Limbaugh and Hannity: Intelligent discussion or entertainment?

I can't remember the term that Hannity and Limbaugh use - it's probably a universal term - when they play a soundbyte and then talk over it. But it's always annoyed me.

Just a second ago (3.16 pm Eastern time) I turned Hannity on for a second and he was in the process of defending Christine O'Donnell for having dabbled in witchcraft when she was in highschool (and now is a Christian fundamentalist). Both he and Rush took the same tack - she may have dabbled in witchcraft but Obama dabbled in drugs.

On the Hannity show, he played an audio excerpt of Barack Obama reading from his book Dreams From My Father, in which Obama tells that the last two years of his high school attendance were wasted years, he spent them in a daze, trying drugs enthusiastically. And while he is saying that, Hannity is making the noises of smoking a joint. And I'm thinking...why are you doing that sound effect? What purpose is that supposed to serve? And how do you even know what that sounds like???

On the Rush Limbaugh program today, Rush was playing soundbytes of Obama's answers at a town hall meeting last night. Now, I doubt if he had a teleprompter, and in each one of his answers, which lasted a couple of minutes or more...there were no "ers", or "ums". So during one of those answers, Rush was providing the "ers".

Both Hannity and Limbaugh rip Obama for saying "er" a lot - well, at least he doesn't say "you know" and "like" all the time. But this "er" business...I've heard Rush use that too, when he's having to marshall his thoughts.

And I've heard Rush use the wrong word and have to correct himself - and although sometimes he does that deliberately for a "media tweak" at other times it is actually a mispeak and he corrects himself.

That's why it's so silly to take issue with Obama for his "ers" and "ums." We all do it. There is so much about Obama to criticize, to complain about his speech pattern - especially when what you're complaining about is non-existent, just lessens your credibility.

I'll repeat this again later tonight, when Rush's transcript is up and I can share the actual quote.