What would it cost to buy the support of just about every nationally syndicated neocon talk show host in America? About $19.5 billion, which is what Mitt Romney’s private equity firm, Bain Capital, and Thomas H. Lee Partners have agreed to pay in a leveraged buyout agreement with Clear Channel Communications, the largest radio station owner in the country. This is part of a negotiation that has been pending for over a year. Clear Channel owns more than 1,100 full-power AM, FM, and shortwave radio stations, twelve radio channels on XM Satellite Radio, and more than 30 television stations in the United States. Premiere Radio Networks, which is the largest syndication company in the United States, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Clear Channel and is home to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and many others. Sean Hannity recently signed a large multi-market contract with Clear Channel, as well.
From an anonymous email:“I’ll bet those hosts won’t reveal that conflict of interest, but it’s worth noting when you hear them begin hyping Romney, which has already begun. A lot of GOP supporters will support whomever they are told to support, so be prepared for a big push for Romney. On the bright side, Romney has more vulnerabilities than Rudy, based on his record. Look at this as the GOP establishment doing us a favor. Rich men can bankroll their own campaigns (a la John Kerry), but it takes a special breed to use investors’ money to buy entire networks that can operate as passive wings of a presidential campaign.”
It should be noted that Mitt Romney, while no longer the CEO, remains a silent partner of Bain Capital.
What do you think?
>how to pay for all their deficit spending
Read that sentence again and you might come up with an answer.
Robocop, their is a huge audience for liberal talk radio. It’s called NPR.
#5
“I didn’t get my copy of the neocon talking points. Mind posting them here?”
here’s all of ‘em for ya’;
Democrats bad republicans good.
Repeat.
Democrats bad republicans good.
Repeat.
Democrats bad republicans good.
Repeat.
Um.. This deal was completed over a year ago.
#24. And that changes things how……….
#18 bobbo …
I gotta say, with the glut of Baby Boomer geezers taht are gonna retire in 10-15 years and this shizhole we call social security, I ain’t very interested in hearing talk about how Republicans waste money.
I don’t like either party, I think they’ve equally proved they are willing to waste our money and mismanage the country into the ground.
Both parties are living in fantasia, quite frankly … fiscal doom awaits…
On the flip side, as a younger person, I sarcastically scoff at money the government wastes because it’s $1 less the government can do something stupid with like the social security pyramid scheme or the proposed nationalized f***-the-young-to-pay-for-geezers health care scam.
#26–Hmeyers==I agree with what you say “but” the issue was what are the repug talking points. The point might be that if both parties are basically irresponsible, how do you show/create a difference to get someone to (stupidly) support one party over the other? The answer is “talking points.” That which appears to be a substantive comparison but is really only hiding the salami.
#22–Mike==yes, thanks. I forgot NPR. I could quibble but I’ll forgo that by just mentioning that as liberal as NPR might be, it misses out on that sycophanticity that is the hallmark of ditto-head radio. noise.
Re #22
Thanks MikeN, I’ll remember that next time the topic of federal subsidies for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting comes up, currently about $420 million. Oh, and do they say that during their fund raising marathons? Whoops, the mailer asking for money for Public Broadcasting just fell into the recycling bin. Let me transfer that to the garbage, where it belongs.
Actually, to be honest with you, the Sirius and XM political channels would be an interesting comparison, since you couldn’t ask for more equal access. Of course, the pay radio audience wouldn’t be at all representative of the nation as a whole, but it would still be interesting. Anybody know if that info is available anywhere?
Definition of a NeoCon:
1. They agree with Trotsky on permanent revolution, violent as well as intellectual.
2. They are for redrawing the map of the Middle East and are willing to use force to do so.
3. They believe in preemptive war to achieve desired ends.
4. The accept the notion that the ends justify the means — that hardball politics is a moral necessity.
5. They express no opposition to the welfare state.
6. They are not bashful about an American empire; instead they strongly endorse it.
7. They believe lying is necessary for the state to survive.
8. They believe a powerful federal government is a benefit.
9. They believe pertinent facts about how a society should be run should be held by the elite and withheld from those who no not have the courage to deal with it.
10. The believe neutrality in foreign affairs is ill advised.
11. The hold Leo Strauss in high esteem.
12. The believe imperialism, if progressive in nature, is appropriate.
13. Using American might to force American ideals on others is acceptable. Force should not be limited to the defense of our country.
14. 9/11 resulted from the lack of foreign entanglements, not from too many.
15. They dislike and despise libertarians (therefore, the same applies to all strict constitutionalists.)
16. They endorse attacks on civil liberties, such as those found in the Patriot Act, as being necessary.
17. They unconditionally support Israel and have a close alliance with the Likud Party.
“A Foreign Policy of Freedom”
pg. 262
Does anyone even listen to the radio anymore since Clear Channel took over the Airwaves? Especially since its the same station across states, same music, same talk, same crap.
Why is there surprise that people have not seen the ‘take over’ and raping of the freedoms we used to take for granted, to the point where most did not realize that we were losing them to the FASCISTS NEOCONS? Fascists support the rise of a Corporate Government. (Which is why I am curious to see what an Islamo Fascist IS…considering they have no Corporations). Romney is just falling in line. Too bad no one told him about the Bilderberg meetings that have already picked Bush’s Successor.
This just cements the way for a cult religion to attempt to gain acceptance in a culture that barely tolerates anyone who is not a Christian.
#16
“Trust me on this, the Iraelis don’t really need us to protect them that much.”
But it sure helps to distract Israel’s enemies by making another bigger, clumsier target.
Remember, Mormons consider the rest of us the enemy. And they have money. LOTS of money. Cocoa-Cola for example. They’re what the Scientology con men would like to be…
Liberal talk radio will never work. Liberals are smart and have jobs. Talk radio’s audience is old people and unemployed folks sitting around their trailer clutching their shotguns hoping the U.N. troops don’t descend to take away their guns. Normal people like me who WORK for a living, don’t sit around and listen to 10 hours of day time radio. So oddly enough (like Art Bell at 4am) you kinda get the retarded lunatics.
So let the little Republican kids have their talky time shows. It makes them feel good. Liberals can still satisfy themselves with things like books (you have to know how to read, eliminates 98% of the talk radio audience), NPR (especially drive time, you know for those of us WITH jobs), and PBS (I know, all art is for Communists).
Re: #33
Ok, just for the record, since we’ve now fallen off DU’s front page:
The top two rated talk/non-news stations in NY are WABC-AM and WOR-AM. WNYC-AM/FM is the local NPR station, and their ratings are so low as to be statistically unmeasurable. During afternoon drive WABC features Sean Hannity and Michael Savage, and WOR has Steve Malzberg and Mark Levin. If you don’t know who these guys are, just Google them. Your monitor will fall off the right side of your desk.
This is what actually exists in the real world, supported by the free market, not the government subsidized, donor supported delusional state that JackF and other MoveOnians float around in.
There is no liberal talk radio because liberals have nothing positive to say. Just lies and hate.