The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

31 October 2008

Obama Pal Bill Ayers Dedicated Book To RFK's Killer

SIRHAN, OH MAN!

Obama Associate's Book Praised Robert F Kennedy's Killer





*** NewsBusters Has More On Ayers / Obama / Sirhan Here ***

*** H & C Transcript Now Available ***

*** Talk Station's 'Big Announcement' Turns Out To Be Cheap Pelosi Campaign Stunt ***


Did Obama associate and longtime radical terrorist Bill Ayers really dedicate his book to Robert F Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan?

Amazingly, the answer is yes, with a copy obtained by the FOX News Channel providing definitive proof. After the Hannity & Colmes Show aired a segment on this new development Thursday evening, the Internet began to buzz over its potential impact.

Called Prairie Fire, the 1974 manifesto offers praise for a number of so-called "political prisoners", including Kennedy killer Sirhan.

As Sean Hannity indicated during the segment, the book has been extremely difficult to obtain, with even the New York Public Library apparently unable to locate it.

While a couple of alert bloggers were on to this several days ago, a news network obtaining a hard copy of the book makes this a fresh story.


Here's a clip of the segment:






Given Obama's extensive ties to Ayers, one would imagine they would prove damaging, but the issue so far has not resonated nationally. With this bombshell development, however, that may quickly change.

The American people will want to know why Barack Obama associates so closely with a man who backs Robert F Kennedy's murderer, seeing him as a mere "political prisoner". That's a view so far out into fringe territory that it could give a Berkeley radical pause.

When will Obama finally be forced to explain his association with this sick terrorist?


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30 October 2008

KGO Tricks Listeners With Cheap Nancy Pelosi Political Stunt

TACKY NANCY

Radio Listeners Deceived By KGO's 'Announcement'







A promised "major announcement" by a San Francisco radio station turned out to be little more than a cheap political stunt favoring Nancy Pelosi's re-election, disappointing listeners who'd expected a great deal more.

Promoted for days, it had many KGO fans wondering if the station was planning to announce a move to the FM band, or whether a replacement would be named for convicted child porn distributor and former evening host Bernie Ward.

Instead, the event proved to be nothing more than a trick, as House Speaker / San Francisco moonbat Nancy Pelosi flicked a switch to turn on some solar panels that will now power a small percentage of KGO's transmitters. Pelosi used the opportunity to utter a few vague "green" buzzwords ahead of Tuesday's election.

Pelosi is running against left-wing activist Cindy Sheehan for the San Francisco-based congressional seat. The latter is in the news tonight over an attack on her campaign headquarters.


Ironically, Pelosi is widely expected to join other Democrats after the election in enacting legislation that would shut down commerical talk radio (including KGO itself) through the reimposition of the cumbersome, anti-free speech Fairness Doctrine.

Here's a clip of the occasion:







With KGO owner
Citadel - ABC Radio already facing extreme financial stress, one would imagine other priorities would take precedence, such as making payroll.

But the debt-ridden firm's mismanagement has been extreme, with KGO President Mickey Luckoff now presiding over yet another debacle. This comes on the heels of a lavish station celebration that occurred just after a round of brutal layoffs in August and previous hopes by Luckoff to rehire Ward even as he was facing those child porn charges.

Luckily, Citadel - ABC Radio will soon be relegated to the ash heap of history, where its epic mismanagement will be missed by no one.


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Boston Globe Writer Exports Anti-McCain Hate Overseas

SPREADING HATE OVERSEAS

Obama Fanatic Damages America's Image Abroad





*** MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRATS IN PANIC MODE AS CORRUPT LEADERS WONDER WHO WILL BE ARRESTED NEXT ***


With so many liberal newspapers on life support in the United States, reporters whose careers are hanging by a thread quickly need a Plan B.

And while some hacks may have trouble adjusting to this new reality, they can be encouraged by the Boston Globe's Kevin Cullen, who has found a second act spreading unhinged hatred overseas.

Given the hysterically pro-Obama slant already seen in the European press, his work serves to pour gasoline on a raging fire.

Though the Hingham, Massachusetts resident maintains his position at the deeply troubled New York Times Company outlet, Cullen's somehow finagled a job as a columnist for the Irish Times.

There, he's been able to play up European stereotypes of Americans, with a special emphasis on smearing conservatives. Hey, whatever it takes to remain employed, right?

With the rabidly-liberal Boston Globe's circulation plunging (down another 10% in new figures and fading fast), this second gig has got to come in handy.

Previously, your Radio Equalizer has covered Cullen's wildly inaccurate interpretation of the reasons for Ireland's economic success inside a stubbornly regressive European Union.


