuring he's the Progressive Dem voice...as host) but it still comes out flat...or as the Repugs winning the debate.

I don't want to watch him anymore. He obviously has to have Repugs as a major part of his show to get viewership...but WHY? When Faux News is all day Repug...why do we Democrats not have our own Cable Channel? It seems MSNBC was trying to pick up the slack from Fox to get viewer crossovers...but really do Keith, Rachel and "Big Ed" manage to make up the difference?

All day long MSNBC, CNBC (GE's Buisness Channel) spout RW "Talking Points" with every guest they can find from the NeoCon/Friedman/Reagan and Cato Institute talking points from their spokespersons. Yet, the few Democrats we ever see on these shows seem weak and conflicted when they are pitted against the foes that they know have "Talking Points" and ways of shooting them down.

It's been 20 years, :wtf: and our Dems still can't get good "Talking Points" to go against the Repugs?

HOW CAN THIS BE? :shrug:

Anyone else notice this?

[Taverner]

1. I dunno, I think of him as a stalwart Clinton Democrat

He isn't quite Blue Dog, but he's consistent...

Can't agree with someone on everything

[RamboLiberal]

2. Ed has been out there every day pushing a good Health Care Bill

and Card Check for the unions. WTF more do you want? He's proven himself to this listener & viewer!

We had bupkis on these issues most of the time till Ed got his TV show and started pounding it day after day.

If we don't support people like Ed Schultz then maybe we deserve a media full of Limbaugh, Hannity, O' Reilly and all the other corporate RW shills.

[Lorax7844]

6. i agree, while I hate his guests, he has been a good voice for HC and EFCA

[KoKo]

12. I can see he's a good voice, in many ways...but isn't there anyone who could be better?

I was so happy when he got his show on Jones Network and Air America came on air back in the days when we Democrats had NO MEDIA. Yet, it seems that Air America ran into terrible difficulties with financing and the orginal people I liked left or were thrown off. So, I tried to listen to "Big Ed" on Radio here in NC. I even asked fundies I knew to tune in because "Ed" sounds so much like Limbaugh, I thought they might tune in. After awhile I kind of tuned out. He just was too simplistic for me...but I have to say I thought he was more "honest" on the radio than now when he's on MSNBC and they are paying him big bucks and setting his agenda.

BTW...I know he's still on the radio and I catch him sometimes there and his radio show does seem better than his MSNBC stuff.

[Mythsaje]

17. Well, there's always Thom...

But most folks I've talked to think he's best left on the radio. So, :shrug:

[Sebastian Doyle]

22. And Mike Malloy

But the TV networks are scared shitless of him. He actually did work for CNN in the Ted Turner days, though as a writer. not on the air.

[Mythsaje]

24. Thom sounds more reasonable than Mike ever has. n/t

[KoKo]

26. Mike Malloy is great listen...but he'd have to tone it down so much to get on even cable

that he'd be just a whisper of his fiery self to get the ad revenue. :D

[KoKo]

25. I always liked Sam Seder from AA, also. n/t

[rwheeler31]

3. We won

[KoKo]

28. Do you truly feel "EMPOWERED" after we Won? Do you watch the MSM? n/t

[spanone]

4. if ed ain't on our side on teevee, no one is.

[kentuck]

5. I think may be the most effective spokesman for the Democratic Party...

speaking to the average guy on the street.

[Botany]

7. no person in the media has done more to push health care then Ed.

He has his faults but he is flat getting after it on health care reform ..... hardly a stealth republican.

[KoKo]

35. I have to say on his radio show...I've heard good stuff from him on Health Care

holding Dems feet to fire...but not so much on MSNBC show..because he has to have more Repugs on who refute his efforts...that's what I'm saying.

[Captain Hilts]

8. Originally from Norfolk, VA. I don't like him either. And he talks like Limbaugh. nt

[redqueen]

9. No, I like Ed.

I don't see it every day, but when I've watched I've been very pleased. I like him the best of any 'lefty' commentators on tv.

I really appreciate his constant hammering about health care reform.

Also, re: his RW guests, I like that he has them on because when I've watched he's outed them as idiots or liars, which I find satisfying.

[stray cat]

10. Midwest/southern populist democrat - those moderate states elect that DUers like to demonize

[rurallib]

11. Ed right now is one of the few in the media that is pushing

liberal issues.
Been listening to Ed for about 4 years now. He was a republican who converted. And he has continued to move left on an almost daily basis.
I will put Ed against anyone on the liberal side. Nobody has been fighting harder for health care than Ed.
Sure hope them damn blue doggies are listening to him.

[bertman]

19. I agree with rurallib that Ed is our staunchest healthcare reform advocate and he IS

getting more liberal every day.

He has a huge ego. If he didn't he would not be where he is. But he is using it for the right causes most of the time.

I find that he does not debate well when someone challenges him on the radio. He often falls into the get-louder-and-madder-mode without really using the arguments that would be at his disposal if he weren't bloviating. Nonetheless, he's a LEFTY and I'm thrilled that he's on teevee.

