Mark, My in-laws are retired and very liberal Democrats. The hardest part about arguing with them (as I've said here before) is that I have to educate them on the issue first.

They only asked three questions for the High Knowledge part: who the Sec. of State was, who the Pres. of Russia was, and who controls the House.

I mean, I'm happy Rush's number blows NPR and the Daily Show away, but I don't know that this ends a "myth." I may know what I'm talking about when it comes to Lincoln, I may know, but I really don't want to get caught by an analytic philosopher who is Lefty - as most in academe are - on the nature of consciousness or what it may mean to be human.

I guess that as a 24/7 subscriber to Rush's site, I am in good company. Of course I already knew that.

Congratulations to Rush for 18 great years of broadcasting excellence!!! And since Rev iis a 24/7 subcriber too, I KNOW I'm in good company. DITTOS!

All of the sudden you like polls?

What a load of crap!

Mark, where is your usual “survey bias” rant, because if there was a survey finding that needed that label, it is this one.

Do you know how they measured “knowledge”? They asked only three questions, and here are those three questions:
Which party has a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives
Name of the current U.S. Secretary of State
Name of the current president of Russia (Vladimir Putin).

Gee, I wonder how come republicans score higher than Democrats on a three question test where the questions are about the republican party (Putin is an honorary member, I looked into his soul and saw it)?

Thanks for the info Barney. Save a lot of us time looking it up.

On the other hand CSPAN has no one with talent on loan from G*d broadcasting.

Give me Jim Lehrer anyday.

Has it really been 18 YEARS since since Rush started broadcasting?? Wow, I suddenly feel very old.

Which party has a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives

Libs think they do...

Name of the current U.S. Secretary of State

Libs thought that to be a trick question, answering, "How do I know who issues my license plates?"

Name of the current president of Russia

Libs say, "Lenin? Stalin? ..."

The results were likely skewed alright - Libs were instantly weeded out and put in the category dumb jackasses. They would listen to Air America if it came to their city and somebody showed them how to operate an FM tuner. With Babs Boxer, Nancy "bug-eyes" Pelosi, and Harry "Mommy, he's looking at me" Reid as the leaders of the left, no wonder they test out somewhere between a pile of rocks and a bag of used sawdust.

It is quite sad that so many Americans of all persuasions were not able to properly answer those three questions.

Those three questions however are no way to determine the intelligence of individuals.

Funny enough though that Fox news listeners were near the bottom of the list and individuals who listen to religous radio shows were the worst group of all. Shocking.

You said...

Those three questions however are no way to determine the intelligence of individuals.

but then you said...

Funny enough though that Fox news listeners were near the bottom of the list and individuals who listen to religous radio shows were the worst group of all. Shocking.

Contradict yourself much? I think I know where you would have come out on the survey. I'll also bet you don't listen to El Rushbo. It shows.

Oh yeah, Mark is being a hypocrite once again.

One day he hates all polls, then he tells us that polls are only useful for trends, now he loves this non trend based poll (at least the portion singled out here). He even concludes that this poll is FACT.

Funny enough though that Fox news listeners were near the bottom of the list and individuals who listen to religous radio shows were the worst group of all. Shocking.

Are you really shocked Broke?

BTW can you leave a link to this report? Thanks, Ash

Rev Saca****:

Thanks for feeding the trolls. :)

It's funny. My sister is a Smith and Harvard grad. She was interviewing recently for a Federal job and they asked her if she knew who the Speaker of the House was. She didn't.

I knew, and several Republican friends I asked knew. Funny how this story puts it in context.

To quote Marvin the Android... "It gives me a headache just thinking down to your level."

No contradiction on my part. I referenced my last statement as being FUNNY, hoping that would make you realize I don't take this poll as a fact.

Mark tries to use this poll to show that conservatives are smarter than liberals why ignoring all the other conservative based media represented in the poll. I was merely pointing out his lack of mentioning that.

I don't think those three questions can represent the intelligence of any individual. Anyway, it is only based on all three questions being answered correctly. How many people answered the first two correct and the last wrong from each group, etc. Even then it doesn't really prove anything. There are obviously smart and dumb people from all political viewpoints.

And no I do not listen to Rush. I would listen some if my building allowed me to pick up AM signals, but it doesn't so I really have no opportunity to. I used to listen years ago purely for amusement sake. Rush is a lot like this website, more interested in being controversial to make money than any real belief in any of the words spoken.

Link to main page of poll

Link to PDF of questions in the poll

The questions to determine one's intelligence are Q52F1 through Q54F1, a little past half way down the document.

