War on conservative Talk Radio

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Here we go with the Left already out of control and the ballots haven't all been cast yet.

Chuck Schumer in an interview on Fox News when asked about imposing the "Fairness Doctrine" on people like Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin and Glenn Beck.

Schumer stated "Talk Radio was like pornography", and that government has the right to ban pornography, so too it has the right to ban the 'verbal pornography' of Talk Radio.

Schumer: AM Radio is like Porn, Will Be Blocked
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIhFm9Mxpxg

and more past debates on the subject...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJOk3XiZTGQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBsbvP0-410

[American Patriot]

Let him fuckin' try it.

[Toad]

There's this little thing called a 1st Amendment that'll be a be-yotch to argue their way past before they can go down that road.

[American Patriot]

There's this little thing called a 1st Amendment that'll be a be-yotch to argue their way past before they can go down that road.

Absolutely correct.

Time to use their own tactics on them.

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Schumer Vows Big Changes on 'Issue After Issue' in Next Senate

November 03, 2008
Link: CNSNews.com

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, also warned that if Democrats gain a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate – a scenario that both Ensign and Schumer have said is possible – Americans could see changes in “very, very, important issues,” such as energy policy, taxation and federal spending.

When a reporter asked Schumer what kind of changes the Senate would make if Democrats gained a filibuster-proof majority, he said it would include countless issues.

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Obama Appoints Fairness Doctrine Backer

Monday, November 10, 2008 10:41 AM

By: Jim Meyers

President-elect Barack Obama has designated former Federal Communications Commissioner Henry Rivera to head the team that will select the next FCC chairman — an Obama move that bodes poorly for conservative talk radio.

That’s because Rivera is widely believed to support the reinstitution of the so-called Fairness Doctrine.

Originally instituted in 1949 by the FCC, the Fairness Doctrine required broadcasters over the public airwaves to give equal time to opposing political views.

Since talk radio is overwhelmingly dominated by conservative hosts, and liberal talk radio draws few listeners, the “equal time” provision would likely force many radio stations to pull popular conservative hosts from the air rather than air low-rated liberal hosts.

Rivera served on the five-member FCC from 1981 to 1985 under Republican chairman Mark Fowler. His departure paved the way for the Fairness Doctrine’s repeal when President Ronald Reagan replace him with an opponent of the doctrine, Brian Maloney disclosed on his Web site The Radio Equalizer.

The FCC admitted before the repeal that the doctrine "had the net effect of reducing rather than enhancing the discussion of controversial issues of public importance."

Rivera is a partner at the Washington law firm Wiley Rein, headed by former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley. He “is expected to lead the push to dismantle commercial talk radio that is favored by a number of Democratic Party senators,” Maloney wrote.

“Rivera will play a pivotal role in preventing critics from having a public voice during Obama’s tenure in office.”

© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/o...mo_code=70D7-1

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Obama FCC transition team to push media/telecom diversity

By Matthew Lasar | Published: November 09, 2008 - 05:30PM CT

Reports about the man that President-elect Barack Obama is expected to choose to manage the transition at the Federal Communications Commission emphasize his past role as a lobbyist and FCC Commissioner. But the truth is that Henry Rivera has never really left the FCC, having stayed active in its matrix of advisory groups from the 1980s right up to the present. And Rivera's agenda is no secret: figuring out ways to help minorities get a bigger slice of the telecommunications and broadcast media pie.

In fact, as Chair of the Commission's Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age, Rivera just sent the agency a set of recommendations on how to further this goal. It suggests three ways to enhance "the ability of minorities and women to participate in telecommunications and related industries."

Dated October 28, the report may be a preview of a major aspect of the Obama FCC agenda.

Social disadvantages

The challenge for regulators who want to make it easier for women and minorities to own more telecom licenses and businesses is how to create programs that don't run afoul of judicial hostility to diversity plans. One of the reforms that various groups have been lobbying for is a "socially and economically disadvantaged businesses" (SDB) classification, in which minority-led "eligible entities" would receive various preferences and breaks during media sales and spectrum auctions, among other transactions.



