Fairness
By Mitch Berg
Camille Paglia – no conservative, she – sums up the absurdity of Dem proposals to reinstate the “Fairness” Doctrine.
For starters,they just don’t “get” radio (emphasis sparingly added):
Radio is a populist medium where liberals come across as snide, superior scolds. One can instantly recognize a liberal caller to a conservative show by his or her catty, obnoxious tone. The leading talk radio hosts are personalities and entertainers with huge rhetorical energy and a bluff, engaging manner…The best hosts combine a welcoming master of ceremonies manner with a vaudevillian brashness. Liberal imitators haven’t made a dent on talk radio because they think it’s all about politics, when it isn’t. Top hosts are life questers and individualists who explore a wide range of thought and emotion and who skillfully work the mike like jazz vocalists.
I’ll cop to “Mick Jagger”.
Talk radio is a major genre of popular culture that deserves the protection accorded to other branches of the performing and fine arts. Liberals, who go all hushed and pious at Hays Code censorship in classic Hollywood, should lay off the lynch-mob mentality. Keep the feds out of radio!
The liberal response is “But President Obama isn’t pushing the Fairness Doctrine”.
I answer “he’s not President for five more days, and it doesn’t matter; the Democrat leadership in Congress is, and I doubt Obama would waste a veto to protect Conservative talk.
In any case, all of us who’ve spent decades fighting – and lately, winning – the battle for the Second Amendment can tell you; liberty takes eternal watchfulness.
So we watch.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:28 am
“Radio is a populist medium where liberals come across as snide, superior scolds”
Right – because they think issues are more than skin deep – but hey, neo-cons are snide, superior scolds… nope.
“Blacks vote for liberals because liberals dupe them with welfare..”
“Liberals are too stupid to get how supply/demand work”
Yeah.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Just curious — who are you quoting, Peev? Did Limbaugh say those things? Or Mitch? Or was it that straw man you’re so fond of thrashing?
January 15th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I think Mister “I have absolutely no clue what a ‘neo-con’ is” is trying to be snide, superior, and “more than skin deep”. Unsuccessfully.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:09 am
I know, what we need MORE of is BS artists like Limbaugh telling us how liberals are so stupid – they don’t get simple things, like economics.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/14/business/main4721395.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories
Yup. Sure don’t get it – hand the money upward and they’ll ‘create jobs’ – sadly however, not in the US.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Troy – I have a pretty freakin good idea what a neo-con is.
A neo-con is a:
1. Selfish
2. Condescending
3. Hyper-moralist for other people
4. Hyper-militarist with other people’s kids
5. Backer of veiled racist policies dating back to 1947 and WFBuckley’s early years, but including Barry Goldwater’s reactionary radicalism
6. Happy supporter of the “Project for a New American Century” – type of imperialism wherever we like – because we’re Americans, damnit.
7. Supporter of torture – or any other means necessary to secure our manifest destiny
8. Hater of anyone who disagrees
9. Purveyor of any lie, any spin, any craven comment necessary to gloss over any short-coming, and avoid any real discussion of why and how their policeies have failed utterly.
I think I nailed it pretty well.
Or I could have simply said – a neo-con is someone very much like Donald H. Rumsfeld, or L. Paul. Bremer or Paul Wolfowitz. I assume you stand four-square behind those folks.
Moreover, I assume you stand four-square behind guys like Limbaugh, or Savage, and gosh, NO, those SURE aren’t condescending jerks, they surely don’t scold anyone, ever. Nope.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Off topic to Mitch:
Are you ever going to recreate your part 3 of the choo-choo and MPR that the “dog” ate?
January 15th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Wow. That definition is a masterpiece of retardation!
I sincerely thank you for it, though. It provides some insight and more laughter. 🙂
January 15th, 2009 at 10:30 am
“I know, what we need MORE of is BS artists like Limbaugh telling us how liberals are so stupid”
you know what Penny? you don’t have to listen! :-0 and for those of us who enjoy conservative talk, it’s a nice respite from the HATE we have heard on the street from the left for the last 8 years.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Peev,
Get help. Seriously.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:56 am
You’re hated because you’re hateful, toluene.
