This one stopped me in my tracks.

Ed Morrissey, who is, in this writer’s opinion, one of the better Conservative writers out there; is now leaving the NARN, after almost nine years on the air.

Ed explains why:

So why leave? I’ve decided to take on some new pursuits, especially in catechesis and service within my faith. That will take a considerable amount of time over the next couple of years at least — and perhaps longer than that. That means I need to clear some time for myself and my family on the weekends.

I just want to go on the record and say that I, for one, enjoyed watching Ed and Mitch Berg on Saturdays. It was a nice respite from the weekly grind of writing about politics. The shows were political, but they were hardly ever mean-spirited. I can only remember one time, where Ed had to get ugly with a caller, who was a liberal and wanted to argue over something rather stupid. Ed did put the caller in his place, but he was not mean or nasty about it.

Mitch Berg is however announcing that show will go on:

As Ed noted yesterday, he’s leaving the Northern Alliance Radio Network after nearly nine years on the air.

I’ve had people ask “so what’s next?”

Lots!

For starters – I’ll probably focus a little harder on Minnesota issues.  AM1280 currently carries Bill Bennett, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Miller and Mark Levin – so we’ve got the national stuff triple-covered; Minnesota just elected two chambers of liberals in its legislature, Something’s gotta stand in the way off Minnesota becoming a cold California, a Greece with bland tan food.  If that’s us?  Well, someone’s gotta do it.

I am sure that Mitch will do well solo and I wish him the best in his new role. But, for this Democrat turned Independent Conservative; it just will not be the same.

The reason I write this is because of the following:

Way back in the early part of 2007, I had written for just about a year as skeptical left of center type. Anyhow, I had found myself in a crisis. I had decided that the Democratic Party was simply not, where I wanted to be anymore. The Party’s disrespect of the Military, the thought that Homosexuality was somehow normal; the idea that the killing unborn children was simply a-okay. All of these things conflicted with my Christian Faith. This, together with the economic meltdown that took place later that year, were the deciding factors in me changing my politics in a very big way.

Anyhow, I casually started listening to Ed and Mitch on Saturday’s. I also would listen and watch Ed’s show during the week too. I did not always agree with everything that was said, I still don’t!  Ed also knew about me, and my background. Never once did he ever try to run me off; he let me hang around and you know what? I am an Independent Conservative today because of that. I will always be grateful for kindness Ed showed me, despite my background. There are a few bloggers out there, on both sides, that could stand to learn a few lessons from Mr. Morrissey.

Again, I wish Mitch the best, but I will always miss that little show on Saturdays.