Air America Radio

[Gordon B]

Does anybody here listen to this venomous crap? The column is in today's NY Daily News.


Liberal radio is airing bad jokes and worst taste

The United States "is on the slippery slope to theocratic fascism." "The Catholic Church has been secretly encouraging oral sex for years."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "ought to be tortured." President Bush should be taken out and shot.

Those are a few nutso nuggets from the hosts of Air America Radio, which calls itself the new liberal voice. The fledgling network is carried in New York on WLIB, 1190 AM. With the Iraq torture scandal everywhere, I tuned in, expecting to hear sober policy analysis mixed with glee over President Bush's political pickle.

Instead, I got 10 hours of rancid venom directed at the President, Rumsfeld, Rush Limbaugh, the Catholic Church and anyone else the hosts felt like slamming. If you're a card-carrying lib who likes crude sex jokes and a cartoonish echo chamber, Air America is for you.

Take one host's linking the talk of "pulling out" the troops with the claim that "that's what the Catholic Church says about premarital sex." Ha, ha.

The network aims to give Dems a media organization to counter Limbaugh and others on the right who dominate talk radio. (What, National Public Radio and The New York Times aren't enough?)

The signing of comedian and best-selling author Al Franken gave Air America a liberal drawing card. But if his three-hour show on Monday was typical, he could sink the ship instead of saving it.

Two attempts at humor were offensive. In his "oy, oy show," set to Israeli music, a sidekick reads news reports - in this case, the murder of the Russian-backed president of Chechnya. Franken's role is to pipe up with a lighthearted "oy, oy, oy." Yep, nothing tickles the ribs like assassination.

Franken also imitated a priest giving Communion, saying "Body of Christ" when an imagined pedophile priest was in line but "not for you" when pro-choice politicians came up.

The church was a day-long obsession, as was Limbaugh. He is an "awful man," "a pig" and "a Nazi."

Color me confused. If Franken & Co. hate the pill-popping Limbaugh so much, why imitate his tarpit tone? Sounds like Limbaugh has simply driven them nuts.

Missing was the tension that comes from honest debate. Only Franken had guests voicing even slight distance from the party line, which is that John Kerry is perfect except he should attack Bush more.

The queen of venom, Randi Rhodes, followed Franken in the host slot. Her imitation of a cracker military type telling a soldier to "insert this fluorescent light bulb into that man's buttocks" was revolting. She compared U.S. prisons in Iraq to the "Nazi gulag" and said, "The day I say thank you to Rumsfeld is the same day I'll say thank you to the 12 people who raped me."

Rock bottom came when she compared Bush and his family to the Corleones in the "Godfather" saga. "Like Fredo, somebody ought to take him out fishing and phuw," she said, imitating the sound of gunfire.

During a day of torture by radio, I heard ads for Hewlett-Packard, Greyhound and, especially, General Motors. I asked GM why it appeared in such shows.

Ryndee Carney, GM's manager of marketing communications, said the ads were wrongly picked up from an earlier deal with WLIB. She said the station was ordered to "cease and desist" yesterday, and added: "GM will not advertise on any Air America affiliates."

Originally published on May 12, 2004

[jesus marion joseph]

I listened a little to Randi Rhodes (Air America is strem 185 on Sirius radio), but had to switch the channel after listening to lots of bad jokes, which I believe were supposed to be an attempt at political commentary. If she is attempting to counter Rush Limbaugh I think she's going about it in the wrong way, and probably doing more harm than good to the cause of advancement of political liberal thought.

I also saw Janine Garofalo a few weeks ago on the Daily Show. I like Janine, going back to her days on the Larry Sanders Show, where her biting, sarcastic brand of humor fit the pretext of the show perfectly. However, she came across as a rabid anti-Bush, to an extent that would probably cause Chris A. to blush. When she asserted that Bush was a fundamentalist, Stewart tried to suggest that that might not be accurate, and almost got his head bitten off by Garofalo. He passed it off with a humorous comment, but it was a telling moment.