The FCC has been dropping the ball on this idea for years; it keeps coming up and disappearing in proceedings. Kevin Martin's FCC has been skittish about it too. In an Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking approved in December, the Commission extended various Small Business Administration style breaks to smaller telecom firms. But the NOPR cited various "race conscious" government minority business programs that have been struck down by the courts. The Order asked for feedback on how the SDB classification could be "narrowly tailored" to protect it from legal smackdowns.

Rivera's list of recommendations favors the SDB idea, but appears to concede that research work needs to be done to to put the program on a solid legal foundation. So the Committee suggests that, until a definition is worked out, the FCC should opt for a "full file review" approach to minority businesses support programs. The full file approach takes a "race neutral" approach to applicants, but takes note of hurdles that a business owner has overcome. The Commission's NOPR mentions some hypothetical examples of potentially successful full file review applicants:

"an applicant injured in military service in Iraq who later completed a leadership training program; a rural applicant who put herself through college and successfully ran a previously-bankrupt AM station; and a Spanish language radio company owner who succeeded despite advertiser resistance to program language and format"

Rivera's document strongly endorses this concept. "Because of its race-neutrality, an FFR-based program can be implemented in the short-term," the Advisory Committee writes. The Committee also wants the FCC to fast track breaks on fees and waivers for minority media and telecom business owners as, percentage-wise, these take a larger financial bite out of smaller operations than big outfits. But the group's letter saves its most far reaching recommendation for last.

S is for station

The Advisory Committee strongly endorses an idea, proposed by Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project (MAP) at the FCC's En Banc July hearing, that would boost minority media ownership. MAP urges the creation of a new category of television station—Class S. These "Class S" station owners would be able to lease one of the new multiplex subchannels from a full-power commercial digital TV license.

MAP's proposed Class S arrangement would extend to businesses in the SDB group, however that is eventually defined. These licensees would not be allowed to broadcast commercial fare for more than half their schedule.

And, if the full power license owner wants to broadcast in high definition, the Class S broadcaster would have to lease some of its spectrum back for that purpose, although not more than six hours per day.

The MAP plan is pretty close to one proposed by Rivera's Advisory Committee in 2007, which would extend the concept to FM stations, too.

Rivera's letter suggests that the DTV/subchannel sharing structure is similar to the relationship between the owner of a condominium building and its unit owners. "The DTV sub-channel or HD channel licensee would control its channel’s content, while its engineering would continue to be handled by the DTV or FM station licensee for a fee," it concludes.

Henry Rivera has been working on these sort of issues for a very long time.

He is so linked to this issue that, in 2002, when Michael Powell's FCC held its own hearing on minority ownership questions, it summoned him to review.

The UCC, of course, is the Church with which Barack Obama has been associated since the mid-1980s, although he quit his local chapter during the presidential campaign. the agency's efforts in this regard. Rivera started his history with the United Church of Christ's 1967 petition to get the FCC to prohibit employment discrimination in radio and television.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...diversity.html

[Ryan Ruck]

If this is forced on us, perhaps someone needs to start up a pirate Radio Free America station for the US!

[American Patriot]

Well....

are you suggesting that someone go out and illegally set up a radio station?

Why, that's ILLEGAL!

Unless you're in international waters, I think.....

/chuckles

[Aplomb]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/..._conserva.html

November 17, 2008 Obama Declares War on Conservative Talk Radio

By Jim Boulet, Jr.

Barack Obama sought to silence his critics during his 2008 campaign. Now, with the ink barely dry on this November's ballots, Obama has begun a war against conservative talk radio.

Obama is on record as saying he does not plan an exhumation of the now-dead "Fairness Doctrine". Instead, Obama's attack on free speech will be far less understood by the general public and accordingly, far more dangerous.

The late community organizer Saul Alinsky taught his followers to strike hard from an unexpected direction, an approach known as Alinsky jujitsu.

Obama himself not only worked as an organizer for an Alinsky offshoot organization, Chicago's Developing Communities Project, but would go on to teach classes in Alinsky's beliefs and methods.

