The military has pulled The Ed Schultz Show from its planned debut on Armed Forces Radio today.
Note that earlier today this site ran this exclusive interview HERE (also chain linked below) with Schultz pegged to today’s expected debut of his show. But we learned, this morning, that there was a hitch so we wrote a special note to readers and revised it. Our extensive interview with progressive talker Schultz was on this site about 2 a.m. PST today. Raw Story ran this:
The United States’ military’s Armed Forces Radio has reversed a decision to add The Ed Schultz show to their lineup abroad, RAW STORY has learned.
Schultz was told Sept. 29 he would be added to the military’s programming today. That decision was reversed this morning. His producers are currently seeking answers from the military.
On his program Friday, Schultz attacked Alison Barber, an Armed Forces official, over President Bush’s staged conversation with U.S. troops in Iraq. Barber is an Assistant Secretary of Defense.
Right now there’s no definitive answer on precisely WHY this has happened — but Schultz’s show will most certainly share what it finds out.
If the show was pulled because of his comments Friday, it WOULD indicate that the administration believes that Armed Forces Radio listeners have all they need to know in terms of opinion and commentary by listening to Rush Limbaugh — with no countervailing voice.
If it’s true, it’d also underscore what we have said (and is confirmed by polls and emails we get): more and more this adminstration is chasing away independents and is being left with people who are only among its staunchest supporters.
If Schultz has indeed been pulled due to ideological reasons or because he said something the powers-that-be didn’t like, who will now be added to take his place and give a different persepective? Neal Boortz?
Here is the quote from Schultz on his Armed Forces Radio debut, which we cut from the earlier version of our post when we learned there was some kind of hitch:
ON WHAT IT MEANS FOR HIS SHOW TO BE ON ARMED FORCES RADIO
Schultz: My wife Wendy and I went down to Gulfport, Mississippi a few days after the hurricane (Katrina) hit. And we had an opportunity to go out on some resupply missions with a Black Hawk helicopter. We were flying with guys out of the Florida National Guard. They had just gotten back from Iraq. Wendy and I were down there producing a radio show on Labor Day. We got to talk to the military guys.
The liberals do not have a good relationship with military people. It’s all a lot of what they’ve been told and what they’ve heard. I really view this as a real important step foward for our show to have an opportunity to tell the troops and those listening to Armed Forces Radio about how we fight for veterans’ benefits and how we care about injured soldiers, proper armor, complete equipment and proper funding. All of those things, they never heard on conservative talk radio. All that has been on Armed Forces is ONE side of the story. It’s no wonder the Democrats have an image problem with the military.
Now that this has happened, our interview with Schultz is a must-read and we’re restoring the quote above. We’re also chain-linking this post and that one to our posts on the incident involving Bush’s controversial staged talk. Read our interview with Schultz below (we are revising it).
OTHERS COMMENTING ON THIS STORY (this list will be expanded all day)
Crooks And Liars
Think Progress:
But morning this at 6AM, the producer of the Ed Schultz show, James Holm, received a call from Pentagon communications aide Allison Barber. She told Holm that she was calling so early to let Schultz know his show would not begin airing on AFR today. You’ll remember Barber as the aide caught coaching troops before a photo-op with President Bush last week.
Barber told Holm that the Ed Schultz show would not start on AFR today because her boss, Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita, was out of the country and couldn’t approve it. Barber also said she was going out of the country soon for a week-and-a-half. Holm asked Barber if the show would begin when DiRita and Barber returned. Barber said she couldn’t guarantee that.
Here’s the really interesting part. Barber told Holm she heard Ed announced that he would begin on AFR during his show Friday. Schultz’s show Friday began with audio outtakes of Barber sounding foolish as she rehearsed the troops “Q&A session� with Bush.
This looks like leaving the door open for “plausible deniability.” By not saying “you’re outta here!” the show can simply never be slated to go on and the Rush Limbaugh monopoly on commentary goes on.
Suburban Guerilla
Bloggledygook
Americablog
Bradblog
The Huffington Post
People For The American Way
Daffodile Lane
Illmethinks_Politiq
The Daily Sandwich
Change Log
Nitpicker
Clark Community Network
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.