Air America Radio

“Okay, recognition, now we're getting somewhere.

Liberals cause inflation, spend money on welfare programs, and run up deficits.

Got it?”

“Now that we've identified what a liberal is, here's another liberal:

”

“Now THAT's funny Geo.”

“The sad part is it's true.”

“I tried to tell SS he wouldn't know a liberal if one bit him in the ass. Did he listen to me? Noooooooooooooooo.

What's funny about it?”

“That's it! When you come to california, Sol, I'll show you homo!...


Er...

What I mean to say is that uh, you're uh...


Nevermind.

Happy Resurrection of Christ day.”

“Phaedrus, you're as sharp as a soup sandwich toady.”

“Marko, you infantile, lisping fleshy banality: get busy having a better Easter. Go hunt eggs to suck!”

“Oh dear me!!!

I meant to type "today" and look what came out!!”

“Please, most would rather not hear of your sexual tendencies. It's bad enough when a certain person mentions it in nearly every thread he goes to. In this thread the Army policy works fine. We won't ask if you promise not to tell.”

“Why the Liberals Can't Keep Air America From Spiraling In

By Brian C. Anderson
The liberal Air America Radio, just past its first birthday, has probably enjoyed more free publicity than any enterprise in recent history. But don't believe the hype: Air America's left-wing answer to conservative talk radio is failing, just as previous efforts to find liberal Rush Limbaughs have failed.

Wait a second, you say, didn't I read that Air America has expanded to more than 50 markets? That's true, but let's put things in perspective: Conservative pundit and former Reagan official William J. Bennett's morning talk show, launched at the same time as Air America, reaches nearly 124 markets, including 18 of the top 20, joining the growing ranks of successful right-of-center talk programs (Limbaugh is still the ratings leader, drawing more than 15 million listeners a week).

And look at Air America's ratings: They're pitifully weak, even in places where you would think they'd be strong. WLIB, its flagship in New York City, has sunk to 24th in the metro area Arbitron ratings — worse than the all-Caribbean format it replaced, notes the Radio Blogger. In the liberal meccas of San Francisco and Los Angeles, Air America is doing lousier still.

So why do liberals fare so poorly on air? Some on the left say it's because liberals are, well, smarter and can't convey their sophisticated ideas to the rubes who listen to talk radio. Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, whose own stint as a talk-show host was a ratings disaster, gave canonical expression to this self-serving view. Conservatives "write their messages with crayons," he maintained. "We use fine-point quills."

Yet even if we were to grant the premise that conservative talk radio can sometimes be crudely simplistic — a tough charge to make stick against, say, one-time philosophy professor Bennett or Clarence Thomas' former law clerk Laura Ingraham — how can anyone plausibly believe the right has a monopoly on misleading argument? Moreover, talk-show fans aren't dummies. Industry surveys show that talk-radio fans vote in greater percentages than the general public, tend to be college-educated and read more magazines and newspapers than the average American.

Successful talk radio is conservative for three reasons:

• Entertainment value. The top conservative hosts put on snazzy, frequently humorous shows. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, observes: "The parody, the asides, the self-effacing humor, the bluster are all part of the packaging that makes the political message palatable." Besides, the triumph of political correctness on the left makes it hard for on-air liberals to lighten things up without offending anyone.

• Fragmentation of the potential audience. Political consultant Dick Morris explains: "Large percentages of liberals are black and Hispanic, and they now have their own specialized entertainment radio outlets, which they aren't likely to leave for liberal talk radio." The potential audience for Air America or similar ventures is thus pretty small — white liberals, basically. And they've already got NPR.

• Liberal bias in the old media. That's what birthed talk radio in the first place. People turn to it to help right the imbalance. Political scientist William Mayer, writing in the Public Interest, recently observed that liberals don't need talk radio because they've got the big three networks, most national and local daily newspapers and NPR.

