posted May 12, 2004 01:52 PM            

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/story/192671p-166266c.html

Liberal radio is airing bad jokes and worst taste

The United States "is on the slippery slope to theocratic fascism." "The Catholic Church has been secretly encouraging oral sex for years."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "ought to be tortured." President Bush should be taken out and shot.

Those are a few nutso nuggets from the hosts of Air America Radio, which calls itself the new liberal voice. The fledgling network is carried in New York on WLIB, 1190 AM. With the Iraq torture scandal everywhere, I tuned in, expecting to hear sober policy analysis mixed with glee over President Bush's political pickle.

Instead, I got 10 hours of rancid venom directed at the President, Rumsfeld, Rush Limbaugh, the Catholic Church and anyone else the hosts felt like slamming. If you're a card-carrying lib who likes crude sex jokes and a cartoonish echo chamber, Air America is for you.

Take one host's linking the talk of "pulling out" the troops with the claim that "that's what the Catholic Church says about premarital sex." Ha, ha.

The network aims to give Dems a media organization to counter Limbaugh and others on the right who dominate talk radio. (What, National Public Radio and The New York Times aren't enough?)

The signing of comedian and best-selling author Al Franken gave Air America a liberal drawing card. But if his three-hour show on Monday was typical, he could sink the ship instead of saving it.

Two attempts at humor were offensive. In his "oy, oy show," set to Israeli music, a sidekick reads news reports - in this case, the murder of the Russian-backed president of Chechnya. Franken's role is to pipe up with a lighthearted "oy, oy, oy." Yep, nothing tickles the ribs like assassination.

Franken also imitated a priest giving Communion, saying "Body of Christ" when an imagined pedophile priest was in line but "not for you" when pro-choice politicians came up.

The church was a day-long obsession, as was Limbaugh. He is an "awful man," "a pig" and "a Nazi."

Color me confused. If Franken & Co. hate the pill-popping Limbaugh so much, why imitate his tarpit tone? Sounds like Limbaugh has simply driven them nuts.

Missing was the tension that comes from honest debate. Only Franken had guests voicing even slight distance from the party line, which is that John Kerry is perfect except he should attack Bush more.

The queen of venom, Randi Rhodes, followed Franken in the host slot. Her imitation of a cracker military type telling a soldier to "insert this fluorescent light bulb into that man's buttocks" was revolting. She compared U.S. prisons in Iraq to the "Nazi gulag" and said, "The day I say thank you to Rumsfeld is the same day I'll say thank you to the 12 people who raped me."

Rock bottom came when she compared Bush and his family to the Corleones in the "Godfather" saga. "Like Fredo, somebody ought to take him out fishing and phuw," she said, imitating the sound of gunfire.

During a day of torture by radio, I heard ads for Hewlett-Packard, Greyhound and, especially, General Motors. I asked GM why it appeared in such shows.

Ryndee Carney, GM's manager of marketing communications, said the ads were wrongly picked up from an earlier deal with WLIB. She said the station was ordered to "cease and desist" yesterday, and added: "GM will not advertise on any Air America affiliates."

posted May 12, 2004 02:44 PM            

Hey Pid, Nader called the network "Hot Air America

Friday, April 2, 2004 12:22 p.m. EST
Nader Blasts 'Hot Air America'

Things turned ugly on the new liberal talk radio network, "Air America," Wednesday night, with guest Ralph Nader blasting the Democratic Party's counterweight to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly as "Hot Air America."

Nader got into an on-air tussle with "Air America" host Randi Rhodes, during which Rhodes repeatedly informed him she was "****** " that he was running for president, complaining that he had "screwed up the last election."

The perennial candidate said the fact that Democrats couldn't hang onto what he described as their presidential victory was the party's own fault.

And for good measure, Nader blasted ex-President Clinton as a "draft-dodger."

It was all downhill from there, as Nader and Rhodes screamed at one another for the next 10 minutes.

Some selected highlights, as transcribed by the Web site "The Daily Kos":

On Clinton

RHODES: You know the Democrats' policy, you know when the Republicans talk about regime change was the Clinton administration's policy, but it was regime change from within. It was never military action on our part on Iraq. That was not the policy ...

