Thom Hartmann Appreciation Thread

[WiffenPoof]

The more I listen to Thom the more I appreciate his incredible knowledge, insight and historical perspectives. I'm starting to get to the point where I don't miss a single episode. Anyone else here feel the same way???

-PLA

[northoftheborder]

1. I enjoy his writings more than his shows.

[madrchsod]

2. yes ! thom is the best...

and he posts here!


he`s even live on friday afternoon just for us folks in the chicagoland area

[WiffenPoof]

3. I Had No Idea....

...that he posted here. Very cool!

-PLA

[whathehell]

17. I guess you're not going to tell us

his handle, right?:P

[Lochloosa]

50. That one is easy. It's thomhartmann. He post his videos in the Political Videos forum.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=568977&mesg_id=568977

[whathehell]

52. Well, shuck my shoes!

[kag]

4. His piece on the Boston Tea Party...

is not to be missed. He is truly one of the smartest people on radio/tv today. Right up there with Rachel, Lawrence, David Sirota, and I'm sure I'm missing some others. So proud to have them on our side.

[whathehell]

5. The best progressive talker on radio, in my opinion.

Incredibly bright with an encyclopedic knowledge

of history and virtually Everything.

He is humorous and compelling without ranting.

A rare example of "A first class mind and a first class temperment"

which may be why he so often wins Talker of the Year

[WiffenPoof]

6. THAT IS EXACTLY...

...how I feel about him. He is so well read especially when it comes to history.

I'm glad that he is on our side as well.

-PLA

[bahrbearian]

7. k&r

[handmade34]

8. Hi Thom

:hi: I remember Okemos Michigan... thanks for the positive energy!

[white_wolf]

9. Am I the only who thinks Thom should have gotten

Keith's spot when he left?

[JDPriestly]

29. No. You are not. white_wolf.

[jillan]

31. + a million zillion gazillion!

[bahrbearian]

53. He should get Tweetys spot now.

[jillan]

54. YES! Tweety has overstayed his welcome.

[get the red out]

10. The guy is brilliant

I was totally ignorant before listening to him. A small bit less ignorant now.

[abq e streeter]

11. One of those rare people .I don't just enjoy his shows, but always will learn something from him too

[EFerrari]

15. If I can't learn anything from a show, it's not really worth watching.

Thom always has something to offer that is new and central.

[abq e streeter]

18. Guess i should have clarified more....I learn from all progressive media that I pay attention to

but sometimes, it's just a case of having someone being eloquent etc at reiterating and reinforcing something I believed or already knew. Thom goes a step beyond in that there's always something I didn't know and/or completely understand before.

[EFerrari]

19. I was just chiming in.

:)

[abq e streeter]

23. Me too. But you made a good point about listening/reading to learn something

:hi:

[hifiguy]

12. It is impossible to listen to the man and not learn something

He's the best there is at what he does.

[mochajava666]

13. He has been highly critical of Obama, so he would be labeled

as a Palin supporter around here.

He is one of the few people in the media that realize that the beginning of the end was when Reagan got elected.

I love his show, and his insight.

He also has a sense of history that is almost entirely lacking at DU.

[hwmnbn]

14. K&R

[seabeyond]

16. i like hartmann. he needs to quit putting same video on repeatedly. i keep hitting to listen,

thinking it is a new one and it is one i have listened to, and made same mistake three times.

one thread. people listen or not.

but it becomes obnoxious with more than one of the same old....

this is someone that likes listening to him while i cook.

[lunatica]

20. Every time I listen to him my IQ goes up

[bobbolink]

21. Mr. Hartmann, my appreciation is that I would appreciate you doing some real education about

poverty, and not only repeating "middleclass" over and over and over.

There are so many facts about poverty that "progressives" don't know, and you would be doing a big service in bringing those facts to the foreground.

Thank you.

[abq e streeter]

24. As a big fan of Mr. Hartman, I still have to agree with you

and this is something I've noticed from almost all of our Democratic politicians in recent decades. The endless repetition of the words "middle class" which is valid enough; they are getting screwed big time too, but there has been a disappointing, to say the least, absence of references to the poor, and to working on their behalf .