Brokeback,

Where in there do I say we're smarter than liberals? I only point out that according to this Pew survey, Rush listeners were more knowledgable than, say, NPR listeners.

Think about that - you can say what you want about the survey, but anyone who claims to take an interest in current affairs knows who the Secretary of State is, who the President of Russia is and who holds the majority in the US House. These are not esoteric questions such as "what was the Grand Remonstrance against Charles I?" or "what was the Wilmont Proviso?". These are basic - and that the clearly more liberal observers fell flat on them betrays their lack of attention to what is really going on.

You've got your theories, we have our reality...

To say that Rush listeners are more knowledgable than NPR listeners based on those three questions is ludicrous. But if you insist on holding on to it, consider this: the same organization The Pew Survey give Bush an approval rating of 33%

Mark, according to the pdf, the questions were asked to 100 responders. That is a very small sample size, and when the results were cross tabulated by media preferences, you are looking a whole lot of sample size error. These results are not statically valid.

Also, since I listen to Rush almost every day and watch the Daily Show every night, my results would be included under both measurements, so am I conservative?

Mark,

Since your talking about smarts, lets get some things right.

1. All of us, Republicans and Dems, should be ashamed at these results.

2. Nowhere in this poll does it talk about quantities. You claim that this poll shows that more Republicans are knowledgeable than Democrats. Yet this poll does not address the number of viewers, readers, or listeners of each subject. For example, a relatively small-circulation subject, such as Weekly Standard, scores 50%. This is far surpassed in pure numbers by the 30% of widely read daily newspapers. (Which, incidentally, we all know trend liberal.)

3. These questions are pretty meaningless. Getting these three wrong surely proves you're not paying attention, but getting them right does not prove that you are.

4. The larger unanswered question is: where are Repubs and Dems getting their news? If a majority of Republicans are getting their news from Fox and from religious radio, then we've all got some problems.

I listen to Rush almost every day

I don't know about your political label Barney, but I will give you credit for having a strong stomach.

Rush has alot of good points on his show. I listen from time to time. He also speaks alot of crap that simply isn't true. I don't really take pill-popping, parole violating criminals all too seriously.

NPR listeners could be listening to music all day long. Or they could be turning in to hear interviews with bands. Was this specifically NPR news?

This is what I hate about rush. All those damn ads. I can't stand it. No other talk show host except maybe Hannity has so many ads for such a long period of time. That damn sleep number bed is nothing but a cheap air mattress covered in foam. There is no way any damn radio host is on one of those stupid beds.

One day I was so mad that I clocked it and there were 28 minutes of ads for every 32 minutes of talk!

All those damn ads.

Become a 24/7 subscriber and download his show as a podcast. You can set it up to happen automatically so you have to do nothing but listen when you feel like it. No commercials at all. None. And you can listen to it whenever you want. You don't even get the bumper music. Just the show sans ads.

steveGA,

RE: "If a majority of Republicans are getting their news from Fox and from religious radio, then we've all got some problems."

If by "WE" you mean liberals... then let's hope you get even more problems. I do all I can to encourage everyone I can to watch or listen to Fox News and listen to Rush Limbaugh! The more the better...

I do wish Fox News would stop trying to be so fair and balanced though. I would like them to stop inviting those liberals on to regurgitate their views. I can get all of those view I want by listening to the other networks!

We sure could use a REAL 100% Conservative news service and cable network!!!

AAR

Posted by Barneyg2000,

RE: "...I listen to Rush almost every day..."

I find that highly unlikely; although, many liberals do listen.

Take your ear plugs out next time and concentrate!

AAR

Whenever Hannity does his Man on the Street interviews and asks similar questions, most of the people who get all wrong said they voted for Kerry. Gotta be some truth in that poll.

I do wish Fox News would stop trying...

Two talking heads that Fox could do without are that dingbat Susan Estrich whose only claim to fame is that she worked on the disasterous Dukakis campaign, and the limp-wristed Colmes, who never met a terrorist he didn't envy.

To all you liberals, Ash,Barney,etc,etc,etc.

I don't care what ANY of you say about Rush, your all a bunch of crazy people!!

You despise him because he tells the truth!!, and he does'nt put up with your non-sense!!

I have been listening to Rush for many years now, and he is very knoweldgable on how to fix the many mess-ups that you guys have created!!

