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

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.

Corporate radio, especially the likes of Clear Channel, did not exist before 1996.

There is plenty of progressive talent in radio. What's lacking is progressive ownership of radio stations.

For example, Thom Hartmann beats the crap out of Rush Limbaugh in any market where both air at the same time. However, because of right wing corporate radio station ownership, the number of markets where that competition exists is sadly limited.

For instance, Alaska's outstanding progressive talk radio host, Shannyn Moore, has to broadcast from our local Fox affiliate. We did have a progressive radio station here owned by the IBEW, but they dropped it for some reason. Shannyn gets three hours a day compared to about 10 times that much from our local right-wing talkers. It's disgusting.

and that work that RW radio did on clinton was significant in pushing him around - i'm not saying he wouldn't have gone along with the deregulation but i'll bet he'd have been less likely if they didn't have him by the balls, which team limbaugh was instrumental with.

the left is wasting its time now thinking about reregulating ownership- as long as those 1000 radio stations can scream 'free speech' all day the blue dogs wouldn't help pass it.

until the left orgs get active re radio fixing it by legislation is a real long shot its power has to be challenged an dreduced first.

the only silver lining - maybe the end of the GOP, but its trying to take the rest of us down too.

I am neither myself. If that is not the case, it is reprehensible that people listen to those stations and call themselves Democrats.

http://colorofchange.org/

also: http://www.mediamatters.org/

also: http://www.newshounds.us/

also: http://www.fair.org/index.php

most of their work it is not radio related unless it's about a quote here and there.

col of change did great on beck TV on a national scale but they ought to keep it going re his radio show.

i think a guy like limbaugh will always be able to get fill in sponsors on a national scale because he's so important to their cause but i don't think they can handle it on a local level .

i can't even stomach fox, so i never listen to rw radio, but i'd be willing to do something. i have some friends who do listen, and though they are democrats, they are pretty ill-informed.

Most liberals and smart people in general don't listen to RW radio. They know it's there, but don't really grasp how many millions of Americans are listening to it, every...freak'n....day....for hours.... I'm a glutton for punishment so I listen. Know thy enemy and all that. I especially like the low power FM "militia with tin-foil helmets" radio we get here in Austin.

I think organizationally, Democrats just choose to ignore RW radio,except to occasionally laugh at the more heinous blithering. THe DNC is never going to fund a RW radio transcript service.

Air America had the right general idea,just with horrible execution, some bad programming choices and no long-long term moneyed backers.

I'm pretty convinced the only way to diminish the power of RW radio is to compete with it commercially. That takes deep pockets and commitment. It also requires an audience and like it or not, liberals just don't dig talk radio as much.

I'll have to think on some of your ideas on fighting back. I think there is some usefulness in monitoring and publicizing some of the daily RW spew.

for longer than a few seconds. I've occasionally tuned in to all of the major hate radio shows at one time or another but all of the the lies, distortions, willful disinformation and manipulation, LIES, and general toxic negativity prevent me from listening to more than a few seconds without wanting to punch my radio or scream at it. Although I generally think it's good to listen to what the other side is saying, I've concluded that there is almost nobody reasonable on the right side of the spectrum whom hasn't been cowed into submission by the likes of Rush Limbaugh or any of the other hate radio "hosts" and/or, nowadays, the Tea Party Cult. Even otherwise *sensible* Republicans like Richard Lugar, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, even John Boehner (to some degree) have all been politically threatened into endorsing or at least implicitly supporting radical ideas and policies and obstructing any and all forms of progress in the name of appeasing the likes of Rush Limbaugh and the Tea Party Cult.
:puke: :banghead:

it doesn't take much to get a few phone numbers of local sponsors to call and ask if they agree with limbaugh's racism or global warming denial

or maybe try to get a university to change stations

The same malignant forces that run the government also run the media, and they are never going to let go of their stranglehold, and more than any dictator will give up his propaganda apparatus. As others have noted, hartmann outdraws Limpballs in their shared markets, so sponsoring his show would draw more listeners. But The fascist propaganda is worth a lot more to them than a relatively few listeners, so it's never going to happen.

when they start having to lay off people or provide a bit more balance the more independent stations may go with balance- i know a couple of stations that switched from pressure.

It already is.

and then answer me this question:

Are fucking crazy?!?

Jesus Christ, wake the hell up! The "reality" is that they have completely taken over the country.

