Howard Stern vs. George Bush

[Lord Poe]

Link

Washington Post
Monday, March 15, 2004; 8:21 AM

The Howard Factor
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer

Could President Bush pay a price for the FCC crackdown on airwaves
indecency?

He's made a powerful enemy, it seems, in Howard Stern.

Scoff if you must, but the guy has millions of listeners, and he's
furious at Bush.

Stern has had a minor political impact before. He helped Christie
Whitman get elected in New Jersey in '93 (in return for a promise to
name a rest stop after him) and George Pataki in '94. Al D'Amato and
Donald Trump were frequent guests. He's been doing the same
sex-and-celebrities shtick for 20 years, only recently incurring the
wrath of the let's-clean-up-the-airwaves-after-Janet Jackson crowd.

Stern's impact could be limited, of course, if he carries out his
threat to quit if Congress passes the new indecency law with
mega-fines. Or if he gets booted from the air, though he's made a
bundle for Viacom.

But if he stays near a microphone and continues to trash the
administration, Howard Power could take on a new meaning.

Salon's Eric Boehlert has the goods:

"Declaring a 'radio jihad' against President Bush, syndicated morning
man Howard Stern and his burgeoning crusade to drive Republicans from
the White House are shaping up as a colossal media headache for the
GOP, and one they never saw coming.

"The pioneering shock jock, 'the man who launched the raunch,' as the
Los Angeles Times once put it, has emerged almost overnight as
the most influential Bush critic in all of American broadcasting, as
he rails against the president hour after hour, day after day to a
weekly audience of 8 million listeners. Never before has a Republican
president come under such withering attack from a radio
talk-show host with the influence and national reach Stern has . . .

"Stern had strongly backed Bush's war on Iraq, but in the past two
weeks, he has derided the president as a 'Jesus freak,' a 'maniac' and
'an arrogant bastard,' while ranting against 'the Christian right
minority that has taken over the White House.' Specifically, Stern has
assailed Bush's use of 9/11 images in his campaign ads, questioned his
National Guard service, condemned his decision to curb stem cell
research and labeled him an enemy of civil liberties, abortion rights
and gay rights.

"In other words, it's the kind of free campaign rhetoric the
Democratic National Committee couldn't have imagined just one month
ago.

"'Our research shows many, many people in the 30- to 40-year-old range
who were Bush supporters are rethinking that position and turning away
from Bush because of what Howard Stern has been saying,' says Michael
Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine...

"Anecdotally, those daily phone calls from listeners -- mostly men --
who tell Stern they usually don't vote, but this year they're
definitely going to vote against Bush (and it's usually against, Bush
not for Sen. John Kerry) cannot be comforting to the Bush/Cheney
'04 strategists."

SNIP

[Mr Bean]

Given Sterns Humor/Shock to the basic fact that the avarage Bush voter(Or the one Bush is always going after at least) is a god fearing Sunday School America

Which comprises a small part of Howard Stern's listening group

Much like when Rush rails aginst democratcs on his three hours on the radio rarley does it turn new votes for the republicicans mostly because all thier voters are already listening

[justifier]

0\/\/|\|3|]!

This exactly what's need to get Bush out of the White House, someone who actually has charisma to change the mind of the common voter.

[Mr Bean]

This exactly what's need to get Bush out of the White House, someone who actually has charisma to change the mind of the common voter.

Speaking as a military man, the last thing I want in the middle of a multiple operation excute is a Change of Command, especillay when the new guy thinks we can defeat the enemy by leaving it alone and not doing anything to make it angrey espilly when thats pretty much what they are trying to get us to do to begin with.

[Darth Raptor]

8 million? Does anyone know how that compares to the O'Reillylimbaughannity crowd?

[Lord Poe]

8 million? Does anyone know how that compares to the O'Reillylimbaughannity crowd?

Don't know about O'Reilly, but Lumbaugh has more because he's syndicated in more markets. The reason is Stern charges more for his show.

