2 + 2 = Conservative Success

By GottaLaff

A letter to the Calendar section of the L.A. Times:

Liberal radio vs. conservative

Liberal radio will never succeed like conservative radio has because conservative radio is based on black-and-white opinions while liberal radio is all shades of gray ["Air America Ends on Mixed Message," by Steve Carney, Jan. 23].

People like to hear that two and two are four. They can't really take that two and two are sometimes four and sometimes 22, unless it is two squared.

So according to this person, conservative radio listeners find the following too difficult: Examining all sides of an issue, nuance, texture, introspection, challenging one's own party, complex analysis, open mindedness, inclusiveness, thinking outside the box, not marching in lockstep, critical thinking, sophistication, subtlety, detail, possibility, and substance.

This is what they understand: "No".

Got it.

Air America Ceases Operations

I have to credit Air America for helping to rope me back into politics, as far as that is a good thing. Today it's not feeling like a good thing.

Air America Media is ending its live programming operations as of today. The company, which blamed a bad economic environment, intends to file a Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out a closing of the business.

In a memo from from Charlie Kireker, chair, Air America Media, he said the past year has seen a "perfect storm" in the media industry.

Air America Radio, which ultimately ran on 100 radio outlets, launched in April 2004 with both known personalities, such as comic turned Sen. Al Franken, and then-unknown future stars, like Rachel Maddow. It was credited as a rare progressive voice in mainstream radio broadcasting, a medium dominated by conservative talk-show hosts.

Air America is not alone in financial woes; major radio players like Clear Channel, Citadel and Emmis have reported revenue shortfalls. The industry's veteran trade magazine Radio & Records closed last year.

Media Tidbits

Haven't seen anything yet on when PEBO will be in Ohio or if his speech will be televised, but I'll let you know when I do.

Rachel Maddow has reached a new agreement with Air America Media, however her show is moving from three hours at 6pmET to one hour in the mornings. Ron Reagan will began anchoring at 6pmET on February 2.


CNN's John King will interview President-elect Barack Obama tomorrow (Friday) in Bedford Heights, Ohio. The interview will air during The Situation Room tomorrow (Friday).

Via.

Quote-O'-The-Day: Kleptocracy edition

By GottaLaff

"This is a party of kleptocracy."**
--Thom Hartmann, just now on Air America

**

A kleptocracy (sometimes cleptocracy, occasionally kleptarchy) (root: klepto+kratein = rule by thieves) is a term applied to a government that extends the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats) at the expense of the population.

To Our Air America Readers:

By GottaLaff

There have been some comments about our posts that we feel we should address. We think it will help you understand the situation more clearly.

Someone said this in Comments;

Jeez AAR, can we got a new guest blogger, pleeze?

There is a reason each thread gets only one or two posts ( if that). Spanky here is posting a new one every 5 minutes and they are becoming more irrelevant by the minute.
A good guest blogger posts about 5 threads A DAY. Spamming up the boards with lame ass threads makes you annoying, not a brilliant writer.
And these jackholes have the nerve to hit us up for money. Never seen a blogger on AAR be so short on class.

To clarify, we planned on holding our fundraiser long before we knew we'd be guest-blogging at AA. The straw that broke the fundraiser's back was one of our computer's crashed, and in order to post, a new one was needed. GottaLaff is borrowing one now to post this very message as we speak. The fundraiser posts were only meant for our Political Carnival readers, not for AA readers. We're sorry if that wasn't clear, but we have no control over what goes up at AA. In fact, some of the posts that have been under our name were not from our blog.

As far as the "spamming"... each blog has their own style. We have been thrilled that our readership has tripled in the past month or so, and much of that is due to our ability to put up "breaking news". Others have linked to us for that very reason.

We try our best to keep the stories coming, because we feel that our readers should be informed.

We also combine humor, and even some much-needed silliness, with the serious news of the day. Our readers seem to appreciate that, and we appreciate them. If that is not appealing to anyone, please, feel free to move on to another post. We understand that we can't please everyone.

With that, we thank you sincerely for allowing us to share our thoughts with Air America. The more voices out there, the better, whether we agree with each other or not.

Randi Rhodes & Air America win, CACI loses lawsuit

By GottaLaff

Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes

Per Thom Hartmann just now:

CACI sued Randi Rhodes and Air America for defamation when Randi accused CACI's company employees of raping and murdering Iraqis at Abu Ghraib. CACI lost:

According to CACI's complaint, she accused CACI employees of raping and murdering Iraqi civilians at Abu Ghraib prison, claims that CACI said were "false and defamatory."

Congratulations, Randi! The good guys won this one.

Five Minutes With Rachel Maddow

By Paddy



Great little interview with Rachel Maddow over at Campus Progress, a very nice read. Here's a taste-

Chris Matthews has come under fire for a lot his comments this year. Is he as mean in person as he seems on TV?

Oh, no. I don’t know any of these people personally. I get along with the make-up lady and the crew guys—those are the people in my television crew who I’ve actually kind of made pals with. I don’t have personal relationships at all with any of these people, but in terms of how people comport themselves at Rockefeller Center and on set, oh no, no, nobody’s mean. Everybody’s nice—Chris Matthews included. He’s a total sweetheart.

And rumor has it that people are talking about you getting your own show on MSNBC. Is it true?

I’ve made no secret about the fact that I would love for that to happen, but there isn’t a secret Rachel Maddow show on TV in the works.

Cliff Schecter on Ring of Fire NOW

By GottaLaff

Cliff Schecter on air NOW, on Air America's Ring of Fire.

UPDATE ON AL FRANKEN, via an IM I'm having with Cliff:

me: Quick question: what are Franken's chances against Coleman?

Cliff: Very good, toss up race