Now, Cullen uses his column space to bash American conservatives, with a particular emphasis on attacking talk radio, which many anti-free speech liberals hope to abolish after the election. In his latest piece, he even goes after Joe The Plumber for supposedly failing to grasp wildly-discredited Keynesian economic theories:


THE LAST half of the last month of this interminable campaign has started to resemble the second half of last month's All-Ireland hurling final, in that the only thing in question is the margin of victory.

As John McCain tries to prove the pollsters wrong, his campaign has been pretty much reduced to this: Joe the Plumber and conspiracy theories.

It turns out that Joe the Plumber's 15 minutes of fame have turned into something much longer, which shouldn't surprise anyone who has had a plumber come to their house: watch him work for all of 15 minutes, then get a bill for a full hour.

Joe the Plumber appeared on any and every right-wing radio and TV programme in America last week. His grasp of economics isn't exactly Keynesian, but the McCainites have come to regard Joe's plain-speakin' critique of Obama the Great Redistributor of Wealth as their last best chance.


Here, Cullen dishonestly claims there is conclusive, readily-available proof that Barack Obama was born in the United States (his birth certificate has been sealed by Hawaii's governor and Obama refuses to provide an original copy, not a mere electronic image, one which some feel may be fake):


Besides Joe the Plumber, the other guy in great demand on Fox and the radio airwaves was a lawyer named Philip Berg.

Berg claims Barack Obama cannot be president because he wasn't born in the US. Now, every official record in existence indicates that Barack Obama was born 47 years ago in Hawaii, which was then and still remains part of the US.


From there, Cullen's piece deteriorates further as he once again goes on the attack against American talk radio:


Even in Boston, the capital of the bluest state in the union, all the talk radio hosts were foaming at the mouth, expressing utter disbelief that Americans don't know or don't care that Obama is a foreigner and thus barred by the constitution from serving as president.

This comes after weeks of foaming at the mouth in utter disbelief that most Americans couldn't give a toss that Obama is friendly with a one-time violent radical named Bill Ayers and months after much foam was spewed over the Rev Jeremiah Wright. These talk radio guys have more foam than an airport fire brigade.


[...]


When Colin Powell backed Obama, with an eloquence that escaped him when he repeated Bush's lies before the United Nations five years ago, Rush Limbaugh did on his radio show what comes natural: he played the race card, saying Powell was just tryin' to help a brother out.

It was harder to explain away Scott McClellan, who, as White House press secretary, spent a good many years lying for - um, strike that - speaking for President Bush. Laura Ingraham, a former Reagan speechwriter and syndicated radio talk show host, dismissed McClellan as a liberal in disguise.

"Scott McClellan was always friends with those in the elite media," said Ingraham, who makes millions of dollars a year by talking a few hours a day but clearly doesn't count herself among those snobby media elites.


The fact that
Obama's entire campaign has been built around playing the race card, especially to gain the support of guilt-ridden white liberals, isn't mentioned in Cullen's overseas propaganda.

There are many who believe Powell's endorsement was based primarily on the idea of electing a black president, that is not an extreme belief by any means at this point. As for McClellan, he has most certainly outed himself as a leftist, especially in his recent book.


Cullen seems to have a particular obsession with Boston talk radio, dishonestly using it in another recent column, again to smear conservatives:


So what do Dittoheads really believe? Basically that Obama and Ayers sat around some room with posters of Che Guevara on the wall, smoking bones and making bombs, all the while singing the praises of the Viet Cong.

As Martin F Nolan put it for the Huffington Post, trying to paint Obama as un-American because he knows someone who was, isn't very original.

"What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward the sad end of this presidential campaign? It is the shade of the late Joseph R McCarthy, who bequeathed his name to an 'ism' John McCain has clumsily exhumed," Nolan wrote. "McCarthyism asserted that if you ever met a communist, you must be a communist. Updated version: if you ever met a terrorist, you must be a terrorist."

Jay Severin, a Boston-based radio host, claimed Obama is getting sacks of money from Pakistan and Afghanistan. It seems them thar towelheads will subvert the greatest democracy in the world by, as Malcolm X put it, any means necessary.

As the odious Severin discussed his ludicrous conspiracy theory with Michele McPhee, a fellow WTKK host, McPhee observed that you can tell the money is from Afghanistan and Pakistan because "it smells like goat". Lovely. They might consider dropping the T and adding one more K to the station's call letters.


In this tirade against Rush and his fellow talk radio "dittoheads", Cullen neglects to mention that Severin is a self-described libertarian, while McPhee is a Ted Kennedy-supporting liberal. Both work for a Boston station that competes with Rush Limbaugh's local outlet.

