How to win on conservative talk radio

When I go on conservative talk radio shows, I know the odds are stacked against me. The main obstacle to fair argument is that the host will always--always--interrupt as soon as I start making a good point. If I try to continue on, he'll simply talk over me and use the volume control to cut me off. (He has his hand on that volume control almost constantly for this reason.)

I don't complain. That's just how it is in conservative talk radio. They have to rig the game. The host has the right to fillibuster. I don't have the right to make a point that requires two sentences. Rules accepted.

The trick, I've learned, is to be un-interruptible. Respond with short statements and challenges that make their point right away. And then shut up--don't try to restate the point again. You can't use left hooks or combinations--you have to jab, and make each jab count.

I'm not too terribly good at it yet, but I'm learning that there are effective techniques one can employ within this style. One of my favorites is to tell the host what to do. The host doesn't want his audience to see him back down from a challenge--it makes him look weak.

Today I spent an hour on the air talking about the War on Easter with John Carlson, a conservative who has a show on the Seattle Fox News Radio affiliate. Carlson is a hyper-interrupter who often cuts in within five or six words if he's scared.

About a half-hour into the show, I had one of those dream moments: Watching a person confronted with the true nature of his god. It went something like this:

FLEMMING: God doesn't exist any more than the Easter Bunny, they're both--

CARLSON: --Hold on there! That's crazy. I can disprove the existence of the Easter Bunny. You can't disprove the existence of God.

FLEMMING: You can disprove the existence of the Easter Bunny?

CARLSON: Of course.

FLEMMING: Do it.

CARLSON: The Easter Bunny is said to do certain things. We can observe that these things are not happening. Therefore the Easter Bunny does not exist.

FLEMMING: Name one thing God does that I can observe.

Pause. From there it was anger and stammering and "But God doesn't exist in this dimension, blardy blar." I managed to get in, "Thank you for admitting that God doesn't do anything." Carlson then talked over every word I spoke until he went to commercial.

Before and after that, it was just Carlson bellowing obvious falsehoods and me struggling to keep up with them. But for a brief, shining moment, John Carlson looked like a fool in front of his audience, and that's something.

Sorry, no audio file. They don't archive the show like that. They are supposed to send me a CD. I will put up the audio if they do.