I guess for now they have to settle for just owning all but one of the TV networks. And Air America. Something tells me the GOP would gladly trade Fox and all talk radio for ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC.
Does that include the 90s when the “liberal MSM” was on a witch hunt against Clinton? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Yes, journalists overwhelmingly vote Democratic, but as someone who KNOWS how they work, for the MOST PART 75%+, they’re fair. It’s just when you have someone like Clinton or someone like Bush, they AUTOMATICALLY play the contrarian one and in turn appear to be more biased than they are. The only one of the above networks I would even classify as left-leaning is MSNBC. In the same way FOX is right-leaning. The others?Not so much.
Good point, pandora. Whenever a conservative starts ranting about the “liberal MSM,” I just throw that back in their faces. Where were the screams then? Oh, wait, the media was too busy following Judy Miller’s BS stenography of the Bush Administration’s talking points.
With MSNBC now showing that liberal programing makes money maybe CNN, ABC, CBS, & NBC will put their shareholder interest ahead of their politics and start putting on some shows people want to see.
As for Dom, she just lives in a fantasy world. I really don’t have any reply for that nonsense.
Also, Obama has been excellent in not fueling a story. Unlike McCain and Palin who can’t let anything die. They are their own worse press agents. Look at what they did with Joe the Plumber. THEY created that monster. No blaming the press on that one. In fact they’ve created most of their demons – The suspended campaign, the 150k wardrobe, etc.
All I want is the Fairness Doctrine returned to America. No more Rush, Oreilly, Hannity, Savage, Liddys…on the air by themselves spewing right wing propaganda. No more Rick Jensons without a co-partner challenging his every deceitful half truth. No I don’t want a Democratic media everywhere…we need to hear both sides of every story. We need to get corporations out of our media. No more GE, Disney, Fox owning the news, creating the news, producing the news….give us the facts unfiltered, without opinion that is fact checked and delivered unbased.
The right wing media owners who control ALL the media must be separated. Before the Iraq War Phil Donohue had the best ratings on TV, but because he was telling the truth they removed him. Aaron Brown on CNN removed because he wouldnt go with the “talking points” his corporate producers placed on the teleprompters for him to read.
Don’t kid yourself. Olberman and Maddow do not have a say in the news they present. They have restrictions as well. When Mark Miller, Election Protection, Black Box Voting were sending in information from the field about the purging of votes in many states, “MSNBC” did not report them. Only in the last few days when the facts were overwhelming have they started to “leak a few stories”. What are they waiting for…after Election Day we will all be privvy to, “gee the polls were all wrong”, the “pundits opinions weren’t based in fact”, and we didnt know about voter suppression, vot flipping…gee this is all news to us.
We have no real Free Press anywhere in this country with the exception of the blogosphere. Citizen media is asking the right questions the MSM would never ask or question.
The Fairness Doctrine is the only way we the people will get some real facts. That is what Hannity, Rush and those right wing lunatic fringe opinionists are terrified of. They even say it on their “non news shows”. Propaganda is propaganda. The RNC and the GOP groups are filling the news stations with “opinion” and the talking heads use it as if it were all true.
The blogosphere breaks more stories than the corporate news depts. Only when the citizens get their information from the blogs and its so overwhelming do some stations actually pick up the story. I always look at the international press for the true story.
All I want is the Fairness Doctrine returned to America. No more Rush, Oreilly, Hannity, Savage, Liddys…on the air by themselves spewing right wing propaganda.
What, your radio doesn’t have either a tuner or an off switch?
Of the various forms of media in this country, the only one that isn’t dominated by liberals is talk radio. The television networks are, with the single exception of Fox News Channel, moderate left to further left. Of the major daily newspapers in this great land, only a few will not endorse Barack Obama, only a few did not endorse John Kerry in 2004 or Al Gore in 2000.
Is freedom of speech important to you only if you approve of the speech being made?
There were efforts at countering Rush Limbaugh with liberal talk radio, efforts which met mostly with failure, because, well, because liberals, are for the greater part, simply not very entertaining! Mario Cuomo tried, and failed. Then Air America was set up, and it has been on life-support from the beginning, because the shows simply don’t draw much of an audience.
