Schlessinger ending her radio show because "my First Amendment rights have been usurped by angry, hateful groups"
From the August 17 edition of CNN's Larry King Live:
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KING: So, what are you here to tell us tonight?
SCHLESSINGER: Well, I'm
here to say that my contract is up for my radio show at the end of the year and
I have made the decision not to do radio anymore. The reason is: I want to
regain my First Amendment rights. I want to be able to say what's on my mind,
and in my heart, what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting
angry, some special interest group deciding this is a time to silence a voice of
dissent, and attack affiliates and attack sponsors.
I'm sort of done with
that. I'm not retiring. I'm not quitting. I feel energized actually, stronger
and freer to say the things that I believe need to be said for people in this
country.
KING: So, you're giving up -- you are giving up the one area of
your fame?
SCHLESSINGER: Oh, my dear. I write books. I have blogs. I have
my Web site.
KING: But people think Dr. Laura, they think her radio talk
show.
SCHLESSINGER: This is the area -- this is the era of the
Internet.
KING: So, you are going to do Internet
stuff?
SCHLESSINGER: Oh, yes, I am now.
KING: Why is your freedom
of speech denied on radio?
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Because people can
criticize what you say.
SCHLESSINGER: You know, when I started in radio,
if you said something somebody didn't agree with and they didn't like, they
argued with you. Now, they try to silence you. They try to wipe out your ability
to earn a living and to have your job. They go after affiliates. They send
threats to sponsors.
KING: That's their right, too.
SCHLESSINGER:
Yes, but I don't hatch the right to say what I need to say. My First Amendment
rights have been usurped by angry, hateful groups who don't want to debate. They
want to eliminate.
So, that's why I decided it was time to move on to
other venues where I could say my piece and not have to live in fear anymore
that sponsors and their families are going to be upset, radio stations are going
to be upset, my peeps, as I call them, are going to be upset. KING: Did you tell
your syndicate today? The people who syndicate you?
SCHLESSINGER: Ten
minutes before I came on.
KING: This show?
SCHLESSINGER: Yes.
My view is that her actions really weren't fixable once they were out there. The apology will be viewed as insincere by her critics whether it was or it wasn't. That's the way it is.
It's over and you won, she lost. You should be happy about that. The whole idea of MMFA's "demand" that sponsors drop the show was to get her fired. It worked.
Not a demand, a corporate choice that can have consumer consequences.
And btw, this isn't a game and i'm not laughing. This woman did a very nasty, uncivil and racist thing and she is now acting the victim. There should be consequences for this, for Glenn Beck, for Rush Limbaugh, for Sean Hannity - and God willing, they will soon expose their true selves and will get to wear the 'Coat of Many Transparancies' themselves.
What she said went way beyond "insensitive" - unless you condone someone counseling an african american woman who is upset about people in her circle using inappropriate language and so goes for advice from a "dr" on the radio and has the N word yelled at her 11 times and then further insulted after the commercial break. That's your definition of insensitive? This woman is supposed to be a doctor and even if she is a fake one, she represents herself as one - because of this she should be held to a higher standard than what she presented.
You are wrong on so many of your points that I'm not going to waste time going through each one of them. I don't detest these acts or people but neither will I sit by as they attempt to divide my country.
Again - in case you did not understand, if we present a situation that is offensive (our right) to a corporate sponsor and ask them if they agree with this viewpoint so we can decide if we want to be one of their consumers - that sounds like the free market to mee.
And get off your own high horse, I say God Willing when and where I want to and I could care less what you have to say about it. It is my wish to my Creator that they trip up and expose their true selves so that this madness can stop.
But you don't agree with that do you, because perhaps you are a willing participant in the division of our country? Just a thought.
You can hide behind your "polite" letter to Dr. Laura's sponsors, but I was 100% accurate with my statement.
<Again - in case you did not understand, if we present a situation that is offensive (our right) to a corporate sponsor and ask them if they agree with this viewpoint so we can decide if we want to be one of their consumers - that sounds like the free market to mee.>
I don't have a problem with people complaining to a shows sponsor. What I have a problem with is a politically-based campaign organized by a liberal group with the direct purpose of removing conservatives from the airwaves. You didn't DECIDE to write letters to Dr. Laura's sponsors, rather it was heavily suggested that you do so by MMFA. And, you happily obliged. Again, who is the sheep here?
I had written to her radio program and started writing to the sponsors as soon as I heard the racist rant. It's not hard to find them you know.
Again, you are making assumptions about me and you do not know what you are talking about. And it doesn't help your debate.
YOU are here at MMFA, attacking people who are in agreement on truth in media, sticking up for a fake radio psychologist who spewed a racist rant.
And you ask ME who the sheep is? pfffftttt.
But I would appreciate anybody who can translate JP's dazzling "closing argument" from Wingnutese into English for me. Thanks.
