Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Pentagon nukes Ed Schultz

No, we aren't talking about the this Schultz.

The actual reasons are only known by a few who ain’t talking …. though when it boils down, I think Manny Levy, chief of AFaRTS radio division took a non-binding resolution a little too much to heart.
Liberal radio talker Ed Schultz was eagerly anticipating his debut yesterday on Armed Forces Radio, which agreed last month to carry his program to nearly a million soldiers around the world.
But at 7 a.m., Schultz's producer got a call from Allison Barber, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary for internal communications, who said without explanation that the deal was off.
What conspiracy by the neo-cons is bubbl’n around in Ed’s head?
Perhaps, Schultz said in an interview, it was just a coincidence that he spent the end of last week chastising Barber for coaching a group of U.S. soldiers in Iraq before a teleconference with President Bush.
"It kind of floored us," Schultz said from his studio in North Dakota. "The fact is, they don't want dissenting voices or any other kind of speech unless it's going to be promotional for them. Obviously, these people are making sure they're not going to have any opinion other than the Rush Limbaughs of the world."
Hey, Rush is far from perfect, as we all are – but look at AFaRTs line-up. MSM news and NPR until you want to join the Green Party. One hour of Rush at 1800CET is just a rice on the right side of the see-saw with the granite block of NPR/MSM news on the other. Give me a break. Oh, as for the “resolution” that gave Mr. Levy the jitters…
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) won approval last year for a nonbinding resolution urging Armed Forces Radio to offer more political balance in programming. Limbaugh strongly objected, noting that the network carries National Public Radio and declaring, "I am the political balance."
Oh, just to piss someone off: Rush is right.

Skippy, this is where you make a comment.

Coming out of the woodshed with Mr. Levy.....
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said last night that Levy "got ahead of the process" and that no decision had been made in a review of which programming to add to the network. When asked about Schultz's insistence that his criticism of Barber played a role, Whitman called that "an unfortunate misperception on his part. That has nothing to do with this."
Nothing to see here. Move along, move along. For more detail, ready Howie’s column here.

BTW, I know….Ed who? How about an hour of Laura Ingraham instead?

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