He called out Limbaugh on national teevee. That earned him a lot of cred with me.

[tabatha]

13. He is blowng up the blue dogs.

Thankfully.

[RamboLiberal]

18. Exactly - he's really been whipping the Blue Dogs butts

I get tired of some liberals pissing and moaning about any of the few liberals we get on the air after all those freakin' years of near 100% RW domination. And we haven't even managed to chip away that much.

If we don't support Ed, KO, Rachel, Thom, Stephanie & others then we'll never chip away at that dominance and for the propaganda to continue to bamboozle a good part of the populace.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

14. He speaks directly to Liberals and Dems in the heartland

They may not be the Liberals and Dems you encounter every day but living in the Midwest we are here and Ed is an advocate for that voice.

[madrchsod]

32. yup....the people out here between the mountains....

[ThomWV]

15. Ed is the only person on Television that stands up for the working man

And stand up he does!

[Mythsaje]

16. I definitely don't agree with Ed on everything

I never cared for his radio show much, to be honest, but he does seem to be hitting the right notes on Health care and such. He counters RWers very well, though not as well as Hartmann, so I don't think it's a bad thing he allows them on so he can do so.

[TheDebbieDee]

20. I think Ed Schultz is a "hired gun"...................

I remember reading about him on this site several years ago before I got a chance to listen to his show. Several posters remembered him in some local markets sounding and talking an awful lot like Rush in the late 90s.

I guess a few years ago he decided the side he was working was just too crowded so he switched sides. I've caught his tv show a few times and Ed takes names and kicks repuke a$$.

5 years from now he may be talking like rush again, but right now I like what I'm hearing from him!

[undeterred]

23. Apparently he switched sides when he got married

to a liberal woman and he has changed his mind a lot.

[KoKo]

29. Well that's good to know...but being married to someone and giving up ALL one's Views is sort of

Impossible. At least from this person whose been around awhile and had many friends who have had "mixed marriages" with views. Many of those marriages have ended up in divorce, eventually.

[undeterred]

21. He's not as far to the left as some others in progressive radio

but I do think he is reaching a lot of people in the middle. He has really taken the bull by the horns with the health care reform issue, and I give him a lot of credit for that. He's not my favorite person to listen to but he's doing a lot of good.

[OutNow]

27. he's the local union shop steward that made it on TV somehow

Ed Shultz is not a polished left coast liberal. I like listening to him because he sound like a couple of union shop stewards I worked with years ago. A bit gruff, not always right on every issue, but always on the lookout for contract violations and management attempts at screwing the little guy and not afraid to stop the line if needed to get his point across.

When ED talks about card check or single payer health care you can tell it is straight from the heart; no talking points memo needed.

We need Ed and a lot of folks just like Ed on our side.

[KoKo]

30. But what is his REAL BACKGROUND? How can we trust him...if he has 2 Repugs to 1 Dem + Himself?

:shrug:

[Mythsaje]

33. How are the debates turning out?

Is he able to use their assumptions against them?

[KoKo]

36. It depends on how the "new viewers" who didn't know his radio show see him.

When I watch...I'm less impressed by the MSNBC spot over his radio performance. Just saying.

[Mythsaje]

39. I didn't really care for his radio show...

Too much talk about sports and hunting, not enough real information.

[madrchsod]

31. ed was a republican but was converted while his mother was ill...

with Alzheimer's.he realized he was on the wrong side of the fence.

he`s a plains populist aiming his message to the lower and middle class who feel they have no voice. . his radio show is a lot better than the tv show.

wiki big ed and you`ll see he is a very colorful person and controversy seems to be his middle name.

[G_j]

34. I wrote him an email, saying just that

his rw guests made me want to turn the tv off.
Without them, he could be effective.
He has some great, convincing rants.

what is needed more shows, but also REAL news,
MSNBC is pitiful with their prison shows and other garbage.

[KoKo]

37. I'm probably closer to your views about it...thanks.. n/t

[optimal-tomato]

38. I have mixed feelings about Ed Schultz...

But he seems to be on the right side of the issues. I don't care for his style, and he's too beholden to unions, which are on the wrong side sometimes.

He does put on the worst of the worst as far as RW talk radio hosts. The "Name and a Half" people. (Hugh Hewitt, Lars Larson, etc.) It's not worth it. I think he does it because he likes loudmouths.

I'd honestly like to see some genuine debate among reasonable people. Morning Joe was almost that for a while, but has gone very very south this year. Why can't we have a rational debate show without it turning into "Crossfire" between two "strategists" whose job it is to never deviate from the party line. *sigh*

[KoKo]

41. "...like to see some genuine debate among reasonable people"

to quote you.

That's really all most of us who are Dems across the spectrum are asking for..."to see some Genuine Debate amongst Reasonable People.." ANYWHERE ON OUR AIRWAVES!

WHERE IS IT? WHEN WILL IT COME? :shrug: WHY HASN'T IT BEEN THERE ALREADY?

