What Jessica McBride Actually Said

Jessica McBride has been under attack in the leftist blogosphere for supposedly “finding humor in the murder of Jasmine Owens.”

Wisopinion has finally posted the actual audio of the segment that was supposedly “offensive.”

A more compact version is here.

Listen for yourself.

And ask yourself whether the humor was directed at the murder of Jasmine Owens, or at Eugene Kane, who chronically produces mealymouthed responses to the real urban problems that afflict Milwaukee.

Also ask yourself whether this is even a tiny bit worse than liberal comics who have fun at the expense of President Bush on the issue of Iraq.

If the murder of young Jasmine Owens was a tragedy (which it was) isn’t Iraq a “tragedy?” So how is one allowed to make jokes at Bush’s expense on the issue of Iraq, and not make jokes at Kane’s expense that reference inner city crime?

The answer: the vendetta against McBride was driven mostly by ideology.

Imus Firing: Problem For the Democrats

From Sykes Writes, a bit of analysis that makes clear what the media have blacked out with regard to the Imus firing: Imus was a liberal.

Democratic politicians lose a soapbox with firing of Don Imus

His show helped many of them reach a national audience of white males -- a crucial voting bloc.

WASHINGTON — They came by the hundreds that hot August day in tiny Johnson City, Tenn., gathering on an asphalt parking lot to meet Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. It was not just that he might become the state’s first black senator. More than that, even in Republican eastern Tennessee, the Democratic congressman was a celebrity — a regular guest on Don Imus’ radio show.

And today, with Imus’ career in tatters, the fate of the controversial shock jock is stirring quiet but heartfelt concern in an unlikely quarter: among Democratic politicians.

That’s because, over the years, Democrats such as Ford came to count on Imus for the kind of sympathetic treatment that Republicans got from Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity.

Equally important, Imus gave Democrats a pipeline to a crucial voting bloc that was perennially hard for them to reach: politically independent white men.

With Imus’ show canceled indefinitely because of his remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, some Democratic strategists are worried about how to fill the void. For a national radio audience of white men, Democrats see few if any alternatives.

“This is a real bind for Democrats,” said Dan Gerstein, an advisor to one of Imus’ favorite regulars, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). “Talk radio has become primarily the province of the right, and the blogosphere is largely the province of the left. If Imus loses his microphone, there aren’t many other venues like it around.”

Jim Farrell, a former aide to 2000 presidential candidate and Imus regular Bill Bradley, said the firing “creates a vacuum.”

This week, when Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) was asked by CNN why he picked Imus’ show to announce his presidential candidacy, Dodd explained: “He’s got a huge audience; he gives you enough time to talk, not a 30-second sound bite, a chance to explain your views; . . . and a chance to reach the audience who doesn’t always watch the Sunday morning talk shows.”

Political Talk Show on Campus Radio

An e-mail from Joseph Schuster:

As I mentioned yesterday Matt Woleske and myself are starting a once a week political talk show. The show will be on from noon - 2 every Sunday on Marquette radio (can be listened to on their website http://marquetteradio.mu.edu/ or on Channel 96 if on campus. Basically, the idea of the show is that Matt and I are going to discuss the political decisions that happen in the week that has passed. It is going to be interesting because Matt is a self declared liberal, and myself a conservative, we disagree on most issues. This week we will probably talk about cloture, the pending Wal-Mart class action suit, Bernake’s speech claiming that their is widening inequality among Americans, and so on. It should be a fairly good show.

Yes, we think it will be.