WSJ:

Sticks and stones may break bones, but right-wing words are killing American politics, according to Bill Press in “Toxic Talk.” Mr. Press charges Rush Limbaugh and other conservative radio talk-show hosts with employing ugly rhetoric, dirty tactics and outright lies to build their audiences and advance their political agendas. In the process, he argues, the radio talkers have coarsened the political debate and diminished opportunities for bipartisanship. They are, in short, “destroying our democratic process.”
“Toxic Talk” tries to buttress this indictment by quoting extensively from allegedly offensive material uttered by various national and local broadcasters. But much of what Mr. Press, who hosts a liberal radio talk show, characterizes as hateful, venomous or deceitful is really just opinion— sharply stated for maximum provocation, to be sure—that doesn’t gibe with his own world-view. Is it really beyond the pale, as he alleges, to refer to the influx of illegal immigrants as “an invasion”? Or to hope that President Obama fails to implement his policy agenda if you consider that agenda a disaster waiting to happen? Or to theorize that liberal women dislike Sarah Palin because she’s pretty?
Still, as “Toxic Talk” reminds us, some conservative hosts do make cringe-inducing statements. There’s Michael Savage declaring that autism isn’t a real medical condition; Neal Boortz dismissing the poorest victims of Hurricane Katrina as “parasites” who should be denied the right to vote; and former Tampa talk host Mark Larsen broadcasting in blackface the day after Mr. Obama’s 2008 election victory. “Toxic Talk” also spotlights how some hosts, happy to dish out the criticism, don’t take it very well, lashing out at detractors or hiding behind the disingenuous “I’m just an entertainer” defense when they’re caught stepping over the line.
Of course, such behavior isn’t the exclusive province of the right. Mr. Press weakens his case by ignoring or glossing over comparable sins made by progressive talk-show hosts and media figures. Liberal radio host Randi Rhodes recently aired a song parody that repeatedly calls Mr. Limbaugh, among other things, a Nazi. (Mr. Press says that she is “colorful” and “convincing.”)

The rest here.