It's all about your hatred, You hate the conservatives, you hate the president, you hate the Christians, You hate ANYONE who tells the truth, and you always try to turn the truth into something that it is NOT!!, There's not even a trace of truth in you liberals, so much hypocrisy, really truly PATHETIC!!, Really! Is that not one of the ten commandments?!, Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighor, Huh?,Huh?! Isn't it? Come on!, tell the truth?

Where's the bipartisanhip you libs?!!

Where's the kind words of fellow workmanship? where's the the trustworthy handshake?, after a long hard job well done!!

No, you liberals don't want to accept anything that has to do with truth or good!, You snub your noses, and shrug your shoulders, and turn your back, to the very thing that will set you free and that is TRUTH!!

And as far as WIT is concerned? well, Rush has you all you liberals beat, TEN TO ONE!!, and I can guarantee you!, Rushs knowledge has stuck with many, if not the MOST of the American people!!, Because he tells it like it is, He's like the president, He's not afraid to tell you libs where to go and how to do it!!, he's like a whale in the ocean, and you liberals are like, little schools of tuna or shrimps, he swallows you all up! hahahahaha!:-D

Give em heck, Rush!! You da man!!

Jeremiah

Rev,

RE: "Two talking heads that Fox could do without are that dingbat Susan Estrich whose only claim to fame is that she worked on the disastrous Dukakis campaign, and the limp-wristed Colmes, who never met a terrorist he didn't envy."

Bingo! I couldn't agree more! I don't even like to hear them talk.

AAR

Glad to hear the good news for Rush....Yes, this poll is just a "snapshot" in a point in time but it does speak volumes not just about the "content" of conservative programs but the "quality" of them as well. Conservatives aren't just knowledgeable, they are more entertaining than their counterpart "progressives"! :) I think more "libs" listen to Rush than they would want to admit - not because they enjoy the content but they simply enjoy listening to a very capable and talented host.:)

I have no way of knowing how much knowledge Rush Limbaugh's listeners do or don't have but I do know they are constantly being fed lies and distortions. The site below documents just a few of the lies and distortions Rush has said on his show or wrote in his book:

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1895

Morphie....anyone that says they listen to Rush and then says that a lot of what he says is simply not true..just has no credibility whatsoever!!!!
I don't suppose you could be specific???
and oh, parole violater?? WTH are you talking about?

Brian,

You cite a 1992 story from a liberal organization that claims to show 42 errors...

From Wikipedia -- "Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a liberal media watchdog group, released a report on March 8, 1992 listing forty-three errors Limbaugh allegedly made during various shows. Limbaugh responded to about half of the original claims; FAIR then rebutted his rebuttal, followed by another rebuttal to the rebuttal. Critics such as L. Brent Bozell's Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog group, have noted that FAIR is liberal and partisan."

Other news organizations should be so lucky! Rush claims to have a better than a 98.5% accuracy rate. From what I have heard on his show, and having listened to many news sources, I would say that his accuracy is at least that good or even better. Now, you may not like Rush's opinion or analysis of that news, but what liberal would?

And how many times a week do you listen to Rush Limbaugh? None!

Try listening a few times and hear for yourself. You will get a lot of news on many different issues -- even sports. On Friday's, listeners are welcome to call in and talk about any subject they wish. Many liberals listen and call in to express their opinions and try to trip Rush up. Maybe you will be sharp enough to catch him speechless!

If you find an error, call in and tell Rush about it. If it is actually an error, you will find that Rush will acknowledge the error and correct it. If on the other hand, you are just disagreeing with Rush's analysis or opinion of facts, that's a different story, but Rush will still be more than happy to discuss your opinion. And with more than 20,000,000 listeners, where else is a liberal going to get the chance to talk to that many people and express their own opinions -- certainly not on any liberal talk show. (Are there any of those liberal talk shows still on the air?)

I would suggest that anyone tuning into Rush for the first time listen for at least two or three weeks before deciding if they like his show or not. Some may not like what they may consider his occasional arrogance, but just ignore that -- Rush has earned that right! You will learn many things you don't know and won't hear from other news organizations. You many learn to think about things differently... or just learn to think! Once you learn how Conservatives are thinking about the issues, you will be in a better position to formulate your own liberal counter arguments!

Rush is on each weekday from noon 'til 3:00 P.M. Eastern -- check the local stations in your area. You can also check Rush's Website at "www.rushlimbaugh.com" to find your local station as well as read or listen to a few of the day's topics.

Encourage all of your friends and relatives to listen too -- liberal or conservative.

AAR

Just a quick post to free my earlier post from B4B limbo-land where it currently resides -- IF I don't get another blue/black error screen trying!!!

AAR