I didn't even know that MMFA was promoting letter writing. I didn't write a letter or call. I pretty much figured that the handwriting was on the wall when I first heard about it. I don't care how much this fraudulent "psyhcologist" [her doctorate is in physiology, not psychology] apologized. She said what she said . . . she offended people all over the country; again, most of whom have never heard of MMFA. THEY complained. The advertisers already knew about what she had done, they didn't need letters.
Dr. Laura preaches "personal responsibility" to her listeners all the time. She chews out people who try to place blame on others for their own actions. She needs to practice what she preaches.
The woman is a fraud; she has damaged a lot of folks with her hack counseling . . . she let her true colors shine through, once again, and she's paying for it, once again. She needs to suck it up and accept responsibility for her own actions. She did it.
Nothing she said was satisfactory because, given her past history, it would have been obvious that she was not sincere. She has been through this before, made the same sort of insincere apology, lost her job and blamed EVERYBODY but her own hate-filled mouth for her problems. She does not practice what she preaches.
I agree that her rant should have ended her show and it did. I'm not defending what she said at all. I'm just commenting about the reaction to her "apology" and how this website handled it.
I listened to her show in the 90s and thought she was extremely judgmental and drew conclusions without basis. It wasn't very good.
There's a simple lesson in all of this:
Don't dish it if you can't take it.
If somebody had called LS on her private phone, taped her without her knowledge, and that caller said the things LS said, then blamed the words on LS, that would be comparable to the ACORN scam.
This was all Dr. Laura's doing, no O'Keefe-style criminal set-ups or edited audio involved.
I used those examples to point out to the poster that some on the right have intentionally done far worse to some people on the left. Sometimes I think the only way to get their attention is to make an in your face comment.
They have the gall to come here trying to chastise us about "running" Dr. L out of the business when we did no such thing, but they actively used ugly tactics on Sherrod, ACORN, and Jones.
I was just adding that for the benefit of JP or any others suffering from his condition. I get in the habit of dumbing things down for the dittoheads here.
It's ridiculous, of course, for people to be whining about LS quitting because she said really stupid and racist things under no pressure from anybody, and trying to blame others for Schlessinger's failure.
As you pointed out, it's especially ridiculous when the whining is being done by those who smeared ACORN, Jones and others.
I only wanted to make sure none of them is dumb enough to pull one of those " well, this is a draw, we're even" stunts, comparing LS's self-inflicted nosedive to witch hunts and smear campaigns against others.
It's all such a game to them, that they always imagine the other side is just playing games too.
I would also like to point out, under the subject of playing the victim, the notable contrast with Helen Thomas. The latter said something stupid, really apologized, retired (immediately, not giving herself several more months to possibly make things worse), and did not blame anyone but herself. Clearly Schlessinger isn't adult enough to handle things the way Thomas did.
TRANSLATION:
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Same $*!t
*Same mentality
*Same sense of entitlement in telling others how to live
*Different group of apologists
*Same message
I'm really not defending her. She clearly did it. It was an act she could not recover from.
I don't dance around and celebrate when somebody like "Dr." Laura commits career suicide by her own ignorance and bigotry. It's sad and pathetic, and I mostly hope maybe somebody else who suffers from the same problems as she does can learn something.
Unfortunately, it seems that the ones that could most stand to learn something are putting all of their energy into enthusiastically refusing to learn anything from it.
That's right. Know what's it's called, Bruce?
THE FREE MARKET IN ACTION.
Show me where I said she shouldn't be accountable.
She got FIRED because of HER BEHAVIOR.
She's not a victim here!
It isn't about us winning and her losing. It's about HER destroying her own career after poisoning the national discourse for far too long.
She never one claimed that her contract wasn't going to be renewed, she claims that she decided not to renew it. And therefore, if she has been fired, she fired herself.
I said clearly that she deserved to lose her show at 10:47am and I shouldn't have to repeat myself, right?
Stop pretending she is.
Or that they were "taken out of context", like Rush claimed during his radio pukefest today?
Stop pretending she is.
Okay, I don't think that there are really THAT many people in this country who even know what MMFA is. It's kind of like saying that because Bill O'Reilly has the highest rated show on cable opinion networks that EVERYBODY listens to him. His show is seen by roughly 3 million people out of a population of over 300 million.
My guess is that what got advertisers to pull their money from this hateful old fraud [she has NO educational qualifications to be a marriage and family counselor AT ALL] was a) good conscience; b) many, many phone calls and letters from upset listeners.
Time for Dr. Laura who always preaches "personal responsibility," to start taking some of her own advice. SHE is responsible for the loss of her show. She's just trying to find someone else to blame.
I think I'm being oppressed, where is my constitutionally guaranteed nationally syndicated talk show and big paycheck with corporate sponsors lined up that MUST support me NO MATTER WHAT I say?