Q.E.D.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:06 am
who, Moi?! 😉
My point, AC, is that P can turn the radio off. You can’t shove a loaf of bread into the mouth of a fellow diner in a restaurant when he is loudly talking about how everything’s Bush’s fault, blah, blah, blah, etc., etc.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:18 am
I think I nailed it pretty well.
If by “nailed” you mean “put a big billboard over your head that screams “Projecting! Projecting!””.
Otherwise, not so sure.
Tolo:
You can’t shove a loaf of bread into the mouth of a fellow diner in a restaurant
Oops.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Mitch Berg said:
“put a big billboard over your head that screams “Projecting! Projecting””
Indeed. He makes a list of negative characteristics, and then attributes them to imaginary versions of people (“Donald H. Rumsfeld, or L. Paul. Bremer or Paul Wolfowitz”) whom he has heard others call “neo-con”.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Troy,
Bingo.
Peev,
When you get on one of your little toots (see above) you come across like you’re regurgitating talking points you don’t understand all that well in the first place.
And your inevitable response “when you say I dont understand talking points you have eighteen neocon fingers pointing back at neocon yourself” is noted and pre-empted in advance. Save it.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Peev,
You cowardly left-leaner, I’m still demanding… DEMANDING!!!
January 15th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
angryclown said:
“You’re hated because you’re hateful”
What a hateful thing to say.
Your “Q.E.D.” must have some alternative meaning. Is it something like “angryclown jumps to conclusions”?
January 15th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Let’s see –
Condescending, snide – hrmmm…
“Liberals want to give terrorists therapy” – “Abu Grhaib is fraternity pranks” – “Liberals don’t get that during a time of war the President has nearly limitless authority” – “He didn’t break any laws, you’re just an America Hater”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/15/national/main4723729.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories
Yep. Sure.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
My main objection to the fairness doc is that providing fair and balanced counterpoint to moonbat broadcasts would undermine the excitement of waiting for the once a year appearance of the Yule Log.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Peev,
The billboard that says “Projecting! Projecting!” is still hanging over your head.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Answer, Precious (and Pernicious) Peev… ANSWER!
I’m still waiting, you question-dodging snipe.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Peev pretty much has the condescending market cornered.
That, and linking to CBS news stories in impotent rage.
That, and he’s generally just a dickhead.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Peev, that CBS news story contains none of the quotes you seem to think it does. In fact the CBS story doesn’t reference anything like the complaints you’ve been making about so-called ‘neocons’. Have you had a stroke or something?
January 15th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Have you had a stroke or something?
You have to wonder — his rants are even more incoherent than usual.
Peev,
Again — get help. I’m serious.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Peev,
You list a bunch of lines that no credible conservative has ever said as anything but rhetorical hyperbole.
Then you cite a CBS News story that is utterly unrelated to both the post at hand AND YOUR OWN COMMENT.
While I am nothing but civil, I think D and Terry have a point.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Oh, yeah, Peev – and while I’m not aware of a single credible conservative who has said anything like what you try to put in our mouths…
…YOU are the one who routinely and dishonestly caricatures conservatives as racist xenophobes who use terms like “Furriners” and “AY-rabs”.
In short, you are projecting the parts of yourself you fear the most onto the people you find most abhorrent.
Don’t shoot the messenger.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I quick snapped this picture of Peev outside of his house. I think Terry is pretty well vindicated:
http://ramblingrhodes.mu.nu/archives/Peter's_McStroke%5b1%5d.JPG
January 15th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I think peev might be one o’ them FURRINER AY-RABS.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Peev lies.
Peev distorts other people’s comments.
Peev puts words in other people’s mouths.
Peev jumps off-topic radically and often to merely insult commentors and authors not to mention anyone to the right of Che, Stalin, and Mao.
Peev froths at the keyboard.
Peev comes across as a petty, snide, juvenile, closed-minded jackass… on a good day.
Peev often plays the “who, me tactic”.
Peev relies on class-warfare, race-baiting, gender politics, and sexuality-based chicanery.
I think I nailed it pretty well.
Oh! I left out that he hates America.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Peni,
The smartest thing you do here is remain anonymous! Man, if the general public had a face to attach to the moron behind the curtain…
Oh, & no, your list has absolutely zero to do with what a “neo-con” is. Neo means new, & con is a contraction for conservative. The Neo-Conservative movement started circa 1968 when a bunch of Democrats decided that the left wing of the party was totally off their rocker, but gaining power. Most of these “Neo-Cons” are what we non-neo-con’s call RINO’s, or Republicans In Name Only, or Big-Government Conservatives. Bush could be considered a neo-con as well as McCain. Reagan was not a neo-con.