It appears that Air America (from what little I have listened to, at least) is more consumed with hating the Bush administration than it is about having a legitimate liberal viewpoint with articulate discussions about the issues of the day. Too bad, really, because I'd probably listen in if they did some meaningful content.

Yeah, but JMJ lets face it, thats what being a liberal is all about these days. Hatred. They offer little to no substance about how they will change things, their more concerned about letting you know how bad things are.

The divide between left and right has become very wide, and it's only getting worse. I can actually imagine(and I'm being completely serious here)a new civil war in the future taking place between the right and the left. I really do think it may get that bad.

[Ellery Eskelin]

I listened to about 5 minutes of this station last week and bailed. It's terrible...basically they were trying to out crass the right wing wing nuts...yell louder...sound stupider...appeal to the lowest common denominator. A total embarrassment. And I'm a liberal!

edit: didn't mean to sound crass my own damn self with the "right wing wing nut" comment...not a shot at right wingers, just an observation that there are nut jobs on both ends of the spectrum...

[Root Doctor]

[QUOTE=Scott Dolan]Yeah, but JMJ lets face it, thats what being a liberal is all about these days. Hatred. They offer little to no substance about how they will change things, their more concerned about letting you know how bad things are.

Yeah, and the right is full of great cheer and clearly articulated policies. Let's be honest and admit that both extremes cheapen and diminish public discourse.

None of us are angels, Root.

My point is that the left has essentially melted down to nothing more than a bunch of empty headed Bush haters. Thats all they run on anymore. Now I'm not saying that their aren't fair minded and intelligent liberals out there, but they are few compared to the venomous Bush hating crowd.

It's unfortuante. I think there needs to be two solid points of view. And I was really hoping that the dems would offer a viable alternative to Bush in the upcoming election.

[clinthopson]

Whether it's the Bush hating libs or the Clinton bashing (yeah, they still do it) righties neither side offers anything of substance.

The sad thing is that people pay attention to this crap.

[Root Doctor]

Bush has been a polarizing figure, Scott, just as Clinton was before him, although for very different reasons. Surely you haven't forgotten the spectacle of serial philanderers expressing their outrage over the President's infidelity, have you? Or worse, their claims that he was a sexual criminal and a murderer? Rush Limbaugh, on his show yesterday, reprised the latter greatest hit of the New Right (I don't expect much from the failed classic rock jock turned media pundit, but this kind of crap is repulsive, no different than the Abu Ghraib=Buchenwald analogies). In other words, the rhetoric hasn't changed, we've just broadened its targets.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Scott,

You're really sounding like Ann Coulter on this one. "All liberals are traitors, blah, blah, blah..."

During the Clinton years there were Clinton haters and there were those who disagreed with his policies because they couldn't separate politics from the personal.

Has anyone on the Left come up with the equivalent of Jerry Falwell's "Foster Chronicles" (or whatever it was called) that sold like hotcakes on the Religious Right? That was thetape that accused the Clintons of having all these people associated with Whitewater snuffed in Arkansas. Oh yeah, and that Hillary Clinton had Vince Foster killed.

Calling everyone who disagrees with Bush's policies and Bush hater is just like calling anyone who doesn't like affirmative action a racist, or anyone who doesn't like Israel's policies an anti-semite. It's purpose is to shut up disagreement.

If you're interested I could give you a list why I'm voting against Bush this year and "hate" is not going to be on it.

Look, I'm not saying that liberals are traitors, so I don't appreciate that analogy.

What I'm saying is that the voice from the left that is heard more than any other is that of the Bush hater.

And no, not everyone who disagree's with Bush policies is a Bush hater. Jesus people, I disagree with some of his policies.

Yes, I realize that Bush has been a polarizing force, but what President in recent memory hasn't been? Things have gotten way too far out of hand. Each side is no longer interested in affecting any real change, it's become more of a football game these days. Your side must win, no matter what the cost. It's silly. And potentially dangerous.