But, perhaps you ought to consider what the real imposition of the Fairness Doctrine would mean. If it meant that every radio station carrying Rush Limbaugh would have to concomitantly broadcast three hours of liberal talk, wouldn’t that also mean that liberal CNN would have to turn over 12 hours a day to Sean Hannity? Wouldn’t CBS have to give Brit Hume equal time with Katie Couric?
Dana is someone who would happily vote for Bush again. He thinks CNN is liberal.
Frankly I wonder who feeds him and keeps his ass clean when he shits because clearly he does not have the mental faculties to take care of himself.
Jason, I notice that you are very good at name-calling, but what I seem to have missed is how you addressed the points I made. What do you have against the freedom of speech? Why do you wish to regulate what the people can hear?
If you don’t like what is being said on a particular station, are you somehow compelled to listen anyway, or are you free to turn it off?
Your points are idiotic dipshit. That’s why I don’t address them.
Get it?
Moron.
If you haven’t noticed before now, I have a thick enough skin that insults don’t bother me. My guess is that you don’t attempt to refute the points I made because you really can’t refute them.
C’mon, Jason, you’re a bright guy; tell us why you believe the power of government should be used to regulate what people can hear.
You are a passionate true believer. Your comments are not rooted in reality. You are ruled by passion. There is no substance to your argument. You are a child. Nothing I say is going to make a difference to you.
Why can’t jason address the substance of Dana’s argument? Because logic and facts don’t help him, that’s why. But at least he isn’t calling for you to be shot.
The Fairness Doctrine is an unconstitutional (and unnecessary) infringement of your First Amendment right to free speech. There are hundreds of radio and television stations that can (and do) broadcast a wide variety of speech. That the most successful are conservative doesn’t negate the fact that others are available. The un-Fairness Doctrine was crafted at a time when there was only a tiny number of television and radio stations available in any market. That time, like the cathode ray tube and rabbit ears, is long gone.
Liberals like to say they champion free speech. But they really champion speech which supports their viewpoint and advocate barring or regulating speech they don’t like.
We’re fighting a mindset that extends far beyond the airways. Just wait until Obama wins (fingers crossed) and watch how McCain/Bush supporters suddenly rediscover the sanctity of the Constitution – an issue they were notably silent on for the last eight years. They’ll also develop (overnight!) a new lust for fiscal responsibility. Suddenly our debt will matter again, and they’ll try and morph their mess into our responsibility – and our fault. The party of “personal responsibility” will assume none… as usual.
C’mon, Jason, you’re a bright guy; tell us why you believe the power of government should be used to regulate what people can hear.
A: Nobody believes that except Puritan wackjobs and totalitarians. Most of whom identify with the GOP.
B. What part of “public airwaves” do you not understand?
Yet another fine ad hominem screed, with no actual argument made.
Yes, the airwaves are public, but why would you wish to reimpose the “fairness doctrine?” Are liberal views censored on, say, Air America, or is the problem that Air America simply doesn’t attract many listeners? Are the views from the left unavailable, or simply un-listened to?
Anon3 was quite honest: he wanted to use the power of government to stifle the speech of people he didn’t like; he wouldn’t have even cared about the subject if Rush Limbaugh drew the same size audience as Randi Rhodes.
Of, relating to, being, or imposing a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed
What would be more totalitarian than using the power of government to subordinate speech to government control and stifle opposing political and cultural expressions? That, you see, is what anon3 advocated, that is what the reimposition of the fairness doctrine would do.
It’s actually pretty fair right now: if people don’t want to listen to Sean Hannity, they won’t — and a lot more people don’t listen to him than do. If people don’t want to listen to Thom Hartmann, they won’t — and almost everybody exercises their right not to listen to Thom Hartmann! 🙂
It’s just wildly amusing to read, on a site which proudly exercises its right to freedom of speech and of the press, calling for restrictions on other people’s speech.
Sharon do you even know what the Fairness Doctrine is? Please google it and get some education. We do not need the right wing extremes lies posited by Rush, Hannity and the other dipshits keeping america divided with their rascist, opinionated half truths and lies. They are precisely why this country is divided. The Fairness Doctrine should come back to the airwaves to make sure that there is no biased, lies and distortions, that FACTS not opinion rule the day.
