What do you think: Why are there no old lefties on TV, like there are old righties?

[old mark]

I keep waiting for Pat Buchanan to grab his chest and die in mid rant, but that is entertaining only for a short time .
I'd like to see just a few old leftists comeout of the woodwork and speak about the "news", even if it's crap - I'd just like to see even one.

Where are they, media guys?

mark

[geckosfeet]

1. Bill Moyers, bless his soul, is not exactly a spring chicken.

[Laelth]

9. That's who came to my mind first. n/t.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Joe Bacon]

2. Answer--the Fairness Doctrine was abandoned.

Reagan killed it and from the moment he killed it, the Republicans gobbled more and more of the media.

[msongs]

3. righties are nasty bullies n thugs that make for "good" tv. all lefties have is rightness lol nt

[alsame]

4. Phil Donahue got fired from MSNBC because he was

against the Iraq war. Even though his show was getting the highest ratings at the time.

[dbonds]

5. I actually think Pat Bucanan plays a character for tv.

Every now and then at unexpected times he will let down the facade.

[PCIntern]

12. He 'plays' a Holocaust-denying, bigoted, anti-Semitic, racist RW prick.

...and he ain't 'playing'. He's the vanguard for the RW takeover...even if it takes 400 years, their plan is in the works.

[SmileyRose]

15. Rachel Maddow loves him

that was my clue Buchanan's public schtick is 80% BS

[Ron Green]

6. It's just the nature of Television.

TV requires image, not substance. It's in its very technology. And the image of a bloviating old (or young) asshole is more image-worthy than any kind of reasoned discourse.

[mysuzuki2]

7. Because

only the good die young.

[Smarmie Doofus]

8. They exist. They are ignored by commercial media.

Corporations are, by their nature, conservative.

The media is dominated by corporations.

Ergo.....

[zbdent]

10. the hate sustains them ...

or, it might be, that the media doesn't like to show old, wise lefties ... if you're old and white (and male), aren't you by law a "conservative"?

[KoKo]

11. The "honest, principled Old Lefties" aren't part of the system anymore. n/t

[treestar]

13. They might say something thoughtful

And get into policy, or something "boring" like that.

It's so much more entertaining to watch freak shows like Pat Buchanan.

[SoCalDem]

14. They were forced off the stage.... can't have truth intruding

onto the airwaves "owned" by corporatists, now can we?

30+ years of one-sided drivel has cost us all dearly:(

[laststeamtrain]

16. Donohue & Moyers are hardly 'old lefties'. Old centrists maybe.

It shows how far the center has moved right in Post-Reagan, 24/7 cable news babble America that they are mentioned as 'lefties'.

"When CNN presenter Jeff Greenfield was asked why Chomsky was never on his show, he claimed that Chomsky might "be one of the leading intellectuals who can't talk on television. <…> If you<'ve> got a 22-minute show, and a guy takes five minutes to warm up, <…> he's out".<61> Greenfield described this need to "say things between two commercials" as the media's requirement for "concision". Chomsky has elaborated on this, saying that "the beauty of is that you can only repeat conventional thoughts". If you repeat conventional thoughts, you require zero evidence, like saying Osama Bin Laden is a bad guy, no evidence is required. However, if you say something that is true, although not a conventional truth, like the United States attacked South Vietnam, people are going to rightfully want evidence, and a whole lot of it as they should. The format of the shows do not allow this type of evidence which is one of the reasons concision is critical. He's continued that if the media were better propagandists they would let dissidents on more because the time restraint would stop them properly explaining their radical views and they 'would sound like they were from Neptune.'" For this reason, Chomsky rejects many offers to appear on TV, preferring the written medium." ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Noam_Chomsky