"Alinsky jujitsu" as applied to conservative talk radio means using vague rules already on the books to threaten any station which dares to air conservative programs with the loss of its valuable broadcast license.

Team Obama and the "localism" weapon

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule in question is called "localism." Radio and television stations are required to serve the interests of their local community as a condition of keeping their broadcast licenses.

Obama needs only three votes from the five-member FCC to define localism in such a way that no radio station would dare air any syndicated conservative programming.

Localism is one of the rare issues on which Obama himself has been outspoken.

On September 20, 2007, Obama submitted a pro-localism written statement to an FCC hearing held at the Chicago headquarters of Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.'s Operation Push.

Furthermore, the Obama transition team knows all about the potential of localism as a means of silencing conservative dissent. The head of the Obama transition team is John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress.

In 2007, the Center for American Progress issued a report, The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio. This report complained that there was too much conservative talk on the radio because of "the absence of localism in American radio markets" and urged the FCC to "[e]nsure greater local accountability over radio licensing.

Podesta's choice as head of the Federal Communications Commission's transition team is Henry Rivera.

Since 1994, Rivera has been chairman of the Minority Media Telecommunications Council. This organization has specific ideas about localism:

In other words, it would not do for broadcasters to meet with the business leaders whose companies advertise on their station. Broadcasters must reach beyond the business sector and look for leaders in the civic, religious, and non-profit sectors that regularly serve the needs of the community, particularly the needs of minority groups that are typically poorly served by the broadcasting industry as a whole.

Rivera's law firm is also the former home of Kevin Martin, the current FCC chairman. Martin is himself an advocate of more stringent localism requirements.

It was on Martin's watch that on January 24, 2008, the FCC released its proposed localism regulations. According to TVNewsday: "At the NAB radio show two weeks ago, Martin said that he wanted to take action on localism this year and invited broadcasters to negotiate requirements with him."

FCC complaints as politics by other means

Remember that an FCC license is required for any radio or television station to legally operate in the United States. A single complaint from anyone can significantly hinder a station's license renewal process or even cost the station its FCC license entirely.

There have been some attempts to utilize the FCC complaint process for partisan political ends, most memorably in 2004, when Sinclair Broadcasting agreed to air a documentary questioning Senator John Kerry's war record:

Poised to pre-empt programming on its 62 television stations to run a negative documentary about Sen. John Kerry, Sinclair Broadcast Group has come under fire from critics calling it partisan and questioning whether it is failing federal broadcast requirements to reflect local interests.

Members of Congress and independent media groups have questioned the company's willingness to respect "localism," a section of federal law that requires media companies to cover local issues and provide an outlet for local voices.

One group, The Leftcoaster, went further:

But what isn't done a lot which requires the broadcaster to rack up expensive legal fees, is to challenge every one of their affiliates' FCC license renewals as they come up this year and next. ... [T]here still is time to organize and file Petitions or objections by November 1, 2004 for Sinclair stations in North Carolina and South Carolina, and for Florida by January 1, 2005.

More recently, the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium issued a "fill in the blanks" official FCC complaint form which begins "Anything that you feel is offensive is worth reporting."

Community advisory boards as permanent complaint departments

These random efforts could be far more effective at silencing conservatives if they could only be systematized and institutionalized. That is exactly what the FCC proposed on January 24th. Every radio and television station would be required to create:

[P]ermanent advisory boards comprised of local officials and other community leaders, to periodically advise them of local needs and issues, and seek comment on the matter. ...

To ensure that these discussions include representatives of all community elements, these boards would be made up of leaders of various segments of the community, including underserved groups.

The "community advisory board as permanent complaint department" model may well be based upon the 1995 revisions of the Community Reinvestment Act, as described by Howard Husock in City Journal:

[T]the new CRA regulations also instructed bank examiners to take into account how well banks responded to complaints. ... [F]or advocacy groups that were in the complaint business, the Clinton administration regulations offered a formal invitation. ...


