Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has a message for media stalkers who follow her every move: get a life.
Responding to a question during an interview with syndicated radio host / best-selling author Mark Levin (shown right), the 2008 VP nominee noted the strange nature of the nonstop media attention she receives, including what kind of nail polish she uses.
From Levin's interview, here's the Radio Equalizer clip:
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Already, we've seen examples of Sarah-bashing from the Internet, television and newspapers that are too numerous to mention here. But for interesting insight into just how threatened some "progressive" women feel, it's worth looking at how two female libtalkers have attacked her:
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow has a particularly bizarre method: hoping to convince her audience that Palin is a failure. From her program, which is rebroadcast on Air America Radio:
MADDOW (03:10 in segment on Maddow MSNBC site titled "Another political gamble for Palin"):Governor Palin's book is the third of three political gambles that she has made (along with stepping down as Alaska governor and endorsing Hoffman) since she and John McCain lost the election, and none of these three gambles has gone her way.
I'm not sure she knows that though.
Hey Rachel, why should she "know that"? The book is a smash success, Hoffman nearly won despite backstabbing from his RINO GOP opponent and stepping down in Alaska was a reflection of the political isolation she felt in a remote corner of the country.
If anyone is "gambling", it's Maddow, with a roll of the dice in pushing this crazy theory.
Yet as one of Palin’s biggest attackers around here, I felt uninspired to get out the long knives yesterday. She didn’t rile me up or scare me with nightmare visions of her fishin’ and huntin’ finger on the red button at 3 a.m. Instead there was a certain “it’s so over” quality to her Oprah sitdown. Why? Because it is over. Her chance came, and went. She knows she’ll never be president. Her supporters remain intensely loyal, but few. And while her book has been No. 1 on Amazon for weeks, I suspect that’s about celebrity, not presidential timber.
My prediction: She’ll make millions on the book, flirt briefly with the GOP, do some big bucks speaking, then, as fast as she burst on the scene, disappear.
But if the left really thought Palin was about to disappear, would they devote so much time to attacking her? Their actions reveal the true prevailing sentiment from the left: they're worried sick about Sarah.
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MSNBC's Scarborough Attacks Sarah Palin, Promotes Howard Dean
JOE'S TRUE COLORS
Scarborough Removes All Doubt As To His Leanings
For the few remaining souls still confused as to Joe Scarborough's true political leanings, the MSNBC host / syndicated radio talker has resolved the matter for good.
MARK HALPERIN: Think about it compared to Howard Dean in 2004. He was exciting too, and he had these huge crowds, and people said, this guy's going win the Democratic nomination --
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Not the same, sorry --
HALPERIN: Well, it's big crowds and it's excitement, but it doesn't translate into a governing majority.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: I'm just going to stop here. I'm going to enrage conservatives, but --
OFF-CAMERA VOICE [Katrina vanden Heuvel?]: Go for it!
SCARBOROUGH: I know Howard Dean. I've spoken to Howard Dean. It is such a disservice to compare--forget ideology, conservatives!-- I think Howard's way left and all that. But it is such a disservice to compare Sarah Palin in any aspect to Howard Dean. Yes, because that is an insult to Howard Dean's intelligence.
Book sales aren't the only potential issue: Palin has reportedly considering a TV or radio career if she chooses not to run for the presidency in 2012.
The bottom line: if Scarborough had any core conservative beliefs, he wouldn't be slamming Palin while aware of precisely the kind of reaction that would result.
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Radio segments are introduced by Maddow in a way that suggests original Air America content, but the program immediately reverts back to the previous night's TV show. AAR doesn't include necessary disclaimers during these intros.
MADDOW (Wednesday 11 Nov 09 - 07:12 in segment titled "Scozzafavification"): I also do a talk radio show and I feel like, on behalf of talk radio hosts, I want to apologize for all the mean, personal things that were said about you (laughs).
She has dropped her daily evening show on Air America, but will "provide content" for an hour-long morning program, largely built on her MSNBC show of the previous evening.
The problem, says Maddow, is that something had to give.
"I just couldn't keep doing both," she says. "It was a quality control issue - the quality of the program and my own quality of life. I need time to, say, eat and sleep, which I understand most people do every day. I wasn't. I needed not to be grabbing food off a cart at 2 in the morning."
But since then, Maddow's "radio show" has consisted of an audio-only rebroadcast of the previous night's television show. The key difference: segments are sometimes edited and reconfigured (running in a different order) to suit the radio medium.