K & R! :thumbsup:

There's some evidence (i.e. ratings) to suggest that hate radio shows might be on the decline but we need to exert a little pressure to hasten its demise. The toxic effect that they've had on political discourse in this country since the 1990's (coupled with the advent of Fox News and attempts of the other media outlets to mimic Fox News to compete with it) cannot easily be understated IMHO!

left wing that does not even kiss PBS ass

wmnf 88.5 tampa
wwoz new orleans
wfmu new jersey

all of which have streaming radio, none of which have any right wing or even centrist bs

from coast to coast 24/7?

which we need to nurture and cultivate
and if we do not even support the non profits, how do you expect anyone else to make a difference?

Snark seems to override thought here all too often.

but they're in a different 'market' and there'd have to be millions to make up for the coordinated repetition from those 1000

need something else also

the right has a bazooka and the left has a slingshot

Radio is a green eye shade business...we did not get the rating needed to sustain the programs. Solve that and its easy.

air am was set up to fail, vastly undercapitalized.

and you'll never convince me 95% RW talk radio in a country that voted overwhelmingly for obama are market forces at work.

and as others have pointed out above, on an even playing field the progressives can beat the limbaughs and have, it is a valuable and protected monopoly.

AA never built the rating needed for sustainment, though a few hosts have survived after AA melted down. Undercapitialization is the standard excuse when any high profile new business fails. If it was viable, it would have made it. Ratings are the bottom line of the radio business and AA just could not bring in the listeners. "If we broadcast they will listen" is not a viable business model.

A station in a friend's small desert town recently dropped Limbaugh since he is now charging for the show. They could not afford it.

i heard rhodes suggest there was some design behind it and there's a movie about it suggesting similar- can't remember the name, didn't see it. maybe i will since it just came to mind.

"if it was viable' ? it' s going up against an entrenched monopoly that is the extremely important to the right, with a primadonna lineup that can't handle any face to face competition or real challenge to their certitude. were they able to get powerful signals? were they given time to get established? didn't fox lose billions in it's first few years? l think those factors have to be considered when comparing, to be fair.

and as you note, limbaugh used to be free- that's how he spread like a cancer.

hopefully a smal station like that will do more local programming- i wonder what limbaugh's show sells for?

and it was not until just recently the Limbaugh started to charge. IIRC he is the only national show that is charging stations to carry it.

There has been some progressive talk shows for many years. However, they have never attracted substantive viewers. It is pretty clear that from the business side as a network it remains not viable

the main progressive talkers can and do beat the main RW talkers on an even playing field.

a bunch of liars who have been wrong about everything dominate the main stations because they have a monopoly.

a financial bath for politics. Many of us remain unconvinced...

like i said any smart investor will trade millions for billlions and billions for trillions, and the right has invested in theoir radio monopoly and at some level they know how important it has been to keeping a 10% minority in the game, as loud as if they represent 50%, while they sold trillions in war, deregulation of all kinds, the bail out, tax breaks, and global warming denial.

RW talk radio doesn't have to make a lot of money for clear channel but on the local level yes, they have to pay overhead and salaries an that's why i say shaming local sponsors, including universities, would help persuade some to get some balance.

For those who missed it: :sarcasm:

i heard rhodes suggest there was some design behind it and there's a movie about it suggesting similar- can't remember the name, didn't see it. maybe i will since it just came to mind.

"if it was viable' ? it' s going up against an entrenched monopoly that is the extremely important to the right, with a primadonna lineup that can't handle any face to face competition or real challenge to their certitude. were they able to get powerful signals? were they given time to get established? didn't fox lose billions in it's first few years? l think those factors have to be considered when comparing, to be fair.

and as you note, limbaugh used to be free- that's how he spread like a cancer.

hopefully a small station like that will do more local programming- i wonder what limbaugh's show sells for?

80% of Americans want to fix the budget by raising taxes on the hyper-rich. Yet 99% of TV & radio advocate taking money from the old & sick. "Radio is market driven" is a right-wing lie that's often repeated here.

But the same fact contradicts your assertion that protests will change the radio balance.

ass and stop polluting their airwaves.

those stations need local ad revenue and if they keep losing local sponsors until the only ones left are the teabagger business owners who will scream at you into the phone that limbaugh and hannity are great americans then they won't make it and will either provide balance or change altogether.

and that process will accelerate if campus activists start working on getting their universities out of RW radio.

Called Obama a "creature", a backstabbing betrayer of the public trust? A political hack in the back pocket of anyone with the money to buy him? A stooge played for a fool by the right wing? A deep-cover conspirator with the one-percenters to destroy America?

etc, etc...if he can't find support here, what makes anyone think radio would help - it would just be a wider audience for the hate.

that's a wide variety with a range of perspectives, telling some truth and knocking down RW fascism, with humor

cantor an anti-american liar, Bush a mean, stupid, lying drunk, and other truths.