By intervening-even just threatening to intervene-in the CRA review process, left-wing nonprofit groups have been able to gain control over eye-popping pools of bank capital, which they in turn parcel out to individual low-income mortgage seekers. A radical group called ACORN Housing has a $760 million commitment from the Bank of New York...[emphasis in original].

Understand that even allowing conservatives to be radio talk show guests may provoke a FCC licensing complaint. Just ask "right wing hatchet man" Stanley Kurtz.

For Obama, when it comes to radio talk, silence is golden, at least when it comes to conservatives.

Can localism be stopped?

FCC observers agree that the outpouring of complaints from groups like the National Religious Broadcasters during the original comment period helped delay matters.

However, Kevin Martin's determination to enact a localism regulation has led him to ask the broadcast industry to accept a voluntary standard that the FCC would then enact. If industry failed to agree now, Martin warned, "a future FCC may be less willing to compromise than the current one."

This scare tactic -- agree to our demands today or suffer dire consequences tomorrow -- is having an impact.

What broadcasters need to do: speak up now

Radio and television station owners need to become engaged in the localism issue and then take the time to educate their own Congressman and Senators about the dangers of the FCC's proposals.

If broadcasters get involved, it just may be possible to block implementation of any localism rules during the few months remaining of the Bush Administration.

This delay is critical, since once it is the Obama Administration leading the fight for rules which would shut down conservative talk radio, Republican Congressmen and Senators will find it easier to fight back.

The Senate needs to draw a line in the sand: free speech, not localism

While President Obama will have the authority to name Commissioners as their terms end, these nominations must be confirmed by the Senate.

A few pointed questions on localism to FCC nominees during their confirmation hearings would be useful. A filibuster of any and all pro-localism FCC nominees would be even better.

Any Senator leading such a filibuster would earn the gratitude of millions of fans of talk radio as well as everyone who believes in free speech..

Jim Boulet, Jr. is the founder of the anti-localism web site, KeepRushontheAir.com. Research assistance for this article was provided by Richard Falknor of Blue Ridge Forum.

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COLIN POWELL UNLEASHED: 'Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh?'

December 11, 2008
Powell: GOP 'polarization' backfired in election

Powell says the GOP tried to use 'polarization for political advantage.'



(CNN) — The Republican party must stop "shouting at the world" and start listening to minority groups if it is to win elections in the 21st century, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday.

In an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria for Sunday's "GPS" program, President Bush's former secretary of state said his party's attempt "to use polarization for political advantage" backfired last month.

"I think the party has to take a hard look at itself," Powell said in the interview, which was taped Wednesday. "There is nothing wrong with being conservative. There is nothing wrong with having socially conservative views — I don't object to that. But if the party wants to have a future in this country, it has to face some realities. In another 20 years, the majority in this country will be the minority."

Powell, who crossed party lines and endorsed President-elect Barack Obama just weeks before the election, said the GOP must see what is in the "hearts and minds" of African-American, Hispanic and Asian voters "and not just try to nfluence them by… the principles and dogma."

"I think the party has to stop shouting at the world and at the country,"Powell said. "I think that the party has to take a hard look at itself, and I've talked to a number of leaders in recent weeks and they understand that." Powell, who says he still considers himself a Republican, said his party should also stop listening to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

"Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh?" Powell asked. "Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?"
Zakaria's full interview with Powell will air Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on CNN.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...d-in-election/

[Ryan Ruck]

Yeah, like we need Colin Powell's advice.

[Toad]

I honestly don't have the slightest idea why he bothered to even register as a Republican. By word and deed, I consider him a Democrat.

[American Patriot]

I would have voted for the guy for President.

Look, there's NOTHING wrong with Limbaugh. People might dislike him a lot, but tough shit.

He is not WRONG when he starts hollering about things. He's dead right, dead on and the left hates him BECAUSE he points out their crap, mistakes and lies.

[Backstop]

"Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?"

Colin Powell has really under impressed my of late...sheesh.

He is no Republican.