Schlessinger could have apologized, but the thing is bruce1ace, that anyone can go in front of the camera and say you're sorry after polls or negative feedback comes back and bites you.
I think if Schlessinger would vow to handle things with more of an open mind and respect for the people she offended, and then followed through on that promise, she would be forgiven and even praised for it. Her actions are what got her into this mess, and her actions could have gotten her out of it.
A half-hearted non apology is cheap and easy in this day and age. Real action and deeds are much more difficult and much stronger in the long run.
here's the transcript (emphasis mine):
IOW, you don't care WHO you get advice from -- right?
But she shouldn't use the handle "Dr" if she doesn't have a degree in counselling when she is marketing herself as a counsellor!
you really need to expose yourself to respected news outlets around the world like the cbc or bbc or the economist. listening to their disinterested, truthful, professional news and opinion pieces you quickly realize how absurd the myth of the liberal or anti-american media is
;)
MMFA is very diligent in presenting information and video accurately.
If one doesn't like what one sees/reads on MMFA, he/she shouldn't be attacking MMFA but those "news" organizations he/she relies on for factual reporting that choose to either not address the matter or to edit videos before sharing them with their viewers/listeners/readers.
Your "MMFA is a hate site" dog won't hunt because that dog's blind, crippled, and deaf, not to that mention he also has olfactory problems . LMAO
If you want to see a hate group, i'm sure you can bring one up pretty quickly on your own computer, maybe in your favorite places?
When you're reduced to calling people sheep, you've already lost.
Most peopl who come to this site know their political leanings, purpose and intent. There is really no conflict of interest as they have never called themselves or hid behind the idea of being centrist or "Fair and balanced".
If I were say... let's see if I can find an example you can relate to - a troll who only visited a conservative website to bait posters about their support of a racist fake psychologist - then I could understand your accusation. However I am a regular visitor here and post among friends so again, you are WRONG.
And now, I'm done with you. I've given you far too much attention over your continued one-note argument.
That's one of the reasons that this is among my favorite political websites. There is a civility of discussion that isn't found in many other places. There's heat and passion, but the debates tend to be pretty fact- and logic-based. There are conservatives who have been posting here for years. It seems to require a lot to get banned in most cases, which is as it should be.
Does that help you to "understand" who funds MMFA?
I have never heard, for example, Bill O'Reilly insist that he did not say what MMFA reported in a transcription. He will complain bitterly about being misinterpreted, unfairly attacked, etc., but he generally concedes that he says what MMFA says he did. At most he will claim he didn't mean it the way it sounded. That's certainly his priviledge.
I have had the experience of seeing Tucker Carlson say something, then deny it, then seeing the MMFA transcript match my memory of the incident. I have seen MMFA's expansion of selectively edited video clips, which often reveal astonishing duplicity by the selective editors. No one has suggested that MMFA is fabricating the missing footage, not even the perpetrators of distorted edits. Many posts by MMFA consists of clips from shows on FOX News, with very little else to say. The clips seem to say it all.
These are the things that lead me to believe that MMFA is reliable. Not unbiased - their stated purpose is to oppose misinformation and disinformation by conservative media. But I haven't seen them going out of their way to make up nutty stuff the way Beck, Hannity, Savage, Limbaugh, et. al., do. What I would like to hear from JPeagle is a citation of the suspicious sources of funding to which he alludes. I am sure that MMFA is supported by left-leaning persons and organizations, since it is a decidedly liberal organization, a fact about which it makes no pretense.
Tell you what - when FOX stops saying "We report, you decide" and airs a one hour special announcing that they are shills for the GOP, I'll accept that they have made the first baby step toward the kind of excellence commonly found at the MMFA site.
:/ <grin>
"They will get their due. I just can't wait to see it."
AWWWWW -- but beagle, if/when that happens, THEN where will you and other rightwing teabaggers go to complain about your rights being trampled?
Dr.Laura is responsible, she needs to suck it up. This has happened to her before when she offended a group of people with her nonsense. Her television program was shut down in 2001 because of her offensive comments about gay people. She apologized, but 170 of her sponsors pulled their support. I don't believe MMFA was around then. Who was responsible for the advertisers pulling their ads then? Well, I believe the answer would be Dr. Laura and her hateful mouth.
You are defending the indefensible simply because you think of her as a "conservative," and because she attacked MMFA. Dr. Laura's mouth is the cause of most of her problems in life. She needs to own it.
Dr. Laura, in saying what she did last night, just completely destroyed all of her "good" counsel to the poor schmucks who called her over the years for advice. She always told them that they should take responsibility for their own actions . . . looks like the old fraud (she is NOT qualified to give marriage and family counseling) doesn't practice what she preaches.
Oh, goody -- if Dr. Loadof writes a book, and that book gets published, I'd guess all that talk about her "losing her First Amendment rights" and "not being able to say what's on her mind" is a load of brown stuff . . . right?
