Why is Rush Limbaugh Still on Armed Services Radio?

[samsingh]

Shouldn't we be, at least, offering a left wing alternative to our brave people in the services? Better yet, take Politics out of it. The Armed Services deserve better. They certainly should not be subjected to the lunacy of a coward like Limbaugh who, when given the chance to serve himself, did not go to Nam.

[Captain Hilts]

1. GOOD question. nt

[Rosa Luxemburg]

10. He is not patriotic and is disrespectful to our Commander in Chief therefore he should be axed!

It is amazing that he is still there. Pull him off!

[beachmom]

2. Because the troops who lean Right (& that's a lot of them) love him.

Sorry, but that's the truth.

If they offer NPR, good enough for liberal troops. Sorry, but left talk kind of sucks.

[Divine Discontent]

3. I won't argue on your opinion of left talk, but you think hyper-conservative talk is???

[beachmom]

12. No, it's terrible. And conservatives LOVE it. I am just saying a liberal's mind

is wired differently. I at least want to hear the whole story.

[Divine Discontent]

40. true. and aint it sad that there's such a vast amount of people that enjoy his fascist &

bigoted mindset? Our country is two quite different cultures, at heart.

He needs removed from AFR airwaves though, since he's said some extremely racist/bigoted things week after week for years on end.

[unpossibles]

6. NPR is not leftist really

And if they want to offer rightwing talk, they should try to find one which is less incendiary (if that is possible).

No need to feed the hate with lies, I don't care how popular he is. If "a lot of people" wanted to listen to some other asshole, does that make it acceptable? I had not realize the military was a popularity contest.

[beachmom]

13. Never said NPR was leftist. It tries to play it down the middle as best it can.

But its listeners tend to be liberal. Left talk never did well, because it doesn't appeal to a lot of liberals.

Rush is popular with a lot of the troops. They have a difficult job, let them listen to him if that's their cup of tea. I can't stand the guy, but censorship is not the answer.

[unpossibles]

32. True, but you present NPR as a legitimate alternative/opposite for Rush

I agree it's fairly neutral, and frankly neutral is how the military should play. Not putting Rush on Armed Service Radio is not censorship. There's a difference between censoring and not-subsidizing and promoting someone. I would not mind if he were not so openly racist, hateful, devoid of facts, and full of shit; do we really need to fill the heads of people with rightwing propaganda?

And fwiw, some of my centrist and lefty friends in the military can't stand hearing him, but generally don't speak up, which makes you wonder how many people just go along with it, which makes him seem more popular. But people like Rush are literally ruining this country, no hyperbole. It's not because he's on the right, it's because he's full of shit and fosters hatred toward the left AND toward the President who is the Commander in Chief. Should such propaganda which attacks the chain of command be allowed?

[madokie]

7. And where do you get that truth

Back in my day we'd busted the radio if that sleezeball came on it everyday, so I don't think I believe a word you're saying there.

[beachmom]

14. I used to be in a military town. Most military folks I talked to were conservative.

You don't have to believe me. But the military has more conservatives than liberals in it. Every bit of polling data backs that up. Obama did extremely well, but still lost the military vote to McCain.

[samsingh]

i think Beachmom has a valid point

i've heard military families who lost children in bush's war, recognize that bush lied to get us into the war, and yet still lean towards McCain.

truly mindboggling.

but i think at least half lean towards the left, to stop the insane wars, if nothing else. so its preposterous to subject so many good soldiers to limbaugh's treacherous drivel.

[samsingh]

23. i think Beachmom has a valid point

i've heard military families who lost children in bush's war, recognize that bush lied to get us into the war, and yet still lean towards McCain.

truly mindboggling.

but i think at least half lean towards the left, to stop the insane wars, if nothing else. so its preposterous to subject so many good soldiers to limbaugh's treacherous drivel.

[madokie]

36. Well in that case I suspect having the likes of oliely and limberbrain force fed to the troups

might have had an effect on them, you reckon. I know when I was in the service there weren't many repukes.

[samsingh]

20. sad - it's because of people like limbaugh that the troops are

in wars that did not need to be fought.

[Winterblues]

26. Do the troops get every single thing they want in today's Military?

I thought decisions were made by the Leaders. I did not understand the troops got a vote on everything..

[vadawg]

44. erm this is the entertainment the troops get, do you really think its a good idea

to tell the troops what they can listen to or watch on their downtime, you might not agree with their choice but i believe they asked for limbuagh to be on the AFR.

[HughMoran]

4. Why indeed...

hate propaganda is acceptable? :mad:

[SpiralHawk]

5. Rush has the Republicon Chickenhawk Special Exception

Some America hater somewhere just luvs them Republicon Chickenhawks -- like Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity, and Beck -- and wants to make sure our sons and daughters in uniform are assaulted by Republicon Chickenhawk propaganda.

