Obama victory means the end of hate radio in the mainstream, they go into the wilderness

[SuperTrouper]

Sure they will be around to attack attack and attack but the difference with the Clinton years is that the country is doing poorly in respect to the economy. The rise of hate radio occurred in response to the Clinton victory after the end of the Reagan-Bush doctrine. There was economic satisfaction and the country became complascent and ignored the likes of Limbaugh and Hannity. When Gore and Kerry lost, it was not a repudiation of the Democratic party, it was the distraction caused by Rove and the divide and conquer strategy. Now the country has moved to the left, following a world trend seen in Spain, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Venuezuela, Honduras, Argentina, Bolivia and we are poised in America to pay attention to oaur people. We are seeing the rise of the progressive voices, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, for example and the vilification and obfuscation of the racist propaganda group symbolized by Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and the anti-Semite Sean Hannity. Just my opinion. Liberal has never been a bad word, we allowed it to be. After all, Medicare, the civil rights act and equality of gender arose from a liberal standpoint in both the Democratic and Republican parties.

[Eric J in MN]

1. The economy will recover under Obama as it did under Clinton. NT

NT

[Captain Hilts]

2. Boy, are you naive! nt

[AllieB]

3. Yes, hate radio actually grew under Clinton.

These whackjobs will whip up their followers like they did under Clinton. It will be ugly, and hideously racist I'm sure.

[backscatter712]

8. Time to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, or how about criminal defamation laws?

Or short of that, put some legislation on the books, and have the FCC strictly enforce it, that creates the crime of criminal defamation via mass media (be it libel or slander - don't think right-wing newspapers would be exempt...)

In other words, every time the righttards lie on the air and it damages the reputation of a person, someone goes to jail. Hannity repeats the Obama is a Muslim meme? He goes to jail. Rush suggests liberals are traitors? That's criminal defamation. Off to jail. Jerome Corsi would be serving a life sentence for all the lies in his books.

[iiibbb]

17. Yeah... that wouldn't look like facism.

[backscatter712]

21. Defamation has NEVER been protected by the First Amendment.

We have centuries of case law that says just this.

I'm not saying throw them in jail for saying things we don't like.

I'm saying throw them in jail for uttering total lies that are damaging to the reputation of people (not just political leaders,) or subject their targets to hatred or contempt.

And in the tradition of American law, the truth is always an absolute defense - if your statements are provably true, it's not defamation.

[bluestateguy]

26. It is next to impossible to be found liable for defaming a very public figure

like the President of the United States.

The more public of a figure the person is, the higher the bar gets to prove defamation of character, libel or slander.

[bluestateguy]

23. Uh, no, that goes a bit too far for me.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Not putting people in jail.

We do need the Fairness Doctrine, however, to get the other side out there.

[backscatter712]

28. What's wrong with consequences for all the hurtful things the right-wingers have said?

They've been flat-out lying for decades and haven't had an ounce of consequences for it.

What Rush and Hannity and Savage and O'Reilly have been doing over the years is absolutely defamation.

And like I said earlier, defamation made with malice is not protected by the First Amendment. If the prosecutor can prove that the statements made were false, and the person making them knew they were false, they're already subject to paying civil damages. I'm just suggesting criminal penalties - if not jail, maybe a big fine for the crime of malicious defamation.

[iiibbb]

35. The consequences are going to be the implosion of their party if they don't lay off

Take it from someone who's not a lifelong Democrat. They are undercutting their true base with the crazy-talk.

[rucky]

40. Branding regulations - just like products.

If you call a pint of ice cream "lowfat" it has to be below a certain fat content.

If you call a program "news", it has to be above a certain truthiness content.

Accountants, plumbers, lawyers, doctors all follow a code of ethics and risk punitive action if they don't follow it. Why not people who claim to be journalists?

[calmblueocean]

9. That's just it, though: R/W attacks are becoming more and more racist and theocratic

When they're shouting "Hussein Obama" this and "Hussein Obama" that, they reveal themselves as the hateful hicks they are. Sure, some will eat that crap up, but most people are repelled by that kind of raw xenophobia. Even moderate conservatives are embarrassed when they hear it. Right wing radio is going to end up marginalizing itself because all they want to do is celebrate their bigotry.

