The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

10 August 2005

Franken Transcript Reveals Much About Scandal

Mr. Subliminal Returns!

Franken Borrows From Nealon's SNL Act


Remember Kevin Nealon's classic Saturday Night Live "Mr. Subliminal" character?

He could slip a critical point into the smallest spaces, creating some of the show's funniest moments.

After a detailed analysis of Al Franken's recent public Air America scandal comments, it's clear he may owe Nealon one, for stealing his act.

That's because slipped into Franken's rambling set of excuses over why he and Air America are not responsible for $875,000 in taxpayer funds, diverted from a Bronx-based community center, a key admission is made.

Take a look at this snippet, with a full Radio Equalizer-produced transcript below, (bold emphasis mine):

And he uh, borrowed (laughter) $875,000 from, I don't know why they did it, and I don't know where the money went, I don't know if it was used for operations (softer, faster), which I imagine it was.

Care to elaborate on this, Mr. Franken?

That's a big point to bury in your public statement.

Does that mean you were paid with public money, intended for an inner-city community center?

For two weeks, we've been cautioned to be careful about assuming the $875,000 actually went into Air America's account, funding network operations.

And along comes Franken himself, making it appear to be true!

All in the magic style of Mr. Subliminal.

Don't you feel you've a moral obligation to get to the bottom of this, Mr. Franken? Why not be above-board, rather than misleading and evasive?

Here's the full transcript of his comments, while the original audio is found at Brainster's Blog. A certain amount of stuttering has been removed for the sake of clarity, but it doesn't affect what's being said.

Feel free to compare my transcript to the audio clip:


FRANKEN
: Anyway, so here's the deal. So the first guy who was the chairman of the board of of Air America, a guy named Evan Cohen, was a crook, it turns out. I guess that's the only way to put it (laughter) and, but, he got a job.... (interruption)

CO-HOST: let me just add this counsel for a minute, it's not the only way to put it. (ha ha)

FRANKEN: So he let us believe that we had enough funding, enough capital, to go three years, before making a profit, turned out it was three weeks.

And that's when the, and you said you saw the HBO documentary....

GUEST: yeah

FRANKEN: Ok, it turns out he was on the board, or worked for, this Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx or something.

And he uh, borrowed (laughter) $875,000 from, I don't know why they did it, and I don't know where the money went, I don't know if it was used for operations (softer, especially fast), which I imagine it was. I think he was robbing Peter to pay Paul.

And about three weeks into the life of Air America, I became an involuntary investor. I stopped being paid.

So now, we started to make arrangements, and I didn't know anything about this until late last week, and I'm sorry, Rick, that you have to be here for this.

GUEST: That's okay, I like being here with you...

FRANKEN: So, um, we had to do, forensic, or not we, but the guys who run the thing, the new management, did forensic accounting, and discovered this big loan from this Boys and Girls Club, and Rob Glaser, the new guy, who is the head of this new company Piquant, said OK, we don't legally have to pay it back, because we're a different company I guess, but we morally do, so they start making arrangements to pay it back.

And just as that was happening, the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club went belly up, and started being investigated by the state, or the city, or something, and so this all halted that.

Now the Washington Times started making a big deal out of it, and the New York Post, and a woman named Michelle Malkin, (laughter)...

GUEST: So you're getting pretty close to the bottom of the barrel. (laughter)

FRANKEN: Yes, the bottom of the barrel, now and I don't get it because in the Post, they just put my picture up, not only that, they show pictures of the last article they did too, you know how they do that in the Post? (laughter)

So they show a picture of me and a picture of me (laughter)....

So I'm trying to be as responsible as I can, to know as much as I can about this, but I really have nothing to do with it. (laughter)

So, that's I guess the full discussion of it, we're, there's more to talk about with it, but it's boring.

GUEST: So you can see you can see why they're groping for something here. To make some kind of a vague exploitation of children angle...

FRANKEN: oh yeah, oh no, they went right for it.

And that's, of course, why we're paying them back, we put money in escrow, you know, we don't have $850, or $875,000 laying around.

So we had to do it....and then the investigators said, well, you can't pay them back, because we're doing this investigation, so let's put it in escrow.

So that's where it's going. So that's that. If anyone wants to know more about it, we'll talk about it again.

END OF TRANSCRIPT


The Radio Equalizer analyzed this audio in great detail.