Further, Boston talk radio is mostly conservative because that's what has generated ratings and revenue. Attempts at liberal talk programming in New England have failed miserably.

One would like to think that the Boston Globe's annoying elitists would go down with the ship as the paper slowly dies, but sadly, it seems they'll just find a new place to distort the truth.

In Cullen's case, the results are damaging, as his reckless partisanship and ridiculous use of stereotypes harm the way Europeans view Americans.


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27 October 2008

Obama's Own Words Come Back To Haunt Him, Big Palin - Hannity Rally Turnout

JOE WAS RIGHT!

Newly-Discovered Audio Reveals Obama's Socialistic Plans





*** CLICK HERE FOR MY NEWEST PIECE: HOW MCCAIN CAUSED TUESDAY'S STOCK MARKET MEGA-RALLY AND WHAT COULD HAPPEN NEXT ***

*** CROOKED MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRAT SENATOR CAUGHT STUFFING CA$H IN HER BRA ***



BOY, was Joe the Plumber on to something!

The now-infamous exchange between the Illinois senator and self-described regular guy from Ohio has led many to wonder whether Barack Obama really does intend to impose socialism in the United States once he is elected president.

Now, in a bombshell audio interview just discovered buried in public radio's deepest vaults, solid evidence has emerged that Obama truly does believe in a socialistic redistribution of wealth.

This tape provides the smoking gun evidence of Obama's real political views that his critics have been seeking for well over a year.

The video, currently available on YouTube (at least until its pro-Obama censors remove it, that is), features a barely-known Barack in a 2001 Chicago Public Radio interview:









Via Stop The ACLU,
a partial transcript is now available (but you've got to hear it to grasp that he isn't just discussing the topic, but actually advocating socialism):


OBAMA: If you look at the victories and failures of the civil rights movement and its litigation strategy in the court, I think where it succeeded was to invest formal rights in previously dispossessed people, so that now I would have the right to vote. I would now be able to sit at the lunch counter and order as long as I could pay for it, I’d be OK.

But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical.

It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties.

(It) Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf, and that hasn’t shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court-focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that.


Obviously coming at a time before Obama was on a presidential political trajectory, the then-state senator is overt in his push for outright radical socialism, if not marxism.

During the interview, Obama and a caller discuss how to most effectively bring "redistributive change", telling her that the legislative process is more effective than the court system for creating economic "reparative work".

The radical rhetoric heard in this interview is in sharp contrast to the carefully-chosen words used on the campaign trail. It exposes Obama's true fringe-extremist agenda, but it's up to talk radio, blogs and outraged voters to spread the word.


(UPDATE: bloggers are in fact all over this as we speak, talk hosts including Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and many others planning to jump on it right out of the gate Monday. Drudge has now added it to his headlines as well. This is truly a game-changer and may by itself lead to Obama's downfall a week from tomorrow)


We are just one week away from electing America's first-ever radical socialist president and now his critics have all the ammo they need to alert the public to his dangerously extremist beliefs.

Are you a socialist? If not, then why are you supporting one for president of the United States?


Meanwhile, for all of the mainstream media-led talk of Sarah Palin's supposed unpopularity, a huge McCain-Palin event drew at least 7000 supporters to Kissimmee in a event even the Orlando Sentinel called a "rowdy rally".

According to FOX 35 Orlando, voters waited for up to four hours to see Palin, her husband, talker Sean Hannity (there to interview Palin), as well as The View's Elisabeth Hasselbeck at the Silver Spurs Arena:


(WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) -- Vice-Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, rallied thousands of supporters at the Silver Spurs Arena. Many waited four hours or more for the rally to begin and Rob Eckerson gave up Sunday football saying its everyones responsibility to get involved the process you come here you listen to what somebody has to say it has a lot to do with your everyday life said Eckerson whether it be your job whether it be how your health insurance is going to be.

It was nearly 4 o'clock before Gov. Palin took the stage after an introduction from Elisabeth Hasselbeck from ABC'S The View. The rally was scheduled to begin at 3pm but you couldn't find a sign of frustration in the crowd. Governor Palin fired up the crowd with a barrage of attacks on Senator Obama. Barack Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes said Palin 94 times he had the opportunity to prove he was on your side. Each mention of the democratic nominee drew boos from the crowd.

Governor Palin accused the Obama campaign of celebrating victory too early and treating the election as a formality. Palin once again equated Senator Obamas proposed economic plan to socialism Obama says he is for a tax credit which is when government takes your money to give it away to someone else according to his priorities.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck wasn't the only celebrity stumping for the McCain - Palin ticket. Sean Hannity from FOX News was at the rally but didn't take the stage. President George Bush also made an appearance but it was an impersonator. He worked the crowd with a Sarah Palin look-a-like but nothing excited the crowd more than the chance to help the underdog take the White House.