Unable to prosper in the medium, liberals have taken to denouncing talk radio as a threat to democracy. Liberal political columnist Hendrik Hertzberg, writing in the New Yorker, is typically venomous. Conservative talk radio represents "vicious, untreated political sewage" and "niche entertainment for the spiritually unattractive," Hertzberg sneers.

If some liberals had their way, Congress would regulate political talk radio out of existence. Their logic is that scrapping Air America would be no loss if it also meant getting Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Bennett off the air.

To accomplish this, New York Democratic Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey has proposed reviving the Fairness Doctrine to protect "diversity of view," and John Kerry recently sent out some signals that he too thought that might be a good idea.

Under the old Fairness Doctrine, phased out by Ronald Reagan's FCC in the late '80s, any station that broadcast a political opinion had to give equal time to opposing views. A station running, say, Hannity's show, would also have to broadcast a left-wing competitor, even if it had no listeners.

Pre-Reagan, talk radio in today's sense simply didn't exist. What station could risk it? But people listen to conservative talk because they want to, not because the post-Fairness Doctrine regulatory regime forces them to. To claim that "diversity of view" is lacking in the era of blogs and cable news, moreover, is downright silly. Complaints about fairness are really about driving out conservative viewpoints.

Sure, talk radio is partisan, sometimes overheated. But it's also a source of argument and information. Together with Fox News and the blogosphere, it has given the right a chance to break through the liberal monoculture and be heard. For that, anyone who supports spirited public debate should be grateful.

http://www.latimes.com/la-oe-anderson18apr18.story”

“I can only disagree with one point Stovie. I have noticed that NPR is a very good news source. In the last few years they have become quite fair and balanced. Even more than I would have thought. After the interview in which O'Reilly was raked over the coals for something totally off topic NPR has tried to balance their scales a bit and I have even heard them defending Bush on occasion! I would never have believed it, but NPR is on my channel list and I listen quite frequently.”

“I find NPRs bias isn't so much what they say, but what they leave out. IMO they come from such a slanted view that they have trouble conceiving of another viewpoint often times. Their "right" reporting comes from left field. It reminds me of Mars Attacks. The aliens have this preconception of what a woman is, and when they try to recreate one, it is more of a shell of a woman than a real woman.

”

“Air America is stealing money from boys and girls club to support their failing radio network.

http://www.redstate.org/story/2005/8/4/95454/30574

You won't see this in the NY Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, CBS, CNN, NBC, etc.”

“OK, I'll bite. I am wondering why we will not see it on the sites you suggest? Maybe because it is hogwash?

Oh, wait! That's right, the NY Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, CBS, CNN, NBC all make up their stories and none of it shouild be believed.”

“"The money came from government grants that had been earmarked for services to needy children and Alzheimer's patients."

Dang, and I had just posted a thread a few days ago about the Dems having no shame! ;-)”

“WK, what I find funny is that people say they get there news from other sources than the main stream media but they never tell you what it is even when you ask.”

“WK, what I find funny is that people say they get there news from other sources than the main stream media but they never tell you what it is even when you ask.”
Ewker
10:59:15 AM
8/04/05

Funny you should say that Mr. 'I don't link to my news source'.
LOLOLOLOLOLOL”

“I have a co-worker and a good friend that used to send me all sorts of made up stories from his Republican Propaganda sites just to raise my blood pressure. I don't know why he doesn't do it anymore. Maybe because he knows I can see through the BS?”