[elleng]

8. We did offer an alternative; air america.

Don't know what happened to that deal; General Clark was instrumental.

[kctim]

47. AA sucked

and nobody listened. Thats what happened.

[Autumn]

9. Because he backs

up the powers that be and they like it. He supports the troops. :puke:

[beachmom]

16. The Democrats are now The Powers That Be. We run everything.

[Autumn]

18. Sadly, no we don't

if that was the case things would be different. The Generals still run the wars and the republicans still run the media and control the message.

[karynnj]

28. The President can say "no" to the generals - the policy is set by the President

I agree with you that the Republicans have an ever increasing share of the broadcast news media.

[thereismore]

11. He said he is with the Taliban. Shouldn't that be a deal breaker on the Armed Forces Radio? nt

[samsingh]

49. i think it should

[havocmom]

15. Been asking that for years, going on decades

I believe the ol Hatch Act states AFR is not to be political. Why do laws not apply to the RW?

[NYCGirl]

17. Ed Shultz is also on AFR. NT

[samsingh]

19. thanks for the info - do you know if they get the same amount of time?

[NYCGirl]

30. Hard to tell from the schedule, but I guess the entire show is broadcast.

http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/AFNRadio.aspx

[MidwestRick]

21. +1

[SoCalDem]

22. Because the military & radio are GOP-Default

It's been that way for a long time, and not soon to cvhange

[samsingh]

24. the left gave the radio to the right-wing. some of the wealthy left-wingers

could have invested more heavily in radio stations (like the right-wing zeolets did).

i don't think the military is right-wing. that is what the right would have us believe. the military may not question the government on the outside, but they definitely are not sutbstantially right-wing.

[SoCalDem]

25. the ones who process through the academies are righties

and they control the curriculum and run the show.. many of the poorer grunts who sign on are from the low-wage states and their poverty & lack of jobs drives them en masse to the military. these states tend to be very right wing.

When there was a draft, the military had some balance because that drift-net caught up all kinds of 19 yr olds... .from everywhere.. artists, musicians, pacifists, writers, scholars...not just gun-loving, hell-raiser, anti-gay, Jesus-loving zealots whose goal is to get a job at Blackwater (Xe) when they learned some stuff..

[samsingh]

31. too bad

[alfredo]

27. Send his quote along with his video to Armed forces radio and congress.

[samsingh]

46. thanks

[karynnj]

29. There will be a hearing on our broadcasts in the SFRC on Thursday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6757761&mesg_id=6757761

[Johonny]

33. general reason I've heard is his high listener numbers

He simply has good ratings therefore its basically giving the forces the best shows they can get. It would be surprising if a show with such high numbers wasn't on the radio. There's a lot of holes with that logic, but that's the logic that's always been used to defend it.

[samsingh]

34. i'm not convinced - i think games are played - e.g.

his station is selected and then counted as extra listeners. this becomes a cycle.

i go to a lot of hotel gyms that have fox on their stations. when i ask if i can change the station, hardly anyone ever complains. yet the illusion is that there are a lot of people in the gym watching fox

[Johonny]

38. it's worse than that

in many markets, he is the only selection and the station is paid basically to float his voice to the people. RW control the AM dial not out of market favoring them but because the RW control the vast majority of stations. As Stephanie Miller has pointed out many times. She has lost a station in an area where the owner dropped her to put on a much lower rated show and lose listeners. So no personally I don't buy the argument either. Rush has a lot of listeners but the market is heavily geared towards him having a lot of listeners.

[samsingh]

41. that's why i think a lot of his popularity would disappear if choice was available

[Cid_B]

35. Don't take politics out of it...

While we follow the civilian leadership of the military and also give up several variations of our right to free speech when joining it in no way precludes us from being as interested and involved in politics as any civilian.

If the ratings system AFN uses says Soldiers like Rush then they should have Rush. If it showed they hated him overwhelmingly then they can put on Maddow or something.

[samsingh]

37. that's a good point.

[omega minimo]

39. Because he's the voice of a fascist nation?

[samsingh]

42. only a portion of a larger nation.

[onenote]

43. because pulling him off because of the content of his speech would raise a first amendment issue?

Rush had no constitutional right to be on Armed Services Radio, but once he was on, pulling him off because of the content of his speech would raise a first amendment issue. Which is probably why he's still on.

[samsingh]

45. we should put a competitor on as well.

[HughBeaumont]

48. More to the point, why is he still RELEVANT in 2009?

Just .. . WHY?