Stephanie Miller's debut on MSNBC

I got a chance to watch Stephanie Miller this morning on MSNBC, and her show was great. The well-known liberal talk show host normally broadcasts out of Los Angeles, but she's on (presumably) a three-day trial run to replace Don Imus, broadcasting yesterday, today and tomorrow from lovely and scenic Seacaucus, New Jersey.

Miller is bright, smart and witty, and I'd love to see her replace Imus. I know I would watch every morning. God only knows I'm looking for a show that's better than The Today Show. Matt Lauer isn't exactly how I like to start my day.

Take a look at the clip above (which is from her MSNBC debut yesterday), and if you like what you see, drop MSNBC a line and let the network know that you'd watch Miller if she were to get the slot. It only takes a few minutes, and it really would be good to see a progressive take to the airwaves in the morning.

Miller's morning show replays on Sirius Talk Left (channel 146) every evening from 6-9, and I never miss it if I'm in my car.

Air America lives

It seems that reports of Air America Radio's demise have been greatly exaggerated. And thankfully so.

I'm the first to admit that when Air America launched on March 31, 2004, I was very enthusiastic, specifically because of Al Franken's involvement. When Franken left the network on February 14 of this year, I canceled my subscription to the network. (A small fee every month gets you an Air America Premium account, where you have unlimited access to podcasts of every Air America program.)

However, after hearing good things about Thom Hartman, Franken's successor, I figured I'd listen to him on a trial basis. After listening to one episode of the show, I re-upped my subscription and haven't looked back.

There are many progressive talk-shows hosts I respect and admire on a consistent basis - Stephanie Miller (more on her in a separate post later this morning), Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes, Bill Press and Rachel Maddow, but Hartman sits firmly atop the list.

Hartman's an encyclopedia of political knowledge, and not just about liberal stuff. The author of 19 books, he has been in radio since 1967. The best part about Hartman's show is that it's not about tearing people down and denigrating them. (If you want that, listen to The Sean Hannity Show or Rush Limbaugh's daily rant.) Hartman's show is about debating the issues, and he often has on conservatives to discuss issues and a (mostly) civilized manner. Opposing opinions are respected and sometimes vigorously debated. But, in the end, listeners can weigh both sides and decide for themselves.

And Hartman won't go down the smear and fear road, either. Recently, when one caller began making comments about Newt Gingrich's character flaws (like those are hard to find), he cut the caller off, saying, "I'd rather stick to the issues."

Bravo, Tom - you're a bigger man than me.

If you haven't listened to or considered Air America Radio lately, give it a go - you'll be happy you did.

Pelosi to W: cool your heels

I got a pretty big kick out of this one the other day. It's Nancy Pelosi telling President Bush to "take a breath," which was her nice way of saying "calm the !@#$%#!! down, Mr. President."

As liberal talk show host Stephanie Miller so succinctly put it yesterday, it was as if Pelosi was talking to one of her many grandchildren...

"Mr. President, sit down! Now who wants a juice box?"

(I'm still laughing, but I can't deliver it 1/8 as funny as it was on her show - which is on Sirius 146 Talk Left from 6-9 every weeknight, by the way)

Miller is great, and her show is funny, witty, entertaining and informing.

Maybe Bush needs to breathe deep, like Gore did during the 2000 presidential debates. Yea, that sounds about right - Bush needs to be more like Gore.

Wishing Sirius Left would leave

I'm a big fan of Sirius Satellite Radio, ad most of you know by now. But, in one aspect, I wouldn't mind seeing Sirius and XM merge, because the Sirius Talk Left channel on Sirius is pretty much God-awful from top to bottom, with a few exceptions.

At the top of my list of peeves about Sirius Talk Left is Lynn Samuels (below right). She could be the worst radio talk show host I have ever heard. Ever. Samuels and Rush Limbaugh should mate to create the ultimate anti-Christ of radio.

From her voice (a dead on ringer for Linda Richman on Saturday Night Live's Coffee Talk), to her ridiculous opinions, she has no business being on radio, period. To wit, just today alone, she's laughing about a joke that Sarah Silverman made about Anne Frank's genitals; she also is whining and complaining about how several Mexican actors were waving Mexican flags last night at "the AMERICAN Academy Awards!" (emphasis hers) She later goes on to say, "They can take those Mexican flags and stick them up their f------ a----. Sniiiiiffffffffffff! Smell the diversity. This moron calls herself a Democrat?!?

Last week, Samuels said this about men, and she wasn't joking: "There isn't a man alive on Earth who doesn't hate women. Men would have exterminated women a long time ago if they could have gotten away with it - they would have just left a few of us around to make babies." Yea, sure Lynn. My favorite thing about Samuels is how she's always saying on the air, "Nobody likes me. I don't have any friends." I can't possibly imagine why. What a sick, twisted, bitter old maid.

