Northwest Airlines serves Minneapolis-St Paul in a big way. It's no wonder they tout themselves as "The Official Airline of the Republican National Convention," and they're concerned about the comfort of Republicans. That's why NWA fired off a demand to Clear Channel Communications that the mega-media company take down a billboard they thought carried a "strong anti-McCain message" that was in the Minneapolis-St Paul airport.
Northwest worried that the thousands of Republican delegates, officials, and members of the media would find the ad "offensive" and "scary" and insisted that it come down immediately.
Clear Channel agreed.
The ad in question ...
... was paid for by the Union of Concerned Scientists, and simply reads:
"When only one nuclear bomb could destroy a city like Minneapolis ... we don't need 6,000. __ Senator McCain: It's time to get serious about reducing the nuclear threat."
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that:
Tammy Lee, Northwest's vice president of corporate communications, said, "Out of an abundance of respect for both parties, we will not allow attack ads of either persuasion to be prominently displayed in our concourses."
That the executives at Northwest Airlines and at Clear Channel believe this ad is "anti-McCain" may say more about what what they think of McCain's position on nukes and war than it does about their commitment to the public's right to debate the issue. After all, the UCS has bought space at the Denver airport to display the exact same ad, but with Denver in the cross-hairs rather than Minneapolis, and addressed to Obama.
Clear Channel is suggesting changes to both the Twin Cities and Denver ad to make sure no unsettling messages get through to our National Leaders.
Ha! ...And all this time you thought you were probably "clinically paranoid" for fearing that big corporate monopolies can inhibit free speech!