Free Republic

With so many sleazy Air America corporate scandal details to investigate, Michelle Malkin and I don't focus much on its programming content. You either agree with their viewpoints, or not, right? It's a reflection of your ideology.... ...It's the hypocrisy and phony moral outrage, all the while making every effort to cover up sleazy corporate behavior, that make Air America worth covering. Otherwise, why take it seriously? Listeners sure aren't rewarding it with high ratings. Wednesday's programming caused the Radio Equalizer to rethink this position: perhaps we should pay closer attention to the rhetoric. It began with this email:

Part One: http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003384.htm Part Two: http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2005/08/inside-air-america-investigation.html My investigative blog partner, Brian Maloney, watched the surreal appearance of Air America co-founder Sheldon Drobny on C-SPAN this weekend. Drobny was on the network to plug his 2004 book, "Road to Air America: Breaking the Right Wing Stranglehold on Our Nation's Airwaves." Click here for Brian's exclusive transcript/analysis of Drobny's remarks and the second half of our Sheldon Drobny files. Our thanks to the caller from Dallas who broke the silence about the Air American financial scandals on the program. Drobny was visibly uncomfortable. As he should be. Drobny, a deep-pocketed, self-described venture...

(Catch me Sunday, 9pm EDT on WRKO/Boston's "Pundit Review". Go to WRKO for streaming.) When it comes to fighting for "social justice", liberals sure can be selective. Take this interview with Al Franken in the new issue of The Progressive, "a leading voice for peace and social justice since 1909". Air America scandal, what's that? Every question is served Larry King-softball style. Maybe Franken really is a funny guy after all, claiming here he's actually not especially liberal! With unpleasant realities like $875,000 in taxpayer funds intended for an inner-city community center allegedly diverted to Air America Radio, The Progressive...

On May 20, 2005, comedian Lizz Winstead filed suit in New York, detailing a laundry list of allegations against Air America Radio parent Piquant LLC. Accusing the company of failing to pay wages, promotional fees, accrued holiday compensation and severance, Winstead is seeking $290,716, plus interest. You can download her entire complaint here. Does the company's behavior toward her help to demonstrate a pattern of ethics and integrity lapses in its overall business dealings?

The Bronx-based Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club has been duped out of a reported $875,000 meant for poor children and elderly Alzheimer's patients. Evan Montvel-Cohen, the former chairman of the much-hyped liberal radio network Air America, is at the center of the erupting scandal. Air America radio host Al Franken, punctuating his discussion with nervous laughter, called Cohen a "crook" on his show last week and confessed to his left-wing audience that "I think he was robbing Peter to pay Paul."

Why have so few on the left been willing to admit Air America Radio might be an ideological liability? So far, the Radio Equalizer has been wrong in predicting New York Times and AP scandal coverage would force liberals to try new ways to defend the network. Instead, it's still about insults and claims of a made-up story. Air America's own strategy is now about diversionary tactics, with Cindy Sheehan's rabid supporters in Crawford and one of the network's hosts providing needed cover. If enough people can be convinced AAR's programming is responsible for the activity around the Bush family...

Some of the best questions yet on Air America's scandal, where $875,000 in taxpayer-funded community center grants instead went to the liberal radio network, appear in today's paper. To which New York publication might the Radio Equalizer be referring? Actually, none of them: it's all in today's Arizona Republic, 3000 miles away from the crime scene. In a blunt, knock-'em-dead op-ed column by Doug MacEachern, we see what was once a given in New York City journalism, tough talk:

Looks like the New York Times can be more accurate, when pressed. Today's edition corrects one of two errors in Friday's story discovered by Michelle Malkin, the Radio Equalizer and several other bloggers:

For two weeks, the Radio Equalizer's MSM clock (supplied by BoreAmerica) has been logging the mainstream media's non-coverage of Air America's scandal, where it appears to have received $875,000 in taxpayer funds, intended for a Bronx-based community center. More recently, we've been discussing what the first New York Times story might include. Perhaps both sides, rather than merely covering for Al Franken? Would they acknowledge the blogosphere, for picking up their slack? Now, we finally have their version of the story, 16 days later. Is it time to remove the MSM clock?