THus, that LS can't see the difference goes directly to the root of why she so badly mishandled her use of the n-word on her poor excuse for a radio show. Plus, her public belly-aching about being a martyr for the First Amendment is pure BS.
She acted like an a$$, and is now upset that she's been called out on it.
1. Spewing hate for millions of dollars a year= Freedom of Speech.
2. Criticizing people who spew hate for millions of dollars a year: Depriving them of their Freedom of Speech.
WTF-ever, you withered, evil, hypocritical old crone.
Exactly, jj.
Just another example of how, to the teabagging right, freedom of speech means only the right to
- make racist or race-baiting statements
- call the President a "racist . . . with a deep-seated hatred for white people"
- call the President a socialist/communist/fascist/nazi/etc.
- refer to anyone who protested the war between 2003-2008 a "traitor"
- call a women's college basketball team a "bunch of nappy-headed hoes"
but NOT the freedom to
- call out people who make racist or race-baiting statements
- criticize GW Bush
- call Sarah Palin an idiot
Dr Laura isn't being forced off the air by anyone except her employers. She got fired. Just like you or I could, anytime.
If Dr Laura thinks her Constitutional Rights have been violated, she should go to court. She won't, because they haven't.
What about the fact that we are the heirs of a civilization founded on principles of rational discourse by Plato and Aristotle? These men would recognize the "marketplace of ideas" as the metaphor of a sophist. I know you must have heard it somewhere, cbcbcb, but you shouldn't repeat everything you hear.
BTW, Laura...your First Amendment rights are not being infringed. You can say whatever you want...you just have to the price for your stupidity. You're no better than anyone else...
Retire?
Play a song about "Barack the Magic Negro"?
I'm confused.
YOU CAUSED ALL OF THIS TO HAPPEN. You did it. You spoke the words, over and over in a rant that was so racist that you ended your show early, and started issuing the apologizes. Now you want to blame others for being outraged? The people have spoken. What you did was disgraceful and leaving the show was the right thing to do - leaving it while blaming others for your stupidity will make whatever good you may have done for some in the past mean nothing.
You are one of many who are going to be held to transparancy by "the people" if you cannot have a civil conversation about your fellow man and you continue to vilify those who are trying to do good for this country. "The people" have had enough of the lies, the blame, and the racist conservative hypocrisy.
You may want to seek some counseling to help you deal with your anger issues, your victimhood, your arrogance, and your lack of empathy. You should be counseling no one when you are so obviously broken yourself.
I don't know about you, but I'll try to do better next time...
<sarcasm>
and gave her that hot helmet!
It's not a 1st amendment issue. Dr. Laura didn't have to quit according to her own admission. No one is forcing her to never use the n-word again. The government won't jail her or cut off her tongue if she does. Free speech protects both those who utter hateful speech and those who call them out for it. It's not just for the racists.
Simple concept.
i'm sure web site hits and book sales will ROCKET now that you have no venue to spout your evil you nasty, dried up old piece of leather.
I never knew until today that the first amendment guarantees me my own radio show. I'm going to sue to get my piece of the American Dream.
Her peeps? Hilarious..... more of her "black lingo"
So she is going to post silly swill on Facebook while ducking interviews? I geuss it is a lucrative gig.
Worked for Sarah Palin . . .
The other problem with their argument is, they're usually complaining the loudest about "not being listened to" while shouting at a rally carrying a misspelled sign -- which kinda undercuts their argument in the first place . . .
IOW, she's no Rush Limpballs {who not only takes the verbal blows, but actually seems to thrive on them.}
She's a lightweight.
I call it the march in lockstep mentality.
One of the funniest things to see in the (for lack of a better word) evolution of the Teabaggers happened early on.
The early rallies featured a lot of " Can you hear us now?", "You'll listen to us in November!", " We won't be ignored!" on the signs and in the chants, a clear message that they had something to say, and they wanted somebody to listen.
A funny thing happened. Within a few months, every video I saw of the teabaggers had them completely clamming up when a camera got near. The ones that were babbling had a friend nearby begging them to shut up.
They got a ridiculous amount of media coverage, and were exposed as being completely confused about almost everything. They never really made the jump from being outraged and angry to figuring out exactly what (real) issues they were actually mad about.
I love how Larry King tried to explain to her that she doesn't have a first amendment right that has been "usurped." She can't deal with the consequences of exercising her "first amendment rights" and she wants sympathy. How pathetic.
LK: You're giving up your only claim to fame. So, where do you think you're going to take those "first amendment" rights dear?
Love ya Larry!
All of the media entertainers on the right can keep their jobs and lie as much as they choose, but we reserve the right to call them on their lies, hypocrisy, and BS.
Don't lie if you don't want your lies to be exposed. It's that simple.
Governing this country is NOT a game.