And once again, I have never said that everyone who disagrees with Bush is a hater. They know who they are. And so do you, Darryl.

[jesus marion joseph]

I listened to "The O'Franken Factor" this afternoon for a while in my car (it's stream 105, not 185), and must admit that his show was much more calm than the Randi Rhodes show I heard before. He had an author on who was promoting a book about how Gore won the election but lost the presidency to Bush (can't remember the author's name, but he's a syndicated columnist). Franken was arguing vehemently against Bush, but was basing his arguments on specific instances of where he thought Bush had gone wrong instead of just attacking Bush as a five-headed serpent.

All in all not a bad show, at least what I heard of it.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

j.m.j.,

Franken's probably better at doing this type of thing. And if you read his last book, his philosophy is to research the hell out of a subject (via Nexus-Lexus) so that if you're going to counter an argument, you have something more than just anectodal evidence.

As I said before on another thread, I don't think a "liberal" network (TV or radio) will succeed. The US seems to be in a right-ward trend, so the audience for a network like this may be limited.

Scott,

I can only say with certainty why I disagree with Bush's policies. I just feel that the "Bush Hater" label is tossed about too easily and I'm always suspicious of the motives of the person who uses it.

I can only say with certainty why I disagree with Bush's policies. I just feel that the "Bush Hater" label is tossed about too easily and I'm always suspicious of the motives of the person who uses it.

Thats fine Darryl, but I do not consider you to be a Bush hater, nor would I ever call you that.

[Mike P]

This should help Air America in that rating war:

http://www.cafeshops.com/airamericaradio.11155949

[crawjo]

I think it is unfortunate that the Left is apparently trying to out-Right the Right in its reliance on venomous rhetoric, vulgarity, etc. What we need in this country is some serious discourse...and actually, I think that NPR does a pretty good job at delivering that. If you go to this link there is a 38 minute exchange between NPR's Terry Gross and the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol. Substantive, nuanced, yet respectful. That is the type of radio that people should be listening to right now.

[Underhound]

Originally Posted by crawjo

I think it is unfortunate that the Left is apparently trying to out-Right the Right in its reliance on venomous rhetoric, vulgarity, etc. What we need in this country is some serious discourse...and actually, I think that NPR does a pretty good job at delivering that. If you go to this link there is a 38 minute exchange between NPR's Terry Gross and the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol. Substantive, nuanced, yet respectful. That is the type of radio that people should be listening to right now.

Unfortunately serious discourse=bad ratings. Maybe NPR has become the boogey man of the right because of the substantive, nuanced and respectful interviews. Ask the very popular Bill O'Reilly, he'll tell you.

[Captain Hate]

Originally Posted by Underhound

Maybe NPR has become the boogey man of the right because of the substantive, nuanced and respectful interviews.

Like Tavis Smiley??

[Rob C]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

Thats fine Darryl, but I do not consider you to be a Bush hater, nor would I ever call you that.

You can call me a Bush hater. Just don't call me late for dinner.

[jesus marion joseph]

Okay, so I've been listening to Air America on Sirius for about 20 minutes at a time a few times a week. Mostly listen to "The O'Franken Factor" and that chick who's like the mini-me of Rush Limbaugh in a paralell universe (can't remember her name and can't be bothered to Google it right now).

I like Al Franken, though I don't agree with every point he makes. I especially like the Grateful Dead clips he plays when he comes back from commercial (reminds me of my wasted youth). He's very intelligent and, I feel, is able to enunciate why he feels the way he does, even if I don't agree with him. His co host is very professional, and makes a good foil to him on the air.

The other chick is dreadful. She comes off quite often as a bad caricature of a woman with several hours of PMS every day (sorry if I haven't stated that very delicately).

[Brian Olewnick]

I saw a little blurb the other day (but neglected to read the article) to the effect that the financial situation there had reached the point where Franken was foregoing his salary. True?