[The Albino Raven]

Speaking as a military man, the last thing I want in the middle of a multiple operation excute is a Change of Command, especillay when the new guy thinks we can defeat the enemy by leaving it alone and not doing anything to make it angrey espilly when thats pretty much what they are trying to get us to do to begin with.

I for one have not heard Kerry saying he would leave the problem alone. In fact, Kerry has been a louder proponent of doing a good job fixing Iraq than Bush has. As for your comment about the nature of terrorists, it would seem to me that you would rather be getting attacked by terrorists, instead of doing everything within the interests of our country to ensure they don't attack. Obviously I can't speak for you, but I am not a junkie for 9-11 style terrorism.

[Mr Bean]

I for one have not heard Kerry saying he would leave the problem alone. In fact, Kerry has been a louder proponent of doing a good job fixing Iraq than Bush has.

Acutaly this is half true, in the sense its half true of most folks running for office

The main problem with the above is simply the fact that Kerry has said BOTH ways about damn near everything(Just something that seems to happen when people are running for their partys Presidential Nomination)

So what are we to go on? Will he not not back out of Iraq and the rest of the war? Will he not not not not not? Will he not not not not not squared times infinity plus two?

[Uraniun235]

So you think any president should be given a free ticket to a second term just because he got the military mired in another nation?

[Alyrium Denryle]

Even if he strips us of our civil liberties, quashes free speech on the airwaves, stiffles much neded stem-cell reseach, and sets gay rights back 10 yars in the process?

[Oni Koneko Damien]

I think this is the fallacy of sunk-costs, basically it goes something like this: "But we've already spent ten million on developing an underwater pogo-stick, it would be foolish to pull out now!" Unless I'm insanely mistaken about human nature, they're going to hate us if we invade them, and they're going to hate us if we don't, so why not take the route that costs less lives?

-Damien

[Durandal]

Acutaly this is half true, in the sense its half true of most folks running for office

The main problem with the above is simply the fact that Kerry has said BOTH ways about damn near everything(Just something that seems to happen when people are running for their partys Presidential Nomination)

So what are we to go on? Will he not not back out of Iraq and the rest of the war? Will he not not not not not? Will he not not not not not squared times infinity plus two?

The notion that Bush should get a free ticket to a second term because he bullshitted his way into a war is absurd, at best. As far as I can tell, we still lack a solid timetable and plan for rebuilding Iraq. The plan, so far, seems to be "Throw more troops at the problem," which is typical corporate mentality, only "troops" is replaced with "money" in the private sector. If Kerry can present a plan for rebuilding Iraq in a timely fashion, then he's preferable to Bush, who went in there blindly.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

8 million? Does anyone know how that compares to the O'Reillylimbaughannity crowd?

Rush Limbaugh has something on the order of twenty million listeners (most of whom are already right-wing dittoheads who'd vote for Bush regardless.) Mind you, both Limbaugh and Stern are known for being bombastic windbags, so their cumulative effect on the outcome of the election (in spite of what the pundits may think) could be described as a
very, very small number.

[Galvatron]

Isn't it possible that Kerry will actually cooperate with the UN on Iraq? Don't a lot of our servicement want to come home?

[Mr Bean]

So you think any president should be given a free ticket to a second term just because he got the military mired in another nation?

Even if he strips us of our civil liberties, quashes free speech on the airwaves, stiffles much neded stem-cell reseach, and sets gay rights back 10 yars in the process?

The notion that Bush should get a free ticket to a second term because he bullshitted his way into a war is absurd, at best. As far as I can tell, we still lack a solid timetable and plan for rebuilding Iraq.

Keeping all the above in mind this is why I perfaced my statments by saying thusly

Speaking as a military man, the last thing I want in the middle of a multiple operation excute is a Change of Command

When one is sitting a gun watch in the middle of the gulf of the side of a tincan one rarley thinks about one's civil libertiys Alyrium, one is far more concered about weather or not some poor dumb bastard decided today is a good day to die for his god and wants to get you in on the action

Speaking strickly as a military man means just that, taking into consideration only those things important to stratagy and mission acomplisment which weather or not Iraq women should be allowed to drive or what some one can say on TV back home normaly does not fall under unless from a security standpoint

Don't a lot of our servicement want to come home?

Six months ago you were given fourty eight hours to say good-bye to everyone you knew and loved, would you not want after five or six months of humping it in a desert with a -16 and your rucsack for twelve hours a day, facing enemy fire and probably loosing a few people in your squad or at least platoon would you not want to come home after six months of that?

You would probably want to go home after six second let alone six months
Hell everyone does

[Exonerate]

I think this is the fallacy of sunk-costs, basically it goes something like this: "But we've already spent ten million on developing an underwater pogo-stick, it would be foolish to pull out now!" Unless I'm insanely mistaken about human nature, they're going to hate us if we invade them, and they're going to hate us if we don't, so why not take the route that costs less lives?

-Damien

This is our chance to show that we're not trying to oppress Islamic people, etc - if we do a good job, some reasonable people might look at it and say "Hey, the US really did a good job fixing Iraq up, maybe they're not as bad as we though."

We managed to help Europe recover after WW2, Iraq should be easier in comparison.

[Vympel]

We managed to help Europe recover after WW2, Iraq should be easier in comparison.

That was Europe- it has Europeans . It also helps that Europe was invaded by Germany. America invaded Iraq, it doesn't matter how disgusting the leader was.

[The Albino Raven]

That was Europe- it has Europeans . It also helps that Europe was invaded by Germany. America invaded Iraq, it doesn't matter how disgusting the leader was.

Yeah. Furthermore, the fact that many people in the middle east see us not only as invaders, but as wholehearted supporters of their nemesis (Israel) is hurting our stance as well.

[JME2]

Link

Washington Post
Monday, March 15, 2004; 8:21 AM

The Howard Factor
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer

<snip like this please>

Good. The more people we have fighting against Bush, the better chance we have of ousting him and the Republican party from the White House once and for all.

There was no need to quote the entire article like that. ~ Crown

[Darth Wong]

That was Europe- it has Europeans . It also helps that Europe was invaded by Germany. America invaded Iraq, it doesn't matter how disgusting the leader was.

Yeah. Furthermore, the fact that many people in the middle east see us not only as invaders, but as wholehearted supporters of their nemesis (Israel) is hurting our stance as well.

They "see us" as invaders and wholehearted supporters of Israel? I hate to break the news to you, but no matter what you may think of most Islamofascist bullshit, this perception happens to be factually correct.

[The Albino Raven]

I wasn't suggesting that we weren't really invaders or that we don't really support Israel, merely that, whether or not we do these tings, if they think we do, then they are not gonna like us.

[JME2]

That was Europe- it has Europeans . It also helps that Europe was invaded by Germany. America invaded Iraq, it doesn't matter how disgusting the leader was.

Yeah. Furthermore, the fact that many people in the middle east see us not only as invaders, but as wholehearted supporters of their nemesis (Israel) is hurting our stance as well.

They "see us" as invaders and wholehearted supporters of Israel? I hate to break the news to you, but no matter what you may think of most Islamofascist bullshit, this perception happens to be factually correct.

I consider this one of history's greatest ironies - that the three Abrahamic traditions which preach belief in the same god have for all these years hated each other and been at each other's throats.

[Darth Raptor]

Actually, in modern times, it's more Christians and Jews vs. Muslims than it is the tripple threat free-for-all it used to be.

[Lord Poe]

-------------------------------------------------------------


Yet Another Link


TELEVISION & RADIO

Political Agitator

The shock jock interrupts his routine sexual banter for barrages against
Bush.
By Bob Baker
Times Staff Writer

March 22 2004

For four weeks Howard Stern has been sounding like Lenny Bruce crossed
with James Carville.

The sexually obsessed talk-show host, who reaches between 8 million and
9 million people a week, has been regularly interrupting the off-color
juvenility of his show to rail against President Bush and urge listeners
to vote for < and send money to < rival candidate Sen. John Kerry
(D-Mass.). Stern, who supported Bush effusively for his response to
Sept. 11, including the invasion of Iraq, now dismisses the president as
a tool of the religious right.

Sterns' fans have listened to his marriage crumble. They've listened to
his tales about visiting a psychiatrist. They've listened to him fall in
love again. They've listened to him savor last night's lap dances and
paddle the naked bottoms of beautiful women to the beat of rock songs.
And now they're listening to him mock Bush as a draft dodger and a
president of low intelligence. These daily diatribes fly seamlessly in
and out of wacky, tasteless contests or interviews. Friday, Stern put as
much energy into condemning Vice President Dick Cheney's congressional
voting record and youthful drunk-driving arrests as he did into
belittling Courtney Love's bizarre on-stage disrobing.

Bush, a onetime problem drinker who gave up alcohol, and Cheney are
"out-of-control men who need Jesus to keep them in line," Stern said
pugnaciously. "You know what, man? The Republicans are owned by the
right. It's time to reject them summarily. Let's start with Bush. We're
taking the biggest guy out first. Him and Cheney."

Stern has always been an angry man on the air, but his war < despite
frequent Federal Communications Commission sanctions < was often an
unfocused rant against hypocrisy. Ever since Clear Channel, which ran
his show on six of its stations, canceled Stern on Feb. 23, contending
he did not meet corporate standards, he has channeled his anger into
hardball politics. His show is still heard on three dozen stations,
including KLSX-FM (97.1) in L.A. Stern says he had begun blasting Bush
days before and that Clear Channel was acting in the name of
pro-Republican politics, not decency. (Clear Channel says Stern allowed
a guest to utter a racial slur and will resume broadcasting his show
when "we are assured that his show will conform to acceptable standards
of responsible broadcasting.")

Stern also has long reveled in his ability to move his listeners. He
endorsed two Republican gubernatorial candidates (Christine Todd Whitman
in New Jersey, who reciprocated by naming a highway rest stop after him,
and George Pataki in New York) and two presidential candidates
(Democrats Bill Clinton, twice, and Al Gore.) He once gave some on-air
thought to running for governor of New York as a Libertarian. On Friday
morning he boasted: "My fans are energizing, 18-to-25[-year-old] white
males who sometimes vote, sometimes don't. They just need a cause and
their cause is me.... They're the only people that you can swing.... We,
the Million Moron March, we will vote against Bush."

Just how much difference Stern can make is questionable. Of 10 states
with close races between Bush and Al Gore in 2000, Stern is not on the
air in five: Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and New Mexico.
He has a strong presence in only two of the 10 states, Ohio and Nevada;
in one of the most crucial states < Florida < he is now heard only in
Fort Meyers. Clear Channel removed him from its Miami and Orlando
stations, which means that angry Stern fans may rise politically in
those cities or < no longer able to hear the show and his call to arms <
make little difference.

Stern has vowed to quit radio if a bill to raise FCC fines for indecency
is approved. (The House earlier this month passed the Broadcast Decency
Enforcement Act; a similar bill is moving through the Senate.) Skeptics
note that Stern has made the same kind of threat dozens of times in
past, often in response to the way his flagship station, WXRK-FM in New
York, bleeps out extreme sexual content.

"My head wants to explode with everything I'm angry about," Stern said
about an hour into Friday's 6-to-11 a.m. broadcast. "Then I get nervous
I'm talking too much politics. I know what you guys want...."

And with that he introduced a snippet of sound by a champion
gas-emitter, set to a sports anthem.

Then it was back to politics.