This country is on the abyss because of dirty politics triggered by the ultra right wing. When Rick Jenson says, “GWar Bush is a liberal”, dont you want to puke! There is NO liberal press as proven when Bush/Cheney/McCain and the repubs who went along with the WH as they lied this country in war with Iraq. Every network fired anyone who dared to speak the truth. CNN is not liberal at all. Lou Dobbs is the right wing nut who is on a one issue campaign and stokes the fires against illegals. We have so many pressing issues on the brink of disaster for this country, we must return to one nation supporting our country. We cannot do that with the nutjobs firing up the uneducated, ill informed nuts that make up 25% of that right headed thinking.
The Fairness Doctrine simply puts a reign on lies and makes them discuss the facts not their opinions. Talk shows are ENTERTAINMENT not NEWS, but the uneducated morons who listen to that sludge believe what they hear and look no further for facts. It’s time to make the FCC stop permitting newspapers, tv and radio under the banner of one outlet. Fixed news is not news…its propaganda.
“suddenly rediscover the sanctity of the Constitution – an issue they were notably silent on for the last eight years. They’ll also develop (overnight!) a new lust for fiscal responsibility. Suddenly our debt will matter again, and they’ll try and morph their mess into our responsibility – and our fault.”
C’mon, pandora. For years there has been loud complaint and condemnation for years that that the entire GOP (or all conservatives, depending on the monolithic boogie man of the moment) abandoned our traditional and historic adherence to constitutionalism and fiscal restraint.
Now you are going to pre-emptively condemn the party, should some of us actually recapture and return it to a message of constitutionalism and fiscal restraint?? The silence on these two fundamentals over the last 8 years has been deafening on both sides of the aisle, with the exception of a liberal and libertarian communion on constitutional outrages.
Are you saying we shouldn’t expect constitutional adherence and fiscal responsibility from an all-powerful Democrat supermajority? That any criticism is just historic hypocrisy? That GOP/conservative opposition to any constitutional or fiscal irresponsibility by a Democratic ultra-majority is invalid ab initio because it could only be some phony political ploy?
Jesus, how cynical can you continue to be, even in the midst (or on the eve) of a massive victory. You all need to realize that your victories are eviscerating the very elements of the GOP and the (so-called) conservatives who betrayed these values and deserve to be sent packing. Good riddance to them.
But if you all are really about unity and progress, it won’t come by pooh-poohing, as mere politically-calculating critics, those of us who truly want limited constitutional government and fiscal responsibility and want the GOP to stand for this and will work to make this happen.
God’s sake, let’s all reset the clock, turn the page, clean the slate…whatever the hell….to actually embrace a dialogue and a process undominated by angry shallow partisanship with form constantly trumping actual substance.
Change should never be consigned to political monopolism. Good change (for all of us) would be a post-Bush/Rove, post-Falwell-Robertson, post-Kristol/Cheney/Wolfowitz GOP seized back by liberty-minded people in the grass roots. It’s the dialectic of history.
To deny it pre-emptively and devalue the good faith of those of us who hope for such change is corrosive and needlessly divisive, even just anticipating what may come.
Tyler, please notice that in my comment I did not refer to Republicans or conservatives. My choice of wording was deliberately limiting and specifically directed at those who consistently demonstrate convenient memory lapses as well as convenient bursts of conscience. I fully expect this group to forget the last 8 years, blame the Dems for everything, and whine and moan over issues (debt, deficit spending, fill in the blank) they turned a blind eye to when Bush was President.
I hope to be proven wrong, but I won’t hold my breath. I also won’t erase the past. Just like I can’t stand when Iraq War supporters dismiss how we ended up in this mess by saying “forget the past, let’s focus on now.” To me that’s a cop out and a way of evading responsibility. Work together? Fine. Allow neocons to wipe the slate clean? Nope.
Amen to that. In fact, hell no. No more international interventionism and adventurism, busting the bank and enriching profiteers. (Remind Joe Biden we’re not supposed to be the world’s policeman much less itinerant bully, while we’re at it). Neo-Wilsonianism on steroids is bad for America.
