Posted on 09/19/2001 9:35:35 AM PDT by jern
Sept. 19, 2001, 9:00AM
Federal Express ordered its ads removed from the ABC late-night series Politically Incorrect on Tuesday after the show's host referred to recent U.S. military actions as "cowardly."
After receiving complaints from around the country, including Houston, Federal Express reviewed Monday's edition of the show and decided to act, company spokesperson Carla Richards said.
Richards said she did not know how many complaints the company received, but that they were of sufficient quantity to merit the actions the company took.
"The (30-second) ad that runs during that show has been pulled for the indefinite future," Richards said.
Dinesh D'Souza, a panelist on Monday's show, quibbled with a reference made by President George W. Bush that the suicide bombers were cowards, noting that they gave up their lives for whatever may be their cause.
"These are warriors," D'Souza said, "and we have to realize that the principles of our way of life are in conflict with people in the world."
"We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away," said Bill Maher, the host of Politically Incorrect. "That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly."
"I was just appalled," said Dan Patrick, general manager of KSEV (700 AM) and host of a radio talk show. "When you call our men in the (armed forces) cowards and our military policy cowardly, and when you call these hijackers `warriors,' that should not be tolerated."
Patrick urged listeners to call KTRK and urge the station to stop carrying the "irresponsible" program. Other hosts of KSEV talk shows made the same request.
"The First Amendment gives us the freedom of speech, but it does not guarantee anyone a TV show or a TV camera or a radio show, for that matter," Patrick said. "If Bill Maher believes that Americans are cowards and hijackers are warriors, let him go out on the street corner and shout that. But Disney does not have to give him a TV show and Channel 13 does not have to air that show."
KTRK said it received a number of calls -- "in the low hundreds," the station said. The station said it receives triple that amount when it pre-empts a soap opera. It had no further comment.
ABC issued a statement saying, in part, that Politically Incorrect "celebrates freedom of speech and encourages the animated exchange of ideas and opinions. Understandably, this forum can oftentimes arouse intense emotions, especially during such a sensitive time.
"While we remain sensitive to the current climate following last week's tragedy, and continue to do our part to help viewers cope with unfolding events, we have an obligation to offer a forum for the expression of our nation's diverse opinions."
Right or wrong. certain opinions are not to be tolerated. sounds rather PC to me.
Think this jamoke's gonna call ya back, do ya?
I'll give you very good odds you'll be long dead, buried & gone before any call from this clown ever came. :o)
ChaseR?
This guy's getting his posterior heated-up to the point he's wondering if the [his] job's worth it.
Still...I'll take your bet? {g}
Well hi there, M-M.
Long time; no see.
Actually, first time, first see.
Listen kid, you have things just a *tad* mixed up.
Lemme help...
"Maher sits on an obnoxious untalented ass."
Well?
Whadda ya think? {g}
You might be right. It's only been a short while and no return call yet. I'll be here thou when and if he does call back.
And don't hit reply to me again.
He believes that the terrorists who hijacked the airliners from an un-armed crew and flew it into an un-armed building with un-armed inhabitatants is gutsy and brave. Maher has been doing this type of attack on the subjects of his jokes for years, so he believes it's brave!
Maher also fails to address the belief that the terrorists hold that they will be served sexually by underaged virgins after murdering all those people.
This is a good example of the perverted being praised by the mindless. What a pathetic character Maher is.
And I certainly am not backpedaling. Merely clarifying. Indeed, having reread Maher's comments leave me feeling even more inclined to agree with him.
He isn't even talking about airstrikes using live pilots, but about the bizarre and vaguely contemptible American practice of popping off a coupla-three unmanned cruise missiles. There really is something rather cowardly about thinking that this will impress our enemies. Cowardly, and also just plain wrong.
I think that the spectacle of people going off half-cocked to try to limit free speech, as conservatives no less, is disgraceful and hurting the conservative cause. Americans rightly have contempt for those idiots who try to shut out the opinions of others. And in this case, if you had see the shows in question, D'Sousa and even Maher come off well in their direct support of GW Bush and his administration and our military.
I'd stop using FedEx if I hadn't already done so on account of thier poor service compared to UPS.
Our troops should have gone into Baghdad, captured or killed Saddam, and installed a military occupation that would have given way in 5-7 years to an elected government. Had we done this, there's an excellent chance the World Trade Center would still be standing, because at the very least, the Osamas of the world would have taken us a lot more seriously.
But having failed to do this, we content ourselves with the occasional irrelevant airstrike, and a blockade that causes the mass starvation of thousands of Iraqis. All because we wanted victory on the cheap. Cowardly? I think you can make that case, yes.
He was a VERY articulate and interesting speaker and I was impressed with what he had to say against paying slavery reparations.
I too am disappointed after reading this.
MKM
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