Sen. Tom Harkin Says “We Need the Fairness Doctrine”
February 11, 2009
Add Sen. Tom Harkin to the growing list of Democrats who have come out in favor of reinstating the fairness doctrine. Tom Harkin is so enthused about the prospect that when he appeared on a liberal radio talk show he didn’t even have to be asked about it, he volunteered his approval of the restriction of the freedom of speech and freedom of the press known as the fairness doctrine:
we gotta get the Fairness Doctrine back in law again
Democrats feel that the fairness doctrine must be reinstated because talk radio is the last place where conservative ideas dominate. They want to stifle conservatives as much as possible instead of debating them on the merits of their ideas.
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America's Watchtower 
One thing is obvious, the democrats have the gun loaded and are beginning to point it at their foot. This will backfire on them so bad if they try to do this.
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Does that mean Olberman and Matthews have to share a set with Rush Limbaugh? That would probably be entertaining, but not much substance would come from all the shouting. Then again, that might be the plan…
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I didn’t think about that. Limbaugh having to share a set with someone who can be as obnoxious as he is. I might actually pay money to see that.
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How can they institute this thing on radio and not on television? If it applied to both I would think the republicans would be for it and the democrats would be against it.
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Very true.
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One thing righties don’t get is the right wing money bags made it their goal to buy up the media and take it over. They continue to buy up stations and take off the progressive shows. This started about 20 years ago. We the people should hear both sides on the am dial. It’s we the people who are suffering as a result. The righties don’t want us to hear both sides. And we the people own the airwaves!!!!!
Why do you think they don’t want us to hear both sides?
So when Senators Stabenaw and Harkin found out that the progressive station in our NATION’S CAPITOL was taken off by righties, they rightly said we need the fairness doctine in the name of democracy. Righties see it as money means power.
I can’t help wonder what are the righties afraid of if we the people hear both sides and make up our own minds on the issues? Who are they to tell us the views we have to go along with? Wake up folks!
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Just one more step toward totalitarian socialism/fascism. The Nazis, the USSR, communist China, etc. also dictated what could and could not be broadcast.
A free society does not need the government controlling what they hear. I mean really, do the Dims not see that this is government control? Do they just not care?
In a free society I should be able to tune in to that to which I want to listen. If I want to hear the other side, then I can just turn the dial. I should not be forced to listen to anything.
And just where does it end? When I go to mass must I also hear from an evangelical and a rabbi and a swami and a muslim and a buddhist…..get my point?
And I’m currious, if this is an argument for equal expression then do I also get to hear the arguments against global warming/climate change? No? Really?
Democrat = Socialist, I agree but would also say Democrat = Hypocrite.
Joe from NH, spot on there regarding the television. What would the libs think if they were forced to provide programing with actual value to balance the liberal brainwashing that is currently being disseminated to the public?
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whiteamericanpatriot:
What are you afraid of by hearing both sides?
What does going to mass have to do with the American people OWNING THE AIR WAVIES?
Why is your view more important?
Did you get the memo that the Repubs were soundly rejected last November?
Wake up!
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DownriverDem, I would ask you what you are afraid of? Talk radio is the only place where the conservative voice can be heard. The television is dominated by libs but that is okay? This is an attempt to silence the last remaining place where conservatives can discuss the issues.
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Mr Pink Eyes
Fox News is not a liberal station.
We are talking about the radio. The American people own the airwaves.
I want both sides. Why is that a problem for you? No one side should be on the public air waves.
Are you afraid of hearing the other side?
Are you aware of the rejection of the Republican Party last November?
No one side should be on the public airwaves?
I really worry about folks like you who do not want both sides. Talk radio is not the same as tv.
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For the record, John McCain was rejected by 53% of the country. And regardless of what the great obama says, that does not mean that we conservative republicans cannot continue to fight for our rights.
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Whiteamericanpatriot:
Nice try.
We elect the president by the electoral college and McCain lost in a landslide. The GOP finally realizes that appealing only to corporations and angry white folks will not win them elections anymore.