Yes, they criticize but they educate too. They make you think about facts, not just yell out stupid opinions and talking points.

I listen to progressive radio almost all day long. There are some really good progressive talkers out there. But as any Smart business owner will tell you, you will not make money in your first five years (at a minimum), when starting a new business. I'm not sure what happened to Air America, I think it had more to do with really bad business management than lack of ratings.

There is a very large and hungry segment of the population who would love to hear progressive talk radio. But they are not given a chance.

The RW has a monopoly. The idea of a monopoly is to crush competition. Not allow competition to get a foot hold and compete. That's why progressive radio is difficult to get started. They are fighting a vast monopoly.

than we have of making a dent in hate radio. You keep making this point but it's absurd. If 3 million people in the streets couldn't stop the invasion of Iraq, how is 50 people picketing a propaganda outlet going to change their behavior? If their revenue completely dried up tomorrow, they'd STILL get their money's worth in propaganda effect alone.

You're spot on about the cause of democracy being dead in the US, but your solution is a fantasy.

tions lying to 50 mil represented the american mainstream. and until the protestors go to those stations it's going to be the same.

The Left would need a lot of big money backing to buy radio stations and operate them even if at a loss.

I believe it was Thom Hartmann (or Randi Rhodes?) who said that Right Wing radio didn't operate at a profit when it first started, the emphasis was on expansion.

Liberal Radio is always hampered in that it has to be profitable, but it doesn't have the serious financial backing that right wing radio had when it first started. There has to be a motive to support it other than for profitable reasons. The Right Wing strategy is all part of a vast conspiracy, so of course they wouldn't have cared about profitability in the first place, only in that they make sure that they made the greatest partisan propaganda megaphone in American history.

longevity (global warming denial).

an effort by the left along those lines would not be likely, especially considering progressives are in denial about the part radio has played.

they continue to ignore it or consider it a bygone, while it still eats their lunch on a regular basis and is instrumental in getting us way too close to default.

and even if its audience may be sloughing off a bit its influence will rebound whenever we have a national emergency and those guys are the loudest around.

The left will get a larger radio presence in time. The question is when, though. In addition, with the internet streaming to people's cellphones and ipods, technology is making the moneyed right wing AM dial less and less relevant. Even so, as long as there is breath in Rush Limbaugh's bloated, cigar-stained lungs, he will remain relevant.

be willing to do . . . and they don't even e-mail me back.

because the blowhards have the biggest soapbox on every corner and no one gets in their face.

damage to progressive ideology.

Most (all?) issues are not nearly as black and white as RW radio makes them out to be. So with Air America and others, you actually have to pay attention. There is nuance and no easy answers. And that kind of stuff does not sell to ignorant Americans with a thirst for blood. That is why RW radio is so successful; the vast majority of Americans are fucking idiots and they actually buy that shit. All progressive radio can do is peel the few of us who are actually smart. Progressives are smart; conservatives are stupid but there are a whole lot more of them. The reality-based community cannot hope to compete, at least on radio or tv.

megaphone that is RW talk radio.

free speech is lost if if we let every corner and stump in the country to be used as a one piece soapbox for corporate think tanks dedicated to selling the notion that money is free speech and corporations are people.

People willing to vote for a Democrat don't need "talking points" to expouse their views. I feel like shows like Rush Limbaugh just give the rethugs their talking points they must agree to to walk in lockstep. I think Democrats appreciate differing views and don't need someone to shout out to them what they believe on a daily basis. They are open to a wide array of suggestions and viewpoints. They don't need some fat gross guy behind a microphone telling them what to think. I actually think right wing radio is going to eventually destroy the GOP. The teaparty walking into Obama's trap with the debt ceiling talks is the prime example. The GOP is imploding and alot of the fault is due to radio.

i agree guys like limbaugh are destroying the GOP. the problem is, by ignoring talk radio the left has ensured the country is also going to the edge with them.

we're supposed to be smarter than that. their tool for destroying democracy has been working away with little opposition from those it hurts the most. turning the other cheek doesn't work in this case.

but that's not the point of my diary - i don't think the planet can wait for the left to compete with RW rtalk radio- the point is RW talk radio makes democracy impossible and in that sense someone has to get in their face, and in this case it needs to be the left's organizations- otherwise the left cannot collectively say it is getting obama's back, and hasn't been.

With a TV and a computer, why do I need talk radio? When I drive I listen to something uplifting like classic rock radio. Just my humble opinion.

RW radio is the only medium that can do that coordinated repetition to a huge audience and at the same time be immune from real time criticism. very few real calls get through to the loudest blowhards.

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