Readers
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Democrats plotting
to kill talk radio
High with having won the presidential election, top Democrats are plotting ways to eliminate the last bastion of conservative discourse: talk radio.
If one of the leading hosts says listeners should call their elected representatives in Washington, D.C., switchboards will collapse in minutes and stay that way for the day. Calls getting through will not be what electeds want to hear, faxes and letters will come for days, many including colorful, perhaps earthy, suggestions for the public servant.
The mislabeled “Fairness Doctrine” required every “conservative hour” be followed by a “liberal hour” of content. No mention is made of the fact that liberals already have 90 percent of all printed and broadcast television programming and reporting.
Their anchors, reporters and commentators who weep on screen because “we have finally elected a black president,” sob, blubber or tell of having “strange sensations coming up my left leg when he speaks,” violate the First Commandment of journalism: “Never become the story.” And, they often mis-quote or lie about what a conservative has said on radio.
Radio is the bottom rung of the entertainment ladder and was dying in the 1980s when Rush Limbaugh came along and revived it. Rush and his partner, an old radio pro, built the largest network in the history of radio – more than 700 AM radio stations broadcasting from noon to 3 p.m. EST.
The show rang through the country with a clarion call. From 50 talk hosts, the country grew 1,200 Rush imitators doing local shows saying “The Emperor has no clothes.” The elected class has not been the same since.
Now the Reid-Pelosi gang put out contracts on Rush and Sean Hannity. We hope they are successful because these shows are already on the Internet where they can be heard with far better fidelity than available on AM. With “podcasting,” shows can be heard off-hours. Even better are the economics.
If Rush’s 20 million listeners paid $1 per month to hear him, he would gross $120 million per year – far more than now. Sean would gross about $60 million and Michael Savage perhaps $50 million.
Many conservative hosts would develop shows pulling enough subscribers to make them viable businesses. No flame burns brighter than that for the martyr.
Adrian Vance
Lakeport, Calif.
Hypocrisy is the top leftist/Democrat value
President Obama condemns Americans for keeping their thermostats at 72 degrees, but keeps his own office so warm that his senior adviser says “you could grow orchids in there.”
Tom Daschle remarks that “tax cheaters cheat us all and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter,” but is found to be a tax cheat himself.
Al Gore urges Americans to cut down on their energy use, but rides in private jets and owns a mansion that uses about 20 times as much energy as the average American’s home.
Eliot Spitzer prosecutes prostitution rings but frequented one himself.
The core leftist/Democratic value appears to be hypocrisy.
Mark Kalinowski
New York, N.Y.
Obama wants to silence the opposition
In earlier letters, I warned that President Obama would try to crush public dissent by going after talk-radio shows, and quite possibly, the Internet, as well. Tragically, the first part of my prediction is coming to pass.
In a WorldNetDaily.com article headlined “White House plan puts bull’s-eye on talk shows” (http://wnd.com:80/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=87172), Obama’s clear threat: “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.” was quoted – and he means it.
Obama and his counterparts all seek to silence opposition.
This is just the beginning, folks. May God have mercy on us all. (Oh, I think I just violated another sacred canon of the politically correct: I mentioned God.)
Marc V. Ridenour
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