Why Ohio Needs Progressive Talkers: Righty Says Dems May Have Poisoned Chief Justice Roberts

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- MediaMatters has the transcript and audio of right wing radio talker Michael Savage's comment that "it's within the realm of possibility" Democrats caused Chief Justice Roberts to be hospitalized for a seizure. Unknowingly, Savage probably made a stronger case for FCC restoration of the Fairness Doctrine. The doctrine would give the Dems equal time to reply and knock down what sounded like slander, or worse, a criminal libel.

Savage theorizes the justice may have eaten poisoned food, perhaps in Manhattan, during a Dem-masterminded plot that unfolded like a Russian hit on an opponent of Vladimir Putin. Savage speculated that Putin had a foe knocked off with plutonium-laced sushi -- a fate that Sen. Chuck Schumer may have had in mind for John Roberts.

The talker is carried by more than 300 stations, but it is unclear how many are in Ohio.

Savage pointed to New York's Schumer as the chief suspect in a Democratic assassination plot. Here is one cite:

"So why can't we assume for a moment that it's within the realm of possibility that Roberts was in some way -- his health was in some way tampered with by the Democrats because they can't believe that no matter what they do, no matter what they do -- even if they engineer a victory for Hillary Clinton/Obama -- they're still not going to be in control because the court's moved to the center? Just a thought. Just a little thought for you to ponder tonight, and all you left wingers who are so glib in your attacks on the conservative movement."

And another:

"That's what Schumer has lived for from the time he was a little boy. That's all he wants, so he had the nerve to say on Friday he will never, ever, ever permit a Bush appointee to get onto a court, to become a judge. Then today we read that the chief justice has had a seizure and fell on a dock. Something's wrong with the picture."

[UPDATE: 6:47 AM --
Drinking Liberally, Cincinnati says Savage belongs in a tin-foil hat, a comment that might be taken as an insult to all kooks who wear tin-foil hats. Savage, perhaps, should be placed in a completely separate wing of kookdom. That is up to the psychiatrists, however.]

Ohio Trash Talker Bill Cunningham: A Peeping Willie?

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Usually, WLW's Bill Cunningham is on the dishing end, reliably spouting conservative causes like a human geyser on his radio talk show that emanates each weekday in Cincinnati. Now he's managed to p.o the Christian Right, and one evangelical commentator has sprayed back with a dose of skunk juice, implying that Willie likes to leer at young women through their unshaded windows.

Definitely titillating. But that's really hard to believe, isn't it?

A lengthy commentary that mentions the ogling is online at Citizen USA, the web-version of a newspaper that circulates in many Ohio churches. There is no fairness doctrine that covers newspapers or online sites -- or radio talk shows for that matter -- so there is nothing showing Clear Channel talker Cunningham has responded to the commentary. Citizen USA says about itself that it is a "newspaper that represents the worldview of the Values Voter" and "challenges the liberal bias found is most hometown daily newspapers."

The passage that gut-punched Cunningham reads as follows:

"So why was Willie, usually the Conservative's conservative, blasting Phil Burress, David Miller, Bill Seitz and others? While eating lunch at (irony of all ironies) the West Chester location of the restaurant that bears Willies name, I overheard diners ate (sic) the table next door speculating that Willie had to be rescued from his roof not for inspecting dryer lint, but for inspecting the navels of young women in the neighborhood through their open windows. (Cunningham recently had to be rescued from the roof of his home, placing a famous but embarrassing 911 call to the Madeira Fire Department after climbing up a too-short ladder to inspect a dryer vent installation on his roof and becoming frightened he would injure himself getting down.)"

Maybe Cunningham just got Swiftboated by the right? After all, it was a navel attack.

UPDATE: 10:25 am EDT -- Just discovered that Right Angle Blog is conducting a poll to determine the most influential/popular conservative talker in Ohio. Cunningham is the first name on the ballot. He's definitely a force. But some people in Cincinnati have another nickmane for Willie. They call him the cunning ham. It will be very interesting to see who wins the RAB poll. Guess here -- Willie zips past all comers.

In Cincinnati, A Democrat's Call For Talk Radio Reform Gets Big Play

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Today's edition of the morning metro daily carried a thoughtful opinion piece by Jerry Baker, a SW Ohio Democratic Party precinct exec, who contends the radio industry needs reform because it is a virtual monotone of conservative political talk.

Baker says the the flap over the fairness doctrine for equal time on the airwaves is a canard. He says the real issue is whether media corporations have eliminated or discouraged progressive talk radio where liberals and Democrats and people who think Rush Limbaugh is from Uranus can have a forum.

"We propose reinstituting a limit on the number of stations that can be owned by corporations like Clear Channel to return real competition to the marketplace. Shorten the time between license renewals back to three years, and allow public comment each time the renewal is applied for. Then listeners get a real chance to voice their desires."

Baker makes some excellent points -- the airwaves do need to be pried open to a diversity of opinion that is not available in many communities. Also, the Cincinnati Enquirer gets a kudo for publishing the Democrat's opinion piece in its community forum. But the Enquirer, long a backer of almost all things GOP, could do more. It could actually produce a strongly worded editorial agreeing with the Democratic Party precinct exec's position.

What are the chances of that happening? Probably about the same as Limbaugh endorsing Hillary Clinton.