“Robin Hood and Air America
TODAY'S EDITORIAL
July 29, 2005


Did Al Franken's liberal radio network Air America divert city money for the elderly and inner-city children to itself? That's the question people should be asking this week after the revelation that the New York Department of Investigation is looking into whether hundreds of thousands of dollars were illegally transferred from a Bronx community center to Air America. Only a community paper and a few Internet bloggers seem interested in what could be an egregious case of illegal funneling of tax dollars to a private, partisan organization.
In late June, city officials designated the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, a nonprofit organization that runs mentoring programs for children and day care for Alzheimer's patients, a "non-responsible city contractor." Investigators found "significant inappropriate transactions and falsified documents that were submitted to various City agencies." The city subsequently suspended the club's contracts, which run well into the millions.
It turns out, according to sources quoted anonymously by the Bronx News, that the mishandled money went to Air America. One source claims that $480,000 was wrongly transferred. The city investigation is concentrating on Charles Rosen, the club's president for 15 years, and Evan Cohen, the development director, who is a former chairman of Air America. Mr. Cohen resigned from Air America in May after the network's leasing plans in Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere fell through.
No one has claimed that Messrs. Cohen or Rosen sought to profit personally from any transfers. The money was said to have been a "loan" from the community center to Air America, which Air America would repay with interest at some point in the future. But why the public till should be tapped to rescue a foundering news outlet was a question no one seemed to consider. Maybe Air America officers thought spending public funds on their network was a truly compelling public interest. It isn't, of course, and if the allegations are true, they reveal a misuse of tax dollars to support a partisan organization.
Air America's parent corporation Piquant LLC issued an "explanation" yesterday but did not deny the allegations. It instead tried to pin them on Air America's previous owners, on whose watch the transfer is said to have occured. That won't wash.
Most of the mainstream newspapers have ignored this story. We only found out about it through the reporting of Brian Maloney, who pieced a story together on his blog "The Radio Equalizer" which was picked up by syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin. The New York Daily News buried an item at the end of a column of news briefs. There was nothing in the New York Times, which has heaped flattering coverage on the flailing network.
Air America is struggling to find listeners, leaders and reliable funding. But should it take money from children and the ailing elderly? Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, ever the defenders of the "little guy," should explain this one.

http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050728-081354-1414r.htm”

“ss, when I post an article I include all of it.”

“So basically even the Times couldn't find anything, so they are second hand reporting an annonymous source talking to Bronx News.

No saying it isn't true, but when one newspaper quotes another newspaper then they really have nothing to go on.”

“I don't think Air America is on in Chicago anymore. I never listened to it.”

“The investigation is just starting.”

“No saying it isn't true, but when one newspaper quotes another newspaper then they really have nothing to go on.”
Y2
11:14:56 AM
8/04/05

Dang Y2! I'll have to remind you of this next time you go off on some cock and bull Karl Rove 'news'. LOL”

“WASHINGTON, DC—The White House denied rumors of wrongdoing by anyone named Karl Rove Monday, saying the alleged deputy chief of staff does not exist.

"To my knowledge, no one by the name of Karl Rove works for this president, his staff, or for that matter, anyone on earth, since he is not a real person," White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters Monday.

Despite White House denials, allegations have surfaced in recent weeks that Karl Rove is the man who leaked covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the press. He is rumored to be President Bush's senior advisor, chief political strategist, architect of the president's 2000 and 2004 election victories, and the current deputy White House chief of staff, as well as a frequent guest on televised political talk shows.

"None of these allegations are supported by the facts," McClellan said. "The opponents of this administration have created a mythical figure in order to discredit the president. All they have done is divert attention from the important work at hand—the war in Iraq and the war on terror. In doing so, they have dishonored the sacrifices of our brave men and women in uniform."

"This time," he added, "the Democrats have gone too far."

According to fringe journalist Lou Dubose, author of Boy Genius: Karl Rove, The Brains Behind The Remarkable Political Triumph Of George W. Bush, Rove was born Dec. 25, 1950 in Denver, CO. Dubose alleges that Rove lived in Colorado with his family until 1963, when he moved to Salt Lake City, UT. According to Dubose, the shadowy figure entered politics in college, quickly moving through the ranks to become the chairman of the College Republican National Committee at age 22.

The White House has called such reports "nonsense."

McClellan reiterated his denial of Karl Rove's existence 33 times during the press conference. When pressed, he distributed a list of "real, actual political figures about whom I'd be happy to comment." The list included only President George W. Bush and Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta.

