Bill O'Reilly, FOX News, Air America, Democracy Alliance, George Soros

'IT'S MONEY LAUNDERING'

O'Reilly, Campaign Finance Expert Analyze Soros/Lewis Story





Is George Soros accustomed to seeing his election-year political plans exposed in advance?

To the Blogospheric Age, let's welcome our billionaire currency-raiding friend! As liberals might say, it's "cosmic payback" for his nasty central bank-busting habit.

Whatever the ultimate impact, our report on the likely $8 million Air America Radio bailout demonstrates how the campaign activities of Soros, insurance magnate Peter Lewis, former Clinton Administration Press Secretary Mike McCurry and actor Rob Reiner will be carefully scrutinized this year.

Between blogs, cable news and talk radio, all the bases are covered.


Analyzing our Soros/ Lewis Democracy Alliance coverage last night was Bill O'Reilly, with special guest Cleta Mitchell, a campaign finance law expert based in Washington.

Taking an interesting approach to the Radio Equalizer's reporting, they explored whether overpaying Al Franken by a factor of 10 or 20 constitutes an illegal campaign contribution, since he's a likely 2008 US Senate candidate in Minnesota.

Mitchell went as far as to call it money laundering.

From blogger Fraters Libertas, the Radio Equalizer had previously heard this theory.

While Expose The Left has the O'Reilly Factor segment video clip here, we gave Johnny Dollar a lousy buck to cook up this full transcript (excerpted here):

BILL O'REILLY [FOX NEWS]: In the Factor investigation segment tonight, we've been looking at the far-left Air America radio network, along with blogger Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer.

The Factor's compiled information that Air America is losing so much money it can only survive by accepting donation. A source tells us that a man named Rob Glaser, the founder and CEO of RealNetworks, has been paying many of Air America's bills. And those bills are huge. This year alone Al Franken will make almost two-and-a-half million dollars. He and his staff account for more than 50% of Air America's entire payroll.

But apparently even Glaser can't afford to keep up with the bills. And now an outfit called Democracy Alliance, financed in part by left-wing billionaires George Soros and Peter Lewis, is reportedly going to funnel eight million bucks to Air America. That bailout will keep the network on the air through election day, and that's what could be the problem. Franken is set to run for the Senate in Minnesota, and if he uses money from his big salary in the race, some believe that might be a campaign violation. We're not sure because this is very complicated.

But joining us now from Washington, Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who specializes in campaign finance law. All right, let's deal with this Democracy Alliance first, Ms Mitchell. This is a bunch of guys--Soros, Lewis, Rob Reiner, Rob Stein, Andrew Rappaport, all rich far-left guys. Now they have, and we have the data, told Air America they're going to give them eight million dollars to keep them afloat until November, so they can hammer home liberal candidates. Is that a violation?

CLETA MITCHELL: Well it could be. Now what they're claiming, I'm sure, is that they're a media entity and therefore entitled to the media exemption. But don't you love the fact that these laws, like these campaign finance laws, liberals love to pass, then the liberals and their wealthy donors spend all their time figuring out how to circumvent them? But the original campaign finance laws passed in the early '70s are really an anachronism, because at the time they were passed there were three networks and no internet.

Meanwhile, Air America ignored repeated requests for comment on our story by entertainment industry trade publication All Access. Here's how they ultimately covered it:

Report: Group To Provide Millions In Funding To Air America Radio

A report at the RADIO EQUALIZER blog says that AIR AMERICA RADIO is getting up to $8 million in funding from the DEMOCRACY ALLIANCE, a coalition of prominent Democratic Party activists and supporters including billionaire financier GEORGE SOROS, actor/director/activist ROB REINER, former CLINTON WHITE HOUSE Press Secretary MIKE MCCURRY, and the founders, former Chief of Staff to the Commerce Secretary ROB STEIN, investor ANDREW RAPPAPORT, and NEW DEMOCRATIC NETWORK founder SIMON ROSENBERG.

The organization was founded to help develop institutions for promoting liberal policies, including media. RADIO EQUALIZER BRIAN MALONEY characterizes the funding as an "emergency bailout" to keep the network operating as midterm elections draw closer; read the full report by clicking here.

MALONEY's report is scheduled to be discussed on AAR arch-rival BILL O'REILLY's FOX NEWS CHANNEL TV show WEDNESDAY night, and MALONEY is scheduled for appearances on the show next week with further developments.

Instead of researching this further, which Air America story was the mainstream media covering (dozens of newspaper websites so far)? This Billboard/ Reuters report:

NEW YORK (Billboard) - R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, Bright Eyes, Rufus Wainwright, Fischerspooner, Public Enemy's Chuck D, Devendra Banhart and Peaches have signed on for "Bring 'Em Home Now," a March 20 concert at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom.

The event is tied to the third anniversary of the United States' invasion of Iraq and will feature a speech by antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan.

Proceeds will benefit Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace. Janeane Garofalo's Air America Radio show "The Majority Report" will broadcast live from the show and feature interviews with the performers.

Can't wait.

UPDATE: It's not clear why the comment section and links to individual posts aren't working today. An emailer wonders why this usually seems to happen just after our work is featured on the FOX News Channel.

Have no idea, but after what happened to Michelle Malkin today, all bets are off.


Thanks for your continued Radio Equalizer support, via Amazon orders that begin with clicks here, regardless of what you ultimately order! In the spotlight: Robert Ferrigno's exciting new thriller Prayers for the Assassin: A Novel. Read the transcript of Hugh Hewitt's interview with Ferrigno here.