After repeated listening, these conclusions became clear:

--- The laughter seems nervous in nature, coming at odd times.

It's used to cover up the particularly touchy aspects of this, toward the end.

--- Franken claims he learned about it late last week, a date that keeps changing.

Al, you've known about it for at least two weeks, if not longer. Nobody really believes you discovered it last Friday!

--- Franken confirms AAR's weak cash position.

--- He's confusing listeners, in saying Department of Investigation offiicals didn't want the money repaid during their examination. The DOI demanded it be placed in an escrow account, one officials could access.

His supporters have consistently twisted this part of the story- it was not AAR's idea and the company hasn't complied with it, anyway!

--- What on Earth gave Rob Glaser the idea the money legally didn't have to be repaid?

Overall, a weak CYA effort by Franken. The real Mr. Subliminal could do it a lot better.

What is Kevin Nealon up to these days, anyway?


AAR Scandal graphic by Darleen Click, City Kid$ by George Adair, Iraqi MPI by Pete at IHillary. Franken Will Work/Limo by IMAO.US

Liberals have been pounding on my requests for your Amazon orders, but I really do have a major site upgrade in the works, and your orders help me pay for it. Maybe it's just a little too much capitalism for their tastes.

71 Comments:

  • The AAR lawyers might have been standing behind the mic. I personally thought Franken was about to cry.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 17:54  

  • What's Kevin Nealon up to these days?

    http://www.kevinnealon.com/

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 18:18  

  • Nothing subliminal about it - Right after Franken says that he missed a paycheck he says that Cohen was robbing Peter to pay Paul.

    His analogy is stating that Cohen was actually robbing poor kids to pay.....Franken.

    He later says that Air America does not have the money to write a check for $875,000.

    Knowing this shouldn’t Franken pay back the poor kids anything that he has received from Air America up to $875,000 since they received the loan?

    I think if Paul was told where the money came from he would repay Peter.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 18:40  

  • Good job. Just so you know, the guest was Hendrik Hertzberg of the New Yorker.

    By Blogger Pat, at 10 August, 2005 19:02  

  • ATTN Dick Tuckus: Air America just went from a 0.7 to a 1.4 in Anchorage, the country's #170 market!

    What remarkable growth!!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 19:30  

  • Brian:

    Don't know if you caught Hannity yesterday, but he had a roundtable to discuss the AAR scandal.

    Michelle Malkin you as the one who broke the story.

    That said, as I stated yesterday, I'm not confident that Elliot Spitzer, a democrat running for governor, will thoroughly investigate AAR, a kazoo for the Democratic party. In fact, Spitzer was a guest on Franken's show.

    Frankly, it's a conflict of interest.

    Brett

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 19:30  

  • Michelle Malkin MENTIONED you as the one who broke the story.



    Brett

    By Anonymous, at 7:30 PM

    Sorry

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 19:32  

  • 1800 dead in Iraq, Bin Laden still not captured, Runaway spending by a GOP Congress and President, massive deficits, the outing of a Covert CIA Agent by a top Bush Administration Advisor, the Majority Leader of Congress under investigation, Gas is $2.86 a gallon, but you got your panties in a Wad over a supposed AAR "Scandal".

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 19:59  

  • Well, looks like that pro-AAR campaign is in full swing, as of this afternoon/evening. Maloney's going to have a lot of logrolling to do for the next few days, looks like. Should be fun seeing how all this inflames his paranoid MSM persecution complex....

    Enjoy:

    **Denver AAR affiliate gets a 2 share (up from 0.4 a year back)

    **AAR up 140% in LA, eating up Rush audience

    **Rush on the verge of being overtaken by lib talk in his home state

    **Defensive Rush Limbaugh "NO I'm NOT Losing Ratings to Franken, I'm NOT I'm NOT!!!" press release demonstrated to be misleading

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 20:56  

  • but you got your panties in a Wad over a supposed AAR "Scandal"

    Well, being that Air America was created explicitly to counter the success of (mainly conservative) political talk radio, it shouldn't be too surprising that Republicans, conservatives, and Democrats like me who think that the party has lost its way, that Kerry was the weakest Presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1980, and that the DNC is overly influenced by the lunatic, anti-American far Left ...

