Posted on 07/08/2004 10:21:26 PM PDT by Veritas_est
This Liberal Business Chris Stewart Air America is just about dead. Air America was supposed to be the liberal answer to the right-wing talk radio market. It was launched in March with all the shining stars of American liberalism, from Michael Moore to Al Gore, giggling like schoolgirls in interviews that left-wing commentators were finally going to defeat the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and drive them from the American radio waves. They didn't mention that the left has always had a taxpayer supported radio network called National Public Radio. This typical left-wing operation is such a financial failure that it has to beg money from listeners, sell sponsorships to major corporations, and still accept millions in tax dollars in order to stay afloat. No, they ignored this less than successful history lesson and threw all their support behind a network with shows named "Morning Sedition" and "The O'Franken Factor", blatant knock-offs of already established news talk radio shows. Unfortunately, they had to sell these shows and their ideas to the American public, and America wasn't buying.
Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that their radio network is as bankrupt as their political philosophy. The first indication of trouble in liberal paradise was when Air America couldn't find an affiliate station in San Francisco, then the stations in Los Angeles and Chicago went off the air because their checks bounced. Now the Journal reports that although the network told investors that it had raised over $30 million in capital, it really had only raised $6 million and has spent all of that plus $2 million in debt. If this is any indication of liberal business sense, its no wonder John Kerry's wife hired former Enron CEO Ken Lay to run her family foundation. In fact, the whole Air America debacle is a case study in the type of business practices that led to the Clinton-era corporate scandals of Enron, Global Crossing, ImClone, and Martha Stewart.
It really isn't their fault, though. Most liberals just don't have the training it takes to be successful in business. If they did, they wouldn't be liberals in the first place. Most of them spend their careers teaching unprovable theories at Ivy League colleges, running non-profit organizations, or as government functionaries sponging off us taxpayers. It is just too much to expect them to be able to run a successful business enterprise, or a successful government for that matter. Take the US Senate race in Georgia. On the Democratic side only one of the three front-runners has any real-world experience. Cliff Oxford ran his own high-tech business, took it public, and sold his portion of the stock before the stock price tanked. The other two, Denise Majette and Mary Squires have hopped in and out of government employment, although Ms. Majette was a private practice attorney for a whole two years before getting appointed as a judge. Both also happen to be so far to the political left that they are in danger of falling overboard.
The Republican side, however, reads like a how-to book on business success. The two Congressmen in the race Isakson and Collins both started their own businesses, a real estate firm in Isakson's case and a trucking company in Collins'. Both have had success in growing their businesses and serving in elected capacities. As good as their resumes are, however, they are outshined by the third candidate, Herman Cain. Mr. Cain has been an executive with Coca-Cola and the Pillsbury Company, eventually buying the Godfather's Pizza chain from Pillsbury and becoming its CEO. An author of several books on leadership and business, Cain also found time to become a nationally known speaker, found a technology company, and most recently, become an ordained Baptist minister. No wonder he wants to become a US Senator, the pace of life in Washington can't be any more hectic than what he is already used to. His past successes and his ideas on government place him head and shoulders above all the other candidates in the race. Georgia would do well to elect him, and those liberals from the failed Air America Network would do well to study his successes. Then again, if they understood his business sense and personal philosophy, they wouldn't be liberals in the first place, would they.
(Mr. Stewart is a native of Alma, and is affiliated with the Bacon County Republican Party)
Thanks for the ping, vetitas
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