The 'Left" is making the biggest mistake in political history by ignoring talk radio. [View All]

There is NO organized group response from liberals, progressives, Democrats, socialists, unionists, or environmentalists to the Right's most effective political and media weapon.

Considering the time we've lost dealing with climate change because of Republican obstructionism it is the biggest political blunder in our history.

For the past year many on the collective 'Left', aided by the media, have blamed the 'Tea Party' or spineless Obama and the Dems for all their woes and losses. But go back 20 years and the Left has been doing pretty much the same thing while still expecting to make progress.

Clinton was blackmailed by a blow job, Gore didn't fight hard enough after the election was stolen, Kerry was turned into a cowardly elitist flip flopper while Bush was elevated to commander in chief, the consolidated corporatist media lets the Right have it both ways and leaves out the important stories, the supreme court is dominated by corporate lawyers and nutjobs, and on and on. Mostly because the Left ignored the Right's most important tool.

The Left has tried all kinds of traditional activism including protests and is now pinning its hopes on the internet. If only we can get that high speed to more people before the globe burns up.

But things keep getting worse and a 10% irrational minority of Ayn Randian wet dreamers, racists, religious fundamentalists, and the billionaires, multinational corporations, think tanks, and elements of our own government who use them somehow always get at least 50% of the seats at the table and keep bringing an often rational and common sense majority to its knees.

IT'S TIME FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!

Lately Grover Norquist, a guy who more progressives have probably heard of than Republicans, has been credited with keeping the GOP in line. The Left has 'credited' Reagan, Gingrich, Rove, Fox 'News', and a variety of other villains for getting Bush into the White House, the US into Iraq, destroying the economy, and now unlimited corporate money into politics. They'd be wrong.

Most on the 'Left', including its brightest political minds, continue to leave out of their evaluations and calculations of Democratic failures and Obama's compromises the single most important factor in the decline of US democracy, the lack of US leadership as the planet warms, and the rise of corporate fascism- the radio.

There is no written record of transcripts of the main national and local right wing talkers to search and read. Instead, the Left continues to analyze and evaluate after the coordinated think tank campaigns have been pounded into the earholes of 50 million Americans a week. And after some of those 50 million talked to their co-workers and friends and family members, and or harrassed their media and representatives as requested. After lies become truth and torture becomes acceptable. The rest of the media can ignore, the radio can create.

Talk of how Obama needs to message and frame better is premature as long as the Left has such a huge disadvantage and doesn't even know it. When the Left gets lucky with timing or truth or common sense the think tanks notice and come up with a campaign and pretty soon there's a Wiener or terror alert to fix that, primed and shot putted into the mainstream in most part because of the talk radio monopoly.

There is no other medium that can even come close when it comes to coordinated unchallenged repetition to the whole country. Most of the country has no free alternatives for politics and current events when driving or working. It does the heavy lifting when it comes to messaging, framing, changing language, labeling, emphasizing, distorting, distracting, excusing, diverting, censoring, intimidating, threatening, and swiftboating.

Well trained call screeners make sure the certitude and veracity of the main right wing talkers is seldom challenged and sophisticated call screening software ensures paid callers go to the head of the line to praise, reinforce, defend, and prompt as needed.

Even though the main talkers have been wrong about everything major, millions of their long-term listeners (dittoheads, the Tea Party, the GOP base, and the reason Sarah Palin got anywhere near the White House) believe the Limbaughs and Hannitys when they're told there will be no problem if the debt ceiling is not raised and any GOP politician who even negotiates with Obama (or questions attacking Iraq) is a traitor.

If the talk radio monopoly was used to go after Clarence Thomas instead of Anthony Wiener for a couple of weeks, Thomas would be gone instead. If years ago it had warned of the danger of climate change the US would be far ahead of anyone else in alternative energy technology and phasing out fossil fuels. Instead, today and for the forseable future Team Limbaugh will have, day in and day out, the loudest megaphone in the country in a national crisis. Maybe that's why the GOP may not be so worried about not raising the debt ceiling. Or lying us into wars.

