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Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB

By TChris, Section Media
Posted on Tue Nov 15, 2005 at 02:26:37 PM EST
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by TChris

Update: Mother Jones reports on proposals to protect CPB from political influence.

....

Original post:

It’s old news that Kenneth Tomlinson, the former chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, violated federal law as he pursued his mission to rescue public radio and television from the “leftist” slant that he and other extremists on the right perceived. As TalkLeft reported here, CPB’s board of directors forced Tomlinson’s resignation after reviewing the confidential findings prepared by CPB’s inspector general. Now the “scathing” report has been finalized and it’s no longer confidential. (The IG's lengthy report, in pdf format, is here.)

[T]he report said that Mr. Tomlinson violated federal law by being heavily involved in getting more than $4 million in money for a program featuring the conservative editorial writers of The Wall Street Journal. The board is prohibited from getting involved in programming decisions, but the investigators found that Mr. Tomlinson had pushed hard for the program, "The Journal Editorial Report," even as some staff officials at the corporation raised concerns over its cost.

Although the Public Broadcasting Act “was written to insulate programming decisions from politics,” the IG “found evidence that ‘political tests’ were a major criteria used by Mr. Tomlinson in recruiting the corporation's new president, Patricia Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee and former senior State Department official."

According to the report, she was given the job after being promoted for it by an unidentified official at the White House. Investigators found e-mail messages between Mr. Tomlinson and the White House that, "while 'cryptic' in nature, give 'the appearance that the former chairman was strongly motivated by political considerations in filling the president/C.E.O. position.'" The corporation's presidency, its senior staff job, has historically been reserved for a nonpartisan expert in public broadcasting.

One candidate for a position at CPB was asked about her campaign contributions, while another official was given a job at the request of the White House. And Tomlinson hired “two Republican consultants to lobby against public broadcasting legislation last year.” This kind of cronyism is inconsistent with the apolitical climate that Congress envisioned when it created the CPB.

As TalkLeft noted here, Tomlinson is also under investigation for the misuse of federal funds and "the use of phantom or unqualified employees" during his reign at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a position he still occupies.

It isn’t clear that Tomlinson’s successor, Cheryl Halpern, described in the linked article as “a Republican fund-raiser,” is any great improvement.

Ms. Halpern headed the board's audit committee under Mr. Tomlinson, and she raised concerns among executives at National Public Radio for criticizing its coverage of the Middle East. She was also Mr. Tomlinson's choice to succeed her, in part, he has said, because of her continued commitment to end any programming bias.

To the right wing, any programming that doesn’t parrot the White House talking lying points is evidence of “liberal bias.” The fact that public broadcasting gives a voice to all sides of an issue is anathema to those on the right who think that the only voices entitled to be heard are their own.

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    Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB | 39 comments (39 topical)
    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#1)
    by Punchy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:09 PM EST
    "violated federal law"... Does this mean he'll be indicted? Charged with a crime? Is there criminal penalties for what he did, or just fines? Wow, ANOTHER Admin. official breaking the law. This is going from funny to just plain disgusting....

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#2)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:09 PM EST
    "No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up." Lily Tomlin US actress & comedienne (1939 - )

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#3)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:09 PM EST
    Ahh, a true republican, lies, syeals, cheats:
    Tomlinson said CPB president approved, signed contract to monitor Moyers show

    The Times reported that, in a May 24 letter to Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND), Tomlinson stated he saw no need to consult the CPB board of directors about hiring an outside consultant to monitor bias on PBS' NOW with Bill Moyers, because, he wrote, the contract was "approved and signed by then CPB President, Kathleen Cox."

    But the Times reported on June 22 that a copy of the contract obtained by the paper shows that Tomlinson signed it on February 3, 2004 -- five months before Cox became CPB president. Tomlinson declined to comment to the Times on the apparent discrepancy.

    CPB paid the consultant, Fred Mann, $14,170 to monitor bias on NOW. Mann worked for 20 years at the National Journalism Center, an organization founded by the American Conservative Union and M. Stanton Evans, a conservative columnist, that counts among the alumni of its training programs Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund and right-wing pundit Ann Coulter.