This provides yet another example of why voters should reject the mainstream media's voter suppression campaign and look at what's really happening on the campaign trail.


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Images: Palin via Orlando Sentinel, Obama via al-Reuters

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24 October 2008

Questions Over Obama's Birthplace Go Mainstream

IS IT POSSIBLE?

Left Furious Over Suggestion Obama Was Born Overseas




*** MORE ON OBAMA - KENYA BIRTH STORY ***
*** ARRESTED BOSTON HOST: I'M FINISHED ***


A question that has lurked in the fringes for months has finally gone mainstream: was Barack Obama born in the United States? Though he could have resolved lingering questions long ago, Obama himself has kept the issue alive, partly by ducking the issue.

Until now, this matter didn't seem likely to break out beyond distant corners of the Internet, but Obama's refusal to allow the media to inspect an original copy of his birth certificate has allowed it to move to the front burner.

And after dismissing the issue for some time, talk hosts across the country have openly begun to discuss the controversy, enraging Obama's supporters on the far left.

Especially interesting is how talkers ordinarily at odds with one another like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and G Gordon Liddy have all raised the subject this week.


Moving the issue to the forefront is Pennsylvania Democrat Philip J Berg, who has fought an uphill legal battle seeking answers regarding Obama's true place of birth. From WorldNetDaily:



Pennsylvania Democrat Philip J. Berg, who filed a lawsuit demanding Sen. Barack Obama present proof of his American citizenship, now says that by failing to respond Obama has legally "admitted" to the lawsuit's accusations, including the charge that the Democratic candidate was born in Mombosa, Kenya.


As WND reported, Berg filed suit in U.S. District Court in August, alleging Obama is not a natural-born citizen and is thus ineligible to serve as president of the United States. Though Obama has posted an image of a Hawaii birth certificate online, Berg demands that the court verify the original document, which the Obama campaign has not provided.


Now Berg cites Rule 36 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which states that unless the accused party provides written answer or objection to charges within 30 days, the accused legally admits the matter.


Since Obama has only filed motions to dismiss and has not actually answered the charges in the lawsuit, Berg claims, according to Rule 36, Obama has legally admitted he is not a natural-born citizen.


On yesterday's show, Rush Limbaugh outlined one potential theory:



RUSH: "Barack Obama says he doesn't want to make the same mistake with his grandmother that he made with his dying mother," so today he's jetting off to Hawaii to make sure that doesn't happen. He was on The Early Show this morning with Harry Smith, and Smith said, "Lincoln said, 'All I ever hoped to be, I owe to her,' in speaking about his mother. Your grandmother, very much like a mother to you, how important is this trip?"


OBAMA: It's very important to me. My grandmother is the last one left, uh, she has really been the rock of the family and the foundation of the family, uh, whatever strength, discipline, uh, that I have, uh, it comes from her.


SMITH: You said in the past that you regretted your own mother's illness and her death came so quickly, you didn't have time to get back to --


RUSH: Stop the tape here a minute. Stop, recue this. Harry Smith is doing everything here but crying, everything but crying here. This is an embarrassment. You people in the media, you don't even care how embarrassing this is, you do not even care. Here it is again from the top.


OBAMA: It's very important to me. My grandmother's the last one left, uh --


RUSH: Right.


OBAMA: She has really been the rock of the family.


RUSH: I know.


OBAMA: And the foundation of the family, uh--


RUSH: Absolutely right.


OBAMA: Whatever the strength, discipline, uh --


RUSH: Hawaii all these years.


OBAMA: -- that I have, uh, it comes from her.


SMITH: You've said in the past that you regretted your own mother's illness and her death came so quickly, you didn't have time to get back to see her.


OBAMA: Got there too late. We knew she wasn't doing well, um, but the diagnosis was such where we thought we had a little more time and we didn't, so I want to make sure that I don't, uh, I don't make, uh, the same mistake twice.


RUSH: Now, Harry Smith is very, very worried, ladies and gentlemen, that this could hurt Obama's campaign.


SMITH: Some people say there's risk involved in this, with so little time left.


OBAMA: Yeah. Well, the, uh, I think most people understand, uh, that if you're not, um, caring for your family, uh, then you're probably not, uh, the kind of person who's going to be caring for other people.


