C-SPAN is celebrating 25 years of doing call-ins on their cable network, and for one hour Saturday afternoon, Steve Scully found himself moderating a cat fight between Air America's Randi Rhodes vs. Salem's Janet Parshall on the influence of talk radio.
Parshall, wearing pearls from the Barbara Bush collection, sat in studio while Randi, in her odd Little House on the Prairie outfit sat in NY. Parshall had been on C-Span 13 times and Randi made her debut appearance, and clearly Rhodes showed some early nervousness being on the network she regularly praises. Parshall plastered a frozen smile on her face, reminding me of Phyllis Schlafly, but confidently spoke in complete sentences and in more complete thoughts. Randi is known for being nervous and disliking public appearances, which may explain her slower start.
The debate was on about the impact of talk radio. Parshall claimed that the emergence of conservative talk radio came about because of a liberal media owning the airwave real estate, and that liberal media continues to dominate America. Rhodes said there was little diversity on the airwaves until very recently, and that many conservative shows do little more than prop up conservative administrations with recitations of talking points. Parshall claimed that libtalk failed because only a small percentage of listeners to talk radio share a liberal viewpoint, and that perhaps the ideas libtalk hosts put forward were extremist and out of the mainstream.
Rhodes said conservative talk radio doesn't deal in the world of facts and go out of their way to remind listeners they don't need to read or listen to anything else because people like Limbaugh deliver all the news they need.
Things became very aggressive when Rhodes asked why Parshall hadn't brought up on her show that Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon Act which provided for prevailing wages to be paid to government workers in the Katrina reconstruction. Parhsall wouldn't answer the question, apparently not knowing about the issue. Rhodes seized on that, and also asked Parshall where else but on shows like hers (Rhodes) people would hear about Congressman Sensenbrenner turning off the microphones and shutting the lights off an a hearing he unilaterally gaveled to a close without unanimous consent. Parshall accused her of believing in conspiracies.
That was the turning point, because Rhodes now realized Parshall had no clue about either matter (which are both facts - the latter shown to C-SPAN audiences.) Callers were generally hostile to Parshall, which was remarkable considering C-SPAN jumps between GOP and Democrat caller lines.
The most remarkable exchange occured at the end of the show when Rhodes interrupted Parshall when she spoke about Bush's speech about Al-Qaeda reminding Americans we are fighting them "over there so we don't have to fight them here." Rhodes jumped in to yell that "I'm in NY" and to reflect on the subway security issues and that "we are fighting them here, dear!" Parhsall told Rhodes she was rude, but Rhodes kept on her, leading Parshall to literally stick fingers in both ears and yell "I can't hear you!"
Left wing bloggers with screen captures are already printing t-shirts with Parshall's display claiming that conservatives always do this when confronted with facts.
Scully probably hadn't experienced this level of confrontation in some time on C-SPAN, but Rhodes has told her listeners that conservatives interrupt and holler over people on their shows all the time so what's good for the goose....
You can view the exchange via C-Span's web site archives. I can't post a link because they rely on Java for their web engine, but can be found under All Recent Programs on their website. It's a five hour archive called C-SPAN 25 Years Viewer Call-Ins: 1995-1999, and the Rhodes/Parshall segment starts at hour three. In hour four, you can watch callers berate Matt Drudge.
Parshall, wearing pearls from the Barbara Bush collection, sat in studio while Randi, in her odd Little House on the Prairie outfit sat in NY. Parshall had been on C-Span 13 times and Randi made her debut appearance, and clearly Rhodes showed some early nervousness being on the network she regularly praises. Parshall plastered a frozen smile on her face, reminding me of Phyllis Schlafly, but confidently spoke in complete sentences and in more complete thoughts. Randi is known for being nervous and disliking public appearances, which may explain her slower start.
The debate was on about the impact of talk radio. Parshall claimed that the emergence of conservative talk radio came about because of a liberal media owning the airwave real estate, and that liberal media continues to dominate America. Rhodes said there was little diversity on the airwaves until very recently, and that many conservative shows do little more than prop up conservative administrations with recitations of talking points. Parshall claimed that libtalk failed because only a small percentage of listeners to talk radio share a liberal viewpoint, and that perhaps the ideas libtalk hosts put forward were extremist and out of the mainstream.
Rhodes said conservative talk radio doesn't deal in the world of facts and go out of their way to remind listeners they don't need to read or listen to anything else because people like Limbaugh deliver all the news they need.
Things became very aggressive when Rhodes asked why Parshall hadn't brought up on her show that Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon Act which provided for prevailing wages to be paid to government workers in the Katrina reconstruction. Parhsall wouldn't answer the question, apparently not knowing about the issue. Rhodes seized on that, and also asked Parshall where else but on shows like hers (Rhodes) people would hear about Congressman Sensenbrenner turning off the microphones and shutting the lights off an a hearing he unilaterally gaveled to a close without unanimous consent. Parshall accused her of believing in conspiracies.
That was the turning point, because Rhodes now realized Parshall had no clue about either matter (which are both facts - the latter shown to C-SPAN audiences.) Callers were generally hostile to Parshall, which was remarkable considering C-SPAN jumps between GOP and Democrat caller lines.
The most remarkable exchange occured at the end of the show when Rhodes interrupted Parshall when she spoke about Bush's speech about Al-Qaeda reminding Americans we are fighting them "over there so we don't have to fight them here." Rhodes jumped in to yell that "I'm in NY" and to reflect on the subway security issues and that "we are fighting them here, dear!" Parhsall told Rhodes she was rude, but Rhodes kept on her, leading Parshall to literally stick fingers in both ears and yell "I can't hear you!"
Left wing bloggers with screen captures are already printing t-shirts with Parshall's display claiming that conservatives always do this when confronted with facts.
Scully probably hadn't experienced this level of confrontation in some time on C-SPAN, but Rhodes has told her listeners that conservatives interrupt and holler over people on their shows all the time so what's good for the goose....
You can view the exchange via C-Span's web site archives. I can't post a link because they rely on Java for their web engine, but can be found under All Recent Programs on their website. It's a five hour archive called C-SPAN 25 Years Viewer Call-Ins: 1995-1999, and the Rhodes/Parshall segment starts at hour three. In hour four, you can watch callers berate Matt Drudge.
