I received this letter last night after the show:

I was listening today (Sunday, Aug 19-WSB) when David from San Francisco called about health care and corporate “guilt.” My question,”Why are you so nice to economic and historical illiterates like David?” The man is listening to Ralph Nader and Michael Moore? Please. He has obviously been thoroughly misled and lacks reason, among his other characteristics. I guess when one is making a fool of himself you might as well let him do it. On the other hand, you could have taken that opportunity to educate listeners who might have similar ideas.

Thanks for writing. My feeling is that I don’t really want to host one of those angry, screaming talk shows. I don’t think a lot gets accomplished that way. I’d rather be nice and just let people have their say for 30 or 60 seconds, with the hope that they’re going to say something smart. (By the way, I am rarely disappointed by what my listeners or Clark’s listeners have to say).

I don’t know if you caught the top of the hour, but Earl had a mouthful to say about the idea that Medicare is going to try to reduce hospital errors by refusing to pay for mistakes. He was literally screaming about it — but he made some good points.

Finally, you have to understand how a radio talk show works. People call in and tell my producer, Crystal Wheeler, what they want to say. She then types it into a computer screen so I can see it. I then take the calls based on what they’ve told Crystal they want to say. If someone then starts saying something else, I have the option of simply cutting them off (which I try not to do) or listening to them to see if they make any sense at all, or if there is actually a question lost in the verbage.

Quite often, people ask questions entirely different from those they’ve told Crystal they want to ask — I think it’s because it’s kind of new and scary to come on a radio show and people get a little startled. Earl, for example, seemed in perfect control to Crystal, but as he started to talk, he got all worked up.

To me, that’s the beauty and fun about hosting a radio show. I’m glad you tuned in yesterday. Thanks for joining us.

Aug. 20, 2007.