Right Wing Radio 'Drunks' Decried by Liberal Activists

CNSNews.com ^ | 6/06/03 | Marc Morano

[kattracks]

Washington (CNSNews.com) - Talk radio and cable news outlets were blasted by liberal activists during a seminar in Washington, D.C. Thursday, with one speaker describing the followers of conservative-dominated radio programs as "drunks."

The three-day "Take Back America" conference is being sponsored by the Campaign for America's Future, which states as its goal pushing the Democratic Party to the left. Several Democratic presidential candidates addressed the group Thursday - but noticeably absent was Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who is trying to appear more moderate than his rivals for the party's 2004 nomination.

Activists pulled no punches in attacking not only conservative-dominated media outlets, but also the Bush administration.

Jeff Faux, distinguished fellow at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, lashed out at the culture of talk radio during a panel discussion entitled "Shrubbed: The Radical Project of George Bush."

"I turn on the radio, and I hear these talk shows with right wing drunks calling in, and I ask myself, where are our drunks?" Faux said. But, he added: "The advantage of being a progressive is that you don't have to get drunk to make your speech."

Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, charged that "Rupert Murdoch [and his] cronies" are "stifling our messages and keep our messages from being heard, and when we get them out, they are drowned in a sea of lies." Murdoch is chairman of News Corp., which owns the Fox News Channel.

Gandy described her reaction to being seated near Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, host of The O'Reilly Factor, at this week's Congressional Correspondents' Dinner in Washington.

"As I looked over at him at the next table holding court, I thought of the fact that there are literally millions of people who get their news from Bill O'Reilly," Gandy told the audience. "[They] actually think that he is telling them the truth about what is happening in the world.

"They get their perspective on the world from The O'Reilly Factor and from Stupid-borough Country, uh...Scarborough Country," she added, a reference to MSNBC's Scarborough Country, hosted by former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough.

Gandy believes conservatives control the media in America.

"It's gotten to the point that Pat Robertson can just retire from his television career because his job has been taken over by Fox News and MSNBC and Clear Channel Broadcasting," Gandy said.

She praised the country music singing trio, the Dixie Chicks, who received a torrent of criticism from conservatives after challenging the wisdom of President Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq. "Can we hear one round for the Dixie Chicks?" Gandy asked to loud applause. "They have lots of new fans all over the country."

Thursday's panelists also laid into the Bush administration and its allies in Congress. Bush is running "the most right wing administration in modern American history," according to Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way.

"George W. Bush, Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, Trent Lott, [John] Ashcroft - they are the schoolyard bullies, and what do we do with schoolyard bullies? We stand up to them, and we stand up to them and fight," Neas said.

Neas had pointed criticism for the president's federal judicial nominees, warning that the U.S. is "facing one of the greatest constitutional threats to our constitutional scheme of government since the Founding Fathers.

"We are going to block any right wing nominee in the mold of Scalia and Thomas," he vowed, a reference to conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, blamed "ideological extremism on the right" for making bipartisanship "impossible."

"You can't have bipartisanship when one side treats you like a tornado treats a trailer park," Henderson claimed.

Maude Hurd, president of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), said liberals have been "bushwhacked" by the president.

"George W. Bush has pushed so many right wing proposals through Congress that many progressives have begun to despair," Hurd explained. "Bush's endless demands for tax cuts for millionaires are so willfully blind that he reminds me of a substance abuser," Hurd added.

Deb Callahan, president of the League of Conservation Voters, asserted: "This is undeniably the worst administration that we have seen in the history of this nation on [environmental] issues."

Callahan lamented the opposition that the green agenda encounters in the current political environment and said she yearns for a return to the 1960s.

She told the audience that she once asked former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall how it felt to be able to pass environmental regulations during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations without much opposition.

"I asked: 'What was it like when you were running the Interior Department, and you all created the Endangered Species Act, you protected amazing lands, you did these new and insightful and far-reaching things to protect our natural environment?" According to Callahan, Udall answered: "Basically, if you could think it up, you could do it."

Gandy observed: "I have come to realize that is my guiding principle. I want to return to a time in this country when if we can think it up, we can do it."

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Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.

[G.Mason]

"you're old."

May I remind you that "old" is a relative adjective.

If your lucky and careful you, also, may get old. ;)

I hope you understood my point.

Every one in that town, with the exception of the kid and Grace Kelly's character turned and ran.

It's no different today.

When the chips are down most run and hide.

[AppyPappy]

No, but I pretty much have to be drunk to listen.

Passed out after a quart of Pepe Lopez, 3 Percodan and Sominex drip.

[sauropod]

If this was the thing yesterday that was a roomful of empty chairs and some weirdo yelling at Carl Cameron to shut up because he was talking too loud and the weirdo could not hear the speaker, it must have been a hoot!

