With Don Imus taking some well-deserved, righteous and long overdue heat for his latest racist remarks (I heard him call Lester Holt "Homeboy" after one MSNBC newsbreak) I figured it'd be a good time to recall what another hate-host from up here in Colorado said about Congressman John Murtha recently.
The tough-talkin' liar is Bob Newman, who did some time in the Army Marines and likes to call himself "Gunny". He's on 850KOA in Denver and goes after the mini-Rush, nuke Iraq, hate immigrants audience. There's a big audience of those up here. But this is a true "clear channel" station and it hits 20 - sometimes 30 or more - states on a mild weather night.
When Dems won back congress and Murtha started exerting some oversight, this little pipsqueak couldn't stand it can went into a rage one night. He finished the seg with these words: "John Murtha should be hung."
This was not the first time someone has called for the death of Congressman Murtha on KOA. Ann Coulter reiterated her call for someone to "frag" Murtha on Mike Rosen's show. Mike shrugged.
Isn't that what the right wing used to call "moral relativism"?
While big-time, right-wing pundits call for the deaths of their opponents all the time, it's left-wing bloggers who are called shrill and unprofessional.
Bob Newman likes to use his first amendment rights to incite violence against those he disagrees with. He also claims he's to be an "independent" - as seen in the Bill O'Reilly Dictionary I would imagine. While even wingers acknowledge our many rights also come with certain responsibilities - Bob doesn't see both sides of that coin. And as long as it makes money for him and Clear Channel I suppose they'll continue to have him on.
When Bob Newman uses his first amendment right to call for John Murtha to be hanged - and KOA850 lets him get away with it - we all should be aware of the harm it does to our democratic process. We all should know where the eliminationist tendencies of our fellow citizens are coming from. You can be sure they're not coming from left wing bloggers.
Don Imus is getting his comeuppance. When will "Gunny" Bob Newman?