Slashdot reports on a Rasmussen Poll about American preferences regarding equal-time enforcement and the fairness doctrine for various media. "Nearly half of Americans (47%) believe the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary".  The most interesting part was that they also polled what percentage would like to see websites forced to manage a similar balance.  The overall number: a shocking 31%.

The slashdot summary:

30% of Americans Want "Balanced" Blogging

"In a recent Rasmussen poll looking at the public's attitudes toward a possible revival of the fairness doctrine by the Democrats, a surprisingly large percentage of those polled seek fairness doctrine mandates (originally intended for public airwaves) to cover the Internet as well. It is encouraging that a minority of people feel that way, but Democrats say 'hands-off the Internet ... by a far smaller margin than Republicans and unaffiliated voters. Democrats oppose government-mandated balance on the Internet by a 48% to 37% margin. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Republicans reject government involvement in Internet content along with 67% of unaffiliated voters.'

I'm not sure I trust the results of this poll, given its source and the fact that it's very hard to poll about complex technical issues like this.  The Rasmussen analysis seems to have a conservative bias, and since they don't offer the raw data up to nonsubscribers, it's hard to see if its justified.  Assuming these numbers are anything like true, it's discouraging that so many Democrats feel this way about the internet.  It's hard for me to believe that anyone who uses the web could believe this kind of enforcement is even possible.  The sheer number of independent sites online would be utterly infeasible to police without a giant Ministry of Information.  And what about user-driven websites where the administrators have little control over who writes what?  I have no problem with news programs being required to offer equal time, but the poll focuses a lot on talk radio and the web; mainly opinion-based media.  Controlling the expression of opinions is about as antidemocratic as it gets, no matter who it benefits.

This is a slightly changed repost of an earlier diary.

Dennis Kucinich will be on Equal Time Radio this TODAY Friday the 13th from Noon to 1pm PDT / 3pm to 4pm EDT.  Now don't be afraid.   :)

He is fulfilling a promise he made months ago. He was supposed to be on the show but got tied up at a local event. So he promised to come on the show at a later date.

Well after Dennis Kucinich put forward his Articles of Impeachment, they figured NOW was a good time to have him on the show.

Equal Time Radio is a small local progressive talk show that is self funded. It is based in an area near Tacoma WA. Their show can be heard every Friday from Noon to 1pm PDT / 3pm to 4pm EDT and Dennis Kucinich will get the first half of the show.

In the nineties, ending when Dubya came in after the GOP and the Supreme Court Republicans stole the 2000 election, I used to produce political talk radio shows out of DC. Guest talk - two hours a day - monday thru friday.  We had a couple hundred small stations in our network across the country.  We were labor funded and very mainstream, and as liberals trying to be "fair", we did both sides of what goes for "Issues" in Washington.

I did a  million shows on the Clintons - including subjects like Monica, Vince Foster, rose billing records, travelgate, filegate, whitewater, Paula Jones, Katherine Wiley, Ken Starr, the Arkansas troopers,cattle futures, the lincoln bedroom, china money, charlie trie, chinese missles, wag the dog...even once a show with a author of a book who said Hillary was a mole for the Soviet Union.   Some of my conservative guests included Ann Coulter, Laura Ingram, Bob Barr, Emmett Tyrell, both Bey and Pat Buchanan, Bill O Reilly, Tony Blankley, James Ruddy, John Bolton, Newt Gingrich and at least half of the gop senate and many house reps.

I suffered and carried this burden and did this in an effort to move my Party to the left.  We had hoped to find "common ground" on jobs and trade issues with the gop and the nativist right and use that to put pressure on blue dog dems. After wasting many millions, we found out THAT was a pipe dream. The Republicans came on our shows, always to push their Party and their agenda. We found that the idea of "compromise" is repellent to a Republican. Their idea of a "fair deal" is that moment when a Democrat gives up, lies down and without complaint, takes whatever punishment the GOP wants to offer.

This will not change if and when we elect a Democrat to the White House in 2000.

One thing I learned from doing those thousands of shows, always with a republican sitting there as we discussed "Politics" is how these people think about Democrats.   The truth is, when it comes down to it - they loathe US a lot more than WE hate them. Thats what makes them so formidable.