    In a June 20 speech on the Senate floor, Dorgan said that he had received the "raw data" Mann provided Tomlinson and was "struck and disappointed" by the methods he used in conducting the study. For example, Mann labeled certain segments of the show "anti-Bush," "anti-DeLay" and "anticorporation." In addition, Mann classified all the guests appearing on NOW as either "conservative" or "liberal," labeling Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) as "liberal."
    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#4)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:09 PM EST
    et al - The problem was, is and will be that taxpayer money is being used by PBS. That PBS has a decided Leftist slant is very well known fact. That the Right wants to counter that is understandable. That they are not smart enough to do it without things such as this is self evident. But no matter. Let PBS sink or swim based on its merit and the problem will go away. The Left, of course will run up the usual strawmen, and the Right will mutter in their beard, too gutless to act, even though they control the House and the Senate.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#5)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:09 PM EST
    Wow! this thread is about tomlinson and how he broke the law! now some america hating a$$hole tries to hijack the thread with his version of tax reform. The rest of what this a$$hole said was just an attempt to hijack the thread. Please stay on topic, tomlinson broke the law, he got caught, he was fired. Next!

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#6)
    by Al on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:09 PM EST
    Jim:
    The problem was, is and will be that taxpayer money is being used by PBS.
    Tomlinson obviously doesn't think that's a problem. He is very happy to use taxpayer money to promote his political agenda. Also, you very conveniently forget the corporate as well as private donations which constitute a considerable proportion of public television funding. I'd like to see any commercial TV company convince a single person to donate money.
    That PBS has a decided Leftist slant is very well known fact.
    Only to people who don't watch PBS. The rest of us know better. The vast majority of PBS programming has simply no connection to politics whatsoever. Or perhaps you can explain the leftist slant of the Lawrence Welk Show. Or Nova. News programming could be more political; you'd have to be insane to call Jim Lehrer a "leftist" (whatever that means). Or how about overtly political commentary? Charlie Rose? Is Charlie Rose a leftist? And then there's Bill Moyers, of course, whose program NOW was funded by that notorious socialist organization, the Park Foundation. Your "very well known fact", Jim, is, as usual, not a fact at all.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#7)
    by DonS on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    Once again, Jim, I regret this is a family oriented site because the garbage that you spew merits bar room epithets, not serious attention. Pathetic.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#8)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    Well, y'all, don't be too hard on Jim. How's he to know PBS isn't a communist station? Neal Boortz and Ann Coulter have already told him that it is that way--to actually watch the network would be a waste of his valuable time: a drag, for example, on memorizing Talking Points from Powerline/Townhall/etc. etc. etc.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    Notice how JIm is distancing himself from the right, "too gutless to act." As if JIm, and JIm alone, can stand above the fray, grasp the truth, and what needs to be done. I'll pass over Jim's obvious howlers, such as the obvious left wing bias he perceives in a network that has played host to William F. Buckley for years and years, is currently broadcasting craziness from the Wall St. Journal, broadcast an utterly fellatiotic frontline (or was it 2020) that gave Richard Perle, et al, free rein to repeat his loopy lies about Iraq to the American people yet to the best of my knowledge has never funded the Noam Chomsky/Ward Churchill Comedy Hour. And so on. And I'll ignore JIm's hilarious "let PBS sink and swim on its merit" line, as he knows full well that with a right wing board hellbent on eliminating PBS, they are deliberately and systematically removing any programming of interest and replacing it with extreme right propaganda. If they can't legislate it to death, they'll incompetent it to death. Incompetence: y'know, it's one thing the rightwing seems to have an overabundance of... Anyway, all of that stuff is routine JIm. But it is quite a change to hear JIm pretend he's not a rightwinger. Haven't seen that one before from him, but then again I don't read everything he reads. Life is way too short.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#10)
