Fisking "Air America"
From the
Washington Times:
Conservatives, plug your ears: Liberal talk radio is finally here.
Conservatives WELCOME an honest debate of the issues. Unfortunately, that's not what the Liberal Talk Network will be about...
Al Franken and a host of garrulous progressives ease onto the airwaves tomorrow morning on America Left, broadcasting live from 6 a.m. to midnight on weekdays via XM Satellite Radio and three AM radio stations — in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
I looked up the word garrulous just for fun, here's what I found: "Given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative." That sounds like Franken to me...trivial and rambling.
Mr. Franken will debut at noon with "The O'Franken Factor," a three-hour daily show airing opposite conservative host Rush Limbaugh, who has 20 million listeners. Mr. Franken once wrote a book titled "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" and has named his show as a parody of "The O'Reilly Factor," hosted by Bill O'Reilly of Fox News.
Mr. Franken will get CRUSHED by Limbaugh. In fact, "Air America" wouldn't last long at all if it weren't for the DNC funding. Conservative radio thrives in an open market.
Mr. Franken, who has scuffled with conservatives for years, is primed for a fight.
Franken is ready for a fight he will lose. The man is not funny and has no relevent point to make.
"My first priority is to get sued by a right-wing jerk in order to generate interest in my new show," Mr. Franken said in a statement earlier this year.
And this is why he will fail: if you are going in to show business, your first priority ought to be to succeed. Mr. Franken should know that...but he wasn't very successful in show business, so I can understand why he hasn't come to that conclusion.
The daylong lineup also includes comedian Janeane Garofalo, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war; environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; and Alan Colmes, co-host of Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes."
Garofalo is about as entertaining as Franken... Who wants to listen to an enviro-wackoo? And Colmes isn't "liberal enough" for that to succeed.
XM Radio offers the new shows a built-in potential audience of 3 million.
All 3 million have better things to listen to...
For a $10 monthly charge, the company offers 120 digital music, talk and entertainment channels for home, car or computer. "America Left" — produced by New York-based Air America Radio — joins an XM stable that already includes talk-radio fare from Fox News, CNN and ABC, among others.
Yes, even XM Radio has competition for "Air America."
"We're excited to provide a national audience to progressive superstar Al Franken and his spirited cohorts at Air America. Challenging our listeners and giving them the best and broadest choices possible is our daily mission," Hugo Panero, XM's District-based president, said yesterday.
This guy just sounds THRILLED!
But XM is not necessarily a liberal bastion. They already feature 79 talk-radio hosts of every political stripe — including Fox News' Mr. O'Reilly, ABC's Sean Hannity and independents Matt Drudge, Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham.
All of which will do better than "Air America" because these folks are honest with their listeners and respect their audience.
Air America has its own political agenda in store, however.
Ain't that the truth...
"There is a great underserved market of Americans who want to hear compelling and funny talk voices expressing viewpoints long absent from the radio airwaves," said Mark Walsh, president of Progress Media, the parent company of Air America.
That ain't the truth...liberals have the Partisan Media (tm) to get their "story" out there...
He added, "Air America on XM will go a long way to correcting this imbalance at a particularly opportune time."
When can I expect the Partisan Media (tm) to give conservatives equal time? As if that were an issue...
That opportune time, of course, is an election year that has become a showcase for political sniping in the news media.
President Bush is the target of political sniping...
As Hollywood actors-turned-pundits, Mr. Franken and Miss Garofalo have criticized the Bush administration, the war in Iraq and conservative ideology in no uncertain terms.
Aren't they such the heroes! They have suffered so much... Puh-leeeeeeeze.
"I'm interested in doing what I can to affect this election. I'm thinking about what's the best use of my energies. I hope this is it," Mr. Franken told the Associated Press in January when he announced his intention to become a radio personality.
Well, Mr. Franken, good luck...you'll need it.