You see - they DO believe that the "Democrat" Party is made up of people that are stupid, cowardly, immature, lazy, snobby, liberal, elitist, lefty, anti business, socialists, eggheads and hypocrites...

BUT they also loathe and despise us because they think we are baby killing, anti God COMMUNIST monsters, who want to have sex with their women, drug and impregnate their children and turn all their kids  into a rap listening, hollywood addicted, bling-bling wearing britney wannabee subcult of the Manson family.
And oh yeah - raise their taxes.

WHAT THIS MEANS IN 2008

Let me tell you - they have thrown EVERYTHING THEY GOT at the Clintons. If they had more - it would already be out there.
The Republicans hate, loathe and despise them. Why?  Do you think its actually ABOUT the Clintons themselves?  Come on!  Bill Clinton came to town willing to WORK with the GOP, just like he did back in Little Rock, but from day one the GOP said no.  They said "we will freeze him out - wait him out and defeat him - and get our government back in four years."  They do not and will not acknowledge any President we will elect as legitimate and anything more than temporary.

This will be exactly how they will act towards any Dem who dares to defeat them in 08.

But before that possibility comes about - they will do EVERYTHING  they can to attack , abuse , slander, insult, embarrass, slime and harm who we choose to be our nominee.  The gop and the right wing will not "go gentle into the night".  Rush, Oreilly, Hannity and Co will start the screaming and then it will filter down thru the Washington times, to USA Today and then to Hardball and then to the Wash Post and the NY Times and AP and then to every newspaper and newsroom and living room in this country.  Thats how the very real 'vast right wing conspiracy" works.

We know what they will throw at Hillary and Bill and we know what percentage of voters, both Democrat and not, care about these stories - both true and not. We know - the Clintons know - how to deal with this.

But Obama has not been attacked once by the main stream media and the vrwc has barely even taken notice of him. He has not been vetted in the cauldron of political attack and destroy. But - if he was chosen to be our nominee...that would surely change.

Without going to google, just off the top of my head, the following list is comprised of "issues" that I KNOW that talk radio and the right would go after Obama on.  There is no doubt that many of these "stories" and "issues" would migrate from the Rush world to the main stream media.

My question is - do you actually think Obama could win in November after 8 months of post primaries investigation, attack and abuse on subjects like these?

It would be so easy for the GOP - here's the initial Obama radio topic rundown:

-the man wants to BAN making guns
-the man wans to BAN  selling guns
-the man wants to BAN - YOU owning guns
-hes against the death penalty
-he wants to let crackheads out of jail - NOW!
-he wants to let illegal aliens on your roads to kill your kids
-he wants to let MORE illegals into the USA to lower your wages
-he smoked pot
-he snorted cocaine
-he took extasy
-he was in the same room as 'HEROIN"!
-he wants to raise YOUR taxes by 1 TRILLION bucks!        
-he was a college instructor/professor/lefty
-he was/is a HARVARD lawyer
-he IS the chicago Daley machine
-Rezko!
-the company his wife is on the board of - killed a town
-he goes to a church who's rector hates whites
-his brothers are both in the nation of islam
-Rezko, Rezko, Rezko!
-his wife got a $200 G raise from a Hospital when he got elected
-his grandma has no electric or water-and he seems ok with that
-his first name is "barack"
-his middle name is "hussein"
-his last name is "obama"
-he doesnt LOOK like you
-he is a liberal democrat
-he is a radical
-wall street financiers like him - why?
- who the heck were his parents, grandparents, his "people"
-as a kid he seems to have told everyone he would 1 day be prez
-he says he's of a "new kind of politics" but his history says NO
-at harvard he seems to have told everyone that1 day he'd be prez
-Young Hollywood likes him
-will smith says hes gonna be the NEXT black Prez
-he told his future brother in law on the FIRST day he met him that 1  day he would be prez
-OPRAH!
-how can he understand YOUR lives?
-he sends his kids to fancy schools you couldnt afford
-the 1st day he was in the senate he had a meeting about how to set a plan to 1 day become the president
-he says he's experienced enough for the WH because he "studied" international relations in college.
-he says he's experienced enough for th WH because he lived in indonsia when he was six
-he actually said those last two things with a straight face.
-can he be trusted to stop the muslims who want to kill your kids
-who IS this guy. really?