    by DonS on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    I believe Jim's allusion to the Rightwing was meant in contradistinction to those of his persuasion, the ultra far right wing. From there,of course, the merely rightwing are pansies.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    This is why Ken Tomlinson is just the latest right-wing miscreant to be smited by the Avenging Angel.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#12)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    In Jim’s defense CPB and its progeny (NPR, PBS, PRI, and so forth) most certainly have a left of center slant. Just take this simple empirical truth; these outlets are prized by the left and despised by the right. And don’t try and spin that crap that the left is truly objective and the right hates CPB institutions for their objectivity and lack of a right lean, or that the right hates them for their government sponsorship; cause, you know, if they really did they would enjoy the programming and work to turn them public like I do. Christ, you should listen to my local affiliate, which is underwritten by the CPB. Here in conservative Utah they air left of center staples, BBC, PRI, and are locally underwritten by unambiguously left organizations like fair trade retailers, lefty mags. And I know, the threads about Tomlinson. But it’s hard for me to care about him packing the ranks or spending money on his personal interests when it goes to folks like Moyers. Save me the litany of objective or educational programming; I like NOVA, and Nature, and all that (although Bill Nye is a complete tool and a left wing nut); I concede it’s mostly impartial. Yah, and I watch the New Hour religiously; it is likely the single altogether objective nightly news program. And I like how the sets are all cheap, looks like some backwater local-access station. Oh, and Washington Week; I think Gwen is a super lady.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    I'll cede to you that Public Broadcasting, specifically NPR - in the context of any commentary made on political and social subject matter - has a left-of-center slant. It is reasoned, it is logical, and it is by no means radical. It cannot be credibly compared to any of the for-profit, right-wing propaganda machines personified by O'Reilly and his ilk. Complain about your tax dollars being used to fund public broadcasting that doesn't fit your world view, but the fact is that for-profit entities do exactly the same. My local cable monopolies will not allow me to line-item delete Conservative media from my lineup. If I want any media in my home at all, I am obligated to forward my dollars to far more Rupert Murdochs than Sumner Redstones. Satellite? No dice. Those dollars go there as well. In fact, with DirectTV, a large proportion of those dollars end up in the hands of forces with ideologies directly opposite my own. The comparison of the amount of my tax dollars spent on Public Brodcasting and the amount of my Cable bill going into the pockets of my oppressors (as a 'willing' consumer) indicates I'm giving a lot more money to Conservatives than I am to Progressives. If the number is to be artificially set, that number should be balanced, not skewed. So long as the fourth estate is for-profit, with revenues being generated indirectly in a non-competitive market, there will never be a counterweight with megaphones orbiting the Earth with the ability to reach the totality of the entire world. I am guaranteed nothing but that which Corporate interests choose to provide me. My "willingness" to be a consumer of media, by-the-by, is prompted by a choice to either compensate people and entities I detest or face being socially disadvantaged as a result of a lack of information (regardless of the reliability of that information). At nearly $300 a month for Internet, Entertainment, and information services, that is a pretty large ticket -- all of it provided by a handful of should-be illegal monopolies controlled by Corporatist elements with an agenda to maintain the status-quo.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    Posted by Jim: "The problem was, is and will be that taxpayer money is being used by PBS." You guys used up $300 BILLION in an illegal immoral invasion instead. I think you're done using the "Democrats spend too much" argument. Did you know that Bush travels with an entourage of over a thousand people? Is that a cost-saving measure? "That PBS has a decided Leftist slant is very well known fact." Al-Reilly! That Ken Burns BASEBALL program went WAY over the line. And the Sherlock Holmes Mysteries -- dangerous, dangerous stuff. People might actually learn to think that logic is cool. "That the Right wants to counter that is understandable." Yes, the Right, because of its archaic, retrogressive, disproven programs, wants to prevent the development of public faith in logic for as long as possible. Pretty much your mission in life, eh Jim? You act like apes, and then complain when the primates go human and realize you're lying, he's lying, they're lying, and they're stealing all the bananas while the music is playing.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    We're seeing ample evidence of RIGHT-wing slant in every taxpayer-supported governmental agency and institution, from the FDA to the courts. Of course, with everything pushed so far towards the neanderthal, anything resembling intelligent thinking simply MUST look suspicious to our buddy Jim.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#16)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    TS-
