The real national liberal radio

For a while now I’ve tended to refer to National Public Radio as “national liberal radio.” It mean, it truly is a liberal radio network as far as I can tell. But now I have to stop that because now there is actually a talk-radio group that claims to be the national liberal network. Air America Radio, which began broadcasting today at noon, is the liberal solution to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity that Al Gore and Co. have been dreaming up over the last few years.

Already I’ve heard about a lot of alleged activities and facts that the mainstream press has supposedly avoided discussing, and I am intrigued. According to today’s Randy Rhodes Show, Retired Gen. Jay Garner, former US administrator in Iraq, was the subject of a whisper campaign by the White House, for example. The whispers included the rumors that Garner wore women’s underwear. Also, a guest on the same show this afternoon described James Baker, 3rd, as the “lawyer for the Saudi royal family against the families of the victims of 9/11.” I haven’t yet looked up the Garner rumors but I have tried to find information about Baker’s role in a suit against the Saudi royal family, and have so far been unsuccessful. I don’t claim it’s untrue, but I haven’t found anything yet. I will keep trying, and will post on anything else I hear that intrigues me.

At the very least, it is nice that those whose views differ from Rush Limbaugh’s have a place to go. But it’s also nice to imagine that just as liberals listen to Limbaugh and Hannity on occasion, that conservatives and others will listen to Air America. A little healthy opposition is good for the soul and the mind.

[More information from the New York Times]