So will Maddow be heldto the samestandard as Hannity? Unlike Sean's program, where it was a editor that made the mistake (leaving the host to take the hit), this untrue statement comes straight from Rachel.
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Libtalker Montel Williams Warns Of Extreme Reaction To Fort Hood Shootings
THE PITCHFORK BRIGADE
Lefty Talkers Push Ft Hood Overreaction Theory
Are Americans ready to declare war against all Muslims living in the US based on the shooting spree at Fort Hood? While that may seem preposterous to most of us, to the some on the left, it's a likely scenario.
Do they really believe this, or is it merely a political scare tactic, designed to shift blame from the accused killer to "intolerant" Americans?
For his part, libtalker Montel Williams of Air America Radio was willing to take this several steps further, suggesting that this road could even lead to a second round of internment camps!
Talk about overheated "rhetoric", the very issue Williams cites as a key concern:
WILLIAMS (45:48): We pulled something like this back in World War II when we decided to round up all Japanese Americans and put them in internment camps...The [anti-Muslim] rhetoric... could get out of hand. What do you think?
FRANK FARLEY (Temple University): I agree totally... The possibilities of prejudice and racism and so on are incredible here. We should be treating this as a unique incident and look at the factors involved in this very unique and specific incident and not overgeneralize. Unfortunately, we tend to overgeneralize all the time. The idea that all Muslims are the same is ridiculous...
WILLIAMS: Even if it comes out... that his frame of reference was his religion and that was what was giving him the power within himself to make his stand, that doesn't mean that the religion is to blame.
FARLEY: Absolutely, his interpretation [of Islam] may vary dramatically from [that of] his fellow Muslims.
Hey guys, care to provide bona fide examples of Americans overreacting to this story? It occurred days ago, where are the pitchforks?
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Near-Bankruptcy, Broadcaster Faults Loss Of Hannity Revenue
SELF-DESTRUCTION
Political Bias Could Lead To Citadel-ABC Radio's Bankruptcy
In a textbook example of the dangers of placing personal politics ahead of good business sense, past mistreatment of a top conservative talker is partly to blame for a major radio operator's impending bankruptcy.
But don't take our word for it: stunningly, Citadel Broadcasting (which absorbed ABC Radio into its operation several years ago) admits the loss of Sean Hannity's syndicated radio show has cost it millions in desperately-needed cash flow at a time when corporate debt and slow ad sales are crippling its operations.
In the same filing with regulators, the company has disclosed that it may file for protection from creditors in January.
Until now, though, Citadel (OTC:CTDB) had avoided mentioning Chapter 11 as a likely scenario.
The company owns major talk stations including WABC/ New York, WLS/Chicago, KGO-KSFO / San Francisco, WBAP Fort Worth-Dallas, WJR/Detroit and WMAL/Washington.
As we'd reported in 2008,a fed-up Hannity dumped the firm's syndication arm, then called ABC Radio Networks, for Clear Channel's Premiere Radio after disturbing incidents behind the scenes, including the refusal of one Citadel exec to board a plane with the longtime conservative talker.
In addition, Citadel took a hit from the passing of Paul Harvey. While that may have been unavoidable, chasing away Hannity was inexcusable.
The big drop came in the radio network business, now called Citadel Media. Net revenues plunged 31.5% to $29.4 million. The loss of Paul Harvey, who died, and Sean Hannity, who took his show elsewhere, accounted for $8 million of the $13.5 million decline. Segment operating income dropped 92.3% to $500K from $6.5 million a year earlier. The drop in revenue was slightly offset by an 18% reduction in costs.
Citadel has been warning of covenant compliance problems ahead since it reworked its credit agreement with its lenders back in late March. Facing a requirement that it have $150 million of available cash as of January 15, 2010, Citadel has admitted in several SEC filings that it does not expect to be able to meet that requirement and will likely face a financial restructuring which would dilute or wipe out the equity of current shareholders.
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In an unusually candid moment from a host who until recently was a compliant, unquestioning Democrat, libtalker Ed Schultz has made the kind of observation one normally expects to hear from his conservative counterparts.
The unthinkable question: is Obama a wimp?
Just a few months ago, raising this delicate matter in a public setting would be grounds for excommunication from the "progressive" movement, but times certainly have changed.
With PelosiCare having passed the house over the weekend, however, does the MSNBC / syndicated talker feel differently now? We'll find out soon enough.