-
   ---

People - this is just stuff I made up in 2 minutes. This IS just the start of the kind of stuff the GOP right will say and use if Barack Hussein Obama is our nominee.

Above I have listed 17 seperate "scandals' about the Clintons that have been discussed ad nuseum. Of the list of Obama "issues" - how many of those have you heard get an in depth look, or even discussed at all

Hillry is immunized by the thousands of reporters, congrsssmen, special prosecutors and Ken starr himself who have poured over her past with fine comb and a magnifying glass.

What about Obama? What election losing disease might he be carrying?

Team Obama had a fit when team Clinton dared to have the word "kindergarten" at the bottom of a press release.  Today, Obama's spokesman complains that they are being "attacked' by a Clinton "Oppo Drop" in NH because a new piece of Hillary lit quotes from two Krugman column in the NY Times about health care.

What!?

People! Have you ever seen the stuff that comes out of RNC fax machines?

Do you think they will care about team Obamas complaints about "unfair" attacks? Come on...

Do you think the GOP and the VRWC will lie down and LET Obama take over "their" Government if we choose him?

They would love you to pick him.

Folks. Its a Red-Blue - 50-50 Nation.

Wishing this wasnt so - doesnt change that Reality.

We gotta think about what's coming post primaries.

Very simply, we can't choose Obama and still have a chance to actually win back the White House.

Its that simple.

A couple of poll questions jump out. First, the horserace numbers are not surprising. The CBS numbers are about what has become the norm, 48-24-11 for Clinton, Obama, Edwards. Those who are wishing there were "more choices" on the Democratic side are at 35 percent. The second poll is from Fox News, the horserace numbers are 47-21-13 for Clinton, Obama, Edwards nationally.

But in the CBS poll, asking "If the 2008 election for president were being held today, would you probably vote for the Republican candidate or would you probably vote for the Democratic candidate?" The Democratic candidate wins by a 55-28 percent margin-- that's a heck of a starting off point.

The presidential aside, Fox asked a question of "where are you getting information about the presidential candidates? Are you getting information from:

             
Television               88%
Newspapers               69%
Radio                    51%
Internet news sites      38%
Blogs                    11%
YouTube                   7%
MySpace                   4%

That's just an astounding number for getting news off of the internet. Last cycle at this time, internet news was at about 8-12% blogs and myspace were not measured and YouTube didn't exist. From looking at the breakdown of the Republican vs Democrats sources of information, it generally shows that Democrats rely upon newspaper coverage more than Republicans by a 74-64 percent margin, and Republicans rely upon radio coverage more than Democrats by a 55-47 percent margin. Television and internet are about the same, in terms of usage. They had one other question that drew a response based on age, that's worth noting. When asked "Which do you think is having more influence on politics these days -- right-wing conservative radio shows or left-wing liberal internet blogs?"

                 Conservative         Liberal 
                 radio talk           internet blogs

Under age 30     37%                  33%
Age 65+          34%                   9%

Perhaps that's reflective of a generational shift happening among media usage, but given that the poll shows just about as many Republicans check out internet news sites, blogs, myspace and youtube as Democrats, I'm not as convinced that the internet is going to be as dominant a liberal vehicle as radio is for conservatives, but it does at least point toward (in the future), given the under-30 response, the blogs developing into having just as dominant a political influence as talk radio.

I'd like to be totally honest here, I am a radio talk show host, and a conservative one at that.  But I REALLY want Progressive talk radio to succeed.  

Of course I am opposed to the fairness doctrine... I was in radio for many years under that onus, and believe me it STIFLES political speech, it does not encourage diversity.  The corporate suits who run the stations nearly universally forbade political discussions on air because they were terrified of the FCC fines.

On another note, the failure of progressive talk radio  is actually simple....its TALENT.  For some reason, I don't pretend to know why, most professional radio entertainers are conservative by nature, and their success is a function of their abilities to entertain and hold the attention of an audience.  

