Reaganite has no time for divisive media blowhards

The Republican California political guru who crafted four successful Ronald Reagan campaigns, two for governor and two for president, does not watch Fox News or its conservative bobblehead pundits.

Why not?

Fox News has an agenda, 82-year-old Stuart Spencer said over breakfast in Palm Desert, where he and his wife make their home. Same is true of MSNBC, he said. One goes right and the other goes left, and Spencer doesn't see why those interested in educating themselves on matters of national importance would turn to either for reliable information.

Glenn Beck?

Spencer can't watch the maudlin Fox host, who blubbers over the destruction of the nation by a president he calls a racist.

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC?

Spencer wants reason, not rants. He wants substance, not smirks. He has no interest in watching one side lob grenades at the other in nightly warfare that further divides the nation along cultural and political lines.

It annoys him that Fox can't admit that Sarah Palin was a cynical and preposterous choice as a VP candidate ("she just wasn't qualified"), and MSNBC can't admit that President Obama is too reliant on government cures or that he's tall on rhetoric and short on details.

Spencer said the last time he appeared on "Hardball" with motormouth Chris Matthews, the host asked a question and then interrupted before Spencer uttered two sentences. So he's scratched that show too.

Spencer, who estimates he ran 400 political campaigns in his career, said he reads the L.A. Times and the Desert Sun, and sometimes adds the Wall Street Journal or New York Times to the daily mix.

"If I watch TV news, it's usually CNN," Spencer said. "Not that they don't have their own agenda. Or I'll watch the Jim Lehrer show for something more solid."

I knew I could count on Spencer for a good dose of common sense, and that's why I drove out to see him. It's always been clear to me that while most Americans are somewhat reasonable, a good 10% to 15% of partisans at either end of the spectrum are out of their minds. But the wackos are wackier than ever.

First it was scary people on the left who insisted 9/11 was an inside job, and now the right is carrying that flag. Then we've got those who go on believing Obama is a Muslim or a communist when he's not busy being a racist.