    Well, it shouldn't be surprising that many in the above groups take a certain, er, interest in the goings on at Air America - which spouts nothing but the negatives about the war like the ones you mentioned, but makes no effort at even the pretense of objectivity by deigning to report any positive developments.

    Yeah, damn straight I'm interested in what shenanigans those fcukers are up to.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 21:01  

  • OK perhaps this is petty. But has anyone ever found out how much money Franken earns under there?

    By Blogger I am Coyote, at 10 August, 2005 22:03  

  • More really great journalism!

    Wow!

    You're really scraping the bottom of the barrel now.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 22:04  

  • All those laughter breaks. I had no idea stealing money from poor children was so funny.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 22:09  

  • That's some really super sleuthing there I'll tell you.

    I don't know how you managed to decode those clearly damning messages out of what Franken said.

    You my friend are a blogosphere god!

    Keep it up buddy!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 22:13  

  • Yeah, well I had no idea sending thousands of American GI's off to die in the Iraqi desert on a snipe hunt for some mythical WMD was so hysterical either but George Bush sure proved me wrong on that one at last year Washington Correspondents Dinner.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 22:17  

  • Change the subject?

    I didn't change the subject.

    v the k changed the subject to making comedy at inappropriate subjects. I simply cited another example that I find equally offensive.

    So go fuck yourself redhand.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 22:27  

  • Lots of folks here named anonymous. Why is that?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 22:32  

  • Because blogger doesn't require you to enter a name genius.

    Fucking moron.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 22:44  

  • Brian,

    You are totally hot.

    I used to have the hots for Franken but you've shown me what a real man is like.

    You intellect is sharp as a tack. Digging up a reference to ANOTHER SNL member and making it work so well in your reporting! That made me totally wet.

    You amaze me.

    I want you. You're not sleeping with that tramp Malkin are you?

    Sorry.

    I get real jealous.

    I love you Brian.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 22:56  

  • Guys, I'm one of the most lenient bloggers out there about comments. I let people trash me, each other and post their brains out.

    But could you at least keep a lid on the abusive language? I'd really prefer to keep the comment settings the way they are now.

    Please help me out on this.

    By Blogger Brian Maloney, at 10 August, 2005 22:58  

  • HaHaha...malrex above posts links to lefty blogs for their take on the ratings. What more evidence do you need to easily determine there are no ratings sucesses in any other markets than Portland and Denver than AAR's continued silence on the subject of ratings. Unlike so many anonymous posters here and malrex himself, they dont have access to Arbitron data that those of us who work daily in radio have. Whats so hilarious is that the blogs he links you to cite "winter" book numbers. Well as so many know, that is history since the "spring" book is out for all major markets and many of the other small markets that AAR is on the air in. As with almost everywhere else, AAR shows a slight uptick, and then trends through a book of losses or no gains. Not to mention the horrible numbers in the available to subscriber only 25-54. No matter how you want to spin it malrex or dick, every radio pro knows AAR is failing and we have the numbers to prove it, unlike you and your delusional, obsession with a joke of a radio network. I'll ask once again, why no claims of ratings success and resultung advertiser interest from AAR itself. The answer is simple and plain to see. There are NONE!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 23:02  

  • I swear I saw this last week but I went to AAR web site (to check out the enemy) and they had a section there that was like: "Spend $50 and you will get X, spend $100 you get X,Y, etc. I was like a PBS fundraiser or something. I went back to look for the link but I could find it.

    I remember it on there when the scandal was getting really hot a week or two ago. It is funny to see how pitiful they can really be.

    By Blogger The Closet Republican, at 10 August, 2005 23:07  

  • when franken and friends went after Rush and his illegal drug use there was far more important issues to be covered but that did not stop AA from going after that story non-stop, which was kosher because it was a big story. Did you think they were wrong for spending time on Rush's drug use when they could have spent time on more pressing issues? Was that the most important story to cover at that time? Air America still brings it up from time to time, do you write letters to them and ask them to stop? Rush deserved the heat and Franken does too.

    KJP

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 23:09  

  • Thanks for setting me straight, Mr. Anonymous, I feel bad having to ask such a stupid question and getting such a brilliant answer! You put me in my place! Are you a member of MENZA?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 23:28  

  • You know, it's fitting that the liberal troll is "anonymous". He/she's exactly like the democratic party: Shows up, bitches, makes no sense, against everything, everything's going to hell, and cowardly to boot.

