The Discerning Texan

All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke

Thursday, June 21, 2007

UPDATED: If You Can't Compete, Cheat; Stalinist Dems seek to silence Remaining Media Oppostion

The campaign against the very popular medium of talk radio has officially begun. Talk radio is about the only media left where conservatives can go to find like-minded viewpoints, as the elite left has virtually overwhelmed TV news, Newspapers, and universities with ideologues in lock step with its collectivist agenda. Radio, unlike the other have has media, taken a free-market approach: with conservative hosts, their advertising revenue is much higher--so more and more stations are picking up conservative shows. Air America was an attempt by the left to get into this game, but its ratings were so low it went bankrupt. So now there is only one way for the left to silence its critics: if they can't succeed on radio, they want NO one to succeed there.

Operating under the auspices of the Soros-funded Center for American Progress, the Left is now making a full frontal assault on talk radio via the so-called "Fairness Doctrine". The "Fairness Doctrine" would have the same impact on American radio as Hugo Chavez silencing that TV network in Argentina. It is hard to know, but if the people of Venezuela can take to the streets after its dictator silences their voice, it is not to far out to think that conservatives might have a similar reaction if they pull the plug on Limbaugh, Hannity, Ingraham, Miller, Hewitt, Prager, Boortz, etc., etc.

UPDATE: La Shawn Barber has an excellent name for this syndrome: "Airwave entry". And Blake Dvorak writes:

In other words "progressive" talk radio hasn't been able to compete, so now they want the government to step in with a whole assortment of regulations. No amount of Orwellian language can change the fact that this is censorship.

The report would be easy to dismiss if not for the fact that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she will "aggressively pursue" reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, according to two House Democrats who spoke to the American Spectator last month.

A senior adviser to Pelosi explained the Speaker's reasons to the Specator:

First, [Democrats] failed on the radio airwaves with Air America, no one wanted to listen ... Conservative radio is a huge threat and political advantage for Republicans and we have had to find a way to limit it. Second, it looks like the Republicans are going to have someone in the presidential race who has access to media in ways our folks don't want, so we want to make sure the GOP has no advantages going into 2008.

Despite these quotes, as well as the popularity of muzzling conservative talk-radio among the liberal base, it would be extremely unwise for Pelosi to pursue this: 1.) The Democrats would take a severe beating politically not just from Republicans, but from a public that, whatever its opinion of Limbaugh and his peers, isn't about to condone their silencing by the government for what Republicans could easily cast as a political witch-hunt; 2.) Pelosi probably wouldn't want to waste precious political capital pushing something that will generate enormous coverage only for it to get vetoed anyway; and 3.) Pelosi has no interest in uniting a conservative base fractured over immigration, especially going into an election year.

This attempt to bury opposition voices is not American, and it must be strongly resisted.

Labels: Conservative, Democrat Sabotage, First Amendment