The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Happy Days

5.27.03 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 3)

While he was wondering why he was at table #742 with opera glasses, his former staffers sure didn't have to wonder why they were fired after he ran off at the mouth.

One would hope he would take the advice of a more distinguished Mississippian, William Faulkner, "Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." On the other hand, maybe the advice given by Don Imus to just about everyone is more appropriate, "Just shut up already!"
-- Rick Osial
Dumfries, VA

SHORT STOP
Re: Enemy Central's Missing the Cut:

"Naturally, there was a New York Times angle. Duffer Dave Anderson, the paper's longtime overweight jock, ended up telling Ted that Sorenstam's presence compares to Jackie Robinson's..."

More like to Eddie Gaedel's... and that's the long and the short of it.
-- Dan Leo
Miami Beach, FL

FEELING FRISTY
Re: The Washington Prowler's Leadership Lag (second item):

The problem with blaming the committee chairmen for the downsizing of the tax relief bill (or any other legislation, for that matter) is not that Grassley or Hatch or whoever is the involved Senator shouldn't accept their share of the blame, it is that it tends to let Frist off the hook for his ineptitudes and dereliction of duty. He absolutely and steadfastly refuses to enforce party discipline or impose a cost on recalcitrant Senators for breaking with the party line.

Daschle has no such qualms about doing whatever it takes to maintain effective control over his caucus. I have heard or read all the arguments about how Lyndon Johnson like leadership is no longer possible. Bull hockey! I ain't buying it. What price has Chafee, or Snowe, or Collins, or McCain, or Specter paid for their rebellions.

Frist says that he can't enforce a real filibuster on the Democrats because some of his RINOs will be inconvenienced. Poor babies. For 150 grand or more per year of our money, let them be inconvenienced.

The President's judges can't get confirmed. The President's tax bill is passed only after emasculation. These are just two of many issues that the Senate can't get resolved satisfactorily. Frist wanted the leadership. Well, now he has it. It is WAYYYY past time for him to start producing.
-- Ken Shreve
New Hampshire

THINK LOCALLY
Re: Reader Mail's Second-Hand or First Rate and Bob Collins' Selling Conservatives:

TAP readers -- and Bob Collins, though his treatment was funny -- misunderstand the mechanics of radio advertising. Rush's show is syndicated. Rush and the syndicate sell the show to local radio stations. Part of that sale is a sharing-out of ad minutes. Rush and the syndicate get some -- Select Comfort, Clean Shower, Bose, etc. -- and local radio stations get others. Daytime local radio, regardless of the show involved, sells lots of "low rent" product. The commercials you're complaining about are sold by the local station. In smaller markets, the commercials are very low rent indeed. In big cities, you get a little relief.
-- Lawrence Henry

Bob Collins replies: Good point -- though I've been listening for years, I couldn't say precisely what's local and what's not during the broadcast. For the article, I assumed that the commercials I referenced were on "my local radio station" and aimed at "this area's Dittoheads." As a point of reference, we're talking about Cincinnati, a reasonably large market, though by no means among the largest. I listen to local music stations during the day, and I hear some of the same kinds of ads during Rush Limbaugh that I'd hear on those stations (not only the ads I described but car dealers, hardware stores, etc.). My impression is that I hear more of the types of ads I described during Rush. Maybe I'm wrong; maybe they're more jarring in the context of a program that's appealing to my intellect and common sense, not just playing music.

LEFT IN
Re: George Neumayr's Diabolizing the Pontiff

I wouldn't be surprised if someone in the European community attempted to imprison the Pope for "spreading hate." I'm just surprised it hasn't happened yet.

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