Listening to Rush Bellyache
04 November 2008 11:01 am by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
…was delicious today.
Thanks
to Senator Schumer, who went to a place that ignites wingnuts en masse.
Asked if he is a supporter of telling radio stations what content they should
have, Schumer used the fair and balanced line, claiming that critics of the
Fairness Doctrine are being inconsistent.“The very same people who don’t want the Fairness Doctrine want
the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to limit pornography on the air.
I am for that… But you can’t say government hands off in one area
to a commercial enterprise but you are allowed to intervene in another. That’s
not consistent.”In 2007, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a close ally of Democratic
presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) told The Hill, “It’s
time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine. I have this old-fashioned attitude
that when Americans hear both sides of the story, they’re in a better
position to make a decision.”Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) last year said,
“I believe very strongly that the airwaves are public and people use
these airwaves for profit. But there is a responsibility to see that both
sides and not just one side of the big public questions of debate of the day
are aired and are aired with some modicum of fairness.” [...]
Hear the caterwauling: Weekly Standard; Michelle Malkin; Gateway Pundit… and many more.
Rush doesn’t want the Fairness Doctrine because he’d have to actually work.
As has been the case for many years, Rush comes in to the EIB network, sits down,
then phones it in. There is little of the radio creativeness that made him a
star left in his show.
As for Sean Hannity and his mini-me Mark Levin, they are examples of the worst
of radio and politics. Liars, screamers and defamers who wouldn’t know a blue
collar issue if my husband Mark the Gas Technician (plumber and electrical
whiz) walked in and delivered it personally.
Alan Colmes and I got into over the Fairness Doctrine when I called him a “punk.” He remains one of the people who still does not get it, even when it comes to media consolidation, which I believe is the real issue at hand.
The Fairness Doctrine may not be the answer, but looking to radio balance,
especially on media ownership is. Reagan’s deregulation of the banking industry
worked about as well as his deregulation of the airwaves. Wealthy Republicans
benefited, with working people, communities, and minorities taking the hit.
No matter what happens going forward, Schumer made the wingnuts crazy today.
A day in which they’ll also be taking a shellacking at the polls. It’s delightful to see them squirm.
