Posted on 10/21/2009 7:59:33 AM PDT by SmithL
More than a decade before Jerry Brown's current incarnation as undeclared gubernatorial front-runner, he hit the airwaves of liberal Berkeley radio station KPFA five days a week to speak his mind.
What he said then, as he interviewed poets, activists and the likes of leftist icon Noam Chomsky, promises to resurface this coming year as the 71-year-old former governor ponders running for a historic third gubernatorial term.
During his three years on the air, Brown repeatedly blamed corporate malfeasance and political corruption for undermining American democracy and even causing deaths, according to edited excerpts of the radio broadcasts.
Brown regularly attacked President Bill Clinton as a lackey for business interests and in one excerpt stated, "I don't believe Clinton is different from Richard Nixon."
He called capital punishment "state murder" and said U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both Democrats, had "sold out" U.S. truck drivers by letting their Mexican counterparts drive uninspected vehicles into the United States.
In one of the most controversial excerpts, Brown called the prison system a racket that pumped profits out of the poor's misfortunes and into the pockets of prison guards.
"The big lockup is about drugs," Brown stated in an excerpt from late 1995. "Here's the real scam. The drug war is one of the games to get more convictions and prisoners. There's a lot of chemicals out there and when certain ones are made illegal, they become a huge profit opportunity and bring violence, crime and more people to imprison."
The excerpts, since removed, were posted on Brown's We the People Web site. The Bee recovered them through a Web cache of the old site.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
This broken down old liberal is now going to have to talk about creating jobs in a state he helped destroy. Bring on the popcorn!
Ex Governor Moonbeam is a liberal whackjob and is just as bad as San Francisco mayor Newsom. These two guys should not be elected sogcatchers much less governor of a state. The state is already in deep shit financially and both these guys would just make matters even worse.
Ex Governor Moonbeam is a liberal whackjob and is just as bad as San Francisco mayor Newsom. These two guys should not be elected sogcatchers much less governor of a state. The state is already in deep shit financially and both these guys would just make matters even worse.
And, thanks to Michael Savage, Moonbeam is once again, not just a statewide officeholder, but a “credible” candidate, rather than just another failed Liberal loon.
From the examples given I don’t imagine these broadcasts will cause him much problem in California.
FR went on for months about the Mexican trucks, agreeing with Brown they were a horrible idea and shouldn’t be permitted. Also it’s hard to disagree that corporate malfeasance and political corruption aren’t big factors in the mess things are in now. The question is who are the fingers pointing towards. And of course President Bill Clinton as a lackey for business interests is becoming the general reappraisal of his presidency. Always for what the big money people wanted, see NAFTA.
Odds are Jerry will be California’s next governor. Stopping him will take much more then this. These quotes won’t be even a speedbump.
Naw, he won’t be our next governor.He’s a loon.
We have a two term limit for presidents; too bad we do not have one for being governor of a state.
I believe Clinton is different from Nixon—much more corrupt, much more narcissistic, much less patriotic.
When was being a loon anything but a resume enhancement for being elected in the loon state of CA? The only thing that might hurt him is the Mexican truck thing with Hispanic voters.
It would be hard to find two loonier candidates than Newsome and Brown. Although I must say that Arnold has been trying very hard to match them.
The only danger I see for Jerry is that too many of his old backers may have died or moved out of state.
It will be almost comical to see the Californians self-destruct by 2011 if they can hold out that long.
I see you are fairly new to FR. Please be advised that vulgar language is not proper here.
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