This article comparing Rush Limbaugh to bloggers really annoys me. I wouldn't post if I simply thought the author Dr. David Hill were wrong in his conclusion, but I find his arguments deeply stupid. For example:

Rush is almost always armed for his shows with reams of data and analysis from a wide variety of news and information sources. [...] By comparison, many bloggers’ preparations for their stream-of-consciousness commentaries seem limited to reading the ruminations of other bloggers and scanning Internet news.

This quote illustrates the first time where Dr. Hill compares the most successful talk-radio host ever to an unnamed cohort of "stream-of-consciousness" bloggers. Sure, some bloggers don't prepare before they blog. I'm sure some unsuccessful radio hosts don't, either. Dr. Hill does the same thing comparing Rush Limbaugh's production technique to the Web designs of "most bloggers... Few seem to care about the principles of effective Web design. Some even seem to consider the primitive style of their blogs a badge of honor. " And some have incredibly good Web design despite the Web's serious usability drawbacks.

He does it a third time: "Some bloggers use humor effectively to punctuate their commentaries; few exhibit Limbaugh’s comedic skill, timing and wit. " Well if a few bloggers do exhibit Limbaugh's comedic skill, timing (on a blog?) and wit, then isn't it possible that bloggers overall are comparable to talk-show radio speakers overall?

Then the howler: "Fourth, Limbaugh builds bonds with his audience. He provides enough details about his personal life that loyal listeners know something about his parents, brother, wife..." Ok, enough. This guy clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. We've even seen pictures of the Instawife and we know the day-to-day progress of Lilek's darling Gnat.

Dr. Hill concludes with "The bloggers have a lot of work to do to catch up with or surpass Limbaugh’s excellence in broadcasting and political communications." First, this conclusion but also the whole piece makes me wonder if Dr. Hill didn't get the article written for him by a Limbaugh publicist, it has that kind of all-positive feel. But with respect to the content of the conclusion: Although "broadcasting" isn't exactly what bloggers do -- it's more like publishing -- give them a few years. After all, Rush, and talk radio as a whole, has had a bit of a head start.