RUSH: Yeah, right. Okay. Now, I have some questions here, ladies and gentlemen. If Obama has this election in the bag, if he has this election in the bag, which they're all saying, I mean, he's building the stage. They're already putting together this massive little stage out there in Grant Park in Chicago. They're making all these postelection plans. They're working on the transition team. If it's in the bag, Obama, please, stop spending money on TV and radio spots. Stop raising more money. You already have tons of it. Stop campaigning all over the country. You're wasting fuel. You're emitting carbon dioxide along the way. If it's over, then behave like it's over. By the way, I'd like to be a little bit more inquisitive than the average reporter out there and observe that we've been hearing and reading for at least three days now that Obama's grandmother is deathly ill and that he's going to rush to her side in Hawaii.


Now, if he's already won the presidency, why hasn't he already gone to Hawaii? Why is he not already there? What's he waiting for? "If she's deathly ill," I'm pretending to be a reporter here. You know they'd ask McCain these questions. "If Obama's grandmother is deathly ill, why has this been announced days ago and he's only going now," or tomorrow, or whenever it is. Now, I understand, folks, Snerdley's got his head buried in his hands. I understand this, my friends, anything said about Obama is going to be turned into an unfair racist attack on the man. Am I not asking obvious questions? Who announces days in advance they're rushing to the side of a loved one who is deathly ill but keeps campaigning in a race that's said to be over, only to go to the loved one's side days later? See, I think this is about something else. You know what's really percolating out there? I've been laying low on this because it hasn't met the threshold to pass the smell test on this program.


This birth certificate business, this lawsuit that a guy named Philip Berg filed in Philadelphia in August for Obama to produce his genuine birth certificate and he still hasn't replied. You've got a deathly ill grandmother, you are going to rush to her side a few days from now, when you first announced this, you're going to rush, you're going to hurry, you're going to make tracks, you're going to get over there because you don't want your grandmother to die before you got there like your mother did, but somehow you keep campaigning, you take three days to get over there, if he's left yet, and this birth certificate business, I'm just wondering if something's up. I have no clue, and folks, I'm telling you, this has not reached the threshold until now, and it's popping up all over the place. There are a lot of people now that are starting to speculate and be curious about this.


I don't know, let's say for example that somebody does come up with proof that something's screwy with his birth certificate and something's screwy about the fact that he's allegedly a natural citizen, American citizen, but may not be, dual citizenship, born in Kenya, who knows, there's all kinds of stuff out -- so what? What's going to happen this late in the campaign? Do you think if it's proven that they're going to dump him? That's not going to happen.


But still, these are just questions that I have. And, look, both of my parents have died. When I was told the end was near, bam, I got there, fast as I could. I didn't announce to the audience, "I just got word my father is said to be passing away and in four or five days I'm going to go to Missouri. In the meantime, I will not leave you here on this radio program." These are just natural questions. I think any inquisitive reporter -- I know the risk I'm running here by raising all this. But I wouldn't be me if I didn't do that.


But that has the far-left Media Matters crowd in a tizzy. Here, they attack several hosts by name, sidestepping the fact that Obama has still refused to provide an original copy of his birth certificate for examination by the media:



Conservative radio hosts Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh and Obama Nation author Jerome Corsi -- who appeared as a guest on G. Gordon Liddy's radio show -- suggested or asserted that the true purpose of Sen. Barack Obama's current trip to Hawaii is not to visit his ailing grandmother, as Obama claims, but rather to address rumors -- widely debunked -- that Obama has failed to produce a valid U.S. birth certificate.


However, as Media Matters for America has documented, the Obama campaign posted a copy of Obama's birth certificate on its "Fight the Smears" website and reportedly provided the original document to FactCheck.org, whose staff concluded in an August 21 post that it "meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship." A Hawaiian Health Department official also reportedly confirmed to PolitiFact.com that Obama's birth certificate is valid, and even Corsi's employer, the right-wing website WorldNetDaily, reported in an August 23 article that a "WND investigation into Obama's birth certificate utilizing forgery experts also found the document to be authentic."


The bottom line: Media Matters doesn't want this issue even discussed on the air, period. They want to control the debate, but talk radio isn't playing by their rules.

Here, Comedy Central tries to spoof talk radio's questions, but it comes across like something written by an intern at Air America.

The real issue is how Obama's cult-like followers fully expect their Dear Leader to be coronated a week from Tuesday and aren't going to tolerate unpleasant questions in the meantime. It's up to talk radio and the blogosphere to keep up the fight.