[Odin2005]

46. "Too beholden to Unions" BS, that's Corporatist talk, friend. You sure you're at the right site?

[ejbrush]

40. Ed converted from the Dark Side, and is fighting the Good Fight now.

But people on this thread perceive this as a negative and a threat.

Is it?

I mean, if a person has voted R or been raised R and has an eeee-piffany, we ought to say "Welcome, come on in! Can I get ya a cup of coffee?" Especially someone who is actively, and I mean Actively, pushing for the Health and Labor issues in this country to be heard. I mean, we are the party of decency, justice, logic, science and reason. If some Rush listener accidentally has a couple of neurons rub together attains sentience, hooray! They are voting D now, taking away one R vote and probably infecting some other R voters with doubt. And doubt is the warm, moist manuer in which the dandilions of Progress take root.

Yet, some people seem to get the willies, worried that one night Ed is going to stand, raise his hands to the sky and command his legions to batch and moan about their taxes to their co-workers at lunch every day. Why? Because he, along with a lot of other folks, voted for Reagan and now regret it? Do the transgressions of the past forever taint the actions and future of a newly hatched convert? Maybe a big scarlet R should be riveted to their forehead so the Orthodox may be excused from conversing to the normals. Perhaps a legal disclaimer should flash on the bottom of the screen, "This man voted for a Conservative once, so don't believe a word he says about single-payer, public options, employee free choice or bait-casting for walleyes." Sheesh.

Yeah, he has R spokes-humans on his program. He also chews them up and spits them out on a regular basis. It makes for good programming, and may win over converts when they see their guy losing an arguement for a change.

Rant off.

[Odin2005]

47. He's a populist defender of the common man, which freaks out the Latte Liberals, apparently.

Eddy doesn't bash hicks from the sticks like myself as idiot gun-toting Neandertals.

[scentopine]

42. Yes, its like we lost the house and exec branch...

All day long on NPR, its about republicans and their power over SCOTUS and now republicans and their power over health care and republicans and their power over...

This is a complete failure of democratic leadership. Instead of opposing the republicans, democrats have simply become the new conservatives. Feeling the squeeze, the republicans are blazing new trails to the extreme right (its green fields). We can laugh all day at the republican buffoonery, but the buffoons get air time. And the new extremism is desensitizing people to the point that Sarah Palin can seem like a reasonable candidate for president.

Dems have pretty much capitulated and adopted the "if you can't beat them, join them" strategy. We have amnesty for wall street, amnesty for torture, corporate design of health care policy - its like when Cheney had secret meetings with the oil companies before he invaded Iraq.

Pelosi and Reid are simply not role models nor capable leaders for our party. Even with an abundance of backup material, they have failed to convince the public that traditional democratic values result in better public policy than conservative values. Its this constant compromise of our principals that make us appear weak. In the process, frightened dems are tripping over each other to prove they are more conservative than the conservatives.

We have a rare chance to put liberal ideas in motion and prove their worth. Obama won't be able to run as "Anyone but Bush" again. Instead of rallying democrats and putting brand name polish on our historical philosophies and ideals, we sweep them under the rug in the interest of "moving forward". I say its only in the interest of "moving democrats rightward".

So, why have a corporate suck-up wannabe democrat on your show when you can have the real deal? Until we get strong, forceful, articulate leaders who are proud of liberal values and are willing to fight for honest to goodness liberal values, we'll simply get sucked along in the mushy center of the republican slip stream.

[mmonk]

43. I disagree.

Ed has supported the idea of single payer, is pro union, was for investigating the bush administration, and during the primaries, had Dennis Kucinich on for the length of his radio show to dicuss everything he stood for. Ed has earned his stripes in my eyes.

[kiva]

44. He isn't Keith and he isn't Rachel.

He's not east coast chic, not smooth, not young or trying to look young. He's been a bulldog about health care and workers' rights, and frankly I admire the fact he's willing to take on the Repugs on his show instead of surrounding himself with a bunch of like-minded sycophants.

This isn't a slam against either Keith or Rachel, they have both been excellent about getting our message out, but I often find myself watching one or the other because there's so much overlap between the two. Ed's show is distinctly different, and I suspect his audiences includes exactly the people we need to reach to gain support for our issues, people who may very well not watch the other shows.

[Odin2005]

45. Us fellow Fargo liberals love him. Hardcore populist.

EDDY!!!

[REP]

48. When I catch his show, I'm always impressed

He's pro-union - and talks about it. Yes! I've also heard him call out morons for sexism in a way that seems to indicate that he really gets that woman are people. I need to start watching his show more often, because what I've seen, I really like.

[LaPera]

49. I think Ed is doing a great job keeping the most important issue, public option in the forefront

No one else is or has (at least he does on his MSNBC TV show)...Without ones health you have nothing, as well as public option will help small businesses, the economy and everyone else in the country.

And Schultz has always been a strong supporter of workers UNIONS!