You can fight all you want, just remember we Americans reject you because your party only does the bidding of big corporations. The Republicans do not care about average Americans and they never have.
Why anynormal working person would support the Repubs who have destroyed our once great country is a huge mystery to me and the majority of Americans who support President Obama.
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DD, why don’t you admit why you want to see people like Limbaugh forced off of the airwaves. That is the agenda. While I strongly disagree with most of the stuff that Limbaugh says, he has his right to say it.
The only difference between radio and TV is that one has pictures. What applies to radio should apply to TV. Those airwaves are owned by the people as well.
Heck, once you go down the slippery slope, what to keep it from applying to the Internet.
What does winning the election have anything to do with talk radio? Hate to burst your bubble, the market determines what get broadcast on the radio (and TV for that matter). Liberal talk radio failed to pull in the ratings so they didn’t get the sponsors. No sponsors, no money.
If there is to be liberal talk radio (and conservative TV), someone needs to figure out how to make it happen rather than have the government force it through with a mandate.
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Terrant
I don’t care if Rush is on. I care that right wing hate talk is controlling the airwaves that all Americans own.
What is it you don’t understand? Why would you not want to hear both sides? Don’t you want to make up your own mind?
The election tells folks like you that we reject the right wing hate agenda.
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You do realize that there is nothing stopping the liberals from starting their own radio network? As a matter a fact, they did several years ago. Know what? It failed. Nobody listened.
It seems like to me that you are full of hatred and loathing at the fact the conservatives won on radio that you want to punish them regardless of the consequences. When the fairness doctrine was in place previously, it had the effect of stifling free speech. Nobody wanted to talk about anything controversial because they might get sued if there was someone who felt that their point of view was not considered. Then again, you don’t care as long as those evil right wingnuts are put in their place.
I understand what you are saying perfectly. Your insistence of keeping the topic on radio just reveals your agenda for what it is; a desire to silence an opposing point of view. Here is a suggestion, if you don’t like what they are saying, feel free to turn off the radio and watch liberal TV.
You know I must have missed that part of the ballot. I don’t remember anything my ballot asking me if we should ban right wingnuts from the airwaves. We elected a president and congressional representatives. Interesting that you think 53% is a landslide yet 52% is not.
I don’t need some “government fix it for me” ideolog asking me to if I not want to hear both sides. I read political blogs (liberal and conservative), I watch TV, and yes, I listen to talk radio. I listen to arguments on both sides and come to my own conclusions.
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terrant,
Very well said.
You know, you bewilder me. Most of the time you and I are butting heads, usually because I have stepped on your toes or vise versa, but then every now and then we hit the same note. Pretty scary to think that you and I are sometimes on the same page, eh? I didn’t know we were in the same book.
How’s that for a bunch of mixed metaphors?
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DownriverDem, you are missing the point. I do listen to both sides, but when I watch television I am bombarded with the liberal side, you can site Foxnews, but I will site CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, and I could continue. In order to hear another side I have to listen to talk radio.
I am not against two siede stories, I just wish that I got more of them. Terrant summed it up best when he said that the market dictates what shows will stay on the air, it isn’t the government’s responsibility to dictate to radio stations what they can and can’t air.
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“You know, you bewilder me.”
My wife tells me that all of the time. 🙂 As I wrote my last comment, I had a hunch that you were going to be wondering what I am smoking.
The truth is that I don’t believe in absolutes. As a general rule, the government should just stay out of the way. On the other hand, sometimes the government needs to put some oil on the economic machine to keep it running smootly. Now what form should that oil take? That is a good point to debate.
I just get irritated at the republicans bemoaning that the democrats are selling us and our children out yet; when the republicans had control of Washington, they did just that and none of them cared. At least until they lost control. So I ask you to forgive me if I view the outrage over the democrat spending bill cynically.
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Downriverdem: “Both” sides? When was fairness pared down to two sides? Given that most Americans are NOT being represented, where do you invent the line to draw?
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