I Write Letters
Because no one has bothered to respond to phone calls or letters about Peter Beinart, pseudo-liberal and BS artist I am publishing the following letter to Radio Times
Dear Ms. Moss Coane and the rest of the staff at Radio Times:
I’m a big fan of the show and try to listen in whenever possible. I’ve called into the show a couple of times as well. And for a brief time in 2004, I volunteered at WHYY, so I know that the staff has a commitment to bringing quality news and programming to Philadelphia.
I’m writing today to follow up on a phone call made to the program yesterday (2/5/07), which the call screener suggested I leave for Ms. Moss Coane herself. I left a message with the host, and I have yet to receive a response or even an acknowledgement.
On numerous occasions, RT has featured Peter Beinart from The New Republic as the “liberal” perspective, most recently yesterday pitted against a writer from the Weekly Standard. This is troubling, because the record clearly shows that Beinart is no liberal. As the host herself pointed out to the guests as I hung up the phone, “You guys agree on just about everything!” Indeed.
Several cases in point: Beinart and The New Republic vehemently supported the war in iraq, and in fact issued an apology to their (shrinking) subscription base. Beinart is a big supporter of Social Security privatization. Beinart was part of the Al Gore character assasination, and part of the Howard Dean and John Kerry character assasinations as well. He’s a strong voice for globalization and so-called “free trade”, going so far as to use the 9/11 attacks as a pretext to attack those opposed to IMF policies. In addition, The New Republic, the magazine Beinart writes for, repeatedly refers to Arabs as “subhuman” and “animals”, on TNR publisher Marty Peretz’s TNR-hosted blog “The Spine”. The limits of email preclude me from providing a list of citations: all that is necessary is a google search.
There are plenty of REAL liberals and left wingers you could have on your show: people like David Sirota or Cliff Schecter. People like Jane Hamsher or Christy Hardin Smith, who have been live-blogging the Libby trial. Glenn Greenwald is another fine writer, a libertarian whose book “How Would a Patriot Act” made
the NYT bestseller list on grassroots support alone. Locally, there are fine public figures such Duncan Black, who publishes the Atrios blog, and who I’m sure would be delighted to appear on Radio Times. Paul Krugman, who lives just up the way in Princeton, is another lefty who walks the walk. Al Franken, Ed
Schultz, randi Rhoades, Taylor Marsh: all talk radio hosts with a distinctly left-wing perspective. In fact, if you google many of these names attached to Beinart, you will find a raft of criticism with regard to how the man portrays himself, and what people on
the left really think.
But for the love of God and all things holy, please stop inviting Peter Beinart to represent liberals on your show. He’s not a liberal, and it is consistent misrepresentations like this that have kept me from giving money to WHYY’s news programming for the past two years. Instead, my support goes to “You Bet Your Garden”, where the only manure I hear is about fertilizing my tomatoes.
I would like to support your show again: as long as you are giving people like Peter Beinart an even greater platform from which to disparage and misrepresent those of us whose politics are to the
left of center, I cannot in good conscience contribute to your station or program.
Thanks for your time and consideration. I look forward to your response.
Brendan Skwire
2 Responses to “I Write Letters”
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February 8th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Good job not letting up. And you hit the note they most care about - the $ one. I hate when someone from the left-ish side of the far right is the “liberal” and like you calling bullshit on them for it.
February 8th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
hey, I heard much of that program yesterday, and while I wasn’t familiar with the names of the guests (I was driving around, looking for parking, so not really paying close attention), but it did seem to me that both guests were pretty rah-rah about the war itself, and in complete agreement about everything.
I can’t stand “You Bet Your Garden”, but to each his own.
In fact, if WHYY doesn’t stop that stupid “college challenge” crap they do EVERY pledge drive, I may demand my money back. It ruins my enjoyment of NPR listening in the morning every time they do it.