--- Major new developments just in, from Thursday's New York Post. While Gloria Wise Boys And Girls Club faces new staff departures, Air America, Gloria Wise and Department of Investigation officials spar over repayment terms. The Radio Equalizer will have a full analysis of the newest details, later this morning....

Remember Kevin Nealon's classic Saturday Night Live "Mr. Subliminal" character? He could slip a critical point into the smallest spaces, creating some of the show's funniest moments. After a detailed analysis of Al Franken's recent public Air America scandal comments, it's clear he may owe Nealon one, for stealing his act. That's because slipped into Franken's rambling set of excuses over why he and Air America are not responsible for $875,000 in taxpayer funds, diverted from a Bronx-based community center, a key admission is made. Take a look at this snippet, with a full Radio Equalizer-produced transcript below, (bold emphasis...

Did we really think amateur hour could last forever? Predictably, leftists have now begun to mount a more organized campaign to fight our Air America coverage. Elements of it have been leaked to the Radio Equalizer. In the earlier days of Air America's controversy over its apparent acquisition of $875,000 in taxpayer funds intended for the Bronx-based Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, nasty potshots and slurs from liberal bloggers were common.

Repairing Al Franken's mangled public image is probably not a job for the Radio Equalizer, but I do still have to wonder about his reconstruction strategy, unveiled today in the New York Post, via John Mainelli: AL Franken says 20,000 poor kids and old people weren't the only victims of an exec who allegedly arranged a Bronx charity's mega-buck "loan" to Air America. "About three weeks into the life of Air America, I became an involuntary investor — I stopped being paid," Franken told listeners yesterday on WLIB (1190 AM).

If you thought Air America's sleazy scandal involving $875,000 in taxpayer funds meant for a Bronx-based nonprofit had begun to fade into the background, guess again. Because the mainstream media ignored the story, public awareness has instead built up slowly. Yesterday, "Air America" was the most requested term at blog search engine Technorati, and we don't believe it's due to a sudden interest in Franken's political views.

...Clearly, the DOI doesn't buy the liberal hogwash circulating around the Internet by Air America supporters and Bill Press on FOXNews, that Air America's newer owner has no connection to the old one, Progress Media, that it's all about Evan Cohen, the invisible bad man. Then why does the DOI believe Air America's current owners owe the money? Why is Air America repaying it? Is it because, other than Cohen, it's primarily the same people who continued on with the company after the sale?

--- Air America hosts are still pretending on-air as though nothing is happening, continuing attacks against the Bush "crime family". Apparently they believe the mainstream media will continue helping AAR avoid negative publicity. If the New York Times finally covers this, they're finished. Maybe that's what worries Times staffers most, they don't want to kill off allies. --- Common email question: where's Drudge?

What's next for Air America's programming and personalities, after a week of blogospheric pummeling and self-destructive corporate behavior? Many have asked that question in recent days, wondering if Franken & Co. could actually face real consequences. Not just legally, but in terms of public image, as they take self-inflicted beating after beating. A fresh example of success from St. Louis, however, proves Air America's real fate may be in your hands.

Watching Air America Radio thoroughly destroy its credibility is like last night's burning Airbus jet in Toronto: it's hard to take your eyes away from a full-fledged disaster. At least everybody escaped from the plane's wreckage, who knows what will ultimately happen at Air America's headquarters? The network's claim that all that's stopping it from repaying nearly $900,000 (boy, does that number continue to grow) it owes the Bronx-based Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club is an official direction from New York's Department Of Investigation (DOI), is blown to bits by a fresh New York Post report.

It's taken nearly a week, since the Radio Equalizer's first report on Air America's taxpayer funding diversion scandal, but Al Franken has finally addressed it in a second New York Sun investigative piece. Why the delay? If we hadn't pushed this issue, would Franken have ever said a word? Maybe they really are worried at Air America's head office. Can Franken's contention, that he first heard about the diverted funds a week ago, be taken at face value?

Here's a pop quiz: If you're running Air America Radio right about now, are you A) horrified your dirty secrets are being aired by bloggers and others, or B) thrilled, knowing it will shortly be back to business as usual, since the mainstream media has decided to look the other way at your network's past dirty dealings and recent conflicting statements.