[Bok_Tukalo]

4. The Two Minutes Hate will flourish

<OPE>

[EstimatedProphet]

5. Like hell it does

It'll be louder than ever!

[NightWatcher]

6. the talk radio of the "opposition party" always does better when the "other guy's" in office

When Clinton was in power, reich wing talkers enjoyed their hayday.
During shruba-dub-dubba-ew's reign, progressive talkers popularity has grown like mad.
An Obama presidency will see the rise of evil hate mongers that make the savage-weiner look like a teddy bear.

[sampsonblk]

34. Huh?

That's a pretty huge sretch. Right-wing radio has grown more and more profitable over the past twenty years. On the other hand, Air America went broke after only two years. Rush Limbaugh never went broke when Clinton was in office. That's when he made his millions.

[progressivebydesign]

7. sadly they'll only get worse. It's all about $$ and power.

and when those hateful turds don't have power, they will do everything they can to divide the country and make his job harder. I'm sure that Ken Starr will be dragged out of mothballs to drum up some type of scandal...

[bluestateguy]

14. No Ken Starr

There is no independent counsel law anymore.

And with a Democratic Congress, they can put a cork on Republican demands for bullshit investigations.

[bluestateguy]

10. The best years for hate radio were the Clinton years

They loved having Clinton in the White House. Rush Limblob never had more fans, more money, more notoriety and better ratings than he did in the Clinton years. I would not at all be surprised if he quietly voted for Clinton in the privacy of the voting booth in 1996.

We need a new Fairness Doctrine, and tighter rules concerning corporate media consolidation. I don't mind conservatives being popular on the radio, or even being in the majority on tralk radio if that's what listeners want, but they do not have the right to a monopoly either.

[WinkyDink]

11. Ha! Guess again! They became stronger during Clinton's 8 years.

[mrcheerful]

12. Hate radio during Clinton years actually started being aired

on TV, nothing like seeing puss face Limballs in full living color spitting and frothing at the mouth while spewing out his hate filled lies about democrats, Clinton, liberals and who ever else Rush hated that day.

[AlCzervik]

13. wrong, a democrat in the whitehouse is good for hate radio.

[donheld]

15. You're insane

Have you forgotten the Clinton Years?

[RoadRage]

16. It will be 100 times worse..

Right now they have a tough time bitching, because Bush is who they hoped, prayed & voted for.. so everytime they bitch, they really should be bitching at themseles.

Now with Obama.. every single thing that goes wrong (and with this economy..several things WILL).. it's all Obama, all the time. All democrats fault, all the time.

On 11/05 when the economy isn't back to perfect, and jobs are't totally restored.. the people who voted for Obama the night before will still be searching for a place to lay blame - and the Limbaughs of the world will offer a safe haven for some more of the fringe whack jobs.

Radio is going to get worse.. not better. :(

[jazzjunkysue]

41. Yep. Victims love other victims. The lies have just begun. He's going to be

impeached almost from the beginning. Doesn't mean the senate will ratify it, but, the congress, what's left of the GOP will no doubt try.

It will be interesting to see the GOP congresspeople who do survive this election. They're going to be seen as all powerful, indestructable, just for surviving this round. Will be interesting to see who rises to national prominence. Alot will go into private work, so, new blood will undoubtably crop up, using the minority victim pulpit to garner notoriety and power.

[ieoeja]

18. Sadly, no. Popularity has nothing to do with it.

Rush Limbaugh typically doesn't finish in the top 5 of any market where he has at least 5 other competitors. But he has really big money paying to keep him on the air. While other talkers charge a syndication fee, Limbaugh's show is actually made available free of charge to any station that wants to play it.

So hate radio is going to stay on the air. And in rural markets where their is very little competition, the hate will still have a large audience. Monopolizing a market tends to guarantee that.

[nyc 4 Biden]

31. Is this true??

"While other talkers charge a syndication fee, Limbaugh's show is actually made available free of charge to any station that wants to play it."