Here's what he told radio listeners a bit earlier in the week:
SCHULTZ (22:24): I've noticed on a few stump speeches that he (Obama) tells us that he might be small but he's tough. And I have thought about all of the past presidents. I haven't heard a president tell us how tough he is.
Am I wrong? Tell me if I'm wrong. ... And I think that's rather strange, or unusual. You shouldn't have to tell us that. You should illustrate this by taking a trip up to Capitol Hill. And getting some of these people that you helped get into office and calling some markers on health care reform.
Beyond the pitch for Pelosi's health care takeover, it's hard to make a distinction between this and similar rhetoric that results in conservative hosts under fire for daring to criticize the Dear Leader.
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If you thought Dr Laura Schlessinger had finally fallen off of the left's radar screen, today's Los Angeles Times puts that idea to rest. Their longstanding inability to completely destroy her career means "progressives" must still deal with this unfinished business.
In August, Schlessinger was abruptly removed from her longtime home at KFI under strange circumstances (its internal office politics are legendarily dysfunctional, almost without equal in the radio business), but quickly found a new flagship as rival KFWB-AM switched from all-news to talk.
During her long run at KFI, she helped the station deliver big ratings, as documented in previous EQ coverage from 2008 and 2006.
With ratings now available for the first month of KFWB's new talk format, the Times saw an opportunity to pounce on conservative radio programming and took it:
Even with its drop, KFI far outpaced its talk rivals. KABC-AM (790) ranked 22nd, KRLA-AM (1110) was 36th, KTLK-AM (1150) was tied for 41st and newcomer KFWB-AM (980) was tied for 38th.
October was the first full month of ratings for KFWB under the new format that the former all-news station unveiled with great fanfare in September, boasting that it had lured advice guru Laura Schlessinger away from KFI to anchor its midday schedule.
Despite the presence of Schlessinger and such other experienced hosts as Laura Ingraham and Michael Smerconish, KFWB not only has not gained traction, it actually has lost listeners. The CBS-owned station has ebbed from a 1% share in August to 0.8% in September and 0.7% in October.
And Schlessinger, a ratings powerhouse at KFI, is an also-ran at KFWB so far. In October, during the weekday period of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. that covers the time she's on the air, the station tied for 32nd place with a 1% share of audience.
KNX-AM (1070), the sister CBS station that now has the all-news field to itself, tied for 15th in October with a 2.8% share, much the same as it has scored for at least the last six months.
In the 6-10 a.m. "morning drive" period that is radio's prime time, KFI maintained its lock on No. 1, with Bill Handel and Rush Limbaugh combining to attract 6.2% of the audience. KIIS' Ryan Seacrest was second with a 5.1% share, followed by Gary Bryan on KRTH, Mark Thompson & Brian Phelps on KLOS-FM (95.5) and Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo on Spanish-language KSCA-FM (101.9).
But the Times used generalized data to reach its "also-ran" conclusion. More specific breakdowns reveal the exact opposite conclusion, as Dr Laura has in just one month sent a portion of KFI's audience packing and headed straight for KFWB.
From noon to 3pm, in key demographic groups, here are the real numbers:
Persons 25-54:
KFWB up 66.7% (1.5 audience share) KFI down 44.8% (1.6)
Women 25-54:
KFWB up 92.3% (2.5) KFI down 66.7% (1.3)
Adults 18+ :
KFWB up 36.4% (1.5) KFI down 21.4% (1.6)
In other words, in just one month, Dr Laura is already beating her old station in some demos and threatens to do so soon in others.
Will the paper issue a retraction? Don't hold your breath.
In addition, did you notice how it glossed over the 41st place showing of libtalk outlet KTLK?
Given the Times and its left-wing agenda, this is all about politics: her replacement at KFI, Bill Handel, is not conservative and Dr Laura's defiant stands on cultural issues make her an easy target for Californian leftists, who openly seek to eradicate all dissenting viewpoints.
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Where talk radio and politics collide: influencing the debate since 2004. From longtime host / analyst / rabble-rouser Brian Maloney, seen on FOX (including a number of O'Reilly Factor appearances), CNN, Court TV and elsewhere.
Responding to a question during an interview with syndicated radio host / best-selling author Mark Levin (shown right), the 2008 VP nominee noted the strange nature of the nonstop media attention she receives, including what kind of nail polish she uses.
Responding to a question during an interview with syndicated radio host / best-selling author Mark Levin (shown right), the 2008 VP nominee noted the strange nature of the nonstop media attention she receives, including what kind of nail polish she uses.