This is something that may interest most of you.

From the Equal Time Radio website.

There is a chance that he may be running late getting in from the airport, to get to the studio on time, so he may have to call in.
This could be a very interesting and informative show.

See what Frank has to say below:

This week, we are honored to host Major General (USA-Ret) Paul Eaton on Equal Time. General Eaton refused a third star and retired in order to speak out about the conduct of the war from the perspective of a commander in charge of training the Iraqi Army. And speak out he did. Read this op-ed and you get a feel of the frustration he experienced serving under rummy. Further examples of his attempts to get his message out can be seen here, and here.

We plan on asking the General about his background, his experiences in Iraq, what it's like to serve under a DOD headed by rummy, what other Sec Defs were like and who he thinks supports the military more effectively, Dems or the GOPers. We would also like to know, from HIS perspective, how and why we are where we are and how we should proceed from here. It should be an interesting hour.

General Eaton is the third General I have interviewed. I have had good luck with Generals. Two Generals and not a punk in the bunch. By the way, the other two Generals I have interviewed are LT General (three star-Ret) Bill Harrison former commander of Fort Lewis. And a guy who served under him at the time and went on to become a Five Star General and Chair of the Joint Chief of Staff, General John Shalikashvili.

 

Listen this Friday (4-27-07) from Noon to 1pm Pacific Time on KLAY 1180 AM in the Tacoma/Olympia/Seattle area. If you can not listen to the show on the radio, you can stream the show live by going to the Equal Time Radio site, scroll down the right side and clicking on the KLAY banner. If you can not listen live at all, they archive all of the shows. Usually the show is on the archive page by late the same day or the next day. To get to the archives, click the "Listen To The Shows" tab at the top of the website.

 

 

Thank you,

Kevin

Washington Woman

Well my answer would be, I do! Not only do I care about what this hate monger says, I care about what the other hate mongers have been saying for a long time.

We seem to get all worked up, enraged and willing to take action when someone famous attacks people of color or disparages our candidate of choice (the Edwards fagot fiasco). Where is the rage and action when these hate mongers attack women?

Examples:

Savage on "double-talking slut" Barbara Walters: "The woman is vermin"

On Imus, McGuirk said that "bitch" Clinton will "have cornrows and gold teeth"

CNN's, ABC's Beck on Clinton: "She's the stereotypical bitch"

This nonsense, this crap has got to stop! We have to be willing to fight these hate mongers wherever they are.

More below...

From todays Equal Time Radio:

Some of todays topics:

Katie Morisette from Operation Golden Soldier talks about how the Medical Hold system works and the difference between active duty, National Guard and reserve soldiers. How they help them and YOU can too.

Rape in Iraq a national disgrace.

Listen to the archive here at todays date 3/23/07:
http://equaltimeradio.org/?page_id=56

I think you all will find Katie's story interesting. If you check the most recent previous weeks, you will find some very interesting conversations, with Katie Morisette's husband and others, concerning soldiers and what is really going on.

This show is based very near Fort Lewis and McChord AFB.

Do you think you know all of what is going on at Walter Reed and other military hospitals? Then you haven't heard these stories.

The talk radio show is only an hour long with commercials, so they usually get to the meat of the subject fairly quickly.

Update: Frank from Equal Time Radio posted this at the Pierce County Democrats site.

On this weeks Equal Time, we have the honor of interviewing Katie Morisette who with her husband Major Bill Morisette formed an organization to help returning,wounded soldiers weave their way through our government’s attempt to use them and then throw them away. Last week we interviewed Major Morisette about the shoddy way his unit was equipped and (NOT) trained in the run up to bushcorp’s war for profit and oil. By the way, Major Morisette has been on medical hold for ….THREE YEARS.

Operation Golden Soldier is dedicated to helping our brave soldiers sort through the process of Medical hold and discharge or re-activation. They need your help. Katie and Bill Morisette aren’t just sitting around complaining, they are DOING something, and they deserve your support.

Operation Golden Soldier:
http://operationgoldensoldier.com

PCD site: http://www.piercecountydemocrats.org/

Kevin
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http://washingtonwoman.blogspot.com/

http://equaltimeradio.org