Is there a link that talks about this? I would love to use this against rw'ers.

[Overseas]

37. I'll let you Google around and report back. ///

[nyc 4 Biden]

38. ? ///

[ieoeja]

39. After a good search, it appears not.

I don't have the original link, but other seemingly non-partisan links I found on the subject of radio show syndication says everybody does this. They split advertisement time. The syndication sells ad times for national broadcasting while the local station sells locally.

[OwnedByFerrets]

19. I have said for two years that the smear merchants are BEGGING

for an Obama win in Nov. It means 4 straight years of scathing diatribe against every word from his mouth. Yes, they are begging for it.

[RamboLiberal]

20. Sorry - it will be worse than ever

Even the great depression didn't stop some haters against FDR.

They'll be worse than against Clinton even cause now there will be a black man in the WH with a foreign sounding to them name.

Personally I think we ought to get on it the day after the election and ask station managers and advertisers why they are airing these haters who refuse to help unite the country under a new president.

The only thing that will kill off these haters is for ratings and advertisers to turn against them.

[Arugula Latte]

22. At least we have The Internet, which was in its infancy in the Clinton years.

It's easier to counteract the Hate Machine now. And we need to fight back way more and way harder than we did in the 90s, and we need to put these people on the defense.

[budkin]

24. I think hate radio will be even stronger with Obama as prez... remember Clinton?

[Hawkowl]

25. You don't get it

As others have posted, hate radio actually reached its peak under Clinton. In between the rockies and the Mississippi, the only thing you can pick up on the radio is an endless stream of hate radio 24/7. It is so bad that you are relieved when you can listen to an old fashioned farm report talking about the price of soybeans. Hate radio rules rural American with propaganda of Orwellian proportions.

The media giants need to have their monopolies shattered, and the fairness doctrine re-instituted. Media companies shouldn't be allowed to own more than a handful of radio stations and should be prohibited from owning newspapers or T.V. stations. We need a "separation of powers" in the media as well as the government. The telecommunications act that Clinton signed into law was one of his greatest mistakes. Ironically, by enabling hate radio he sowed the seeds of his own impeachment and substantially weakened his presidency. The vast majority of the American public was against impeachment, but the right wing hate radio was able to whip its base into a rabid, mouth foaming frenzy which really pushed the rethuglicans.

[sampsonblk]

36. What I don't get...

...is why our national political leaders keep underestimating the power of hate radio.

If more of us referred to it by that name, perhaps more people would stand up and take notice.

[Lex]

27. What!!? It seems to flourish under an opposing administration.

I agree that progressive voices are rising, and even educating those so misinformed by the right-wing nutjobs on AM radio and Faux Noise.

[TheCoxwain]

29. I wish .. But Dissenters have their place .... and we have to learn to live with them

and counter their ideology with calm and rational arguments ...

[stillcool]

30. I did have a dream

in which a bunch of Senators took down all Fox channels and charged Roger Ailes with crimes against humanity in the manner of Julius Streicher. Then I woke up and realized a lot of people will have to die before anything is done.

[rvablue]

32. Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine!!!

This is one of the first things I want out of a new administration.

It won't work for cable -- that's fine, they'll have FOX, we have KO and Rachel.

But it will apply to AM Radio and for every lie and hateful comment Rush and Sean and Bill and Savage say over the airwaves, they will have to give up equal time on their program to have an opposing opinion speak.

Everything on radio will be turned into "Hannity and Colmes"-esque, but obviously we would want a stronger, clearer voice speaking up for Democratic principles.

[OmahaBlueDog]

33. I don't think it will change much

Even if they come up with a fairness/equal time doctrine, my guess is that stations will skirt it by

a)airing liberal talk shows during overnight hours
b) putting on talkers who are simply less conservative, and claiming they're giving equal time by calling them liberal

[ecstatic]

42. i know this is short sighted, but I wouldn't mind having those hate shows shut down

by force if necessary. :)

Still, it would be nice for the dumbest among us to be forced to think for themselves for a change without being told what to think by wealthy drug addicts.

[TheCoxwain]

43. I would actually love to see this Shoved up their asses and Lit