NADER: ... You know, Clinton was a draft-dodger so he wasn't willing to take on the Pentagon. And he wasn't willing to take on the Congress on many huge military expenditures and that starved many of the necessities back home among the American people. ...

On Nader's Presidential Run

RHODES: How many ways to Sunday do I have to tell you? We can't afford you.

NADER: I'm sorry, can you afford freedom? Can you afford choice? Can you afford civil liberties?

RHODES: Gimmie a Democrat President!

On "Hot Air America"

NADER: ... can you – is this the way you want to start Air America? You want it to be Hot Air America?

RHODES: Oh, no, you see ...

NADER: ... Log on to the web site votenader.org ...

RHODES: Ralph, let me tell you something. If you did get to be president, tell me who you would caucus with. Tell me who you could get to vote for your ... views and visions, and your, your bills! Who is an independent other than Bernie Sanders and Jim Jeffords? Who are you gonna count on? You ... let's say you win, OK?

NADER: You can't win without a huge mobilization of voters ...

RHODES: ... let's say ya do ...

NADER: ... that would replace many members of Congress.

RHODES: ... let's say it's seventy years old, from your house in Connecticut, your little house ...

NADER: ... now wait a minute. Now wait wait wait. You're ...

RHODES: ... you are, you are ready to do this.

NADER: ... listen, listen. Now you're getting nasty.

RHODES: I'm not!

NADER: You are ruining the first day ...

RHODES: I'm not ruining anything.

NADER: ... the first day of Air America.

RHODES: This is Air America.

NADER: ... you're not letting your, you're not letting your guest be, have a chance to speak. You're ...

RHODES: I asked you a question.

NADER: ... you're not letting your guest have a chance to speak.

More bickering

NADER: ... you've got a very bad interviewing technique ...

RHODES: ... uh uh uh. I am not ...

NADER: ... and you're not going to get an audience by overtalking ...

RHODES: ... interviewing you ...

NADER: Do not overtalk!

RHODES: I am not ... interviewing you!

NADER: Do not overtalk!

RHODES: I'm mad at you! Don't you understand the difference?

NADER: Fine, just close up and start screaming to your audience.

RHODES: [laughs] Look. Don't tell me how to do radio; I've done it for twenty years. You screwed up the last election, and now you want to screw up this one, and I'm ****** !

NADER: (pause; speechless) You know, you ought to be ashamed of yourself because you ...

RHODES: But I'm not! You know you should ...

NADER: ... you agree with me ...

RHODES: ... be ashamed of yourself!

NADER: ... you agree with me on so many issues. You really ought to be ashamed of yourself.

RHODES: I'm not ashamed of myself. I can't afford you! [End of Excerpts]

posted May 12, 2004 03:46 PM            

It is one thing to be a bit combative, I mean even O'Rielly can get on my nerves from time to time and I yell at the TV saying "Yo..fellow Aries moon man...let your guest TALK".

But what really gets me is when someone from any side takes to shouting, fabricating facts and acting like a primitive cave man / woman. It's intolerable.

But, jwhop, I will bet you dollars to donuts, that when Air America totally fails, they will blame Corporate America and the Right Wing Conspiracy for it. Hell, I am surprised that excuse hasn't made it in the schools yet "No, professor Igor, I couldn't work on my homework because Corporate America seduced me into drinking mass quantities of beer last night, so I couldn't concentrate. It is part of that right wing conspiracy working to prevent me from graduating so that I cannot be a successful left wing zealot".

posted May 12, 2004 05:24 PM              

Rush and Randy... too abrasive and full of themselves for my tastes.

Thanks for posting the Nader interview, jwhop.

Nader

posted May 12, 2004 06:02 PM            

I find it hard to believe Air America would fit in with established Clear Channel programming but anything is possible.

posted May 13, 2004 04:32 PM            

Savage is going to be at a local ampitheatre this Sat. doing a live show, it was all hubby wanted for his B-day so we got the tix. I'm not looking forward to it, there will probably be a lot of liberal protesters there, and I don't want to get caught in a riot...