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Right Wing Talk Show Host Forced into Actual Debate; Eyeballs Erupt
Squirrelly Ohio Congress and modern-day Eugene V. Debs, Dennis Kucinich has joined with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders — who together form the lefty nut-job wing of the Democratic Party — to attempt to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, which was struck down by Reagan in 1987.
The doctrine requires that FCC-regulated broadcasters present all sides of a controversial issue. Presumably, it would have little affect on television networks, which generally try to maintain the spirit of the Fairness Doctrine (which is why there’s always that one loon in news broadcasts who, say, advocates the arbitrary massacre of Civil War re-enactors).
If passed, however, the regulation would wreak absolute havoc on talk radio broadcasters, like Rush Limbaugh, who would be forced to present reasonable-minded, intelligent, semi-sensible guests to counterbalance the knuckle-dragging, pre-evolutionary “pundits” that Limbaugh and his ilk bring on to support their positions on, say, whether Michael J. Fox is exaggerating the physical symptoms of Parkinson’s.
Limbaugh, naturally, has suggested it’s all part of a “Hush Rush,” campaign, though most experts agree that the Fairness Doctrine is unlikely to get past a presidential veto, even in the slim chance it is passed in Congress.
Personally, I’d have to agree with critics of the Fairness Doctrine — it’s a completely unworkable regulation. Besides, it wouldn’t eliminate right-wing talk radio (which, I suspect, is Kucinich’s hidden agenda), it would only make it even more unlistenable. Radio hosts, like Limbaugh, wouldn’t stop verbally ejaculating their fascist gibberish, they’d just do so louder, so that the opposing view would merely be drowned out by the blood-curdling conservative rhetoric. Imagine Anne Coulter in a forced debate with Kucinich, for instance: After seven minutes of bickering, Coulter would just rip his head off with her teeth and dance naked in his gory fluids.
Actually, strike that: Bring on the Fairness Doctrine. I haven’t seen a decent horror show in ages.
Comments
Bernie Sanders isn't a memeber of the Democratic Party. He's an independent, but cacuses with the DP.
Posted by Chuck | January 18, 2007 9:04 AM
Ditch the Fairness Doctrine. It seems like liberal (in this case "widespread" rather than left wing) application of this doctrine is what has TV news feature Global Climate change experts opposite a naysayer who should be laughed out of the studio.
Posted by Colin | January 19, 2007 4:09 PM