The “Liberal” Network

FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | 3/31/04 | Lowell Ponte

[kattracks]

A more suitable name....Hot Air America, Radio.

[GeronL]

Odds are that this network will have no sacred cows, but it will have lots of sacred bull.

Hot steaming piles of it.

[Trueblackman]

Any Freeper up for a dollar bet, like in Trading Places?

[Diddle E. Squat]

Airhead America...

[DustyMoment]

What is amazing is that this waste of money is going forward with the knowledge beforehand that it is likely doomed to failure. This is NOT sound business practice and is the reason that liberals should NOT own or operate businesses; they simply don't know how and don't care.

IMO, "Air America" will bgin to lose audience after its first month. An enterprise whose sole goal is to promote hate and negativity will not generate a dedicated audience, just as the Dems' entire campaign focus isn't getting the interest they want. Americans want more than a campaign based on hate and power. They want leaders who can lead and provide new vision for this nation. Kerry and the Dems have repeatedly proven that, for them, it isn't about leadership, it's about power.

And, that's just not a formula for success. Liberal ideas do not withstand close scrutiny because the brighter the light that is focused on them, the more they reveal themselves for what they are: smoke and mirrors schemes.

[goldstategop]

Liberals are successful in business. They're just not successful in politics and the two are very different worlds.

[AmericanVictory]

Or how about Talking Points Radio? We wonder how many people will listen for very long to the endless repitition of talking points? After the first few weeks the content of each broadcast will become so formulaic and predictable that devoted followers will not need to actually turn on the show. They can just repeat the mantra talking points to themselves, divorced, like the show, from truth and reality in their "lockbox" mindset.

[dasboot]

What? Do I smell..... Soros?

There's something "Springtime for Hitler" about this production. (please direct flame at Mel Brooks, if you don't know what I'm talking about)

Given the propensities of the show's hosts, how long before they cross the line from free speech to outright actionable slander? Two minutes?

Mebbe that's what this is about....attracting lawsuits for an exposition of how the VRWC controls the media? ANd mebbe in time for the election? Certainly no court action could be wrapped in such a short time as seven months; but the proclamations of "fascist right-wingers are shutting down free speech" will be sufficient ammo for the conspiracy theorists to go to the ballot box and gin-up Kerry's support. Then the utterers will be found guilty a year from now, and their fines and court costs paid by the "investor(s)" Thanks for being the hatchet-man, Al: your service was exemplary!"

Something's major wrong with this really big shew.

Shucks, even if the show simply tanks, they'll blame it on the VRWC. These folks aren't above just makin' stuff up.

[Qwinn]

"What is amazing is that this waste of money is going forward with the knowledge beforehand that it is likely doomed to failure. This is NOT sound business practice and is the reason that liberals should NOT own or operate businesses; they simply don't know how and don't care."

What you're missing is that this isn't -intended- to be a profitable business. This is intended to circumvent Campaign Finance Reform. They intend to dismantle it after the election, unless by some -miracle- it does well, but they know full well that that would take a miracle.

No, fact is, this is nothing but a propaganda machine designed to help Kerry win the election. It isn't a business. It's a 9 month long Democratic campaign ad with no restrictions on it.

Qwinn

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Both co-hosts, says Air America’s web site, “have a mean streak a mile wide.”

That'll bring in the audience...

[DustyMoment]

Good point. If I were more awake, I probably would have made that connection.

Thanks for covering for me.

[Drango]

Air America’s staff of nearly 100 will include 11 full-time writers...

Interesting, I always assumed each host would be doing their own thing. Do Rush and Hannity have writers?

[MarkDel]

This is an enterprise which is doomed to fail. What the political left in this country fails to realize is that Talk Radio is just not a good fit for their style of "indoctrination"

Here's a point by point reason that Liberal Talk Radio will always fail:

1. The base audience (far left wingers) is very, very small compared to the conservative base audience. There are many, many Americans who are left/center or center/left, but very few beyond the media and academia who are far left wing.

2. Conservative talk radio has been successful at converting the center/right and right/center citizens into right wingers because of the logical, cohesive arguments used by people like Limbaugh, Hannity and others...even O'Reilly before he decided to prove he was an indepedent and became a left wing "useful idiot"

3. The Political Left can never hope to replicate this success of "conversion" because their style is not to convince people through logic, but to convince people through intellectual intimidation and shame. This style does not sell well with married adults, who make up the vast majority of Talk Radio listeners.

4. And that brings me to my next point...Liberals have their greatest success at converting people when they are young, impressionable and have little or no actual life experience...hence college students are good targets, but the guy working for a living is not suspectible to the left wing style of shaming people into sharing their views.

5. A large portion of the Democratic Base, their potential audience, simply lacks the intellectual inclination and adequate attention span to digest the kind of detailed information you should receive through a proper talk radio program. Other than the fringe activists, the average Democratic Party voter is more likely to be interested in sub-moronic television programs than to engage in the kind of substantive debate heard on talk radio. Rather than listen to talk radio or watch Fox News with their free time, the average Democratic voter sits in front of the TV and becomes obsessed with which mindless bimbo the uniquely mindless Joe Millionaire will copulate with this week...or they'll sit entranced watching a moronic show like The Simpsons contemplating how many times Homer will say "doh" this week. The bottom line is that Talk Radio requires an attention span past the 4th Grade and most Democrats are sadly lacking in this area.

6. And the most important reason why Liberal Talk Radio will always fail? The modern Democratic Party message is all about the "glass being half empty" while the Republican message is about the "glass being half full." This is THE most important point. How many people want to sit for hours in their car, home or office and be told how screwed up the United States is? Conservative talk radio is all about building a better America...Liberal talk radio is all about denigrating the accomplishments of America.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Air America Radio was designed and built to advance the Democratic Party, not necessarily liberalism. And if it proves unprofitable, preparations are already in place for this network’s lucrative dismemberment shortly after the November election.

“I’d be happy if the election of a Democrat ended the show,” said the network’s biggest star Al Franken, who reportedly has signed only a one-year contract to do a weekday three hour show opposite Limbaugh. “I’m doing this because I want to use my energies to get Bush unelected.”

It sounds like this whole operation might be just one, big unreported donation to the Kerry campaign. No real plans to continue past the election, just 24 hours a day of Bush-bashing and Kerry-promoting.

[sinclair]

"Experts are betting that the new network will fail to make money and disappear within a year…"

That is the way it is designed to work. Get on the air and remain there until the Bush Administration in the White House is defeated then the joke of a network is abandoned because it served the purpose for which it was designed.

[Stirner]

When I hear the words "Air America", I think of the airline of the same name that the CIA ran in Vietnam during the war there. Suprising that liberals would take a phrase from a semi-clandestine institution that they despised 35 years ago. Or maybe they're so ignorant of history that they don't know what they're doing.

[highlander_UW]

I'd almost be tempted to listen in to laugh at them, but I know I'd later just feel like I wasted my time. Maybe I'll scrub out my oven or something useful.

[freeangel]

The o'franken farter will be able to smell himself coming and going.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Sure will give NPR a run for it's money.

[moonman]

"To crush and conceal these propaganda pills, Air America’s staff of nearly 100 will include 11 full-time writers, most of whose work is to produce jokes and comic bits. They have been recruited from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, CourtTV, Oprah Winfrey’s cable channel Oxygen, and elsewhere."

A 100? WOW! I wonder how many staff personel are on Rush Limbaugh or Neil Boortz radio show?