Say Anything Blog

I don’t know Ed Schultz other than to hear him on radio.

I do believe that for “Eddie” as he used to be called on the radio that this is all sthuk. 

But, words have meanings, as you have said Rob.  So, shoot off your mouth, pay the price. 

That’s the way it goes.  It’s not about free speech.  His views voiced in Iraq are equivalent to yelling fire in a movie theater.

We don’t necessarily have to provide the theater for him to shout in.  But it should come down to what the soldiers want to hear.

Ed Schultz is a terrible, terrible announcer.  He used to call the UND Sioux football games before his national gig.

He was terrible doing football.  You couldn’t tell what was happening on the play.  I was going to complain to the station manager until he got his liberal radio gig.  Then I figured they’d figure it was politics.

But he couldn’t even do football.

Armed Forces Radio hosts Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and James Dobson. Ed Shultz can have a spot. Fair and balanced.

“The President Pimps the Troops Show”, (brought to you by the producers of “Mission Accomplished")

probably engaged in to draw attention away from the success of the recent balloting in Iraq.

Was an attempt to show that someone believes in the President’s policies and is willing to memorize and parrot them.
Even if only under orders to do so.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not all that keen on beaming a show to soldiers that accuses them of being Bush administration shills.

Are you keen on beaming a show to soldiers that celebrates the abuses at Abu Ghraib, calling it a ”brilliant maneuver” and saying the soldiers were just ”blowing off some steam” like a college fraternity prank? Do you want a radio personality telling soldiers that torture is just “emotional release”?

Next to what Limbaugh has said, Schultz is a paragon of virtue.

How about our tax dollars not going to ANY pundits?

Since when does armed forces radio pay for the shows?

I would be surprised if Rush, or anyone else on the Armed Forces Radio, actually charges for airing their shows…

I don’t know that they do not, I would simply be surprised to find out that they do…

Limbaugh doesn’t denigrate the troops or their commander-in-chief.

Schultz does.

Though, honestly, I’m with Whistler.  Leave it up to the troops.  Take a poll or something.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Some feedback to the comments already posted:

- Programs are provided to American Forces Radio and TV at little or no cost to the government...in return, the government does not run any commercial advertising on its stations...AFN is not allowed to censor any content from programs they receive…

- Limbaugh doesn’t denigrate the president?  Did you forget about the Balkans (Bosnia, Kosovo) and how he was the ‘cheerleader-in-chief’ in the Clinton impeachment issues?  Maybe you meant to say the CURRENT president…

- The troops are already getting opposing points of view...AFN television carries ALL of the major news networks on a rotational basis (not just the one that begins with ‘F’ as well as Leno, Letterman, The Daily Show, 60 Minutes and other ‘subversive’ media outlets that do not march in lockstep to the GOP line..

I agree with Rob and think there is more to this whole blow-up...I can’t believe any business transaction conducted in today’s world would NOT have legal review prior to start...Ed’s a progressive but he’s also a radio man and knows what will drive up his listenership and revenue numbers...there should be a suitable explanation in the next 2-3 weeks…

I believe in fairness as well; however, deep down I feel that we are ‘littering’ the rest of the world with our political pettiness when we allow EITHER side (Rush, Ed) to broadcast their shows outside of the United States.  AFN affiliates are located pretty much all around the world and many times the countries that host our forces learn about America, Americans or our way of life via these outlets.  We cannot alter physics and have these signals only be received by US personnel (satellite TV excluded).  It’s a shame that the world has to get this first impression of America…

Limbaugh doesn’t denigrate the troops or their commander-in-chief.

When he applauds torture, yeah, he’s denigrating our troops.

What do you think Iraqis believe when they hear that? You (and this Administration) have tried so hard to convince people that Abu Ghraib was the responsibility of a few bad apples, and then this media personality tells them that, No, it’s a “brilliant maneuver”.

Good God, it’s a prescription for Jihad!

Certainly the prisoners at Abu Ghraib were treated inappropriately.

However they were not tortured.  In fact at the same time of Abu Ghraib there were reports of far worse things going on in the Cook County Jail in Chicago.

The Whistler: When a journalist spreads that type of propaganda over his radio station--telling young Iraqis that the abuse at Abu Ghraib was a “brilliant maneuver"--he is putting all our soldiers at risk.

You know I would like a source on exactly what Rush said in context.  I listen to him most days and I recall him saying that the Abu Ghraid thing was blown way out of proportion.

I agree with that.  I don’t recall him saying that it was the right thing to do.

So put up.  In context.

You know I would like a source on exactly what Rush said in context.

For the second time: http://mediamatters.org/items/200405070002

Limbaugh said:

All right, so we’re at war with these people. And they’re in a prison where they’re being softened up for interrogation. And we hear that the most humiliating thing you can do is make one Arab male disrobe in front of another. Sounds to me like it’s pretty thoughtful. Sounds to me in the context of war this is pretty good intimidation—and especially if you put a woman in front of them and then spread those pictures around the Arab world. And we’re sitting here, “Oh my God, they’re gonna hate us! Oh no! What are they gonna think of us?” I think maybe the other perspective needs to be at least considered. Maybe they’re gonna think we are serious. Maybe they’re gonna think we mean it this time. Maybe they’re gonna think we’re not gonna kowtow to them. Maybe the people who ordered this are pretty smart. Maybe the people who executed this pulled off a brilliant maneuver. Nobody got hurt. Nobody got physically injured. But boy there was a lot of humiliation of people who are trying to kill us—in ways they hold dear. Sounds pretty effective to me if you look at us in the right context.

Thank you.

Dave: 1
Whistler: 0

I’d disagree with that although you can think.  Now that we have Rush’s quote in context people can decide for themselves.

I don’t consider the humiliation they received as torture.  If it gave us operational intelligence that saved our soldiers lives I’m ok with it. 

Of course they apparently weren’t following orders so they were prosecuted. 

I would disagree that anyone should have taken pictures because they are good tools for the terrorists.  Stupid.

Decide for yourself.

Looks like you all have been Bush-wacked already.....

I’m sorry to hear that… It must be awful not being able to think for yourselves.

I’m sure if I understood that I’d be insulted. 

Looks like you all have been Bush-wacked already…..

What’s that even mean?

Why isn’t this story updated?

Eddie went on the air December 8th (or the 7th- somewhere in there) 2005.

We love him on AFRN !!!

THANK U NORTH DAKOTA !!!!!!!!  ROCK ON EDDIE!

In Iraq I had to see NPR, BET, CNN and other left leaning TV broadcasts in the chow hall excuse this old guy--(DFAC)every day.

If you were crafty, you could rent an Italian or Iraqi satellite system and get FOX.  None of the broadcasts included commercials.  Official messages or NGO promos were inserted there.

When I got to Kuwait, the “dining facility” had two large rooms in Camp Doha.  One had FOX and the other CNN.  Every day I took a count of people sitting in each room.  The room with Fox was about 85% occupied, and the other room with CNN about 15%. 

On this particular question, I have not followed, but rest assured, plenty of liberal broadcasts are being put out.

Our Senior Senator, Lindsey Graham, said at a convention soon after Gulf War II kicked off:
“If you look at ABC, CBS, NBC or CNN, we are loosing the war, if you look at FOX, we are winning.  We are winning”.