Rumors of the figure's existence were given a boost early this month when, as part of the official investigation into the CIA leak, a Time magazine reporter named Rove as the source of the leak.

"This is a very clever fiction concocted by those on the other side of the aisle," Vice President Dick Cheney said. "It's preposterous at its core."

The phantom advisor has come under heavy fire in recent weeks from critics of the administration, who say he should be fired for his role in the scandal. President Bush has pledged that anyone in his administration found to be involved in the CIA leak will be dismissed.

"There is no such organization as the CIA," McClellan said. "This is tinfoil-hat stuff."

Initially demanding that the alleged Rove be fired, Democrats say they are now focusing their efforts on proving the figure's existence.

"I believe this deputy White House chief of staff is real, despite White House claims to the contrary," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said. "But to disprove this wild ghost story, we must begin an exhaustive fact-finding mission, for which I pledge all the time and resources of the entire Democratic party."”

“BB, like Ewker, doesn't include a source link. One might think this wasn't 'real' news. LOL”

“The stealing from the children is news.

Not reporting it is news also.”

“That you're a donkey's butthole is not news.”

“Beauty --- Thanks, BB.



Phaedrus, you nut-job! LOL”

“http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/60684.htm

That's ashame.”

“Not to worry.
Soros will bail them out.”

“LOL...I think someone mentioned the Dead Air America line a few days ago in a thread and was roundly chastised by the children....God you have to love it when a plan comes together.”

“yeah, that does sound vaguely familiar XL...”

“But but but….liberalism is right. Liberalism is popular. Liberalism is progressive. Half the country are democrats, right? How can they fail even in a huge east coast city like NYC?

Because people don’t buy their bullshlt.”

“Air America possibly going off the air due to lack of funding? What a surprise.”

“While the less bright on the right simply gorge themselves on the Bullshlt of Limbaugh et al and come back with it dripping down their chin, holding out their begging bowl for more.

The failure of the ill-conceived Air America project is more a compliment to those on the left, who would rather get unbiased news. The success of the right-wing talk shows illustrates just how gullible many on the right are. They'll only tune in to hear what they already know. It's a sad reflection on them.”

“Real moral bunch running Air America.
In some circles, stealing $800,000 from the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club would be frowned upon.”

“Say what?

A Murdoch owned rag quotes an unamed source and you dorks swallow it whole?

I guess there is a sucker born every minute.”

“I guess we'll see Violin. Stay tuned.”

“It did say in the article that they may get Ed Schultz instead.
http://www.bigeddieradio.com Al Franken isn't qualified to wash Ed Schultz's underwear.

Tom Hartman is also a great talker and author.
http://www.thomhartmann.com

My favorite left wing talkers are Big Eddie Schultz,Tom Hartman, Rhandi Rhodes and Mike Malloy. If Air America would dump dead weight Franken they would be much better off. Talk radio is big business and it takes big bucks to stay on the air. There are plenty enough people out their that demand the product, but that doesn't always mean they are going to get the stations they want when they want them. Compared to 10 years ago, I must say that the airwaves are not nearly as one sided as they once were.
last edited: 3/07/06 12:18:35 PM”

“there isn't any difference listening to Air America Radio vs any Conservative radio talk show. They all spin it the way they want you to hear it.”

“yeah.... one of them is right.”

“yeah...one of them is left which makes neither one correct
spin,spin,spin is the name of the game”

“The only difference is research....the left works off emotion, no way to research...emotion just IS.

The right tends to be more "reference oriented" Don't believe me? How many "conservative" groups have had to admit to faking stories?”

“Well one that immediately springs to mind is the Bush Administration and all these fake stories about WMDs.”

“Swift Boat Veterans for 'Truth' was disproved.”

“The Bush administration and the SBTforTruth are conservative media talkers? Hmm.”

“Lots of made up stuff in the Terry Schaivo case.....

Do I need to go on XL?”