In my opinion your reply is frankly jaw-dropping.  You are essentially saying that a person who foments bigotry and racism is not racist or bigoted!  You also say "playing on fears isn't racist or bigoted" --- if you are playing people's fears ABOUT a person's race or religion that is racist and bigoted in my book, and I reject your attempt to reduce it to simply "underhanded."

If we found some concrete proof (and I know of no such proof) that Hitler didn't give a damn about Jews, non-Jews, etc., he just needed a scapegoat to facilitate his ascendancy to power and they happen to fit into his plans perfectly; would you say he was just simply garden-variety power-hungry?  Or, would you think he was still a venal anti-semite?

There are straight people who market to gay people.  Does that make them gay?  This is no different.  This is just on the "evil" end of the spectrum.  Though my jaw dropped that you had to bring Hitler into it.  You've heard of Godwin's Law?

I there are people who market to gay people when they aren't gay.  This is no different.  This is just on the "evil" end of the spectrum. 

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So then they are marketing to racists and bigots. Just as low as being racist yourself.

Edited to add:I like Al's answer better than mine.

There was one cringe-worthy moment for me during Obama's speech.  It wasn't his fault since he was reading the speech his speech writers wrote for him.  It was when he said McCain thought the middle class was anyone making less than 5 million dollars a year.

As was pointed out a half dozen or so pages ago.  That is a complete mistruth.

I there are people who market to gay people when they aren't gay.  This is no different.  This is just on the "evil" end of the spectrum. 

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So then they are marketing to racists and bigots. Just as low as being racist yourself.

You won't get any argument from me on that.  It's bottom of the barrel.  The problem so many people seem to have is they lack the ability to look at anything without filtering it through their emotions.

Take away all emotion from the equation and in both cases it's a simple case of marketing.  That's it.  That's all it is.

The difference is in the product being marketed.  I never said it was a good thing.  I never said doing so was the right thing to do. 

Edit:  Based on your edit I'm guessing Al's at it again.  Hi Al!  The weather's fine here.

The problem with talk radio is you have these gifts - an audience, a medium, and a voice that is passable, often pleasant - and you have a responibility - fill four hours of airtime.

You can either offer valuable insights and sell red wiggler (the cadillac of worms) commercial time for a week before getting fired, or you can play to the basest of instincts and have a long and storied career.

So wait... marketing to gays is as low as marketing to racists and bigots?  Somebody around here better watch where this is going...

Tom, point out where I said that.  I never said that.  I never even slightly implied that.