    “My local cable monopolies will not allow me to line-item delete Conservative media from my lineup.”
    I don’t like their business model either so I make due with the 14 channels I get for $6. You know it’s not the same though; you’re free to not purchase cable.
    “If I want any media in my home at all, I am obligated to forward my dollars to far more Rupert Murdochs than Sumner Redstones.”
    This is a horrible exaggeration. You can get any magazine, newspaper, book, DVD, electronic periodical, and so forth, sent to your home. So cable isn’t exactly how you want it, don’t buy it.
    “indicates I'm giving a lot more money to Conservatives than I am to Progressives.”
    Once again, you can’t make that comparison. Can I cancel that portion of my income tax going to CPB as easily as you cancel your cable service?
    “At nearly $300 a month for Internet, Entertainment, and information services, that is a pretty large ticket”
    I pay about $50 a month for cable TV, cable Internet, and a current events magazine. I could cut that in half if I was satisfied with a 56K Internet connection. You know, I don’t even need to buy the magazine, it’s free online. You’re arguing convenience, not necessity.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#17)
    by DonS on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    Interesting discussion and, for the record I am less than enamored with public television, radio and the like. Call me a snob, but I think they talk down to their audience. More fundamentally, what gets excoriated as "leftist" in this country is a shrinking-in-the-corner version of left. The right and right of center has been ripping off the center and ignoring the poor for so long that anyone who points this out is considered leftist. If money talks, it seems like the right has the loudest voice.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#18)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    Sailor - Love you too. BTW, PIL writes:
    You guys used up $300 BILLION in an illegal immoral invasion instead.
    What say you, Sailor?? I mean, you being so hep on being table captain and all. BTW - My comment was dead on subject. Tomlinson's motives were to add balance to what the Right sees as a 99% Leftist operation, but he evidently didn't have the political skills to do it, and the Right doesn't have the guts to just take the money away. In my view they should do that or shut up. PBS is never going to be balanced. PIL writes:
    I think you're done using the "Democrats spend too much" argument.
    I know you are not always rational, but go back and read my comment and tell me where I said anything about Demos spending money. tristero - I think you know this but for the new folks, I have stated many times that I am a social liberal, with support for causes that any good right winger would despise. Check the archives. I support Bush because the Left has turned the Demos into such an anti-war party that a reasonable person would know the Demos wouldn’t defend this country. Wait! Kerry said he would, but only if the rest of the world said it was okay. My comment was very straight forward. PBS, et al is leftist; the Repub right has been crying for years and even with control of both houses won't act. Those are facts. Al - I don't know what Tomlinson thinks about using public money for PBS, et al, and neither do you. I do believe he wanted more balance, and that was his mission. And yes, Charlie Rose is definitely left of center. Quite a bit left. DonS writes:
    Call me a snob, but I think they talk down to their audience
    It grates my soul to agree with you on anything, but you are correct. And that is a definite trait of the elitist, statist Left. TS – Line item pricing is opposed by the content producers, not your cable/distributor companies. The content folks use popular shows to get exposure to shows that are new, haven’t built an audience, etc. Nothing new about it, and it has been done for years. Pull through marketing. For 25 cents more you get a bar of Wonder Soap with your box of Tide webmacher - If you are as intelligent as you seem to think you are, you could see that my argument is that we should have no government funding of information sources. I see the results as Left slant, you see the results as Right slant. To me, neither is acceptable. Quit giving them any money, turn over the assets and let them be a for profit and make their living by the sweat of their brow. Not by direct and indirect tax dollars. (Tax deductible contributions.)