The radio can create made-to-order pro-corporate constituencies for any occasion on short notice. The alternate reality that allows a crowd at a town hall meeting to stand up in front of everyone and scream in unison that 2+2=3 was created with coordinated anti-single payer radio programming getting a free speech free ride, not with print and TV and internet. The Tea Party is the Dittohead Party, birthed by radio, pulled out of the Limbaugh closet when Karl Rove's bunch lost central control of the radio megaphone.

Many of us have done things as individuals to support Obama and have felt let down by the compromises. Collectively however, as long as there is no organized effort to challenge the right wing radio monopoly, the Left cannot say it is "getting Obama's back".

SOLUTIONS

It is absurd that the Democratic Party does not provide a searchable transcript database of the main local and national talkers to at least warn and prepare their candidates when they are being lied about and threatened, so that their supporters can support them. They would have known months ago how far the Republican leadership would have to go with the debt ceiling.

As the point man for the radio machine Limbaugh needs to be recognized as the true leader of the new GOP. He needs to be referenced regularly when GOP politicians and media operatives repeat talking points and lies in the media. "That's what Limbaugh said, wants", etc. It's not Grover Norquist that Boehner and Cantor and McConnell are really afraid of. One of the best short periods of media Obama has ever had was when he told some Republican senators they wouldn't get anything done if they kept listening to Limbaugh. The foreheads of all Republican politicians and media operatives once again need the Limbaugh tattoo and it should stay on until the next election. The higher ratings he might get with the added attention will be well worth it if he becomes the face of the GOP. No one person has done more to get us where we are now and no one represents the ideals of the modern GOP better than Limbaugh.

Other than elevating Limbaugh to top of the GOP and giving him the credit he deserves the free speech response to their dominating corporate megaphone should concentrate on the stations themselves. Those stations are often the loudest stations in every state and the nationally coordinated local talkers can make a huge difference in local politics, advancing republican sycophants and swiftboating progressives.

An organized effort should include shaming and shunning the local sponsors that pay the stations' day to day bills, until those stations offer balance. Judging by the sponsors I've spoken with a significant proportion will not defend the right wing talkers, are there for business reasons, and are unaware of the importance of right wing radio getting us into this mess (as are most Americans). Most I've spoken with have never heard any other complaints.

Picketing appropriately located stations might get more attention from media and politicians than picketing state capitols, since those stations are the real power centers and backbone of the GOP, locally and nationally, and one local talker can spend days and weeks attacking protestors and distorting their motives to a crowd many times the size of the protest. Might as well take it to the source. While the capitol in Madison Wisconsin was getting major protests Governor Walker was comforted knowing the local talkers at the giant Limbaugh station in Madison (which broadcasts U. of Wisconsin athletics) were rationalizing everything he did to a huge audience and attacking unions, teachers, and protestors for him.

RW stations that are well located may turn out to be great places to picket. Generally everyone knows what they do. For instance, where do people protest to make sure Obama doesn't cave into the RW terrorists? A protest at a or the capitol could be very ambiguous- are the protestors mad at Obama ? A protest at a Limbaugh station would send a very clear signal and might cause some of the teabaggers to think twice (for the first time).

Some local talkers actually have the spine to take real calls and need to be engaged. One simple comment during an hour of regurgitation of right wing talking points can make a difference to passive listeners.

And it is really absurd that students and faculty around the country who complain about Obama's broken promises allow their universities to endorse the Limbaughs and Hannitys and Becks and Savages and their racism, bigotry, global warming denial, swiftboating, and torture justification by broadcasting athletics on them. This is happening in blue communities all over the country and those universities need to be more consistent with their stated goals and 'mission statements'.

Radio, not internet or Fox TV or the Washington Times, has been the most important reason why we got Bush, Irag, this economy, and are so far behind on climate change. And largely because it is ignored by the Left.

With the Citizens United ruling guaranteeing unprecedented amounts of corporate money in politics it becomes even more important to finally challenge the radio. Media Matters and others do good work but about the only real response the Left has to the Right's primary media tool is to quote a Limbaugh stupidity or outrage once in a while.

Until one or more of the Left's major organizations challenges RW radio, good luck on reforming election and campaign financing, media consolidation, and drug policy.
US democracy was designed to deal with money in politics but that requires the feedback mechanisms to work. Until the radio monopoly is challenged, rational national discussions about anything major will continue to be impossible.