From Randi's interview on C-Span about being a mouthpiece for the party.

[madfloridian]

It was hard to take notes on this, because she was being interrupted by Lamb so much. She was talking fast, too.

Apparently a couple of years ago there was a group of senators who met with radio people...names mentioned at the meeting of about 30 of them were Durbin, Daschle, Dorgan, Corzine, and I will have to go back and listen to see which others were named. Corzine and others were looking for reasons why left wing radio wasn't good business. Corzine said if it is good business why don't they do it?

It is good our Democrats are thinking this way, but I think we need to remember what happens when loyalty is acquired financially rather than just by belief.

After the meeting, but still well before AAR's start....there was a luncheon at Mary Landrieu's DC home to find money for soft syndication. This is from notes, so correct me if I am wrong. As I say nothing wrong with this...Democrats need to make their own media to survive. That part I agree with. But I think we MUST know where loyalties lie....same as with the bloggers working for others. I think we need disclosure or we lose again.

Randi and Ed Schultz were there, and I think they were the only ones by then. Randi thought she was just there for lunch, so she did not plan anything. Ed gave a big presentation, but she just stood at her chair. She said next thing she heard bidding...250, 350 in thousands of money for paid syndication.

She said she did not accept, he did. Ok, again, nothing actually wrong with that. Her point was that she would not allow herself to be a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party.

Many centrist Democrats were behind Democracy Radio, which gave Ed his start. I can not find the cached page now, but again nothing wrong with that either.

Democracy Radio is now defunct, and Tom Athans, the head of it is now with AAR as programming CEO. I have no clue if that is good or bad, but I just always think we should be aware.

Please note I have criticized no one, just presented the notes I took from Randi's C-Span interview. It interests me because patterns emerge when radio hosts are mouthpieces. But then I can't prove any are. Just presenting notes.

[Cha]

1. You're doing some good

investigating, madfloridian..thanks, for keeping us posted on these matters. It's fascinating.

I'm looking forward to IWT because I'm not a radio listener but I do watch tv if it interests me.

[madfloridian]

3. I gather she talked some about this today. I missed that.

Maybe I can catch in the archives.

[baldguy]

2. I think she was right to decline.

America doesn't need ANOTHER propaganda machine to counter the RW cesspool of spin & lies. We need the truth. The toadies in RW hate radio are bought & paid for slaves to the corporatocracy. They wouldn't be able to criticize their masters they held a sex party with sheep on the front lawn of the White House & broadcast it live to the world.

We need people whose first loyalty is to America, willing & able to speak truth to power - while allowing the rest of us to listen in.

[madfloridian]

4. I hear Ed was pumping for the Patriot Act today as well.

I did not hear the show today, but I heard that. Many of our Democrats appear to think that some parts need to go.

Not happy with what I heard about his show today.

[madfloridian]

5. Kick because Big Eddie is most likely speaking for the...

Democrats who don't want Howard Dean, John Murtha, or any others speaking out of turn about the war.

When Big Eddie says Howard Dean should take his head out of his ass...in a week when Dean had been traveling Southern states and getting big crowds then he is speaking and carrying water for someone.

He KNEW what Dean was doing, he got all kinds of info on it. He did NOT care.

I did not hear what he said about Murtha, but Murtha and Dean speak for me.

The Clear Channel founder who owns Ed now is also not exactly a liberal leaning guy, ok? I have a post about that in GDP, but it dropped. His name is Randy Michaels.