Strident Conservatives -- Wally George

Then there was Wally George, an arrogant loud mouth from Orange County who loved to trash his guests, then throw them off the stage. He was a hit in the Early 1980s, riding the waves of the Reagan Revolution, which was a severe backlash to the feckless liberalism of the 1970s.

He spent more time shaming his guests -- a number of which were revealed as hired hands set to be destroyed in a public forum. There were also a number of real guests, too, some of who commanded a great deal of respect, including the now-deceased fashion designer Richard Blackwell.

He promoted the conservative line consistently, pushing against abortion, gay rights, pacifism. He was a national and social conservative, although his economic views remained relatively unknown.

Self-title "The Father of Combat TV", Wally George was a hit for a short while, then health problems limited his outreach. Toward the end of his life, he would issue passable commentary, a shell of the man that he used to be.

He was an angry guy, mostly because he was a down-and-out fellow who always saw himself taking on the world:

From a People Magazine profile:

"I'm a nice guy until someone presses the wrong button. Then I just blow up. I've had arguments in restaurants—violent shouting matches. It's been my handicap in life."

No, the fault is not with Conservatism per se, but with the personality of a man who found a comfortable niche trashing people. In the 1980's, Reagan's Conservatism was widespread and easily popular. It was easy to pick on liberals, marginalized by Carter's anemic failure of a Presidency and worsened by Walter Mondale's abortive run in 1984.