The rights of the left

Activist judges and modern interpretation of the Bill of Rights sometimes results in unintended consequences. It is one thing to demand the right to criticize our government and expect the publication of pornography to be protected.

It is quite another when that same logic works against you.

Case in point is a recent radio program on WGN in Chicago. WGN is owned by the Chicago Tribune’s parent company. It is a cut above some talk radio stations known for being conservative. It does not host Limbaugh or Ingram or Savage or any of the other celebrities who cause apoplexy among the progressives.

In fact, WGN Radio has had a dynasty of sorts in some time slots. Everyone in Chicago knows the names Wally Phillips, Bob Collins, and Spike O’Dell.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this Obama controversy is the target –Milt Rosenberg. For 35 years Milt has been on the air at night with intellectual fare that disregards the rules of radio and allows PhDs to discuss their favorite topics for two hours straight. The model can’t work, but it does.

So Milt has Stanley Kurtz on the air Wednesday (8/27) to talk about his analysis of a recently-released collection of documents from the 1990s. Barack Obama was the Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a group charged with dispensing $100 MILLION in grants.

Obama worked with Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dorn in conjunction with the project. The University originally sealed the collection and refused public inspection. (Duh! A surefire way to generate interest in the files.)

So Monday night the university released the collection, Stanley came out to review it, and Wendesday night he’s on the air to talk about it.

Podcast segment one starts here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/wgnradio/x720uncut

So the Obama campaign fires up the blitz machine and they start calling the radio station. They are calling from all over the country. They call an hour and a half before Stanley even opens his mouth.

Their complaint: WGN is biased and rude for having this man on the air during the DNC Convention in Denver. Stanley Kurtz is a kook with an anti-Obama agenda. Take him off the air.

Wrong approach, liberals! Here’s why:
1) WGN can do you a lot of good if you are friendly to them.
2) Spike O’Dell has been trying for months to get Obama on his morning drive show.
3) Stanley Kurtz is NOT a tinfoil hat hack. He’s a respected, conservative writer.
4) No one was out to compete with Obama for attention.
5) It sounds like censorship.
6) It calls attention to the papers.
7) More people will hear the podcast now than ever before.

Why would the party of openness and ideas shun the comments of two very articulate scholars? Maybe because they have something to hide? Maybe they don’t like dissention?

There is talk of changing media regulations as a direct assault on talk radio. Welcome back to King George III.