Monique Chartier
Under the Government's Wing
Censorship, a.k.a. the "Fairness" Doctrine, is Nothing to Laugh at but …
… did anyone else get the giggles when they heard who is now promoting it?
"Essentially, because there's always been a lot of big money to support the right wing talk shows and, let's face it, Rush Limbaugh is fairly entertaining even when he's saying things I think are ridiculous," Clinton said. "I think the American people know now that we're in a very serious time. We all need to be questioned. The president, I'm sure, would be the first to admit none of us are right all the time and everything should be debated."
"With the future of the country hanging in the balance, we shouldn't be playing petty politics or just going for entertainment," he said. "What I think we need to do is have more balance in the programs, or have some opportunity for people to offer countervailing opinions," he said.
"When the Fairness Doctrine was done away with I was not in favor of doing away with it," Clinton said. "I never minded having somebody be heard who disagreed with me."
Setting aside the large vat of whitewashing contained in that last sentence, the former President couldn't see this as a way of getting back at some of his more "vocal" critics, could he …?
Some Cheering Perspective
Democrats (and Reporters) Too Quick to Assess Poll's Blame
Get real, Bill. That's embarassing.
He may have had a better argument back in '03 or so, when MSNBC ran Phil Donahue off the air even though he had the network's highest-rated show at the time. But Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow have proven that liberal talk can actually make a little money -the traditional argument for keeping liberals off the air has been busted.
Besides, someday there may be a conservative president and Congress again (can't take anything for granted in politics), and I would not want those folks in control of the Fairness Doctrine. Think conservatives are happy today that Bill Frist didn't get his way on strict majority vote for Supreme Court judges?
joe bernstein
When will NPR ever have balanced programming?Never.I've accepted that and the leftist control freaks need to keep their sh*tt* hands off the airwaves.Social engineers suck and should rot in hell.
"Besides, someday there may be a conservative president and Congress again (can't take anything for granted in politics), and I would not want those folks in control of the Fairness Doctrine."
Good point, Rhody. That's what would make me uneasy.
Locally WPRO Right Wing Radio begs for some balance. There's the contemtible Human Fly, The Felon, The Boor, and The Fat Vigilante and no hope of them offering an opposing viewpoint and all the while taking up a huge bandwidth of public airwave.
I credit Justin and AR with providing a place where opposing views can be shared. Thank you. Phil