    Thanks "anonymous". You've shown us all what the left is. Take a good look, everyone.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 23:44  

  • I saw Kevin Nealon at the Funny Bone in St. Louis last Saturday. He did the "Mr. Subliminal" bit.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 23:46  

  • every radio pro knows AAR is failing and we have the numbers to prove it, unlike you and your delusional, obsession with a joke of a radio network. I'll ask once again, why no claims of ratings success and resultung advertiser interest from AAR itself. The answer is simple and plain to see. There are NONE!

    By PeakLimiter, at 11:02 PM

    What's equally interesting to me is that there hasn't been a single "What's Wrong with AAR," story in any MSM paper.

    Considering the amount of hype and publicity that AAR received, only to have it do worse than than the Carribbean station it replaced in New York City, one would think that the MSM would have some questions.


    Evidently not.

    Brett

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10 August, 2005 23:55  

  • Anonymous??? You have been drinking the Kool-aid again!
    How about some comment about ... Why did Scare America have to "borrow" (laughter) money from some poor inner-city charity to begin with? Oh the outrage ... Oh the wringing of hands (had this "theft" (laughter)been perpetrated by some "Right wing nut" show)
    You airheads have absolutely NO CREDIBILITY with your selective outrage and "concerns" (laughter)... Guess now you wiil use the discredited line that "George Bush lied and people died" ...
    Go ahead and Drink some more Kool-aid do us all a favor and make sure it's the authentic JIM JONES brand (hope you understand that remark but I doubt it ... airheads only know what their "stooges" tell em)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 00:05  

  • cavy, Yeah the LGF,

    It's you guys who've been drinking the Bush Kool-aid. The American publica is finally coming out of their post 911 stupor and realizing all the lies, distortions, and corruption of the Bush Administration and GOP Congress. Any all Brian Maloney has to harp on his this bogus "scandal" - PATHETIC.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 00:29  

  • cavy, Yeah the LGF,

    It's you guys who've been drinking the Bush Kool-aid. The American publica is finally coming out of their post 911 stupor and realizing all the lies, distortions, and corruption of the Bush Administration and GOP Congress. Any all Brian Maloney has to harp on his this bogus "scandal" - PATHETIC.

    By Anonymous, at 12:29 AM

    Again Lefties miss the boat. Even if many Americans aren't completely happy with George Bush, doesn't mean we're all gonna become raving lefty loonies.

    It's just not gonna happen.

    I don't get why it's so difficult to understand that the vast majority of Americans are well to the right of the loony left-wing of the Democratic party.

    Brett

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 00:35  

  • I don't think Mr. Anonymous has had any Kool-Aid. It sounds more like Boones Farm.
    Cheers Mr. Anonymous, drink some coffee, tomarrow could be nasty.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 00:38  

  • Brett,

    Most American are well to the LEFT
    of the loony Christo-Fascists that lead the modern GOP.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 00:40  

  • Okay, this scandal being BOGUS?!?!?, the anon at 12:29 AM.

    Tell that to Denzel Washington who's the spokesman for Boys & Girls Clubs...

    Tell that to the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club and those whom needed them.

    Or tell that to my widowed grandmother because her husband had Alzheimer's, you POS. I hope YOU have to care for somebody who has that disease before you EVER, EVER again say something like that.

    Man, I think I just lost some sleep. Time to read more of Ari Fleischer's memoirs.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 00:43  

  • The problem with liberal Democrats is, among other things, their collective propensity to embrace an all-telling mode of thought: "the end justifies the means". We will take money that doesn't really belong to us just to keep our short-sighted philosophy afloat (like what's in a toilet bowl).

    If I were Franken, and thank God I am not, I'd first harshly condemn the stealing of money from an inner city youth center -- which he hasn't done (or has he? I don't know; I'd as soon gouge my eardrums out than listen to the drivel coming from AAR, or use Oxycotin like Limbaugh) then, after the condemnation, with little fanfare, I'd shoot myself for the sake of humanity.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 00:43  

  • Brian, Congratulations!! You hit the big time!!! /sarcasm off

    DU found you.

    http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2000646

    RobertSeattle (1000+ posts) Thu Aug-11-05 12:24 AM
    Original message
    Anyone got a List of RW Blogs that allow comments and don't delete them?
    I've enjoyed trolling

    http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com / over the past couple of days (he allows anonymous posts) - he's the fired Seattle right wing talk show host that is "leading the charge" regarding the supposed AAR "Scandal".