Anon3 wrote, in the closest thing to an actual response:
We do not need the right wing extremes lies posited by Rush, Hannity and the other dipshits keeping america divided with their rascist, opinionated half truths and lies. They are precisely why this country is divided. The Fairness Doctrine should come back to the airwaves to make sure that there is no biased, lies and distortions, that FACTS not opinion rule the day.
And who determines what the truth is, anon? We all know that you think you know what it is, but under any government regulation “to make sure that there is no biased, lies and distortions, that FACTS not opinion rule the day,” it would be the government deciding what is true, and thus ought to reach the people, and what are “lies and distortions,” and thus should be censored. Do you trust the government to have that power?
Of course, the old Fairness Doctrine would do nothing of the sort. Rather, it would require that a broadcaster which aired one point of view would have to air the opposite as well, in a fair and balanced manner. But such does not require either side to tell the truth, nor does it mean that both sides will be listened to. If you’ve got a brilliant broadcaster like Rush Limbaugh doing his show, followed by someone lame from the other side — like anyone on Air America — listeners will change the station when Thom Hartmann comes on.
What the left really wants is to force stations which carry highly successful, conservative shows to have to give equal time to the lame ones on the left. The stations then see a revenue fall-off, and decide to dump both shows, so that they can make money throughout the broadcast day. The aim isn’t to spread the truth, but to stop the discussion, period.
Thank God we don’t live in that world
I guess for now they have to settle for just owning all but one of the TV networks. And Air America. Something tells me the GOP would gladly trade Fox and all talk radio for ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC.
Dom – have you seen the coverage from ABC?
Dom,
Does that include the 90s when the “liberal MSM” was on a witch hunt against Clinton? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Yes, journalists overwhelmingly vote Democratic, but as someone who KNOWS how they work, for the MOST PART 75%+, they’re fair. It’s just when you have someone like Clinton or someone like Bush, they AUTOMATICALLY play the contrarian one and in turn appear to be more biased than they are. The only one of the above networks I would even classify as left-leaning is MSNBC. In the same way FOX is right-leaning. The others?Not so much.
Funny, I remember them being either very supportive or completely silent in the run up to the Iraq War.
Good point, pandora. Whenever a conservative starts ranting about the “liberal MSM,” I just throw that back in their faces. Where were the screams then? Oh, wait, the media was too busy following Judy Miller’s BS stenography of the Bush Administration’s talking points.
With MSNBC now showing that liberal programing makes money maybe CNN, ABC, CBS, & NBC will put their shareholder interest ahead of their politics and start putting on some shows people want to see.
As for Dom, she just lives in a fantasy world. I really don’t have any reply for that nonsense.
Also, Obama has been excellent in not fueling a story. Unlike McCain and Palin who can’t let anything die. They are their own worse press agents. Look at what they did with Joe the Plumber. THEY created that monster. No blaming the press on that one. In fact they’ve created most of their demons – The suspended campaign, the 150k wardrobe, etc.
All I want is the Fairness Doctrine returned to America. No more Rush, Oreilly, Hannity, Savage, Liddys…on the air by themselves spewing right wing propaganda. No more Rick Jensons without a co-partner challenging his every deceitful half truth. No I don’t want a Democratic media everywhere…we need to hear both sides of every story. We need to get corporations out of our media. No more GE, Disney, Fox owning the news, creating the news, producing the news….give us the facts unfiltered, without opinion that is fact checked and delivered unbased.
The right wing media owners who control ALL the media must be separated. Before the Iraq War Phil Donohue had the best ratings on TV, but because he was telling the truth they removed him. Aaron Brown on CNN removed because he wouldnt go with the “talking points” his corporate producers placed on the teleprompters for him to read.
Don’t kid yourself. Olberman and Maddow do not have a say in the news they present. They have restrictions as well. When Mark Miller, Election Protection, Black Box Voting were sending in information from the field about the purging of votes in many states, “MSNBC” did not report them. Only in the last few days when the facts were overwhelming have they started to “leak a few stories”. What are they waiting for…after Election Day we will all be privvy to, “gee the polls were all wrong”, the “pundits opinions weren’t based in fact”, and we didnt know about voter suppression, vot flipping…gee this is all news to us.