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22 October 2008

New Mexico Democrat Will Push To Destroy Talk Radio After Election

PRIORITY ONE

Dem Senator Outlines Vindictive Plan To Eliminate Talk Radio





*** BOSTON HOST ARRESTED, FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE ***
*** CHICAGO TALK STATION'S BONEHEADED PROGRAMMING MOVE ***
*** PICKING APART ONE NEW POLL ***


In a stunning admission most Democrats have been unwilling to make in public, a New Mexico senator has revealed his desire to eliminate commercial talk radio and its opposition voices as soon as it is politically feasible.

With the possibility of a Democratic Party supermajority after the upcoming elections, Jeff Bingaman may soon get his wish to quash dissenting viewpoints.

During an interview with KOB/ Albuquerque host Jim Villanucci, Bingaman overtly stated his full support for imposing Fairness Doctrine restrictions on free speech which would effectively shut down talk radio as we know it today.

If enacted, the Fairness Doctrine (which is anything but) would create logistical nightmares for radio programmers, leading quickly to shuttered stations. The need to "balance" every viewpoint presented would also destroy the entertainment value of talk radio, driving away the audience.

With most major operators currently in deep financial trouble for unrelated reasons, these new restrictions on free speech could represent the final blow for the commercial broadcasting industry.

Even when confronted with the fact that Albuquerque is home to conservative and liberal commerical outlets, as well as public and satellite radio offerings, Bingaman still indicated he would support the move to silence talk radio.

Here's a clip of the exchange:






Though many have suspected Democrats would enact revenge on conservative talk radio after the election, Bingaman has foolishly suggested that it is on the table, despite previous denials from others in his party.

For their part, liberal talk hosts such as Ed Schultz have used those denials to claim no such plan is in the works, even going on the offensive against conservatives who say otherwise. Now, Schultz and others in the "progressive" talk area will be forced to admit that it may become a reality.

Worse, it will have the same chilling effect on their programming. Because conservative talk is so much more successful, however, liberal Democrats may be willing to sacrifice Air America if it means shutting down Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and others.


RIEHL WORLD VIEW has more

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21 October 2008

Biden's Mega-Gaffe Energizes Talk Radio, McCain Campaign

INSTANT IMPLOSION

Biden's 'Calamity' Remark = Damage Control For Obama







Better than anything their worst enemies could have cooked up in a dark, smoke-filled room, the Obama campaign is playing defense over a bizarre comment by VP pick Joe Biden.

Predicting that Barack Obama would be "tested" by terrorist strikes against the US during his first six months in office, Biden further suggested that Obama's response to the attacks would be unpopular with the public.

From the New York Post:


Joe Biden warned that America's enemies would test Barack Obama with an international crisis within six months if he's elected president - a shocking comment John McCain eagerly pounced on yesterday to claim Obama isn't ready to be commander-in-chief.

"Mark my words," Biden told donors at a Seattle fund-raiser Sunday night.

"It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America.

"Watch. We're going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.

"And he's going to need help . . . to stand with him. Because it's not going to be apparent initially; it's not going to be apparent that we're right."


Talk hosts and the McCain campaign were quick to jump on this yesterday, though the issue seems bigger today. From Rush Limbaugh's show:


RUSH: Colin Powell said that Biden would be ready to be president on day one. Does Powell agree that the price for electing Obama is a world crisis? Biden's starting this. Biden is stating this as a fact beyond dispute. He says it's a guarantee, that we are to mark his words. Now, can you imagine if I said -- without Biden having had said this first -- if I had said that the election of Barack Obama will cause a guaranteed international crisis, can you imagine? I mean, the Drive-Bys are in a tizzy over my little Colin Powell comment yesterday to Jonathan Martin of The Politico.

Can you imagine what they would do if I would have come out before Biden and said what Biden had said? I would be taking politics to the lowest common denominator. I would be a fearmonger. I would be irresponsible. The Fairness Doctrine would be needed to shut me up. I'm going to endorse Biden. Biden's exactly right about this. First time in a long time I'm going to agree with Biden. He's exactly right. We are going to get tested here. Obama's going to get tested.

What's amazing to me about Biden's statement, ladies and gentlemen, is I thought the election of Obama was going to make the world love us again. I thought we're going to repair this busted image that we have all around the world, and the moment Obama is elected -- we don't have to wait 'til he's inaugurated -- from the moment he is elected, the world is going to (kissing sound) love us again. They're going to want to kiss us everywhere they can. They're going to be so happy, and here's Biden saying, (paraphrasing) "Oh, yeah, get ready, folks. This young man, he's got what it takes, love this guy, this guy can handle it," speaking of Obama, "but he's going to get tested, we're going to get tested, I can guarantee you and we're going to need your support. We're going to need your support in there because it's not going to be obvious we're doing the right thing at first." (laughing.)