    Got any others? Sometimes you just gotta troll!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 00:48  

  • Amen Josef,
    I work in a ALZ unit.
    Sadder than anything in the universe.
    Don't lose sleep over a complete idiot. It's not worth it.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 00:50  

  • I'm Mr. Anti-Anonymous. I reject the analogies and I forsake the apologies. Anonymous is a douche (he called name first) and his crapulent and abusively smarmy argumentation style is no doubt impressive to his cohorts but quite droll to anyone of any sort of educated background. Oh, and Al Franken is circling the drain. lol

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 00:59  

  • Sometimes you just gotta troll? WTF?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:00  

  • Yep, the trolls are out tonight.

    Another good post, Brian.

    Fair warning to the liberals out there. There is more truth to this Air America Scandal, than there was to Gannon/Guckert (We're going to get Bush), DSM, and “Rove outed a CIA operative.”

    Your "scandals" fizzle out because it is all half-truths, speculation and gossip. True, we don't know everything about the AAR scandal, but it is undisputed that the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls club loaned more than $800,000 to AAR and Cohen. AAR is agreeing to pay back all of that money, which is money they don't have. In fact the $50,000 they did supposedly pay back they did so by putting into an escroll account that only their lawyer has access to.

    This is not a "supposed" scandal, it IS a scandal, and it isn't going to go away until the investigation is done. You make yourselves look really ignorant when you deny that AAR had anything to do with unethically, if not illegally borrowing money from a non-profit organization.

    And because you don't want to know, it's likely that you don't know the facts. **sticks fingers in ear** liberals-“La la la la, I can't hear you.”

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:06  

  • Franken wasn't funny when he was supposed to be funny so now he is a shill for the Airhead left .... THAT'S FUNNY!
    Stealing 850,000+ from poor inner-city kids ISN'T FUNNY
    anonymous is a parrott SKAWCK! Not an original thought ... Hey wacko whats you "sig" (ain't that cute!) line from KOS? or are you a DU fool? (maybe he has one of those cute gif thingeys)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:07  

  • Facts?...Liberals?...Same sentence?

    I'm SO confused....

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:09  

  • Moonbats fly Air America!

    I saw one that said ... Air America .. it's better than static!

    Oh yeah about Rush's "drug use" ... you need to fire up the bong and get with the spirit ... Dude!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:11  

  • Stuck in CA-No, it was in my comment.

    "Sometimes you just got to troll."

    Someone at DU (Democratic Underground), a far left loony kind of message board, wrote the above post (on DU) sending their readers over here. That's why there is so many trolls tonight.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:13  

  • Oops, sorry, I signed in as anon. instead or myself.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:14  

  • Guess that is why I'm so confused, Pardon my ignorence.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:16  

  • shawna....;)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:17  

  • Your "scandals" fizzle out because it is all half-truths, speculation and gossip. True, we don't know everything about the AAR scandal, but it is undisputed that the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls club loaned more than $800,000 to AAR and Cohen. AAR is agreeing to pay back all of that money, which is money they don't have. In fact the $50,000 they did supposedly pay back they did so by putting into an escroll account that only their lawyer has access to.

    This is not a "supposed" scandal, it IS a scandal, and it isn't going to go away until the investigation is done. You make yourselves look really ignorant when you deny that AAR had anything to do with unethically, if not illegally borrowing money from a non-profit organization.

    And because you don't want to know, it's likely that you don't know the facts. **sticks fingers in ear** liberals-“La la la la, I can't hear you.”

    By sue, at 1:06 AM

    IMO, if the investigation is done properly, Evan Cohen will be indicted for embezzling this money.

    What kind of non-profit kids program has 800k to throw at some half-baked lefty radio station?

    Why couldn't Cohen or whomever just go to a bank for the loan?

    Brett

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:20  

  • Damn! Guess we scared the moonbats off ... Oh well, won't anyone stand for Franken?
    Here's one ... Know why Frankens Hair is that wiry fuzzy style??
    To save on toilet paper! Everytime he sticks his head up his ass he gets a cleaning job at the same time!!

