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Edited on Wed Nov-17-04 10:28 AM by Fla Dem
We will not win another Presidential election until we have as much media control over the airwaves as the RW does. A concerted RW effort over the past 15-20 years to monopolize radio and TV discourse has resulted in the complete identity theft of the progressive/liberal ideology. We DO NOT have an equal voice. We DO NOT have the "rock stars" like Limbaugh and Hannity. Al Franken IS NOT in their league. He is not hard hitting, he doesn't frame RW issues in a way that impacts visceral feelings. The RW seizes on an issue and it becomes a talking point for all the talk shows, national and local. They have brainwashed 50%+ of voting Americans. Add to that the pulpit preachers.
Air America Radio is a start, but as much as I hate to say it, they need to take a page from the Hannity and Limbaugh play book and stop playing nice. I know they are close to beating Limbaugh in the NYC market, but SO WHAT!! They are preaching to the choir in NYC.
Limbaugh rarely has guests on his show, and takes only occasional phone calls, the rest of his 3 hours is taking current issues and hitting democrat's over the head with them. Everything wrong in the world is the democrats fault. He talks non-stop either praising the RW, or demonizing democrats, continuing hitting on the same themes over and over again. Hannity is very similar except he does take some phone calls and has guests. But his guests are just as hard hitting, and they parrot the same talking points and themes. They and other RW shills take audio clips of Dem politicians and play just enough to skew the message and then harp on it continuously. They play fast and loose with facts, spinning them just enough to undermine and demean our positions, and put fear into the hearts of the heartland.
Themes: elite liberal media, main stream media, Massachusetts liberal, soft on defense, flip-flopper, tax and spend, Teddy{hic}Kennedy, FemmeNazis, tree huggers, Hillary Care, Environmental wackos, etc. Continually used over and over again.
I live in NE Florida. The only 2 AM stations I can get both have Limbaugh. Then one carries Hannity in the 3-6 slot. The other Michael Savage. At 7 they carry Laura Ingram. There is no alternative. Both these stations carry local and national news and local weather, so people listen to them.
What can we do to get more LW/Moderate "Rock Star" voices heard across America? Do we have any one that is as good a communicator as Limbaugh or Hannity? They need to be entertaining, glib, passionate and persuasive.
Limbaugh started this whole myth of the elite liberal media, the media bought it and has turned into weak kneed sissies. They are so afraid of offending the administration, or having Limbaugh/Hannity call them out for reporting the truth, they have capitulated their responsibilities. Except for Olbermann there is no one I can stand to watch. He at least takes jabs at the right.
I'm very frustrated. Not at Kerry, I think he and all the volunteers did a remarkable job against a very stacked deck. He got the 2nd highest popular vote of any candidate in history. IMHO I don't think any of the other primary candidates could have done as well. I think only if he had Clark on the ticket would he have had a better chance, because of the terrorism issue. Unless this administration severely screws up over the next 4 years, we will have another uphill battle in 2008, regardless who is running.
We have to have strong voices out there hitting back 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Until we do we will not overcome
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