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Cheney: Obama Will "Appreciate" Our Expansion Of Power

In an interview with Rush Limbaugh (via Politico), Vice President Dick Cheney predicted that the next president will appreciate the way he and George Bush expanded executive power. "Once they get here and they're faced with the same problems we deal with every day, then they will appreciate some of the things we've put in place," Cheney said.

"We did not exceed our constitutional authority, as some have suggested," Cheney added. "The President believes, I believe very deeply, in a strong executive, and I think that's essential in this day and age. And I think the Obama administration is not likely to cede that authority back to the Congress. I think they'll find that given a challenge they face, they'll need all the authority they can muster."

Cheney went on to express doubt that President Obama would, as he has promised, close Guantanamo Bay.

"Guantanamo has been very, very valuable. And I think they'll discover that trying to close it is a very hard proposition," he said. "They're unlawful combatants. And you if you're not going to have a place to locate them like Guantanamo, then you either have to bring them here to the continental United States and I don't know any member of Congress who's volunteering to have al Qaeda terrorists deposited in his district."

Cheney also expressed grave concerns about the automobile industry.
"We're on the downside of a recession that may be the worst since World War II," he said. "And if the automobile industry goes belly up now, there's a deep concern that that would be a major shock to the system."

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Alert: They are moving fast!

Most assumed Congress would simply re-enact the "Fairness Doctrine", but the clever libtards are no longer calling it The Fairness Doctrine anymore - now it is called "The Diversity in Media Ownership Act", which essentially uses government to MANDATE "different and diverse voices" whereby they consider the entire radio, TV, Internet and Cable spectrum to be "public airwaves/public interest" and will mandate 'diverse' views and opinions.

This will kill completely, the success of advertising-sponsored AM/talk radio.

Obama's new White House website highlights this agenda here:

Encourage Diversity in Media Ownership: Encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum.

While the GOP tries in vain to halt implementation of the "Fairness Doctrine", Diversity in Media Ownership achieves the same results without appearing to look like a silence of Conservative views.

Of course once Talk Radio is silenced, they will silence Christian radio shortly thereafter.

With the rest of the patriotic Christians held up in rural Churches with compromising Pastors fearing of losing their 503c status. They won't want to risk a Waco insurrection followed up with BATF repercussions.

They will cave in and sign up for FEMA Clergy Response Detail.

They have nearly thought of everything.

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White House plan puts bull's-eye on talk shows

Posted agenda issues warning about new 'obligation' review

Posted: January 26, 2009
By Bob Unruh



The White House is promising new reviews of the "obligations" to the government by broadcasters who "occupy the nation's spectrum" just as the president has targeted conservative talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh for a public attack, raising concerns over the possible restoration of the "Fairness Doctrine," a policy that failed as unneeded and unconstitutional two decades ago.

Paul Ibrahim of NorthStarWriters.com cited Obama's warning to congressional Republicans that "you can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done" in suggesting the president has become the "driving force" because a new "systematic" plan to "intimidate and demonize Obama's opponents."

That such a campaign was launched only days after Obama's inauguration is "tremendously perturbing," he wrote.

"Welcome to the politics of hope 'n' change. Obama's startling attempt to hang Limbaugh's scalp on the wall is a warning that the new ruler does not want unity – he demands it," Ibrahim wrote.

On Obama's agenda, according to his White House website, is the goal to "encourage diversity in media ownership."

Obama elaborates on the site that his aim is to "encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum."

The plan apparently aligns with longstanding Democratic suggestions to resurrect the "Fairness Doctrine."

The policy was abandoned in 1987 under President Reagan when there were 75 radio talk shows in the U.S. Reagan opposed the policy because it required broadcast TV and radio programs to air "opposing views" on political issues, which had the practical effect of virtually eliminating opinion programs.

Since abandonment of the Fairness Doctrine, the number of radio talk shows has risen to more than 3,000.

WND founder and editor Joseph Farah long has warned about Democrats' plans to revive restrictions on the airwaves.

