For those who insist that National Public radio is an oasis of civility and sweet reason on the radio dial, there is a brand new rebuttal. His name is Fred Fiske. On Thursday, he devoted a three-minute, unrebutted commentary to insisting that he calls Rush Limbaugh’s radio network "Excrement In Broadcasting."
When are they scheduling the three-minute rebuttal?
For years, WAMU, the NPR station based at American University in northwest D.C., foisted left-wing talk show host Fiske on the nation’s capital. Fiske is now mostly retired, but his commentaries for WAMU have recently been airing on Thursday mornings in drive time at roughly 8:50 am. Fiske was merely the latest in a series of leftists to take Limbaugh’s comments out of context, and insist he told people not to donate to Haitian earthquake relief.
That's not what Rush said. The controversy-proking Limbaugh transcript is here. Limbaugh insisting the next day he was questioning the efficacy of government donations, not private donations is here.
It’s apparently outrageous to accuse anyone of milking a natural disaster for political gain. Did Fiske watch how the liberals and the media used Hurricane Katrina to slam Bush as an incompetent and uncaring racist? This is how Fiske ended his commentary with a bang, or rather, a bowel movement:
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said "In times of crisis, there are always people who say stupid things." I think to use the power of your pulpit to try to convince people not to help their brothers and sisters is sad. Well, having listened to Rush Limbaugh’s intemperate remarks for a long time, I don’t expect him to apologize. I would hope, though, that Republican Party leaders will make it clear that he does not speak for the party. Limbaugh calls his operation EIB – Excellence in Broadcasting. I call it EIB, too. Excrement in Broadcasting.
Here are the opening paragraphs of the Fiske commentary, all predictable liberal propaganda:
I think Jon Stewart of The Daily Show had the perfect reaction to Rush Limbaugh’s intemperate comments about the Obama administration and its handling of the Haitian relief effort. In addressing his remarks to Limbaugh, Stewart said "I think I know the cause of your heart trouble. You don’t have one."
Well, I don’t despise Rush Limbaugh any more. I suppose I should feel sorry for him. I think he’s gone plain nuts, to have said the things that he’s said in the face of the unspeakable horror we have all been witnessing on TV. The destruction, the dead bodies, the crying, bloody people, the agony of families desperately seeking for loved ones.
I have known conservative commentators. I remember Father Coughlin. I was the announcer for several years on the Fulton J. Lewis program on the Mutual Broadcasting System. I disagreed with many of the things they said, but I never heard the baseless, bigoted, hateful things that emanate from the Limbaugh show.
Outraged Rush fans can comment here at WAMU's site The Conversation. Your comments to WAMU management can go here.
If the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was founded in 1967 by Congress with the notion of insuring "objectivity and balance in all programming of a controversial nature," then WAMU ought to devote three minutes of air time to Limbaugh or an advocate for Limbaugh to rebut Fred Fiske's ranting radio-poop insults.
UPDATE: It's kind of funny to see this on WAMU's discussion board:
Reply by Jason Novak (WAMU 88.5)
Everyone take a deep breath. Let's stick to substance, not insults -- we aim for civil dialogue here.
Earth to Jason: if your station aimed for civil dialogue, someone would have edited Fiske's commentary.
