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« Swift potato: McCain linked to Potato-Industrial Complex | Page One | Hannity gets new Colmes »

Radio host to Obama: 'Go screw yourself'

By John Breneman

If you love to hate Barack Obama, but don't know where to turn now that 65 million Americans have cast their vote for his bright, passionately expressed vision for our nation's future, I have four letters for you -- WTKK (96.9 FM, Boston).

There, right-wing talk radio host Jay Severin exercised his freedom of speech by playing a snippet of Obama's moving election-night speech and offering this response to the president-elect: "Go screw yourself."

This patriotic fellow's stated aim is "to politically destroy Barack Obama ... to undermine and destroy his political ability to govern or to have any hope of a successful administration."

Mr. Severin praises his listeners as "the best and brightest," while washing their brains with white noise about the boogie man's love of socialism and terrorism. He smugly demeans Obama supporters as "the young and otherwise ignorant."

His station bills itself as "Boston's Talk Evolution." Sadly, my commute does not coincide with Mr. Severin's air time. So to feed my curiosity about the media's de-evolution, I instead subject myself to small doses of his colleague, comedian Michael Graham, whose best punch line is calling his program "The Natural Truth."

Echoing the newest right-wing yakking point, Mr. Graham's post-election shtick is to pretend he is being censored and oppressed by "our liberal overlords."

Imploring listeners to "join the resistance," he proclaimed that "talk radio is under assault." Now that our totalitarian "dear leader" has assumed power, Mr. Graham lamented, he can no longer utter the middle name of "Barack You-Know-Who Obama."

Of course, he can say "Barack Hussein Obama" till he's blue in the face. America still isn't falling for the Muslim terrorist sympathizer routine.

On Friday, one of the Mr. Graham's first callers picked up on his rhetoric about Obama's plan to help young people afford college in exchange for military or community service. The caller said the plan reminded her of Hitler youth in Nazi Germany. Guess who plays Hitler in this scenario. (Clue: His middle name is Hussein.)

That's "The Natural Truth" for you -- America oppressed by the evil Obama.

The "fair and balanced" crowd is sounding the alarm that Obama and his godless, elite, liberal cronies are bent on reinstituting something called the Fairness Doctrine, which scares the right with language intended to hold extremists on both sides accountable for their most egregious smears,

However, since Mr. Obama holds our Constitution in higher regard than our current president, it is unlikely he would tolerate restrictions on freedom of speech.

If anything, Obama's election is regarded as a boon to right-wing talk radio. Now that he is in power, efforts to demonize him -- or "politically destroy" him as Mr. Severin puts it -- will be even more financially lucrative.

These self-styled mini-Rush Limbaughs are smart operators. They figure the unimpeded flow of anti-Obama effluent is what keeps them in a higher tax bracket than you, me and Joe the Plumber.

* * * * *

Note: I invite defenders of Mr. Severin and Mr. Graham to respond, but please understand that I am unequivocally against censoring them or anyone else.

Also, thank you in advance for reminding me that I can change the channel. Mr. Best & Brightest and Mr. Natural Truth purport to facilitate a public discourse; I am simply responding to their offer in a way that expresses my thoughts more fully than would be possible on the radio.


Related links:

Jay Severin's phony Pulitzer

Severin's oops about killing Muslims

Posted on November 11, 2008 11:01 AM | Permalink


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