And from the Washington Post on McCain's reaction:


A RETORT TO BIDEN

McCain Jumps on Talk Of Early Test for Obama

COLUMBIA, Mo. --John McCain has not been talking too much about international affairs in recent days, but the suggestion by Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden that the world may try to test a President Obama early in his administration prompted him to dive back in.

Biden was quoted telling a crowd at a Seattle fundraiser Sunday: "Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America.

"Remember I said it standing here, if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're going to going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

Biden urged the crowd to stand by Obama when he is elected president, a comment that drew a response from McCain.

"The next president won't have time to get used to the office," McCain said. "We face many challenges here at home, and many enemies abroad in this dangerous world. Just last night, Senator Biden guaranteed that if Senator Obama is elected, we will have an international crisis to test America's new president. We don't want a president who invites testing from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting in two wars."

-- Michael Abramowitz


While a few mainstream media outlets have been avoiding the story in order to provide cover for their Dear Leader, some Obama stalwarts have been concerned enough that they've felt the need to provide excuses for Biden's mega-gaffe.

But did Madeline Albright's defensive reaction only make the situation worse? See for yourself:





If terrorist attacks are inevitable under an Obama presidency, then why not vote for McCain and avoid the carnage altogether? This profoundly stupid gaffe has provided McCain with the best opportunity he's had to date. Let's hope he continues to exploit it.


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20 October 2008

Colin Powell's Obama Endorsement May Raise Uncomfortable Questions

COLIN'S FOUL

Why Powell's Obama Endorsement Could Actually Backfire





*** ALSO: Philly Talker Turns Traitor, Curious Obama St Louis Rally Coverage ***


Remember the good old days, when the left saw Colin Powell as a bloodthirsty warmongerer? Now, with his move to endorse Barack Obama for the presidency, he's somehow a hero to our "progressive" friends.

If the Dear Leader's supporters were hoping for a grand slam from Powell's move, however, they may soon be saddened to discover this is a mere foul ball. Worse, it could prove a complete strikeout.

That's because it brings to the surface issues of ethnic division in our society that Obama's handlers have long sought to keep out of the debate. Do they really want to open this can of worms?

Though he denies it now, as recently as a month ago, Powell was open and honest about Obama's race as a key asset in this contest. From MSNBC in September:


From NBC's Libby Leist

Colin Powell, the first African-American Secretary of State, said this afternoon that electing an African-American US president would be “electrifying” for the world, but he said he still remains undecided between McCain and Obama.

Appearing today at George Washington University with four other former US Secretaries of State -- Madeleine Albright, James Baker, Warren Christopher, and Henry Kissinger -- Powell and the panel were asked by a student whether they thought America electing Obama president would send a more powerful image overseas than John McCain.

Baker and Albright spoke first and said they both thought it would be significant, but Baker noted he was still voting Republican. “I think electing the first African-American president would send a powerful message not just abroad but in this country as well. Having said that I have, of course, endorsed Sen. McCain,” Baker said to much laughter.

Albright followed up and got a huge round of applause from the college audience for her presidential choice. “I think it would send a huge message in terms of what America stands for and in terms of diversity and potential. And I, of course, am supporting Sen. Obama,” she said.

Then came Powell. “[T]o send that kind of a message, I think would be electrifying,” he said, “but at the same time, we have to make a judgment here ... which of the candidates blends a right measure of experience and judgment? I have been watching both of these individuals, and I know them both extremely well and I have not decided who I’m going to vote for yet.”


Because many Americans suspect Powell endorsed Obama primarily because of a shared ethnic identity, the move raises fears that his candidacy really is about division, rather than unity.

That raises tough questions about the issue of race in this election that until now might have been avoided in public settings.

Enter talk radio, where the gloves are truly coming off in the final days of this lengthy campaign season. Knowing full well the left would attack him, Rush Limbaugh didn't even wait for the start of Monday's broadcast to get the ball rolling:


"Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race," Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail. "OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I'll let you know what I come up with."

As for Powell's statement of concern this morning about the sort of Supreme Court justices a President McCain might appoint, Limbaugh wrote: "I was also unaware of his dislike for John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia. I guess he also regrets Reagan and Bush making him a four-star [general] and secretary of state and appointing his son to head the FCC. Yes, let's hear it for transformational figures."


And, in response to a request from your Radio Equalizer, syndicated host Mark Levin offered this reaction:

"It's my understanding Colin Powell gave his word to John McCain that he would not make an endorsement in this election. Powell stabbed McCain in the back. This is the same Powell who kept silent for two years while Scooter Libby was falsely accused of leaking to Bob Novak when Powell knew his own deputy, Richard Armitage, had spoken to Novak.