[bobbolink]

25. Thank you! Being invisible is worse than being hated. I really wish there were enough

"progressives" who recognized what you are seeing, to PUSH them to bring the issues to the forefront. The ignorance abounds, and there is so much they could do to educate people and stimulate action, but they don't.

On my worse days, it feels like a conspiracy, the silence is so profound.

Have you ever heard Elie Wiesel's speech he delivered at the Clinton White House?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLsi1OV8GA0

I hope you will listen to it... it spells out the violence that is done when a group of people are totally ignored and invisible.

The parallels to history should be obvious.

Thank you! :yourock:

[white_wolf]

34. I have a theory as to their rationale for that.

Basically from what I've heard a lot of poor people don't vote, which when you have to work 2 or more jobs to get by and are worrying about food, healthcare, and such, you don't really have time to think about politics. My typical response to that is simply that no candidate represents the poor, I bet if you had a single congressmen who got up and talked about the suffering and injustices faced by the poor, who are by definition even worse off than the middle class, the poor would vote, but as it is they have no candidate, so who can blame them for not voting? Of course, that could be wrong so please don't think that statement is meant as an attack.

[bobbolink]

38. THAT again. Just think about that assumption for one minute. (it is actually a RW smear).

Do you remember the "voter fraud" stuff, especially of the '04 campaign?

Do you remember the missing and malfunctioning voting machines?

Do you remember what precincts those missing and malfunctioning machines were in?

That's right... the inner cities. The poor areas. Why was that?

Because those people VOTE, and they VOTE DEMOCRATIC.

Do you remember what those poor and Democratic voters did? It was all over DU at the time.

They stood in line for 3 hours, 5 hours, 7 hours and even more.

Can we now please put to rest this smear that poor people don't vote?

However, as you so astutely point out, when poor people are ignored, and there is nobody who is actually courting their votes, and the ones they voted for turn around and ignore them, then... of course..... they eventually wise up and figure what the hell... why stand in line for hours for someone who is going to ignore me?

It's called SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY.

Now, compound that with the "progressive" media ignoring poor people, and what is left for us?

Be honest... if you were ignored like this, would you keep jumping through all the hoops to vote for someone who doesn't even know you exist? Be HONEST.

SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY.

[white_wolf]

41. First of all

I am sorry for the comment on people not voting. As I said I could be wrong, and it seems I am. I apologize. As to your second point, I completely agree with you, Progressives both in Congress and the media ignore the poor and it is wrong. Honestly, I don't blame them one bit if they did tell the dems to go jump of a cliff, it is clear the democrats don't care about the poor. I for one, am sick of it. I've often said no one should have millions while a single person goes hungry, homeless, or without clothes, or whatever they need, in this country. It is morally wrong. On a brief positive note, Ed did mention the poor on his show today in regards to the MLK. He basically said the Republicans are trying to destroy everyone middle class and poor both, and it is wrong.

[bobbolink]

42. Really? Schultz? *That* Ed? You do know that it is no longer April Fools, right?

Right after Katrina, Ed made the horribly tasteless comment about those left in NOLA at the Arena. He basically said that anyone who didn't leave was stupid.

He never did grasp the fact that SOME PEOPLE HAD NO CHOICES. I wrote him an angry email, which of course he never responded to, and that was it for me. I'd had it. He does nothing but talk about the middleclass ALL the time.

So, this really surprises me. Maybe some of you actually got through to him? I wish all of you would... I wish you would all call in/write in to these shows, and remind them that there are those of us who are being shunted aside and ignored.

Actually, an exercise that I thought would be instructive was for many of you to take a day (or preferably a week), and pay attention to the "progressive" media you watch/hear. Keep track of how many times they say "poor" or "poverty" and how many times they say "middleclass". I think it would be instructive to you.

Would you do that?

[white_wolf]

43. I'll do that.

Honestly though, I can already tell you, I don't hear it very often. As for Ed, I don't know much about his past shows, I just started watching him, though if he did say that then he really needs to wake up and realize we cant' all be as rich as him. I do agree with you that the ignoring of the poor is criminal and we need to address that issue. I'm glad your one this site, because you really brought it to my attention since as you point out, the media doesn't cover it.

[bobbolink]

44. Thank you! Your words mean a lot to me... you have definitely brightened my day!

See if you can get a few people to do that with you, and then please report on it, would you?

There are media groups that get counts of stuff, but nobody has done one on this. Again, we just aren't that important.