We have no real Free Press anywhere in this country with the exception of the blogosphere. Citizen media is asking the right questions the MSM would never ask or question.
The Fairness Doctrine is the only way we the people will get some real facts. That is what Hannity, Rush and those right wing lunatic fringe opinionists are terrified of. They even say it on their “non news shows”. Propaganda is propaganda. The RNC and the GOP groups are filling the news stations with “opinion” and the talking heads use it as if it were all true.
The blogosphere breaks more stories than the corporate news depts. Only when the citizens get their information from the blogs and its so overwhelming do some stations actually pick up the story. I always look at the international press for the true story.
anon3 wrote:
What, your radio doesn’t have either a tuner or an off switch?
Of the various forms of media in this country, the only one that isn’t dominated by liberals is talk radio. The television networks are, with the single exception of Fox News Channel, moderate left to further left. Of the major daily newspapers in this great land, only a few will not endorse Barack Obama, only a few did not endorse John Kerry in 2004 or Al Gore in 2000.
Is freedom of speech important to you only if you approve of the speech being made?
There were efforts at countering Rush Limbaugh with liberal talk radio, efforts which met mostly with failure, because, well, because liberals, are for the greater part, simply not very entertaining! Mario Cuomo tried, and failed. Then Air America was set up, and it has been on life-support from the beginning, because the shows simply don’t draw much of an audience.
But, perhaps you ought to consider what the real imposition of the Fairness Doctrine would mean. If it meant that every radio station carrying Rush Limbaugh would have to concomitantly broadcast three hours of liberal talk, wouldn’t that also mean that liberal CNN would have to turn over 12 hours a day to Sean Hannity? Wouldn’t CBS have to give Brit Hume equal time with Katie Couric?
Idiot.
Dana is someone who would happily vote for Bush again. He thinks CNN is liberal.
Frankly I wonder who feeds him and keeps his ass clean when he shits because clearly he does not have the mental faculties to take care of himself.
Jason, I notice that you are very good at name-calling, but what I seem to have missed is how you addressed the points I made. What do you have against the freedom of speech? Why do you wish to regulate what the people can hear?
If you don’t like what is being said on a particular station, are you somehow compelled to listen anyway, or are you free to turn it off?
Your points are idiotic dipshit. That’s why I don’t address them.
Get it?
Moron.
On a side note, if you like good blogging read this.
I figured out Jason and the Delib crowd yesterday while watching Yogi Bear cartoons. It all made so much sense.
Jason = Yogi
liberalgeek = Snagglepuss
donviti = Doggie Daddy
deldem = Quickdraw McGraw
cassandra = Boo Boo
pandora = Penelope Pitstop
nemski = Squidly Diddly
Jason politely wrote:
If you haven’t noticed before now, I have a thick enough skin that insults don’t bother me. My guess is that you don’t attempt to refute the points I made because you really can’t refute them.
C’mon, Jason, you’re a bright guy; tell us why you believe the power of government should be used to regulate what people can hear.
Mr Brennis: I believe you got it wrong. Jason would be more like Ranger Smith, who always wanted to rein in the uncontrollable ursine.
*sigh*
Dana,
You are a passionate true believer. Your comments are not rooted in reality. You are ruled by passion. There is no substance to your argument. You are a child. Nothing I say is going to make a difference to you.
I say good day sir.
Dana,
You’re giving Jason insider authority status with that…..even he would disagree.
He’s a loner, Dana, a rebel!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvVqWqi36vE
Why can’t jason address the substance of Dana’s argument? Because logic and facts don’t help him, that’s why. But at least he isn’t calling for you to be shot.
The Fairness Doctrine is an unconstitutional (and unnecessary) infringement of your First Amendment right to free speech. There are hundreds of radio and television stations that can (and do) broadcast a wide variety of speech. That the most successful are conservative doesn’t negate the fact that others are available. The un-Fairness Doctrine was crafted at a time when there was only a tiny number of television and radio stations available in any market. That time, like the cathode ray tube and rabbit ears, is long gone.
Liberals like to say they champion free speech. But they really champion speech which supports their viewpoint and advocate barring or regulating speech they don’t like.
C’mon, Jason, you’re a bright guy; tell us why you believe the power of government should be used to regulate what people can hear.
A: Nobody believes that except Puritan wackjobs and totalitarians. Most of whom identify with the GOP.
B. What part of “public airwaves” do you not understand?
We’re fighting a mindset that extends far beyond the airways. Just wait until Obama wins (fingers crossed) and watch how McCain/Bush supporters suddenly rediscover the sanctity of the Constitution – an issue they were notably silent on for the last eight years. They’ll also develop (overnight!) a new lust for fiscal responsibility. Suddenly our debt will matter again, and they’ll try and morph their mess into our responsibility – and our fault. The party of “personal responsibility” will assume none… as usual.
anon wrote:
Yet another fine ad hominem screed, with no actual argument made.
Yes, the airwaves are public, but why would you wish to reimpose the “fairness doctrine?” Are liberal views censored on, say, Air America, or is the problem that Air America simply doesn’t attract many listeners? Are the views from the left unavailable, or simply un-listened to?
Anon3 was quite honest: he wanted to use the power of government to stifle the speech of people he didn’t like; he wouldn’t have even cared about the subject if Rush Limbaugh drew the same size audience as Randi Rhodes.
I’m most amused, however, with your use of the word “totalitarian.” Totalitarian normally means:
What would be more totalitarian than using the power of government to subordinate speech to government control and stifle opposing political and cultural expressions? That, you see, is what anon3 advocated, that is what the reimposition of the fairness doctrine would do.
It’s actually pretty fair right now: if people don’t want to listen to Sean Hannity, they won’t — and a lot more people don’t listen to him than do. If people don’t want to listen to Thom Hartmann, they won’t — and almost everybody exercises their right not to listen to Thom Hartmann! 🙂
It’s just wildly amusing to read, on a site which proudly exercises its right to freedom of speech and of the press, calling for restrictions on other people’s speech.
Nobody is challenging the right of Sean Hannity to spout his crap from the street corner of his choosing.
But in Libertarian La La land – which shares a border with GOPer-Land – whoever can build the biggest antenna gets the most free speech.
Sharon do you even know what the Fairness Doctrine is? Please google it and get some education. We do not need the right wing extremes lies posited by Rush, Hannity and the other dipshits keeping america divided with their rascist, opinionated half truths and lies. They are precisely why this country is divided. The Fairness Doctrine should come back to the airwaves to make sure that there is no biased, lies and distortions, that FACTS not opinion rule the day.
This country is on the abyss because of dirty politics triggered by the ultra right wing. When Rick Jenson says, “GWar Bush is a liberal”, dont you want to puke! There is NO liberal press as proven when Bush/Cheney/McCain and the repubs who went along with the WH as they lied this country in war with Iraq. Every network fired anyone who dared to speak the truth. CNN is not liberal at all. Lou Dobbs is the right wing nut who is on a one issue campaign and stokes the fires against illegals. We have so many pressing issues on the brink of disaster for this country, we must return to one nation supporting our country. We cannot do that with the nutjobs firing up the uneducated, ill informed nuts that make up 25% of that right headed thinking.
The Fairness Doctrine simply puts a reign on lies and makes them discuss the facts not their opinions. Talk shows are ENTERTAINMENT not NEWS, but the uneducated morons who listen to that sludge believe what they hear and look no further for facts. It’s time to make the FCC stop permitting newspapers, tv and radio under the banner of one outlet. Fixed news is not news…its propaganda.
anon3,
Trying to talk to these GOP-tards about the fairness doctrine is like trying to talk to Amish people about microwave ovens.
“suddenly rediscover the sanctity of the Constitution – an issue they were notably silent on for the last eight years. They’ll also develop (overnight!) a new lust for fiscal responsibility. Suddenly our debt will matter again, and they’ll try and morph their mess into our responsibility – and our fault.”
C’mon, pandora. For years there has been loud complaint and condemnation for years that that the entire GOP (or all conservatives, depending on the monolithic boogie man of the moment) abandoned our traditional and historic adherence to constitutionalism and fiscal restraint.
