Friday, August 26, 2005

And I said, "Hello, Satan, I believe it's time to go."

I took the position yesterday that Air America Radio, as one of the most visible representatives of the Left, should be somewhat immune to loud public criticism. I had some private email about this, and Oliver Willis left a comment:

I'm all about marching lockstep, but when AA is doing things that actively are counterproductive I think its worth calling them out. For instance I think Franken's show needs to have callers or else it sounds like an NPR program. Rhodes and Schultz clearly understand the medium.


Thanks, ODub, I get your point. I still stand by mine that the Left needs some public solidarity these days for us to be taken seriously, so criticisms of any visible representative have to be carefully considered.

Having said that, here's my first complaint. I'm not sure if it's network wide, but the LA station, KTLK 1150, is playing ads by, get this, Kevin Trudeau.

Who?

Convicted felon Kevin Trudeau tops book charts


Infomercial Marketers Settle Various Charges


Kevin Trudeau Banned from Infomercials


Best-seller ‘Natural Cures’ sparks court battle


Cancer ‘cures’ are empty promises in Kevin Trudeau’s ‘Natural Cures’ book


Oh, that Kevin Trudeau. The weak-chinned creep that is always peddling some crap or other on an infomercial set that looks like Larry King's. Hmm, never seen them both in the same place at the same time.

That AAR, at least here in LA, takes ad money from this doucebag is worthy of criticism. My guess is that their policy is that the color of anyone's money is green, unlike, say, the 3 major networks.

So, I'm torn. If some bottom feeder wants to give our cause money, should we care? We can say he's the rube, the mark, that we're fleecing.

On the other hand, is he fleecing AAR, and by extension all of us, by making millions selling worthless crap, and using our airwaves to do it?

I would sleep better if he wasn't on our air. But that's just me. As usual, your mileage may vary.

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