This is what I was trying to tell you about.

PS. Ain't it fun when "progressives" don't do anything but name call their competition? < Kim Gandy's name for Scarborough Country>

[sauropod]

Please, Kim Gandy, keep your SHIRT ON!!!

[wimpycat]

"It's gotten to the point that Pat Robertson can just retire from his television career because his job has been taken over by Fox News and MSNBC and Clear Channel Broadcasting," Gandy said.

I guess Clear Channel Broadcasting is to the left-wing now what Richard Mellon-Scaife was to them during the Clinton years...some shadowy villian behind the curtain bent on ruling the world that most of us have never even heard of. It's funny that they attribute all this power to Pat Robertson, when I don't know (in person) anyone who watches his shows or listens to basically anything he has to say. I never have figured out exactly who this Mellon-Scaife guy is...I guess he's the rich guy who funds the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.....and now that I've said this publicly, I can expect a visit from the Wetworks Committee any moment.

[YOMO]

"I turn on the radio, and I hear these talk shows with right wing drunks calling in, and I ask myself, where are our drunks?" Faux said. But, he added: "The advantage of being a progressive is that you don't have to get drunk to make your speech."
###########################################################

The difference between being an Alcholic and a Drunk is we drunks don't have to attend all those meetings.

Those Lefties must hate the Tech Edge. When the left dominated the "Old Mainstream Media" where was the cries for "Equal Time"?

[Jonah Hex]

Same standard bravo sierra. "If you disagree with me, then you're an idiot who doesn't deserve to be heard."

(sigh)

[xp38]

Let us not forget they have Molly Ivins.

[NittanyLion]

"I turn on the radio, and I hear these talk shows with right wing drunks calling in, and I ask myself, where are our drunks?" Faux said. But, he added: "The advantage of being a progressive is that you don't have to get drunk to make your speech."

Take Donahue, for instance. Have you ever seen a more sober liberal than him?

She praised the country music singing trio, the Dixie Chicks, who received a torrent of criticism from conservatives after challenging the wisdom of President Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq. "Can we hear one round for the Dixie Chicks?" Gandy asked to loud applause. "They have lots of new fans all over the country."

Unfortunately, for every one new fan they've lost 10 old ones. And the new fans won't be buying any CDs, but that's okay too.

"You can't have bipartisanship when one side treats you like a tornado treats a trailer park," Henderson claimed.

But enough about Bill Clinton...

Gandy observed: "I have come to realize that is my guiding principle. I want to return to a time in this country when if we can think it up, we can do it."

Says it all. I want to push my radical agenda - comprised of the wackiest stuff I can imagine - through totally unopposed.

[tet68]

Note, editor's translation.

Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, charged that "Rupert Murdoch [and his] cronies" are "stifling our lies and keep our lies from being heard, and when we get them out, they are drowned in a sea of truth."

Just imagine, there are leftists even more crazed than
these, in the Dimorat party.

[Poohbah]

I never have figured out exactly who this Mellon-Scaife guy is...I guess he's the rich guy who funds the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.....and now that I've said this publicly, I can expect a visit from the Wetworks Committee any moment.

Submitted to the Executive Committees of the Nasty Little Clique^TM and the Vulgar Horde^TM for review. Recommend extreme prejudice. (c:=

[7thson]

I should not have listened to this. It just made me angrier.

[nina0113]

It says that they know what's best for us more than we do, because we're all just a bunch of loser substance-abusers, so we should just shut up and let them get back to running the country. Then the world.

[SaveTheChief]

But, he added: "The advantage of being a progressive is that you don't have to get drunk to make your speech."

That's right folks, liberals or "progressives" sound stupid naturally.

[AnAmericanMother]

As old Abe said, "Find out what he's drinking, and ship a case to each of my other generals."

[El Laton Caliente]

"Neas had pointed criticism for the president's federal judicial nominees, warning that the U.S. is "facing one of the greatest constitutional [ANTI-REVISIONIST] threats to our [UN-]constitutional scheme of government since the Founding Fathers."

I just had to correct the statement!

[dighton]

"I turn on the radio, and I hear these talk shows with right wing drunks calling in, and I ask myself, where are our drunks?"

Over here.

[RightOnline]

I just love the smell of liberal twits burning in the morning........

[jocon307]

"[W]here are our drunks?"

Ann Richards...paging Govenor Ann Richards...your party needs you, and George W. Bush wants to kick your b*tt just one more time!

[sirchtruth]

For quite a while, I've been championing the cause of courtesy in political discourse.

I applaud your efforts, but WHAT exactly do you mean by COURTESY. Can you give us an example?

I am just interested in when I find a liar who will not suspend how far should I go to be courteous?..ie Republicans are going to KILL Senior Citizens?