I'm wondering if you have the same feeling I do recently. I just sent him this letter:
Thom:
I am a longtime listener who has long enjoyed your debates with the conservatives on your program. But, and I say this with all the respect I can possibly muster (and it is considerable), I think you did your guest and yourself a disservice this afternoon by trying to pick a fight where there wasn't one. To use a grammatical term, this fellow's book seemed to be more or less descriptive rather than prescriptive. He was documenting a trend he saw, not passing judgment on it, and you kept trying to tell him he should be denying it. He brings up a valid point in noting that if democracy is the will of the people, and the people are mostly religious, then how can you keep religion out of democracy? There is an answer to this - the idea that you often bring up, that we are a constitutionally *limited* democracy - but I felt that you were somewhat unable to come up with that. I felt a little like I was listening to Don Quixote, launching his attacks at windmills. The professor was not trying to fight you.
To tell the truth, I've noticed something about your interviews with conservatives of late. You never used to use the phrase "You people," and now you use it almost every day. You go into interviews these days with your mind made up that everyone is the same kind of conservative, rather than what you used to do - listening to them, letting them make their point, and then calmly and rationally shooting it down. Might I suggest that you return to this method? It was extremely engaging and made for really good radio. Maybe you're more frustrated with conservatives these days, but that's no reason to abandon the calm approach that drew me (and, I assume, listeners like me) in the process.
I remain a huge fan,
Jen in D.C.
Thoughts? I really tried to be respectful because I love Thom's show so much...