Now you are going to pre-emptively condemn the party, should some of us actually recapture and return it to a message of constitutionalism and fiscal restraint?? The silence on these two fundamentals over the last 8 years has been deafening on both sides of the aisle, with the exception of a liberal and libertarian communion on constitutional outrages.
Are you saying we shouldn’t expect constitutional adherence and fiscal responsibility from an all-powerful Democrat supermajority? That any criticism is just historic hypocrisy? That GOP/conservative opposition to any constitutional or fiscal irresponsibility by a Democratic ultra-majority is invalid ab initio because it could only be some phony political ploy?
Jesus, how cynical can you continue to be, even in the midst (or on the eve) of a massive victory. You all need to realize that your victories are eviscerating the very elements of the GOP and the (so-called) conservatives who betrayed these values and deserve to be sent packing. Good riddance to them.
But if you all are really about unity and progress, it won’t come by pooh-poohing, as mere politically-calculating critics, those of us who truly want limited constitutional government and fiscal responsibility and want the GOP to stand for this and will work to make this happen.
God’s sake, let’s all reset the clock, turn the page, clean the slate…whatever the hell….to actually embrace a dialogue and a process undominated by angry shallow partisanship with form constantly trumping actual substance.
Change should never be consigned to political monopolism. Good change (for all of us) would be a post-Bush/Rove, post-Falwell-Robertson, post-Kristol/Cheney/Wolfowitz GOP seized back by liberty-minded people in the grass roots. It’s the dialectic of history.
To deny it pre-emptively and devalue the good faith of those of us who hope for such change is corrosive and needlessly divisive, even just anticipating what may come.
Didn’t someone wise say : BE the change you seek?
Tyler, please notice that in my comment I did not refer to Republicans or conservatives. My choice of wording was deliberately limiting and specifically directed at those who consistently demonstrate convenient memory lapses as well as convenient bursts of conscience. I fully expect this group to forget the last 8 years, blame the Dems for everything, and whine and moan over issues (debt, deficit spending, fill in the blank) they turned a blind eye to when Bush was President.
I hope to be proven wrong, but I won’t hold my breath. I also won’t erase the past. Just like I can’t stand when Iraq War supporters dismiss how we ended up in this mess by saying “forget the past, let’s focus on now.” To me that’s a cop out and a way of evading responsibility. Work together? Fine. Allow neocons to wipe the slate clean? Nope.
“Allow neocons to wipe the slate clean? Nope.”
Amen to that. In fact, hell no. No more international interventionism and adventurism, busting the bank and enriching profiteers. (Remind Joe Biden we’re not supposed to be the world’s policeman much less itinerant bully, while we’re at it). Neo-Wilsonianism on steroids is bad for America.
With an amusing typo, anon3 once again tells the truth:
He meant rein, “a means of restraint, check, or guidance,” but he used reign, the exercise of sovereign power, as by a monarch.
Why is it that liberals, liberals of all people, want to use the power of government to restrict speech?
anon wrote:
Liberals were perfectly free to build the biggest antennae, and tried; it’s just that nobody wanted to listen to them.
Anon3 wrote, in the closest thing to an actual response:
And who determines what the truth is, anon? We all know that you think you know what it is, but under any government regulation “to make sure that there is no biased, lies and distortions, that FACTS not opinion rule the day,” it would be the government deciding what is true, and thus ought to reach the people, and what are “lies and distortions,” and thus should be censored. Do you trust the government to have that power?
Of course, the old Fairness Doctrine would do nothing of the sort. Rather, it would require that a broadcaster which aired one point of view would have to air the opposite as well, in a fair and balanced manner. But such does not require either side to tell the truth, nor does it mean that both sides will be listened to. If you’ve got a brilliant broadcaster like Rush Limbaugh doing his show, followed by someone lame from the other side — like anyone on Air America — listeners will change the station when Thom Hartmann comes on.
What the left really wants is to force stations which carry highly successful, conservative shows to have to give equal time to the lame ones on the left. The stations then see a revenue fall-off, and decide to dump both shows, so that they can make money throughout the broadcast day. The aim isn’t to spread the truth, but to stop the discussion, period.