    Bada Boom!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:22  

  • AAR press release on the matter:
    Statement:
    If the allegations of mismanagement and corruption at Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club are true, it is absolutely disgraceful.

    As reported in the Wall Street Journal and the HBO Documentary, Left of the Dial‚ the company that the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club officials gave money to, Progress Media, has been defunct since May 2004. That company was run at the time by Evan Cohen who has not had any involvement in Air America Radio since May 2004.

    The current owners of Air America Radio have no obligation to Progress Media's business activities. We are very disturbed that Air America Radio's good name could be associated with a reduction in services for young people, which is why we agreed months ago to fully compensate the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club as a result of this transaction...

    Full statement here: http://www.airamericaradio.com/press/gloriawise

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:24  

  • Brian,

    All these folks love to take cute little snipes back and forth which doesn’t answer any of the charges you’ve made about Air America and Al Franken.

    So let me ask you a question. At one time you were a Talk Show Host out her in Seattle at KIRO, right?

    As part of your duties did you also have to worry about the day to day operation including the finances?

    I would guess not.

    So why would you suggest that Al Franken should do that for Air America?

    When he says he didn’t know about this deal why would you NOT believe him. . . unless you had that opinion going in.

    Just trying to move the ball forward.

    mickh

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:24  

  • Most American are well to the LEFT
    of the loony Christo-Fascists that lead the modern GOP.


    "Loony Christo-Fascists" - whatever they are - don't lead the modern GOP. That's a D(emocratic)U(nderground)mp fantasy. The true leaders of the modern GOP are more moderate. Of course, anyone even slightly to the right of the likes of the DUmp, Daily "Screw 'em" Kos, John "Effenheimer" Kerry and Howard "the Screaming Blue Weenie" Dean is considered a "loony Christo-Fascist."

    By Blogger Jay McHue, at 11 August, 2005 01:25  

  • Mickh

    DOWN ... SET ... HUP 1 ...
    I believe the point is that if you are going to claim that you have the straight story about "America" as I've heard that Air America claims then why do you ignore a real scandal .... WAIT! BECAUSE IT IS ABOUT YOUR NETWORK! So how can Franken claim to have any credibility if he ignores a true scandal and obviously does nothing to educate himself about the details (laughter ... again!)
    The name should be changed to "Airhead America" ... isn't it obvious??

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:36  

  • Brian, GREAT Blog!

    In those immortal words of his excellency AHHNOLD ... I'LL BE BACK!

    Cavy - The LGF one.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:46  

  • Brett IMO, if the investigation is done properly, Evan Cohen will be indicted for embezzling this money.

    What kind of non-profit kids program has 800k to throw at some half-baked lefty radio station?

    Why couldn't Cohen or whomever just go to a bank for the loan?


    Well maybe that is what will happen. However Cohen was one of the top cheeses at both Dorothy Wise and AAR. Maybe he embezzled the money, BUT a good chunk of it was direct deposited into AAR's bank account. When Cohen was forced out it was due to financial malfeasance. He said he had investors that were investing 30 million dollars, when actually they had only 6 million dollars, and that was gone within just a few weeks. Then Progress Media's assets were "sold" to Pequant (?) (Unsure how to spell and don't want to look up.) The problem is that all of the owners and others are the same as they were under Progress Media, with the exception of Cohen and one other person. It is illegal to sell in this manner to avoid debts. Time will tell if this applies to AAR.

    AAR surely did an audit before the new entity bought Progress Media, especially in light of Cohen’s financial malfeasance. In fact Franken did say that a forensic audit did show this. I haven't been heard that AAR reported embezzlement to the police, nor that they reported that they had unethically received loans from a non-profit due to a previous employee. I would think they would have done at least that much when they discovered it unless they had something to hide.

    As to why they didn't get a bank loan. They didn't have any assets, and they were broke after just being on the air for a few weeks. They might not (probably wouldn't have) have qualified for a loan.