And, if you hear anybody mention the cuts to low-income housing (besides *me*, of course), please let me know. This administration loves homeless people so much, it wants to create more of us.

I very much appreciate you, and your willingness to hear, and accept new thoughts. That makes you a rather rare bird, indeed. :applause:

I can tell you that poor people definitely feel this being bypassed and ignored, and that it not only hurts, it is frightening. We know we don't have support on our side, so all those cuts will go through.

Again, thanks... :yourock:

[white_wolf]

45. No, I should be thanking you. You helped me learn something.

You know what I really don't get about the poor and conservatives? They are the ones who most claim to be Christians, they should love you all and hate the rich. Didn't Jesus say "Blessed are the poor?" Oh I guess that verse is a bit inconvenient for them.

[bobbolink]

46. Well, if you really want to go crazy over that, take a close look at Matthew 25 sometime.

I can't remember right now the precise verses, but it talks about "As you do unto the least of these, so you do unto me."

But, that is just the beginning. It doesn't stop at telling us what we are supposed to do.

It goes on to say, That. Is. How. We. Will. Be. JUDGED. So, for those fire-and-brimstone people, you would think that would be a definite heads up. :shrug:

I don't know if you ever heard Jim Wallis speak. He talks about when he was in seminary, he and some other seminary students took a bible and cut out all the references to poverty. He says what was left was "swiss cheese". In fact, his group, SOJO, has a Peace And Justice bible, with the appropriate references.

Then, just before the Dem convention in Denver in '08, I heard Tony Campolo speak (he and Wallis were there for the convention). He teaches at a seminary, and said that one day he came into class and loudly asked "Do you know how many people died of starvation while you were sleeping last night?" There was a bored silence.

He gave the number.. the thousands, but I don't remember the number.

Bored silence.

"Thousands of people died of hunger while you were sleeping, and you don't give a shit!"

Suddenly alert class.

"What's worse, you're more upset that I just now said "Shit" than you are about the thousands who died of hunger!!"

We not only gave him a standing O... it was thunderous applause, and people were stamping their feet and yelling, too. THAT was a time when I felt like I belonged! Its not often that poor people get a chance to feel like we belong.

Thanks for listening.... it really does mean a lot! :pals:

[JitterbugPerfume]

22. Thom Hartmann is brilliant

I admire his sense of history

K&R

[annabanana]

26. It is "must hear" radio. . . . . n/t

[JSK]

27. Thom is the best ever.

Every time I want to jump off a bridge I think of him saying, "Despair is not an option."

[JDPriestly]

28. WiffenPoof, you are so right!

[Cleita]

30. I luvs me my Thom and can't get enough of him.

:loveya:

[BumRushDaShow]

32. K&R

And glad that he is a member of DU! :applause:

[butterfly77]

33. Kicked&Recommended...

[davidthegnome]

35. K & R

Love Hartmann.

[FormerDittoHead]

36. Both he and Mike Malloy on "IE America" were responsible for my "turn around"

At the time, IE America was the equivalent of two juice cans with string back in the day, but those two men guided me out of years of being a conservative.

Thank you, Mr. Hartmann.

[white_wolf]

37. Since your a former Rush listener

I'm sure the difference between the two is night and day for you. I bet it was a shock when you first heard Thom have an opponent to debate on his show. I know it was for me and I grew up hating Rush, but assumed all talk radio was like his show.

[SnoopDog]

39. Mr. Hartman - absolutely one of the best...

[tnlefty]

40. I've enjoyed Mr. Hartmann since I bought his book

regarding ADHD. I've purchased more books since, I listen to him almost everyday. I do have to change the radio (XM) channel when he has the guests from the Independent Women's Forum and Dan, from the Pickens group.

Love ya Thom, and Louise and a major hat tip to the crew. :hug:

[democracy1st]

47. K & R

[Quantess]

48. Thom Hartmann is on when I drive to work .

Love the show! :hi:

[mooseprime]

49. TH is a living national treasure of the U.S. n/t

[Lochloosa]

51. And don't miss his Town Hall Meeting every Friday with Senator Sanders.

He is on the first hour of the show. Highly entertaining.

[disillusioned73]

55. Here, here!!

I try to catch as much as I can while @ work..:dem: