Thursday, June 21, 2007

Day One of the New McCarthy Era

The original McCarthy era occurred in the United States between the late 1940's to the mid 1950's. The period was a less than proud one in American history where U.S. Senator, Joe McCarthy went on a witch hunt for anyone who had sympathies for the Communist Party.

One would have thought that we'd learn from history and never again interfere with free speech. Yet clearly there are some that have no time or respect for free speech. Today a left-wing think tank, closely affiliated with Hillary Clinton, called "The Center for American Progress" has released a report strategically called "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio".

The report is completely slanted against anyone who doesn't subscribe to the left-wing group think. Their heavy bias starts on Page 1 when they differentiate talk radio stations into two groups:

  • Conservative (91% of all stations)
  • Progressive (9%)
Note the language they've used: "Progressive" is code for liberal. The implication of course is that the other type is unprogressive. So in other words, if you disagree with left-wing policies then you're not progressive, you're a Neanderthal, you are less intelligent. This same pathetic technique is used by environmentalists when they label anyone who disagrees with them as "deniers", akin to Holocaust Deniers.

The radio stations in question live & die on the free market system. The 91% - 9% split exists because that's what the people want. If there was more interest in liberal talk radio programs then their numbers would climb to 10%, 11%, etc. And maybe it will. But for the government to even think about controlling this is EXTREMELY scary and the very opposite of what the founders of America ever stood for. Hugo Chavez may be able to get away with silencing the media in Venezuela but it should be stopped dead in its tracks in the United States of America.

It's important that New McCarthys be exposed for the freedom deniers that they are (to use a phrase that they'd be most comfortable with).

Here they are some of the people behind this initiative to shut down free speech:

John Podesta has worked for the Democrat party much of his adult life, including serving as Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff from October 1998 until January 2001.







John Halpin, also a Democrat, worked on Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000 and has been a speechwriter for John Podesta.








Mark Lloyd is strongly connected to the Democrat Party and has frequently written on what it needs to do to reform itself to more consistently win elections.







Paul Woodhull is a 12 year veteran of the liberal talk radio industry. He is a partner in radio show "Face-Off" that is heard on over 270 radio stations across the U.S. He is a founding member the liberal talk shows hosted by Ed Schultz and Bill Press.

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