Former military man and Democrat Wes Clark has launched an email campaign to try and get progressive talk show host Ed Schultz on Armed Forces radio. On his website he recaps:
Last year, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced a resolution that was unanimously passed by the Senate, urging Secretary Rumsfeld and Armed Forces Radio to ensure more political balance in programming.
It looked like progress was being made when the Pentagon agreed to air the first hour of Ed Schultz’s daily radio show live on Armed Forces Radio every day. Then, only hours before the first show would have been broadcast, the Pentagon suddenly reversed the decision and refused to air Ed’s program.
We must let our voices be heard and exercise leadership to help ensure that the spirit of Senator Harkin’s resolution — and the spirit of fairness — are at play on taxpayer financed programming.
Send an email to your Members of Congress now — urge them to enforce fair play on Armed Forces Radio!
There’s a sample letter which visitors to the site can edit and send HERE. This paragraph, which perfectly explains the principle at stake, should be of concern to ALL AMERICANS regardless of party is this:
It was just 11 years ago when 70 Republican Members of Congress, led by then Congressman Robert Dornan (R-CA), demanded that President Clinton’s Secretary of Defense Les Aspin broadcast Rush Limbaugh’s radio and television programs to the military.
Well if Armed Services Radio is good enough for Rush Limbaugh, it’s certainly good enough for Ed Schultz.
I urge you to call on the Pentagon to honor their promise and air the Ed Schultz Show on Armed Forces Radio. It’s time to restore political balance in the programming being broadcast to our men and women in uniform.
Question: How can anyone defend nixing Schultz when GOPers demanded and got Limbaugh on the air when Clinton was President — as a kind of countervailing voice to the then-adminstration. Where is the countervailing voice now? This isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue – it’s a DEMOCRACY issue because, by nixing Schultz, AFR has CHANGED policy….from the years when it had a broadcast (Limbaugh) questioning the administration in power to now only having broadcasts that hail the adminstration in power (and blast those who criticize it).