Arizona

I normally post on Sundays but due to the timely nature of this week's strip I thought I should post sooner than later. A lot of blame is being thrown around in the political world which isn't surprising. People like Sarah Palin and Gabrielle Giffords's Teaparty endorsed opponent Jesse Kelly getting the brunt of it.

Since the tragic events of Tuscon, AZ I've been listening to a lot of conservative radio to see what the reactions have been. Rush Radio to be specific. I wasn't listening to make myself outraged or give myself something to become upset over, instead I was listening for what the main points being brought up were, how listeners were reacting and finally, because I'm weird, what the ads were selling.

Host talking points: most common topic was the left wing using this tragedy as a political opportunity to blame the right for rhetoric that goes beyond political discourse. The most common retort to this accusation was the left's past history of doing the same thing.

Also popular with the talk radio hosts was bringing up how the shooter was simply mentally unstable and didn't have any specific political agenda.

Side note, the local radio hosts were far more moderate in their views than the bigger names like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.
Listener talking points: very mixed bag of reactions to my surprise. Most were completely pissed off at the left wing attacks on the Teaparty and Republican leaderships. Some voiced how they weren't surprised that someone did this since the government is destroying our country as we know it and it was the only way to get politicians to listen. And others still were very moderate in their reactions and focused more on the shooting as a sign of the times in general and talked a lot about the senselessness of the young girl who was killed.

Ads: interesting to note these as they gave me the clearest idea of who Rush Radio was trying to reach. Ads about prostate health, saving for retirement and ads featuring the other hosts (Hannity, Beck, Rush) dominated the ad time.