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MARCH 31, 2004 – The shootout
began at high noon.
It was the same right-wing drivel, the
same boring, blathering nonsense all over the AM dial.
But then, at 12 PM, the airwaves went
dead in a handful of cities from coast to coast. There was an
extended, awkward silence. Then, there was Beatles music, “I want
to hold your hand…” and then that song ended. Another Beatles song
came on. Then, another awkward silence.
And then the announcement came: "Air
America Radio is on the air."
Through the monotonous nonsense of AM
radio, Air America Radio took to the airwaves today, led by their
anchor program, The O’Franken Factor, hosted by Al Franken. And
with that moment, the Republican stronghold on power began its death
count, as the single source of its success, its monopolistic hold on
the media, was blasted to pieces.
The thing that best exemplified what
exactly had occurred was one particular parody that aired during the
show.
Franken and co-host Katherine Lanpher
had a running skit where they claimed to have right-wing
disinformationist Ann Coulter waiting in the green room to come on
the show as a guest. They repeatedly cut away to bits where they
were first supposedly addressing her in the green room, then locking
her in the green room and turning up the heat on her, and at last
deciding against having her on as a guest all together.
For years now – indeed, a decade – this
has in effect been the plight of all non-Bush/Limbaughians. If you
were not a Bush-brand Republican, you have not been allowed to speak
without someone bullying you, talking over you, turning down the
volume on you, hanging up on you. Even on what are considered
“mainstream” news programs, the right-wing has made sure never to
let moderates, independents, or Democrats speak freely and be
heard. And all the while, they had endless outlets where they were
free to be dishonest and speak their half of the story with
challenge or interruption.
Today, Ann Coulter could do nothing to
stop the left from having their say. Nor could Limbaugh, Savage,
Murdoch, Cheney.
For the first time in a decade, the
left-wing is free to speak and be heard – entirely without pretext
of being impartial.
Most importantly, they are doing so in a
funny, entertaining manner. Some have argued that NPR was a liberal
voice, but, quite simply, NPR is A) boring as hell, B) boring as
hell. And it represents the wimpy, whiny-brand of left-winger.
Air America has taken to the air with
the mission of “taking back America,” as Franken said during his
program.
Suddenly, people trapped in their cars
in New York, California, Oregon, and Minnesota were not stuck on the
endless, “You give us 22 minutes, and we’ll repeat the same damn
useless snippets of news over and over again,” cycle. And for the
first time, they had another option besides ultra-right-wing liars
and ultra-boring whiners.
All of a sudden they could tune in and
hear the most important man who is at the center of the biggest
story of the moment – former-Senator Bob Kerrey of the 9/11
Commission – being interviewed by funny, liberal comedian Al
Franken. And there was nothing Ann Coulter or Limbaugh or Gingrich
or anyone could do to sway or interrupt the conversation.
You could literally hear cheers and
sighs of relief coming from half of the nation.
Suddenly, instead of out-of-context
quotes trying to claim the economy is in great shape or that Clinton
is somehow responsible for the bad economy, they heard Franken
saying, “Both Bush administrations combined have not created one net
job. What this means is that if the Bushes had presided over the
nation from the very beginning, not one American would have ever
worked.”
And again, not only did they get to hear
this instead of right-wing nonsense while stuck in traffic or at
work, but they got to hear it unrebutted. No dishonest right-wing
retort, no hostile bullying followed, nor would. At last, someone
besides the Bush/Limbaughians had a voice in America.
And while some previous liberal radio
shows have not done so well, Air America’s format – which focuses on
entertainment as much as politics – is sure to be a massive hit.
Indeed, while right-wing talk was the only entertaining thing on the
radio before, the new Air America programming will draw people over
not only because it provides a fresh political voice, but because it
is far funnier and more entertaining that any of the right-wing
shows ever have been. Quite simply, Franken and friends have
rendered the lying right as boring as NPR, and it won’t be long
before dorky, boring programs like Savage and Limbaugh see their
ratings start to drop as their listeners migrate over to something
called actual entertainment.
Indeed, of all people G. Gordon Liddy
called into the show to wish Franken well and expressed exactly that
sentiment. Liddy told Franken, “The political persuasion doesn’t
matter, it’s whether or not a show is entertaining.” And he said he
was sure Franken would be very successful.
Obviously aware of this, Air America
used the tagline, “Making social/political discourse fun again,” on
the air. Yes, this is not to be the Mario Cuomo show.
March 31, 2004 is the day the tables
turned, that a radio host tore apart Sean Hannity without him having
a chance to reply, that audio clips of Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld were played mockingly – a clip in which he was caught in a
pathetic lie - and, most importantly, that a voice was heard on the
radio saying that not only could President Bush be beaten in the
fall, but that he “will be" out of the White House, as Franken told
the audience.
Franken's show was followed by a program
hosted by Florida radio-sensation Randi Rhodes, who will fill the
3-6PM slot. Her debut today was a fiery, funny launch which included
a visit from Madeleine Albright, and she brings an experienced
polish to a lineup that is inexperienced (though they don't show it)
in this type of radio show format.
This is a third massive blow to the
Bush/Limbaughians in just the past few months.
First, the Democrats nominated somebody
who will not put up with being bullied and who is a decorated war
hero. Second, they unleashed the Center for American Progress, a
long-awaited liberal think tank that will enable them to balance out
the Heritage Foundation and other right-wing think tanks that have
been battering – unchallenged – all who oppose them.