Weekday mornings from 6-9, Bill Press (at left) is on, who's at least listenable. But, at times, I can understand why CNN fired him, too. His reasoning on the issues, whether I agree with them or not, is generally well thought out, but then he'll turn right around and revert to Sean Hannity-like name calling that gets old in about 15 minutes.

The Alex Bennett Show follows Press' show, and it's a close second to Lynn Samuels' blabbering as the most annoying show. Bennett (left) has a cohost, Garrett, argues with Bennett about everything he brings up. Nothing is out of bounds for argument between these two. When I listen to talk radio, I want to be informed, not annoyed. Some good-spirited debate is one thing, but listening to this show is akin to listening to a three-hour battle royal. The commercials during Bennett's show are like islands of reality in a sea of diarrhea.

The Thom Hartmann Show is a good one, but unfortunately, he's mostly on Air America now, and he's only on Sirius from 12-1, right before the Lynn Samuels train wreck. I like him, but I'm never around to listen to his show at noon. And, what's worse, Air America Radio has an exclusive deal with XM. Figures, too - when Air America first launched, it was on both satellite networks, but right before I get Sirius, it goes to XM. Again, that's one good thing I can point to about the proposed Sirius-XM merger - getting Air America.

The Ed Schultz Show is on from 3-6 in the afternoon, and he's my favorite. I flat out love his wit, banter, realism, and properly controlled and articulated anger. I could listen to him for six hours. I do wish he'd get more air time, but 3-6 is good, too, because that's generally when I'm driving home.

The Stephanie Miller Show follows Schultz's. So far, from what little I've heard, she's pretty good - she seems like an Ann Coulter, but more attractive, even tempered and intelligent. Basically, she's everything Coulter is not, and that's about as ringing of an endorsement as I can give.

I guess this ended up going long, but my whole point was to riff on Lynn Samuels. She's God-awful, but there aren't any other liberal channels on Sirius, and when I'm in the mood for politics, I put it on. Sometimes, however, when Samuels sends me over the edge with her absurdities, I switch over to NPR.

Cindy Sheehan up for Peace Prize

I bet Stephanie Miller won't be on Fox News anytime soon. And I bet she doesn't give a shit, either, nor should she.

It seems that Cindy Sheehan has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. If I had a say, she'd certainly get my vote. I defy you to name one other person in America who has done more to promote the idea of peace this past year. Yea, I can't think of anyone else, either.

I don't always agree with Sheehan's methods or choice of words (more on that in a minute), but it's easy for me to say I disagree with her methods; I didn't lose a child in this misguided, dishonest war - she did. And she's not taking her loss lying down, nor is she lost in a cloud of self pity. To that I say bravo. She's suffered an incomprehensible loss, and she's proof positive that our losses in Iraq don't have to be for nothing - out of terrible suffering and loss can come some good.

Earlier I referred to her methods - to say that she wishes she could go back in time and kill President Bush is despicable - I don't support using that kind of language under any circumstances. Hey, we're Americans, but we're supposed to be a decent, rational people, even when we fervently disagree. Here, she clearly crosses a line.

In the Fox piece above, Stephanie Miller reasons that the whole sentence/clip wasn't played, and that Sheehan goes on to say that she wouldn't kill anybody. Okay, fair enough, if that's true. But, Sheehan should know better. When she goes off irrationally like that, she takes away from her very poignant message and she loses her credibility.

Keep fighting, Cindy, but for heaven's sake, no more talk (even if hypothetical) of harming the president- it makes you sound like a heretical lunatic.

Air America crash lands? Not quite

Say it ain't so, Air America Radio. The fledgling left-wing liberal radio network has declared bankruptcy. It really comes as no surprise, since there have been rumors of financial trouble since before it even went on the air in March 2004.

It's too bad, because if the company was run right, I'm sure it could be a success, and it may end up being one after it emerges from bankruptcy proceedings.

One could easily argue that there certainly is a market for a liberal slate of radio programs. After all, over 50 million people voted for John Kerry (or should I say against President Bush) in the last presidential election, so one would think that a majority of those people would be interested in that political point of view.

I hope the network gets its act together. I'm a paid subscriber for its podcasts. Of course, I'd enjoy listening to the show live on satellite radio, but Air America opted to go with the inferior company, XM Radio. If memory serves me correctly, Air America was initially on XM and Sirius. Going to Sirius would be a good start, since that company is on its way up, and XM is going in the other direction.

I'm not exactly fretting over this news, or fearing that AAR will go out of business. After all, Fox News Channel lost an average of $90 million a year for about five years before it became profitable. It's just that Rupert Murdoch has pockets that are, ahem, just a bit deeper than AAR.

Liberal Stephanie Miller appeared on Howard Kurtz's CNN show Reliable Sources recently to discuss AAR's fate. Take a listen...



Get it together, Air America. We need liberal voices in the media like never before, with the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Lielly, Ann Coulter and the rest of the lying, distorting, radical religious right conservative scum distorting, lying and bullying their way to power. With a little luck, in about two weeks, part of the GOP power will be eroded.