Armed Forces Radio (AFR) is a station that broadcasts to American troops overseas through “over 1,000 outlets in more than 175 countries.” It currently features an hour of programming by right-wing host Rush Limbaugh. There is no comparable progressive program.
Today, that was supposed change. Ed Schultz – the host of the most popular progressive radio show in the country — was supposed to start broadcasting on Armed Forces radio. Jones Radio, the company that syndicates The Ed Shultz Show, received an email on September 29 from an Armed Forces Radio official confirming that one hour of Schultz’s program would begin airing today, October 17.
But this morning 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.
The post goes on to accuse Barber of canceling Schultz because he criticized her on his show. I'm not sure that's the case.
To most reasonable people (i.e. people who aren't lefty partisans), the "staged" controversy was pure bunkum from the start. A ginned-up bit of faux outrage over something completely innocent and routine that was probably engaged in to draw attention away from the success of the recent balloting in Iraq.
Unfortunately for Schultz (a lefty partisan) he decided to advance this rather ridiculous bit of nonsense on his show. Too bad for him. In order for us to buy into the "staged" meme we must not only believe that the Bush administration is willing to deceive the public (not much of a leap in faith for any politician, up to and including Bush) but that soldiers serving in Iraq are part of the conspiracy as well. Or, at least those troops who support the mission in Iraq and are willing to talk about its progress anyway.
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. Not to mention a show that belittles, routinely, their commander-in-chief. Plus, on a larger scale, Schutlz's consistent defeatism on the Iraq war issue wouldn't be at all good for morale.
Frankly, I'm not so much upset that they cut Schultz's show as I'm upset that they considered putting him out to the troops in the first place. Not that I think the troops need to be protected from leftist thought, it just seems that there could be less incendiary sources for that perspective than Schultz.
(via Flickertail Journal)