"I have never been a fan of Powell. He was plucked from obscurity by Ronald Reagan, did little noteworthy in all the top jobs he has held, had become a favorite in the Washington social scene, and now he endorses Barack Obama. In the end, though, it won't make a difference. Powell thinks he's more important and influential than he actually is."


Levin's final point may be the most compelling: when was the last time Powell had any relevance in national politics? One would have to go back many years. This is exciting news for Beltway elitists, but not the average American.

Beyond that, Powell's move has made fair game an issue that many were previously reluctant to discuss. That's why Limbaugh didn't hesitate to get straight to that point in his reaction to the news.

Sure enough, Colin Powell's endorsement was a game-changer, but perhaps not in the way Obama's campaign had hoped. Worse, the ensuing backlash could actually undermine his chances if it causes some white voters to reconsider their support.


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19 October 2008

Media Outlets Work Rush Limbaugh Into St Louis Obama Rally Story

SHOW ME THE RELEVANCE

What's Limbaugh's Connection To Obama's St Louis Event?







For Barack Obama's mainstream media supporters, it was a sight to behold: a "record-setting" crowd gathered in St Louis Saturday to hear their Dear Leader speak. Even the Fox News Channel couldn't seem to contain its excitement over the 100,000 estimated turnout for the event.

But what does it have to do with Rush Limbaugh? Not a thing, you say?

Tell that to Obama's media friends: from the Chicago Tribune to the Daily Mail (UK) and the San Francisco Chronicle, news outlets found sneaky ways to work in mentions of the talk titan.

From the extreme-left San Francisco Chronicle:


Several independent fact-checking organizations have said the McCain campaign is exaggerating Obama's connection to Ayers, a former founder of the Weather Underground who is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The suburban battleground will be in St. Louis County communities like Clayton, a 15,000-resident, well-to-do suburb and office hub nestled between the more Democratic city and the more Republican suburbs - sort of the Walnut Creek of St. Louis. McCain and Obama yard signs alternate in front of the large homes of Clayton's upper-middle-class, white-collar workers.

At the Starbucks along Clayton's main drag one recent night, Wayne Hanebrink is "more confident" of Obama winning Missouri. But as someone who grew up in Rush Limbaugh's hometown of Cape Girardeau in the southern part of the state, Hanebrink said "he's got to get every living soul in the big cities to vote for him. And this is a very (racially) divided city."


From the Daily Mail:


As it has in other states, economic stress in Missouri has boosted Mr Obama’s campaign here, as voters express strong frustration with the nation’s current direction.

If he is to win the state, Mr Obama will need to boost turnout in the urban centers of St. Louis and Kansas City to counter the state’s strong base of conservative evangelicals.

His campaign, however, has been aggressively registering new voters, especially in the major urban centres of St. Louis and Kansas City, where it hopes to dramatically increase voter turnout.

Even before Obama secured his party’s nomination, he started making trips into the state, including one in May where he met with workers in Cape Girardeau, the boyhood home of ultra conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

‘We’re going to spend a lot of time in Missouri making sure we win this state,’ Obama said during that stop.


And from the Chicago Tribune:


Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said she expects her state's outcome to be close because of its tradition that "sometimes a one-point victory in Missouri is called a landslide."

McCaskill also criticized Republican running mate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for a comment she made this week about campaigning in "pro-America" places.

"We have reached a new low in American politics when someone dares to say that one part of America is more pro-American than another part of America," McCaskill countered.

Even before Obama secured his party's nomination, he started making trips into the state, including one in May where he met with workers in Cape Girardeau, the boyhood home of conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

"We're going to spend a lot of time in Missouri making sure we win this state," Obama said during that stop.


Note the near- verbatim lifting of words from the Tribune for use in the Daily Mail piece, oddly, no credit is given to the former by the latter. It's merely cut-and-pasted into the UK publication's story, save the addition of "ultra" in front of "conservative".

This sometimes occurs when papers add AP elements to a reporter's story, but that isn't apparently the case here.


So why make such a point to include Limbaugh in a story that has nothing to do with him? Your Radio Equalizer's theory: Obama's mainstream media friends would like to make the Missouri results a referendum on Limbaugh's true political influence and are sowing the seeds for that now.

They're willing to bet Obama's rally turnout is indicative of November's final result and will be ready to use it against El Rushbo when the time comes.


ELSEWHERE: Obama's ties to Bill Ayers are clearly more direct than the candidate would have us believe

ON-AIR MELTDOWN OF THE WEEK: libtalker Ed Schultz flips out on the Fox News Channel

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Rally image: Chicago Tribune



 
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