    Read Brian's blog, he has much more on this, and explains it better, too.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 01:57  

  • It turns out toonces is driving the limo.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 02:08  

  • I don't know what the truth is about Air America's ratings, but here in Dallas we have at least three stations which are conservative talk all day long. In the middle of the day, you can listen to Limbaugh, O'Reilly or Prager (or all at once if you have three radios handy). Now, if we had ONE expressly left-wing station, I'd expect it to outperform any one of the three conservative talk stations simply b/c it's the only left-wing game in town and could be expected to garner a sizeable chunk of the left-wing radio audience. I'd expect that to happen, and I wouldn't consider it some sort of sign of the ascendance of leftism in Texas, any more than I would consider it surprising that one Democrat candidate for an office might garner more votes than any one of three competitive Republican candidates running in the same election. On the other hand, if one left-wing radio station was barely competitive in the same market, I really wouldn't know what to make of that.

    By Blogger Eman, at 11 August, 2005 02:42  

  • http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2000646

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 03:28  

  • By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 03:30  

  • "Anyone got a List of RW Blogs that allow comments and don't delete them?"

    This is one of the few. Lien Baloney is an attention whore. He doesn't care how his postings are torn to shreds or how many of his lies are exposed.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 03:46  

  • Regarding the Old York Times' continued avoidance of this story, note these helpful instructions on searching the Times' site.

    By Blogger directorblue, at 11 August, 2005 05:58  

  • On AAR's Anchorage Ratings Jump: They added Stephanie Miller and Ed Shultz and now only carry Franken. Less AAR Content = Higher Ratings!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 08:14  

  • Re Air America ratings rising in some markets.

    Amazing what a scandal can do isn't it?

    BTW for those interested the money in escrow can not be moved by DOI officials and as I understand it it is only 50K.

    By Blogger M. Simon, at 11 August, 2005 08:22  

  • Ah, so Limbaugh put out ONE press release about ratings that might be questionable and it's a scandal. What did Rush do in his number extrapolations that AAR didn't do the first month they were on. Remember "We Beat Em!"?

    Also, Nice of you to ignore the 30 or so others he's released this month that have been undisputed in showing Limbaugh's dominance.

    Oh, and if one improperly worded press release is such a black mark against a radio personality, why aren't you joining the torch-n-pitchfork crowd against AirAmerica's first claim they had "no idea" about the Gloria Wise scandal?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 09:16  

  • "The Air America affiliate in Anchorage, AK just doubled their numbers to 1.4."

    HOLY FUCK! I needs to buy me some stock in this rocket ride! Stupid schmucks. WTF?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 09:24  

  • Stealing money from kids to buy drugs!!!???!!! Shameful.

    By Blogger reglarwiglar, at 11 August, 2005 12:02  

  • Isn't that Anchorage AAR station the same one that had to be bailed out by the IBEW?

    Yes I think it is!

    So, AAR now has 25 listeners in Anchorage.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 12:51  

  • Maybe it's just me, but all this (radio clip and comments here) leads me to other questions.

    Hmmm. So, is he (franKKKen) claiming that he hasn't been paid after the first 3 weeks? He's working for free? I assume he's getting paid now, so did he get the payless paydays made up? That is, has he actually done any broadcasting that he has never been paid for? If not, then he is not "an unwilling investor" in AAR.

    Also, given that AAR was set up by an evil Guam Republican "crook" (pace FranKKKen), why didn't these liberal geniuses look just a leeeeeetle closer at the budget, finances, etc. Most of that stuff should have been available. If it wasn't, that should have set off a few alarms. I guess Al's problem is, "I'm not really good enough, I'm not really all that smart, and, gosh darn it, people seem to be nervous to be seen with me."

    And if this blog is so worthless, why do all the trolls have their outrage meters pegged at "11"?

    Finally, I've heard of people who have "faces made for radio" but FranKKKen ranks right up there with Susan Estrich as having a "voice made for mime."

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 13:42  

  • Who is this Al Franken you speak of...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 17:54  

  • You know, Rush could write a check for $875K and still have about sixty million left over. He probably does a million a day in ad spots.

    $50,000 is all these AirAmerijokers can come up with? Could it be because no one's listening, and therefore they can't sell advertising? Liberals never did get the supply and demand thing.

    - Parker

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11 August, 2005 22:39  

  • When robbing Peter to pay Paul the object is to be Paul.

    Jerry L, Minneapolis

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12 August, 2005 15:58  

  • The part left out, is that the re-pay does not include interest on the money. Seems like even when AAR is forced to do good, they can't do it right

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12 August, 2005 17:22  

Post a Comment

<< Home



 
Page Rank Checker

Powered by Blogger