[jesus marion joseph]

Originally Posted by Brian Olewnick

I saw a little blurb the other day (but neglected to read the article) to the effect that the financial situation there had reached the point where Franken was foregoing his salary. True?

I don't know, but Franken does mention when Bill O'Reilly or someone else tries to claim that Air America is ready for last rites. It has been conspicuous the last couple of times he's done it.

[Brian Olewnick]

In pertinent part, froma site called Common Dreams (apparently a liberally slanted site, fwiw):

"In a sign that the privately held company's financial woes have not fully abated, Al Franken, the network's best-known star, said in an interview last week that he had agreed not to draw a salary, however temporarily, making him "an involuntary investor.''"

This is all so disappointing.

[crawjo]

Well, I hope it fails. And then I hope their talk radio rivals on the right fall flat on their faces as well. A pox on both their houses.

Originally Posted by Crawjo

And then I hope their talk radio rivals on the right fall flat on their faces as well.

Um.............isn't that like saying "I hope The Simpsons fail"?

[Gordon B]

Originally Posted by Mo Noyz

Um.............isn't that like saying "I hope The Simpsons fail"?

I hope the New York Times endorses Bush.
I hope Americans lose their taste for fried foods.
I hope Alex van Schlippenbach sells more cds than William Hung in the next 12 months.

Am I playing the right game, Mo Noyz and Crawjo?

[crawjo]

Originally Posted by Gordon B

I hope the New York Times endorses Bush.
I hope Americans lose their taste for fried foods.
I hope Alex van Schlippenbach sells more cds than William Hung in the next 12 months.

Am I playing the right game, Mo Noyz and Crawjo?

Oh, I know it never is going to happen. But why is it that when the right puts out this garbage it gets great ratings, but when the left does the same thing it falls flat? What does that say about the intelligence of the conservative base? (Enter your standard issue anti-Bush JCer with a smart-ass comment, stage left.)

[jesus marion joseph]

Originally Posted by crawjo

Oh, I know it never is going to happen. But why is it that when the right puts out this garbage it gets great ratings, but when the left does the same thing it falls flat? What does that say about the intelligence of the conservative base? (Enter your standard issue anti-Bush JCer with a smart-ass comment, stage left.)

You forgot to say "sheesh".

Originally Posted by crawjo

Oh, I know it never is going to happen. But why is it that when the right puts out this garbage it gets great ratings, but when the left does the same thing it falls flat? What does that say about the intelligence of the conservative base? (Enter your standard issue anti-Bush JCer with a smart-ass comment, stage left.)

Well, I haven't ever heard any of this left wing radio, so all I can go by is what is pointed out in Gordons initial article.

Thing is, it doesn't seem that they are focusing much on the news at all, rather they are just yapping on and on about how evil the right is. Which is what the left audience expects, I suppose.

I listen to Rush for about a half hour a day(in my car), and I listen to Hannity for about the same. They both have their irritating qualities, BUT there IS a lot a news going on at the same time. At least 50% of the time I'm listening to Rush I'm saying "aw c'mon Rush, thats bullshit and you know it". Sometimes I'm laughing because he said something funny, and sometimes he actually says something thats serious and well thought out.

Hannity is worse. I actually get semi-frustrated listening to him at times. But his show is cool because of the guests that he has on it. I love it when he has guys like Sam Donaldson, Ted Nugent, and Zell Miller on the show. But the greatest moments is when he has ultralib Steve Young on and they snipe at each other. Classic stuff.

Bottom line though, it's all entertaining. I'm assuming this left wing radio isn't. At least thats the message they seem to be getting from both their audience and their sponsers.

Why have guys like Limbaugh and Howard Stern made it for so long? Because they are good at what they do, and know what their audience likes. Nothing more, nothing less.

Intelligence? Thats a ridiculous point to try and make. It's entertainment.

sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeshhhhhhhhhhhhhh