Sweet April Fools day joke for the American public. Note to Franken, you werent that funny to begin with. Abject bitterness doesnt help.

Posted by: mark buehner at April 1, 2004 09:40 AM

Air America Radio is the perfect example of why liberals don’t understand talk radio. If all of the programming focuses squarely on Bush and doesn’t give its listeners a positive, alternative viewpoint it will fail miserably and quickly.

Posted by: jamie at April 1, 2004 10:56 AM

April Fool’s Day is the perfect time to start a Liberal “Liars and the Lying Liars who tell all Lies” talk show.

Typical of empty brains.

Posted by: leaddog2 at April 1, 2004 11:01 AM

Who knew that Stuart Smalley was more than a skit? He was actually a recruiter for what’s become the new Democratic party.

My question: how’s he going to differentiate himself from NPR, all the local college stations, and, at least here in the Bay Area, most of the commercial stations?

Posted by: jenitorn at April 1, 2004 11:01 AM

I like how they play up that they have so many comedians and “entertainers” on it.

Ha!

They seem like rather bitter people, especially Franken. Hell of a name he picked for his show.

Posted by: Spade at April 1, 2004 11:40 AM

Ah, it’s nice to listen to drug free talk show.

Posted by: Dody Gunawinata at April 1, 2004 11:51 AM

Anyone care to bet this is dismantled and sold off in December. Reminds me of “brill’s content” which popped up in time to point out how the media was soft on Ken Starr (yes I am serious) and then disappeared.

I will stick to NPR, if I am going to be indoctrinated, I might as well have quality.

Dody,

That was a comment beneath you. And for that I am glad. You always are the voice of measured reason and it always made me feel guilty.

Now if I can get you to name call and cuss I will feel great:).

Posted by: jones at April 1, 2004 12:54 PM

Jones,

Ha..ha..My operating spectrum is pretty wide. I’m just bored with verbal insults and brawls because they get repetitive really quickly.

This topic is pretty much an idea free topic. Who cares if you like Air America Radio or not ?

It’s a commercial effort designed to make money by targeting a certain segment of Radio listener market. Just like the rest of any broadcasting ventures.

Posted by: Dody Gunawinata at April 1, 2004 01:42 PM

Actually, the demographics that I read were that they heard that of the people listening, 70% were conservatives and 30% were liberals. If they can continue that, they’ll succeed. I don’t think they will, personally; I think that this might be marginally more successful than “The Chevy Chase Show” or even “The McLean Stevenson Show”, but probably not much. But hey, you either believe in the free market or you don’t. If it fills a niche to support it, then more power to them.

Or they can always get government funding, like NPR.

Posted by: johnnymozart at April 1, 2004 02:19 PM

Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry brought you these great moments in Kerry-vision™. Kerry’s own words describing America, the world and our future, as seen through his eyes.
On May 13, 1998, John Kerry spoke about the American Missile Protection Act of 1998, a proposal to build a national defense against long-range ballistic missiles.

“The simple truth, Mr. President, is that only Russia and China have such missiles, and despite the fact that some rogue nations such as North Korea have been working to develop more advanced ballistic missiles, our intelligence and military leaders do not expect those threats to materialize for a decade or more,” stated Kerry.

“The vote today is about whether - at a time before a real ballistic missile threat from sources other than Russia and China exists, at a time before we perfect the anti-missile technology on which we have been energetically working for years so that we know it is ready to be deployed - we will make a national commitment of scores of billions of dollars to field the nonexistent system against nonexistent threats,” said Kerry.

“The urgency that the bill’s proponents are voicing is a false urgency, Mr. President. I hope the Senate will look at this carefully and will choose the prudent course by rejecting the bill before us,” concluded Kerry on the Senate floor.

Of course, the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, was working on a different timetable. John Kerry’s prediction of “a decade or more” turned out to be off by nine years and nine months.

Three months after Kerry spoke, on Aug. 31 1998, North Korea launched the Taepodong I ballistic missile. The “nonexistent” North Korean missile flew over Japan and dropped a dummy nuclear warhead off the U.S. coast.

Kerry on National Security

Sen. Kerry’s vision of the future includes protecting America, but not with weapons. On May 2, 2001, John Kerry gave the world a clear idea of his priorities in national security.

“Here we are in a debate about education and we are being told we are not sure we have enough money for education; we are not sure we have enough money for alternative and renewable fuels; we are not sure we have enough money for a prescription drug program for seniors; we are not sure we have enough money to fix our schools and provide the next generation with the kinds of education we want-we need to balance what we get for our expenditures in terms of national security against other initiatives that also have an impact on the national security of our country,” said Kerry.

Three months after Sen. Kerry asked us to balance U.S. “national security” against a wide variety of social spending programs, Osama bin Laden’s suicide pilots struck.

On Sept. 11, 2001, the world watched as airliners full of innocent passengers plowed into the two towers at the New York World Trade Center, another plane smashed into the Pentagon and a final plane crashed into the open fields of Pennsylvania after a brave crew and passengers decided to make a last-ditch stand for freedom. The act of terror took America to war.

Kerry on Saddam

Of course, Sen. Kerry is very familiar with America at war, reminding everyone that he fought in Vietnam. Yet Sen. Kerry also proposed some Vietnam-like actions in the past, such as his statement to the Voice of America on Feb. 23, 1998, suggesting that the U.S. should assassinate Saddam Hussein.

“There are plenty of covert operations that I took part in prior years in places that we weren’t suppose to be. (where was that John?) And I’m quite confident that we have the ability through Presidential finding (directive) or otherwise or even more overtly to be of assistance to people who want to make it their business to make life miserable for Saddam Hussein,” stated Kerry.

Today, we know for a fact that Kerry would not have gone to war against Saddam. He has repeatedly told us that after 10 years, containment, embargos and weapons bans against Iraq would have worked eventually. However, on March 13, 1998, Sen. John Kerry made a clear and compelling case to violently oust Saddam.

“Mr. President, we have every reason to believe that Saddam Hussein will continue to do everything in his power to further develop weapons of mass destruction and the ability to deliver those weapons, and that he will use those weapons without concern or pangs of conscience if ever and whenever his own calculations persuade him it is in his interests to do so,” said Kerry.

“Saddam Hussein has not limited his unspeakable actions to use of weapons of mass destruction. He and his loyalists have proven themselves quite comfortable with old fashioned instruments and techniques of torture-both physical and psychological.

“During the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Kuwaiti women were systematically raped and otherwise assaulted. The accounts of the torture chambers in his permanent and makeshift prisons and detention facilities are gruesome by any measure,” stated Kerry.

“Saddam Hussein’s actions in terrorizing his own people and in using horrible weapons and means of torture against those who oppose him, be they his own countrymen and women or citizens of other nations, collectively comprise the definition of crimes against humanity,” concluded Kerry.

Kerry on War

It is true that Sen. Kerry has spoken more than once on the use of force. On May 3, 1999, the senator appealed to his Senate colleagues to act swiftly and approve military action.

“We are fighting for the standards of internationally accepted, universally accepted behavior that country after country has signed on to through United Nations conventions and other instruments of international law and through their own standards of behavior,” stated Kerry.

“I can’t think of anything more right than taking a position against this kind of thuggery and this kind of effrontery to those standards as we leave the end of this century,” noted Kerry.

“Some people say to me, “well, Senator, we are going to have some people there for a long time.” My answer is, So what? If that is what it takes in order to try to begin to establish a principle that is more long lasting, so be it,” concluded Kerry.

Unfortunately, the war Kerry sought was not in Iraq or Afghanistan. The war was not against Saddam or Osama bin Laden. It was the battle over Kosovo.

According to the Boston Globe, on April 14, 1999, “Senator John F. Kerry, one of 50 legislators who met with Clinton yesterday, said later in the day that US forces might have to be involved, in one way or another, not just for “a matter of weeks” but rather for “months or even a year.”

Kerry said it might take a year or so to force the Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic, to withdraw from Kosovo and let the ethnic Albanian refugees return to their homes. That was five years ago and we are still fighting in Kosovo.

Kerry on Human Rights

Some might say that this selfless speech demonstrates that Sen. Kerry is a firm supporter of human rights. Ironically, the senator spoke about human rights on Jan. 25, 1990.

“Who can forget the gunning down of student demonstrators in cold blood? Who can forget the Chinese army tanks that rolled over their own countrymen? Who can forget the summary execution of student leaders? Or the indelible impression of courage that the sight of one lone man, brave enough to stand before a line of tanks, made upon the world?

“The fact that this man, and others like him, have been executed by the Chinese Government for their demands for a more open society, is truly chilling and shakes our senses,” said Kerry.

Who can forget human rights? Sen. Kerry 10 years later, speaking before the Wilson Center on March 30, 2000.

“On some initiatives, the [Clinton] Administration has had success in dealing with China. It moved quickly to abandon the counterproductive MFN-human rights linkage,” noted Kerry.

Kerry on Clinton’s Economy

Sen. Kerry has also praised the Clinton administration for its economic efforts. On July 13, 2000, Kerry noted that the Clinton administration had a great impact on the economic living standards for the poor.

“In the past decade, the number of families who have “worst case” housing needs has increased by 12 percent-that’s 600,000 more American families who cannot afford a decent and safe place to live. For these families living paycheck to paycheck, one unforeseen circumstance, a sick child, a car repair bill, can send them into homelessness,” said Kerry.

“The number of families living in extreme poverty - on less than $6,750 a year for a family of 3 - has increased from 13.9 million in 1995 to 14.6 million in 1997,” noted Kerry of the Clinton economic boom.

“Affordable housing units are being lost. Between 1993 and 1995, a loss of 900,000 rental units affordable to very low-income families occurred. From 1996 to 1998, there was a 19 percent reduction in the number of affordable housing units. This amounted to a dramatic reduction of 1.3 million affordable housing units available to low-income Americans,” said Kerry fondly of the Clinton years.

John Kerry’s worst enemy is not President Bush. The so-called “vast right-wing conspiracy”, as defined by Sen. Hillary Clinton, is simply no threat to the Massachusetts Democrat in his run for the presidency.

Sen. Kerry’s worst nightmare is himself

Posted by: Fat Guy at April 1, 2004 03:03 PM

I greatly prefer Air America over NPR. I do not have to pay for Air America.

Posted by: samuelv at April 1, 2004 11:15 PM

“North Korean missile flew over Japan and dropped a dummy nuclear warhead off the U.S. coast.” really? how close?

Posted by: lucky at April 1, 2004 11:55 PM

You don’t consider the Alaskan Islands as part of US territory? Amusing. Hey, but lets not worry about it. Even if they can hit say, SF, it’s all full of freaky Democrats anyways. We’d still be able to respond and save the rest of America.

Posted by: Fat Guy at April 2, 2004 10:24 AM

I listened to Jeneane Garafola last night. So Terrible. The controls were all messed up, so she openly admitted how unprepared she was and expressed fascination at figuring this all out in real-time. Did anyone at Air America think to train her on basics before she started?

Anyways, her show is pure immature college radio. She had fart sounds, pined for smoke breaks, lamented having to warn guests not to swear. Man, if this is what being liberal is, we’ll see defection in major numbers.

Scott

Posted by: Scott S at April 2, 2004 12:56 PM

Do they really think liberals are going to switch off NPR to listen to Franken? Do they really think moderates will be swayed after listening to Jeneane Garafalo? The big message here is that multicultural programming just took a big hit… but that’s okay, because there’s another rich white man who’s looking out for their best interests.

Posted by: kh at April 2, 2004 01:26 PM

“The big message here is that multicultural programming just took a big hit”

ROFLMAO!!!! What?? When it’s liberal it gets to be called ‘Multicultural?’ When conservatives have multiculture out there the liberals just call every non-white, white.

Posted by: Jeff MacMillan at April 2, 2004 07:04 PM

Jeff, If I’ve learned anything with certainty, it’s when the local college calls for more ‘diversity’ they’re not looking for skinhead Aryan Youth.

No, there’s only one version of close-mindedness they have in mind. Or should I say they’re only open-minded to a certain close-mindedness.

Being on the left doesn’t just mean most of your clothes are black. Don’t forgt the hard work of keeping the web you weave intact. That, and being smarter than everyone else. Ouch.

Posted by: torpedo_eight at April 2, 2004 10:45 PM

These people are sad. Al Frankenfurter never has been funny. Jeneane Gorillaflo is almost as humorless.

I been away for a while. Hello to all the usual supects, you know who you are.

Posted by: Elvis at April 3, 2004 12:32 AM

Welcome back, e!! Nice to hear your thoughts. :)

Posted by: johnnymozart at April 3, 2004 09:33 AM

Hey nice to hear from you Elvis.

Anyone know what station has Air America in Chicago? I want to hear a bit over vacation.

Posted by: jones at April 3, 2004 10:19 AM

Well, I don’t consider myself a usual suspect, but I’ll say “hey” anyway. Good to see you again Elvis.

Posted by: TexasGal at April 3, 2004 06:34 PM

TexasLady Trust me. You’re a ‘usual suspect’.

Posted by: Cap'n DOC at April 4, 2004 07:54 AM