"If the Democrats and their me-too Republican allies are successful at sacking talk radio, there will be no stopping them," Farah warned. "Broadcast will be first. Then they will go after the Internet with taxes and new regulations and hate-crimes laws. And when they succeed at muzzling dissenting voices there, they will even turn to print. Remember, we are dealing with a neo-fascist mentality here."

Many fear the Fairness Doctrine would drive talk radio hosts – like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage – out of business.


During the presidential campaign, spokesman Michael Ortiz indicated Obama thought the debate was "a distraction."

But author Brad O'Leary examined Obama's legal and organizational attempts to silence media detractors during the presidential race and came to a different conclusion.

"Barack Obama has shown a stunning lack of tolerance for free speech throughout the course of [his] campaign," said O'Leary. "His presidency, combined with supermajorities for Democrats in Congress, would almost certainly bring back the so-called 'Fairness Doctrine' and allow the Democrats to snuff out any broadcasters with whom they disagree."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., affirmed her support to Human Events reporter John Gizzi for a "Fairness" policy, and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., told radio host Jim Villanucci, "I would want this station and all stations to have to present a balanced perspective and different points of view, instead of always hammering away at one side of the political [spectrum]."

Ibrahim noted the president's public verbal condemnation of Limbaugh makes clear his "rejection" of the old "Bush" politics.

"You see, President Bush did not launch assaults on private citizens, nor did he ever label anyone as 'unpatriotic' for disagreeing with him. Thus, Obama and his friends are now effecting the change they promised. Welcome to their 'new' politics," he wrote.

The National Review's Byron York said Obama's criticism of Limbaugh makes it appear he considers the talk host "the true leader of the Republican opposition."

York said Limbaugh responded that Obama was trying to make the arguments about the radio show instead of Obama's actual plans.

"To make the argument about me instead of his plan makes sense from his perspective," Limbaugh told York. "Obama's plan would buy votes for the Democrat Party, in the same way FDR's New Deal established majority power for 50 years of Democrat rule, and it would also simultaneously seriously damage any hope of future tax cuts.

"I believe his stimulus is aimed at re-establishing 'eternal' power for the Democrat Party rather than stimulating the economy because anyone with a brain knows this is NOT how you stimulate the economy," Limbaugh continued. "If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less time debating the merits of this TRILLION dollar debacle."

Limbaugh added: "One more thing, Byron. Your publication and website have documented Obama's ties to the teachings of Saul Alinksy while he was community organizing in Chicago. Here is Rule 13 of Alinksy's Rules for Radicals: 'Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.'"

Michael G. Franc, writing on the National Review's "The Corner" blog, noted that attorney general nominee Eric Holder also has refused to commit to opposing to Fairness Doctrine.

Obama's choice to head his FCC transition team, Democrat Henry Rivera, added to fear in media circles that the Fairness Doctrine might return to silence conservative talk radio.

Brian Maloney of the blog The Radio Equalizer said in his post "Meet Talk's Executioner" he believes Rivera will use his position to bring back the law for that very purpose.

Rivera, according to Maloney, "is expected to lead the push to dismantle commercial talk radio that is favored by a number of Democratic Party senators. Rivera will play a pivotal role in preventing critics from having a public voice during Obama's tenure in office."

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Congressional Democrats Want Limbaugh to Quiet Down



The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has launched an online petition to express its outrage after conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh attacked the president's liberal policies.

The petition follows a warning from President Barack Obama that Republican leaders should stop listening to Limbaugh if they want a good relationship with Democrats and the new administration.

Limbaugh told Sean Hannity he’d love to support Obama if he chose different policies:

“If he’s going to do FDR, if he’s going to do the new, New Deal all over — which we will call here the Raw Deal — why would I want him to succeed?”
Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said he was appalled at the petition effort.

“This is absolute nonsense," he said. "It goes to show us once more that the radical left in the country depends upon the ability to censor and silence opposing viewpoints.”

Johnson said the real target of the petition is obvious.

“Free speech and religious liberty (are) the only things that stand in the way of (their) agenda," he said, "and so free speech and religious freedom are imperiled.”

Johnson also noted that congressional Democrats have more important things to focus on, such as terrorism and the economy.