"Jimmy Kimmel made the best point of all," Stern said. "I'll be
interested if this gets on [the air]. It's from the Oprah show."

He played a short bit of audio from Kimmel's Thursday night ABC network
talk show, in which Kimmel showed an explicit sexual conversation on
Oprah Winfrey's TV show. A guest used a euphemism for an oral sex act
that was quickly translated for a titillated audience.

Kimmel noted that earlier Thursday, the FCC had proposed fining Infinity
Broadcasting, which syndicates Stern, the maximum $27,500 for a Stern
show broadcast on WKRK-FM in Detroit three years ago. (The FCC received
a complaint from a Detroit listener about a show that featured
discussions about sexual techniques.)

Will the FCC go after Winfrey, "the filthiest broadcaster on American
television?" Kimmel asked jokingly.

But, as Stern had predicted, his own audience didn't hear the definition
of the euphemism; the censor at WXRK bleeped it as too graphic.

Stern began hectoring station general manager Tom Chiusano: "You bleeped
it? But it was on Oprah!"

There's a double standard that is prejudiced against you, Chiusano
responded.

Stern begged Chiusano to let him play the snippet again, uncensored. His
reasoning was that the FCC would never risk the backlash of fining
Winfrey's show. ("Let them fine Oprah, the most successful black woman
in this country.") So it would either have to lay off him in this case
or risk appearing hypocritical. "Let me play it now."

Chiusano left to consult with a station attorney, saying he'd be back in
10 minutes. Stern took phone calls. A guy name Mike, from Pittsburgh,
one of the cities where Clear Channel booted Stern's show, called to say
he was a registered Republican who would vote for Kerry. Stern began a
litany of sins allegedly committed by Cheney < his votes on the
environment, abortion. "He hides his gay daughter! ... The guy's a
psychotic!"

The talk turned to whether Stern would actually campaign for Kerry.
Would he give a speech? "If we do it at [fabled New York strip club]
Scores, I'll do it," Stern said. That led to him and his producer, Gary
Dell'Abate, discussing when to throw a party at Scores' new club on the
West Side of Manhattan. Gradually they returned to censorship. Stern
told his listeners he was going to post a transcript of the Winfrey
discussion on his website, saying they should copy it and send it as a
letter of protest to the FCC.

Chiusano reentered the studio. The lawyer says don't play it uncensored,
he said.

"Let's make a stand!" Stern protested. "Tom, I'm a soldier." (Stern's
sound effects engineer began playing the "Star-Spangled Banner.") "I'm
on the front line. This is our last chance.... This is our Battle of the
Bulge."

No, Chiusano repeated.

"Mel [Karmazin, president of Viacom Inc., which owns Infinity
Broadcasting] agrees with me!" Stern said. "He wants to jump off a cliff
with us."

But Stern lost. And there was nothing left to do but continue to assail
the president. ("You think Courtney Love is nuts? The president's 50
times crazier!") and to bring in the next guest: a man who believed he
could answer more trivia questions than the sound effects engineer, Fred
Norris, and had brought along an 18-year-old stripper who promised to
take all her clothes off if the guy lost. He lost. She walked out from
behind a curtain nude. For a few moments, it was just like the old days.

"More fun and games on Monday," Stern said as the show ended, but he was
talking about the upcoming action in Washington to raise FCC fines, not
about strippers.

[The Kernel]

We managed to help Europe recover after WW2, Iraq should be easier in comparison.

That was Europe- it has Europeans . It also helps that Europe was invaded by Germany. America invaded Iraq, it doesn't matter how disgusting the leader was.

It also helps that the Marshall plan was to rebuild nations that already had a strong first world economy; something that Iraq lacks. The problem with most of these Middle East nations is that their economies are almost totally oil driven, which means that for all intents and purposes, they were NEVER first world countries. There is a significant difference between rebuilding (as in Europe) and just plain building (as in Iraq).