WA: Time For Gregoire to Apologize For Her False Talk Radio Slam?

Remember Washington "Governor" Christine Gregoire's attack on talk radio a few days ago, blaming the medium for death threats against her?


(Previous RadioEqualizer post on topic) (Michelle Malkin post on topic)


A man from Wapato, Yakima County, had been arrested on charges of threatening Gregoire and her family. Gregoire blamed the situation on talk radio:

She said she got a death threat, but added: "I'm not going to be deterred by any of that. I got death threats, frankly, when I was attorney general. I've got a job to do, but I'm also going to be smart (about security considerations). I owe that to the citizens of the state and I will listen to the chief of the state patrol."

She said blamed "the level of discussion on some of these talk radio shows" for whipping up people.

So what's the fresh angle?

Twice a year, Arbitron releases ratings for the greater Yakima radio market, and tonight the latest figures arrived.

Sure enough, no Seattle or Spokane talk radio station even registered in the ratings, meaning there is no measurable audience in Yakima County for any of the stations featuring local talk show hosts from those cities, if and when their signals are available to hear.

The two talk stations that did make the ratings are based in Yakima and almost entirely made up of syndicated national talkers: KBBO-AM 980 (known as KUSA 980), and KIT-AM 1280.

These national shows have spent relatively little, if any, time talking about the disputed Washington State gubernatorial election.

So at this point we can safely say we've proven, via hard data, there's no way on Planet Earth that Washington-based local talk show hosts are motivating anyone in Yakima County to threaten violence against the governor or anyone else, because they aren't hearing the shows.

Isn't it time to challenge Gregoire to either back up her statement with evidence, or repudiate it? She's an attorney, don't forget, she should be used to being required to support allegations with facts.

Too bad they're all on our side.

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14.10 UPDATE: SoundPolitics Takes this directly to Gregoire, questioning her assertions directly.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin follows new developments here on the situation. Bloggers are holding Christine Gregoire accountable for her statements today! This is what it's all about!