I know you run from facts like a vampire runs from garlic, but I hope you find this helpful.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Mr. Shirt, it is well-known fact that ALL NEOCONS ARE VAMPIRES!!!!
January 15th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Well that proves my point! I LOVE garlic! 😀
January 15th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
There’s a 99.998% chance that this won’t be heeded, but if I may Peeve a bit of advice that others have also offered:
If you include a link after you make a claim, it would be helpful if the link was actually in some way relevant to the claim you just made. For example if you say that Rush Limbaugh said “X” you might want the link that follows to provide some evidence to support your claim. It makes it so much more interesting for the reader.
January 15th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Peev,
In addition to all of the above, it’s spectacularly bad form to make all sorts of insulting insinuations, and then skip away without answering the various questions asked of you. It tends to get one labelled as a “troll”.
Or it would, if you weren’t pretty much a poster-critter for that sordid condition.
January 15th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Penguin-“Hand the money upward and they`ll create jobs. I don`t think you understand gravity, Penguin. The “upward people” are the ones who create the money (wealth) in the first place, and then Obama acts as gravity and spreads it downward.
January 15th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Peev, here is how you write a comment:
Woo-hoo! Remember all those crazee libs whining about Bush’s ‘illegal’ wiretapping? Turns out it wasn’t illegal after all:
Intelligence Court Rules Wiretapping Power Legal
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/washington/16fisa.html?_r=1&hp
January 15th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Peev’s M.O. is to make outlandish characterizations, get bitch-slapped with concrete facts and refutations, and then not return to the comment thread.
His continuing to comment on this site reminds me a lot of the Kevin Bacon character in Animal House when he’s being paddled on the ass and saying after each one “Thank you, sir. May I have another?”
January 15th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
“get bitch-slapped with concrete facts and refutations . . .”
You mean like this?
Under President Clinton, the CIA launches a systematic covert program of “extraordinary” rendition, the transfer of suspected Islamist terrorists to foreign countries. The Clinton administration is responding to fears of a growing transnational threat from Osama bin Laden and other well-organized Sunni extremists in Afghanistan, the Balkans and Egypt.
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/rendition701/timeline/timeline_1.html#
Remember all the editorials in the NYT about how, under Clinton, the US was engaging in ‘torture by proxy’ and the reputation of the United was being shot to Hell?
I don’t either.
There is nothing — nothing — that GWB has done in the GWOT that liberals would not forgive, or even praise, if the initial of his party was D instead of R.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Speaking of editorials and newspapers, the difficulty in telling them apart at many newspapers, and given the news on the Strib tonight, I volunteer:
Shot through the heart,
dogma to blame,
Stribbers, you gave news a bad name.
An leftist view is what you sell
You promise me news but your views you tell.
Love of the news got a hold on me
Though what you deliver gets the dog’s pee.
OH! You’re a loaded gun … yeah
OH! There’s nowhere to run
No one can save you, the damage is done!
Shot through the heart,
Idiocy to blame
You gave news a bad name
I paid my bill, and you promote Dem shills
You gave news a bad name.
You gave news a bad name.
etc.
Ok, to be more fair than much of their political reporting the buyout came at a lousy time considering what heavy leverage is doing to all companies in this credit market. But then again about the best you can say about the Strib business-wise is that they didn’t destroy as much of their investor’s money as did GM. They’ve got a few bright spots like James (love buzz.mn!), but they left a toxic taste in my mouth years ago.
January 16th, 2009 at 1:31 am
Bankrupt. I’m surprised it took so long.
Newspapers arose under very specific conditions. In the mid 19th century the invention of cheap paper pulping methods coincided with an astronomical rise in literacy.
There is still a demand for the information a newspaper makes available. What there is not a demand for is a twenty story building downtown housing a thousand people to deliver it.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:20 am
Despite the history, it STILL astounds me that peeve thinks Rumsfield and Limbaugh are neocons.
January 16th, 2009 at 4:19 am
Peev thinks that annoying kid down the block who won’t properly muffle his car & plays his radio too loud is a neocon.