But most importantly, now they have
broken the right-wing media monopoly. Many underestimate the
importance of this, but as we have frequently said here at The
Moderate Independent, the lynchpin of the Bush/Limbaugh Republican
hold on power is that they have been having a one-sided conversation
with America for a generation. There has been no opportunity to
rebut their lies and no opportunity to point out where they are
wrong. And there has been no opportunity to counter their
misdefining of what “liberals” - by which they mean anyone who does
not agree with them - truly think, do, and say.
And this all has spilled over to the
“mainstream” media, leading us to where we were up until today –
left with a media that is entirely right-wing owned, operated, and
dominated; with anyone who disagrees with the Bush/Limbaughians
getting constantly bullied or silenced.
Now, the Bush/Limbaughians are on the
verge of complete collapse. Yes, this statement might seem shocking
to some people considering they hold every branch of government at
the moment, but remember, we were the ones who told you – months
before it occurred and back when no one else dreamed of saying it –
that Howard Dean was collapsing in the Democratic nomination race
and would come nowhere near winning the nomination.
Today let us be clear: now that the
other side is free to speak their piece, the joy of bullying is
over. And now the millions of fair-minded Americans who have joined
with the Bush/Limbaughians because they were the only voice they had
to listen to will come over to Air America, where they can hear
another side – and be much better entertained.
Talk radio single-handedly created the
California recall and got Schwarzenegger elected. It is the single
most powerful entity in California politics. When Arnold ran he
never even had to answer questions for the rest of the press, he
just made the AM rounds and got his following fired up, while the
Democrats sat their frustrated and depressed.
And that is just as important an aspect
of Air America as the others: more than just dominating the
conversation, right-wing talk radio has fired up its base while, at
the same time, depressing and demoralizing the other side. Hearing
Franken stand their today talking about how they won’t be taking it
anymore, tearing apart Hannity, playing clips of Rumsfeld being
caught lying on tape, and, most importantly, assuring his listeners
that they will get Bush out of office in the fall is the positive,
inspirational counter that the left has been missing.
All of these factors will quickly have
the Bush/Limbaughian hold on power hanging by a single finger. But
the one central factor to all of this will be their end.
The reason the Bush/Limbaugh regime will
entirely collapse is simple: their policies are horrible and
constantly disastrous, and the only way they maintain support for
them is via their monopolistic lying media machine. Take away the
spin, and you simply see deficits, unemployment, polluted air, a
lack of plan for public schools and health care, and a foreign
policy that actually makes things worse rather than helping the
nation.
They have needed to dominate the media
to convince people that while we can not raise wages, and can not
require companies to reduce pollution, and can not require health
insurance, and can not even require paid vacation or even a full
lunch hour, we must give lots of money to rich people or we will all
lose our jobs. They needed to have a one-sided conversation to
persuade people that energy companies – which are making countless
billions in profit – can not be forced to reduce the pollutants they
put out or it will cost us all our jobs, so we must accept our
children getting asthma and spouses getting emphysema and children
getting brain damage from mercury in our fish rather than cost these
companies some dollars. They needed this twenty-four hour-a-day
propaganda network to be unrebutted so they could tell people that
eliminating pay for overtime – as the President has tried twice now
to do – is in their best interest, to convince people of thing after
thing that, simply taken as they are, are entirely absurd and
against what is best for the people who have been supporting them.
They have needed this one-sided conversation so they can
misrepresent anyone who opposes them, making them seem so dorky,
stupid, and horrible that no one should ever consider aligning with
them and, in fact, you can and should bully them.
Now it can at last be explained, by
someone entertaining enough to listen to, how people have been duped
and played. The liars can – and will – be taken to task, and the
opposition will be able to express what it actually thinks and
believes, untwisting the deceitful nonsense that has been spun about
them.
And when the Bush/Limbaughians are
simply held up to fact and reality, they will be done – just as the
platforms they run on continually are shown to be complete fiction.
The lying right-wing media machine has given them the cover to
escape responsibility by blaming and lying their way out of things.
As of today, that game is over. Air
America Radio is on the air, and the Bush/Limbaughians’ days are
numbered - no one else will dare predict this, but as we knew with
Howard Dean's demise, we at The Moderate Independent know this is to
be the dawning of the Bush/Limbaugh swoon.
Air America radio will debut on the
following stations (list updated 3/31/04): New York - WLIB 1190 AM,
Los Angeles - KBLA 1580 AM, Chicago - WNTD 950 AM, Portland, OR-
KPOJ 620 AAM, Inland Empire, CA- KCAA 1050 AM, Minneapolis MN - WMNN
1330AM, and also can be heard on XM Satellite Radio - Channel 167.
And for those of you not in one of those markets, you can hear the
station anywhere in the world via internet streaming audio of the
programs, available at:
AirAmericaRadio.com.
Other hosts on the network will include Janeane Garofolo, who from 8
until 11 p.m. will host a program called The Majority Report,
hip-hop artist Chuck D and co-creator of Comedy Central's The Daily
Show, Lizs Winstead, who will be hosting the 9 a.m. to noon slot,
and environmentalist Robert Kennedy, Jr., who will co-host a weekend
show titled, "Champions Of Justice" (can you see Rush swelling into
a red-faced, needing-some-narcotics frenzy as he hears an
environmentalist will have airtime to talk uninterrupted?) |
