Uppity Wisconsin

I generally find the concept of live-blogging inexplicable.

Why, for example, would I want to read someone blogging about a speech on television, and get their fragmented report, when I could be watching it myself?

Likewise live-blogging meetings and conventions. There's no reason to report everything that happens, like you're the secretary taking minutes. How about writing a newsy or critical item, even a brief one, when something actually happens?

Which brings us to the "live blogging" of Marquette Prof. John McAdams, making sure we get every inane comment from an appearance by rightwing radio talker Charlie Sykes at Marquette University.

WARNING: BORING MATERIAL AHEAD

The best of the uncritical professor (I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. I HAVE SPARED YOU THE WORST):

Mike Gousha does the introduction, mentioning that Sykes has written six books.

Gousha mentions that Sykes also has a talk radio show, and writes a newspaper column. Sykes replies that it all fits together -- when you start thinking about things, you can talk about it, and write about it too. Particularly, talking about it requires conciseness... (HOLD PAGE ONE!) ..

Gousha: how do you perceive your role as a talk radio host, mentioning several things.

Sykes: "all of the above." (GREAT, EXCEPT WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE.)..

Gousha, playing the devil's advocate, asks whether Sykes, when he was on the staff of Milwaukee Journal, was pressured to bias stories.

Sykes replies that reporters are not conscious of bias. They swim in a liberal sea, and don't see their own bias.

(WHAT ABOUT THAT QUESTION ABOUT WHETHER HE WAS PRESSURED TO BIAS STORIES?)

Gousha repeats the leftist claim that the media are run by rich capitalists, and thus have a conservative bias. (WHICH LEFTISTS SAY THAT?) Sykes replies that the culture in the newsroom is what drives bias.

The people who see the media as conservative, says Sykes, are Ed Garvey leftists, and people like Kevin Barrett (9/11 conspiracy theorist)... (WHILE THOSE WHO SEE IT AS LIBERAL ARE RAGING WINGNUTS)...

How Did Sykes Become a Conservative?

Sykes dad was a liberal, and campaigned for 1968 anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy. But the anti-war movement turned anti-American. Sykes ran into politically correct intolerance, and noticed that the Civil Rights movement, which had opposed racial discrimination, started to favor it. (REALLY? WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION?)

Sykes also, as a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal, noticed that the liberal social programs that were supposed to solve social problems didn't work. (UNLIKE THE RIGHT-WING SOLUTIONS, WHICH IS WHY WE NOW HAVE NO SOCIAL PROBLEMS SINCE THEY'VE BEEN IN CHARGE.) ...

Question (and accusation): do conservative talk shows have call screeners who filter out liberal views. To the contrary, says Sykes. Liberals get preference. Disagreeing callers are "gold." (HAVING BEEN SCREENED OUT MYSELF, THAT'S A LITTLE HARD TO SWALLOW.)

But enough. Too much, in fact.

Best news of all: Charlie may be getting worn out:

Much of the talk was vintage Sykes, with Charlie saying again things he was said dozens of times before. (WHICH IS WHAT MAKE THIS WORTH LIVE BLOGGING, PRESUMABLY) But we had not heard Sykes admit that he is close to "burnout" where discussing politics is concerned. He deals with it, he says, by taking long weekends. (HE AND W. DOES HE CUT BRUSH?) ...

Sympathetic questioner asks how Sykes avoids burnout.

Sykes has said he will be on the air through the 2008 election, but he makes it clear he has not committed to retiring in 2008.(THAT'S A RELIEF. WHO WOULD DO MCADAMS'S THINKING FOR HIM?)