Me and Ed Shultz at this morning's brunch before the show this afternoon.

Radio talk show host Ed Schultz came to Asheville today. Naturally, I was there.

I was on Ed’s radio show a few months after my son died, telling his story, and Ed called me back the next day to talk more.

Thanks to Health Care for America Now, I was booked onto his television show a month before the health care bill was passed.

I adore Ed because he was one of the only people in the media to keep talking about health reform when everyone else thought there was no possibility of anything passing.

He talked day after day about the immorality of our system and the need for reform. He was relentless.

I got to thank him on national radio today.

During a break, Ed told us about his conversion from conservative to liberal, and about how he feels a moral obligation to tell the truth as so much of the media is owned by conservative corporations. Ed is a man who’s usually rather brash and boisterous, but he was very soft-spoken as he talked about his mission, and about how he feels called to do this.

Big Eddie is a mush. I saw him weep after hearing a story about a young mother of twins who’s a half-million dollars in debt because her insurance company cancelled her policy without telling her when she developed problems in her pregnancy.

This afternoon, he asked how many of us wanted to see the photos of a deal bin Laden; most of us said no, and he laughed. He talked about why President Obama deserves credit for the slaying of bin Laden, obviously amused that Obama did in three years what Bush couldn’t do in seven.

It was a great afternoon. Several of us in the audience talked afterward about how his energy exhausted us. He’s funny, he’s smart, and I’m really glad he’s there for us.