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#19)
    by Al on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    It's interesting that the only people who use the term "leftist" are the ones who use it disparagingly. It seems to mean whatever they dislike. According to some of the comments here, the following people/institutions are "leftist" (sometimes written "Leftist"): The BBC, Charlie Rose, Bill Nye the Science Guy ("left-wing nut"). It is really hard to take any of this seriously. It is just childish. Don't you guys have anything meaningful to say?

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    PPJ, I guess I just missed your expressions of outrage when it turned out the Bush administration was paying "journalists" to sell its policies -- which was completely illegal, by the way. And if you're as upright and honest as YOU think you are, you'll stop with the Kerry lies already. While I'm deeply impressed with your ability to drag the same sad topics into every unrelated discussion, but it doesn't make you a particular intelligent defender of whatever it is you think you're defending.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#22)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    "a reasonable person would know the Demos wouldn’t defend this country." Sorry TL, this is off topic, but this ridiculous statement demands a slapdown on its own terms. To follow up a bit on webmacher's excellent retort, I have to say that the above is a greater slap in the face of truth, let alone the soldiers in our military, than anything I've seen on this blog in a long time. It is the Zell Miller "spitbnall" argument. Never mind that many of the Democrats at the top of the party are war heroes--to a far greater extent than their GOP counterparts. Never mind the multitudes of young Democrats currently serving in our military, some of whom may indeed, if they survive this current mad and unprincipled war, return to pursue a career in politics. It's what Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and Zell Miller and Bill O'Reilly say, and since each of those men have stellar records of standing up for their nation's military safety, they get the last word and are not to be contradicted. Lots of stupid rhetoric informed the 2004 election, and this was a big part of it. Dissent from this particular war somehow gets turned into a refusal to defend America. Such levels of thought explains why PPJ and George W. Bush detected cognitive brain activity in Terry Shiavo. Anyway, it's not going to work anymore. I am confident Americans are past this particular lie. You trolls had better come up with another Janet Jackson or another flag burning amendment come 2006 cause if you rely on the spitball theory, you'll get toasted, baby. Even in the Confederate states.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#23)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    And BTW:
    It's what Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and Zell Miller and Bill O'Reilly say, and since each of those men have stellar records of standing up for their nation's military safety
    The sarcasm of the above is bound to be lost on Jim. He will take it at face value. This explains much.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#24)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    I support Bush because the Left has turned the Demos into such an anti-war party that a reasonable person would know the Demos wouldn’t defend this country. Wait! Kerry said he would, but only if the rest of the world said it was okay.
    Hey Jim. Let's have a purely hypothetical situation. Say a war starts tomorrow, and one guy goes and fights and kills some people and takes a few bullets. The other hides in an Alabama mailroom and plays volleyball. Which would you rather have on your side in a fight? Hypothetically.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#25)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    Hey scar, how about the one with the anal cysts *1, or the one who had 'other priorities'(and multiple deferments)*2, or the one who said "So many minority youths had volunteered for the well-paying military positions to escape poverty and the ghetto that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself." *3, or the one who lied about his student sttus so he could get a deferment *4? *1 lamebaugh *2 cheney *3 delay *4 rove

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    The Purple Heart Bandaid crowd hasn't yet figured out how much that stunt pissed off the military families (and the rest of us). They are tone deaf to their missteps, which is good news for us. Have fun on the Titanic, Jim! You don't have long to wait for the big surprise ending.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#27)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    The corporation — which funnels hundreds of millions of federal dollars to National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting Service and noncommercial radio and television stations — was created by Congress in the late 1960s to shield public broadcasting from political influence.

    Specifically, the report said Tomlinson violated the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 and ethical standards by dealing directly with one of the creators of the conservative-leaning “Journal Editorial Report,” hosted by the editor of The Wall Street Journal editorial page.

    In internal e-mails, Tomlinson told CPB staff to threaten to withhold funds from PBS “if they didn’t balance their programming,” the report said.
    Game, set, match.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#28)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    imo, if the guy did wrong, he should pay the piper. But to think that a something a bunch of politicians created & continue to control can be protected from political influence, seems a little disingenuous.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#29)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    Sailor - None of the above should be news. Tomlinson's job was to force balance into PBS, NPR, etc. I see no great crime in what he was doing. The board fired him. So why the hypocritical tears?? I repat. Get rid of all of it by making it go private for profit. If its programing has an audience, it will survive. If not, it won't. Why does the Left shy away from a battle of ideas? scar - I don't know anyone who did that. Could you be more accurate? (Okay, I know you can't. But at least try.) Let me ask you a hypothetical question. One guy comes back with four (later) questionable Purple Heart....tells lies about what our troops did and lies about going to Cambodia...defends Bill Clinton for dodging the draft.... and cuts military funding every chance he gets and announces that if he was Pres we would ask the world if we could defend ourselves if attacked.... Would a rational person vote for this man?? Al - You are right. It is not a term of endearment. Glanton writes:
    Never mind that many of the Democrats at the top of the party are war heroes--
    Do you mean like Bill and Hillary? Schumer and Levin? Kennedy? Outside of Kerry, who pis*ed away his service, who are you talking about?

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#30)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    once again some stupid f**!wad thinks
    Specifically, the report said Tomlinson violated the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
    ISOKIYAR!

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#31)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    Al-
    “The BBC, Charlie Rose, Bill Nye the Science Guy ("left-wing nut") … It is really hard to take any of this seriously. It is just childish. Don't you guys have anything meaningful to say?”
    I have plenty of reasons to consider the BBC left of center (my favorite; BBC ‘journalists’ referring to depleted uranium shells as nuclear weapons), and almost as many to consider Nye a left wing nut (and a tool). You picked the minutia from my post and ignored anything of substance. It’s hardly interesting to debate Bill Nye’s impartiality, or even his qualifications; all that seems to be peripheral. So, do you have anything meaningful to add?

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#32)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    At the risk of unwittingly being the person Sailor is referring to above as a "stupid f**!wad," what in heck does "ISOKIYAR!" mean?

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#33)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    suo, sorry, I mistyped, try googling IOKIYAR.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#34)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    Got it now. My best guess was "IS Ok In Your Alternate Reality" which ain't half-bad now that I look at it...

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#35)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    What part about
    Specifically, the report said Tomlinson violated the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
    do the wingnuts not understand about breaking the law? And are they claiming that since every branch of the gov is controlled by rethugs that this is a biased investigation? Sheesh, what losers.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#37)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    Name a single idea the left has shied away from.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#38)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:11 PM EST
    Sailor - Go to the Open thread, see my comment about Sen Rockefeller. And then ask me about breaking laws. And of Tomlinson has broken some great law, put him in jail. This is just petty politics compared to Rocefeller's self-confessed sins. tristero - Try the free market. i.e. Put PBS/NPR, etc., out to sink or swim. BTW - Thanks for being the perfect straight man.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#39)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:12 PM EST
    ppk:
    BTW - Thanks for being the perfect straight man.
    LOL! Jim, can't you see that YOU are the straight man around here? Without your provocative comments, most of these threads would be a whole lot shorter. I often wonder why people even bother replying, since your comments are so predictable they always show up on cue. But then I'm usually glad they do, because it just shows how weak the arguments from the right are. Afetr all, this is TalkLeft, and you do get people on the left to talk. And those in the center too, in my opinion, since you are so far over on the extreme right yourself.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#40)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:13 PM EST
    jim: That's a disingenuous response to my post and I suspect you know it. We both know there are several Democratic Senators and Congressmen, both current and recently deposed (such as in Confederate Georgia), who served their country with honor. Kerry is but one of these. And BTW, he didn't "piss" anything away--what an unAmerican thing to say for someone who wears Patriotism on his sleeve for all to recognize. And re the Clintons or Levin or, say, the exponentially annoying Elizabeth Dole: I'm not by any means saying you have to be a veteran to hold high office with honor--though I am saying that it is strange that every flag waving ultra hawk in this Administration, as well as the talk show pundits who carry water for them every day, have chicken hawk backgrounds. And BTW; noticed you didn't say a damned word about all those Democrat kids who stick their necks out every day in uniform. Your blanket statement about Democrats not being willing to defend the nation is repugnant. Better still, it's a stale Talking Point--sell something else.

    Re: Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB (none / 0) (#42)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:29 PM EST
    It was good to see Bill Moyers finally have his say on the whole affair, in an interview speaking with John Eggerton. Moyers parting words in the interview are descriptive not only of his experience dealing with Tomlinson, but are a metaphor for people thinking for themselves everywhere dealing with the ghouls running the country lately:
    I thought at the time that I was dealing with people who cared about this institution. I didn't realize they had gone over to the dark side. ...and I also sensed that we were up against serial abusers and that I could fight back more effectively if I weren't on the air.


    Report Criticizes Tomlinson and CPB | 39 comments (39 topical)