— Roger Greer

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Are you with Obama or Rush?

By: Jonathan Martin
January 30, 2009 09:47 AM EST



President Obama and a key outside ally are stepping up efforts to ensure passage of the massive economic stimulus package, reaching out to Congress with both carrots and sticks.

While the president and his top aides are using all the trappings of the office, courting members through phone calls, cocktail parties, West Wing sit-downs and even a politically mixed Super Bowl party, liberal groups are dispensing with the niceties and seeking to drive a wedge between Republicans and one of the right’s most influential leaders.

Politico has learned that tomorrow Americans United for Change, a liberal group, will begin airing radio ads in three states Obama won — Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada — with a tough question aimed at the GOP senators there: Will you side with Obama or Rush Limbaugh?

“Every Republican member of the House chose to take Rush Limbaugh’s advice,” says the narrator after playing the conservative talk radio giant’s declaration that he hopes Obama “fails.”

“Every Republican voted with Limbaugh — and against creating 4 million new American jobs. We can understand why a extreme partisan like Rush Limbaugh wants President Obama’s Jobs program to fail — but the members of Congress elected to represent the citizens in their districts? That’s another matter. Now the Obama plan goes to the Senate, and the question is: Will our Senator"—here the ad is tailored by state to name George Voinovich in Ohio, Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, and John Ensign in Nevada—"side with Rush Limbaugh too?”

Asked to respond, Limbaugh had a message for his party.

“Senate Republicans need to understand this is not about me,” he wrote in an email. “It is about them, about intimidating them, especially after the show of unity in House. It is about the 2010 and 2012 elections. This is an opportunity for Republicans to redefine themselves after a few years of wandering aimlessly looking for a ‘brand’ and identity.”

Brad Woodhouse, the Democratic strategist who is overseeing the ad campaign, said: “The House Republicans put their Senate colleagues in the crosshairs because they decided to play politics rather than do the right thing.”
The radio buy comes on the heels of TV campaign by Americans United for Change and other liberal groups that began Thursday and targets GOP senators in Maine, New Hampshire, Alaska and Iowa, and another by the Laborers Union aimed at Senators in Iowa, Kentucky, Nevada and Tennessee; both designed to rally support for the stimulus package.

As their allies take to the airwaves, Obama and his top aides are conducting their own internal inside-outside lobbying effort.

The president devoted hours to closed-door meetings with House and Senate Republicans Tuesday, had leaders of both parties over to the White House for cocktails on Wednesday and hosted yet more members of Congress for a bill-signing in the East Room Thursday.

All the while, he’s been dialing individual members on the phone and his top aides, including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and National Economic Council chief Larry Summers, are conducting what one Senate Democratic leadership aide described as near-constant diplomacy on the Hill via both phone calls and personal meetings.

A few chosen members of Congress of both parties will receive the ultimate in White House wooing this weekend when they join Obama Sunday night in the residence to watch the Super Bowl. The list is an ideologically diverse one. Politico has learned it will include, among other opposites, conservative Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and liberal Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).

More publicly, Obama is making his case for the bill through a series of events that this week included a high-profile White House meeting and speech before a group of the nation’s top CEOs. Friday, Obama along with Vice President Joe Biden will deliver remarks sure to touch on the economy at an East Room event focused on middle class and working families.

From the briefing room podium, press secretary Robert Gibbs has been underscoring the need for the stimulus with a series of sobering statistics. Wednesday it was some state unemployment rates and Thursday he noted that more Americans are on unemployment since records began being kept in 1967. Friday, he’ll surely turn to what is expected to be a dismal economic growth report from the quarter of 2008.

Senate Republicans acknowledge that they’ll lose some of their members on the first vote.

“We’re in a little different spot than the House in that we have a handful of Republicans who have all but committed to supporting the package,” said a Senate GOP aide.

The aide declined to say who, but speculation on both sides of the aisle is centered on a group of northeasterners -- Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine,

Sen. Judd Gregg (NH) and Specter.
© 2008 Capitol News Company, LLC