Liberal Blog Twists Bob Grant Issue Into Partisan Attack

STINK PROGRESS

Lefties Spin Grant Award Spat, Ignore Truth





**** UPDATE: Levin Responds To Smear ***


A major lefty blog has decided to use the Bob Grant lifetime achievement award withdrawal flap for partisan spin purposes, with laughably dishonest results.

And in order for Think Progress to make the smear piece work, they actually ignored similar praise for Grant's legacy coming from their own side of the fence. How's that for political sleaze?

Clearly, the goal of the smear is to make Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, your Radio Equalizer and others (now including Rush Limbaugh) appear to be racists simply because we stood up for Grant:

On Wednesday, radio industry magazine Radio & Records Inc. withdrew its 2008 Lifetime Industry Achievement Award to controversial right-wing radio host Bob Grant. In a statement, R&R said that it did not want the award “to imply our endorsement of past comments by him that contradict our values and the respect we have for all members of our community.”

Grant is one of the godfathers of incendiary right-wing talk radio and has been an inspiration for figures such as Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. Glenn Beck often uses one of Grant’s catchphrases — “Get off my phone!” — as a tribute.

The right wing is furious at R&R’s revocation. Levin has written a protest letter to the publication, and Hannity is trying to organize a boycott against R&R’s upcoming convention.


[examples of ancient, out- of- context Grant quotes follow]


Radio Equalizer is indignant over the silence of many non-radio right-wing bloggers. “Conservative bloggers sit out controversy,” notes the site. “Why?” Perhaps even they find it difficult to justify Grant’s history of racist, homophobic rhetoric.

But how does Think Progress explain the fact that some on the left, including Air America Radio host Lionel, have also come to Grant's defense? Or that a new award will now be presented to him in June at the Talkers Magazine- sponsored New Media Seminar in Manhattan, hardly a conservative gathering?

From Lionel's Air America show:

LIONEL: Bob Grant was one of the initial conservatives [in radio] before conservatives were cool. I'm not talking about whether you agree with him, to say [that], you don't understand the business of radio if you care about whether you agree with him. Bob Grant came across as a curmudgeon, the angry white guy, the pissed- off white guy, and that was [his] schtick. When I say 'schtick,' not that it wasn't genuine, that's who he was.

[...]

I swear to you, [Grant's comment about Ron Brown] was misunderstood. He meant to say something but it came out [wrong]. Remember, [Disney was] looking for [an excuse to fire him].

[after reading R&R's announcement that it was withdrawing the award] Give me a [bleep] break, you impuissant, feckless, spineless, atesticular weasels. Because some nutcase with an e-mail account complains about [the award], you don't have the balls to say, 'We're not endorsing what [Grant] said. He's been in radio for sixty [bleep] years! That's the issue!' This, dare I say, PC hyper-faux sensitivity is getting out of control. Everybody has no guts. No matter who it is, Imus, Rush, if they say something [you don't like], fine, turn it off! Turn it off!"

And here's part of Rush's defense of Grant:

RUSH: He genuinely was one of the pioneers, and a lifetime achievement award for a guy like Bob Grant is entirely called for. Well, all was hunky-dory until somebody -- and we still don't know who -- sent Radio & Records, which is owned corporately, by the way, is not owned by an individual, is corporate ownership, and I can't remember who it is, doesn't matter, they rescinded the award, after making a big hullabaloo about it, making a big announcement about it, they rescinded it on the strength of one e-mail from somebody complaining about Bob Grant, we don't even know what, assuming that, "Bob's a racist, you heard what he said about Ron Brown and the plane crash," and so forth.

Other libtalkers have mostly remained silent, with no known attacks by any of them against Grant in the past week.


To the Think Progress hippies: when Air America and Rush Limbaugh are in rare agreement on an issue, where does that leave you?

As for major conservative blogs not picking up the story, it has a lot to do with a long- simmering conflict between them and talk radio. An increasing number of talkers are frustrated that blogs see them as competitors, rather than allies.

In addition, a few of the larger right- leaning sites have become snobby, seeing talk radio as too "low- brow" to deserve their attention. It's an irritating situation.


UPDATE: Mark Levin sends this response:

Think Progress, another Clinton front-group, isn't interested in free speech, given its affinity for the Fairness Doctrine and other Stalinist-like government efforts of the past. Think Progress's great hero, Bill Clinton, was accused of rape, an allegation that Bill Clinton himself has never actually denied.

The late senator, William Fulbright, was Bill Clinton's mentor. Fulbright was a leading segregationist who participated in filibustering the 1964 Civil Rights Act. As president, Bill Clinton gave Fulbright the Medal of Freedom Award, our nation's highest civilian award.

Perhaps John Podesta, who works feverishly everyday in the employ of the Clinton political machine, and Think Progress find it difficult to justify Clinton's history of sexual assault and segregationist ties. If so, they've remained silent about it.

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