What is wrong with Franken, giving lots of time to an anti-liberal.

[K-W]

Talking about the problem of entitlement explosions. We have to reduce benefits to survive.

I understand he is against Bush's economics too, but he has spent the lions share of his time talking about how we cant afford social programs.

To be more informative he is a conservative economist who wrote a book on the deficit.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Listen to Rhodes and Schultz then.

They scream back a FReeper types.

[K-W]

2. I like Franken, I just dont like this segment.

And I will listen to Rhodes when she is on.

[bullimiami]

3. whats your problem with peterson

smart well informed guy.

I heard nothing that was anti-liberal. Just very pragmatic discussion about the econonic future.

[K-W]

6. So you dont think that saying social spending

is economically unwise is anti-liberal?

He touched on Bush when pressed and then quickly got back to talking about how entitelments were the problem. And we need to cut social spending to reign in the deficit.

That is an end run attack on liberalism.

[Bombtrack]

7. He never made that statement. He was talking about levels and degrees

of social spending being part of the problem. He never said anything about any and all social spending being unwise. Jesus Christ

[K-W]

10. I never made that statement either, so what are you talking about.

I didnt say all social spending, I said social spending, are you just trying to find reasons to disagree with me?

[Bombtrack]

21. You're being a freaking ideological blockhead and not listening to what

he was talking about. Finding ways to reduce spending in certain areas is not the same thing as attacking "social spending", period, in the abstract, which you are saying he is doing, when he is not. Being for say, eliminating the national endowment for the arts, isn't for being "against social spending" it's for opposing one area of it. Being, say, for means testing for social security isn't being "against social spending" it's finding one area of it to lessen it. Get a freaking clue.

[bobbobbins]

8. not if he makes valid points

there comes a point where ones ideology has to take the back seat to reality, and while the man might think social spending is a good idea, maybe hes just pointing out that its not doable at present.

[K-W]

11. That isnt a valid point, that is conservative economics.

Christ, did I stumble onto a conservative forum by accident.

I thought this was a place for people who believe that taking care of the people is not a luxery of society, but a responsibility.

[napi21]

24. I listened to Peterson on Frankin today too. There were parts of

his philosophy that made sense. SS should be affluence tested. He suggested that as your wealth increases the amount of SS you receive decreases by a percentage. The example he used was someone like him in a high wealth category might receive only 25% of the amount received by a low income person.

What's wrong with listening to ideas like that? They become much more palatable to Pubs if they come from a Pub than if they come from a Dem, and that one actually made some sense.

[Ducks In A Row]

4. Remember that Franken is the good cop of AAR

and Randi Rhodes is the "Bad" cop.

That's way Franken can be on Sundance, and not make the tv explode.

[Bombtrack]

5. Talk about having a closed mind

And you're better than the Faux-bots and dittoheads how with this attitude?

[K-W]

9. good idea, maybe he can have a supply sider on tommarow

and the next day he can have some neocons explain foriegn policy to us.

Are you joking?

My mind is plenty open and I am well versed in the conservative argument against social spending for the good of the economy.

I am not arguing that the opinion shouldnt exist, I am arguing that it has no place on a radio show that has the stated goal of balancing national discourse by giving liberals air time.

[K-W]

15. By the way, I am not saying he shouldnt be on the air

he should have had less time. He went after the liberal side, touched on Bush, then went after the liberal side again and Franken didnt say a word.

Let him make his case, just dont let him eat up so much liberal air with conservative economic theories.

[Blue Wally]

12. Peterson is saying

Both the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan are getting into a demographic crunch where they will be force to dramatically increase the monetary input into entitlement programs or limit the outgo to the recipients. Entitlement programs will take an ever increasing share of the GDP in the next fifty years. In other words, he is saying that social security and medicare are screwed. Read his book "Running on Empty" which is a great diatribe against the neocons.

[K-W]

14. I completely understood what he was saying,

but we cannot tolerate a rollback of liberalism under the guise of fiscal prudency. If the economy and taking care of people dont mix, change the economy, dont stop taking care of people.

[Cha]

18. We pay into Social Security...I don't see how

that is an "entitlement program"..or was that being said?

They better not screw with Social Security.

[Blue Wally]

19. Social Security

Is defined as an "entitlement" program. In other words, you are "entitled" to it based on what you paid in as opposed to Congress having to vote you your checks every year. congress can set the level of benefits, but does not have to specifically appropriate the money.

[K-W]

20. Entitlement is such an aweful term.

It has such negative connotations.

Not that I can come up with a better term off the top of my head.

[Zinfandel]

13. Franken mostly sucks, boring, dry, never shuts his mouth when he has

guest on, (ala Kitty Kelly) he's always trying to tell old stories he's told many times before... He's not the most informed liberal on all subjects (ala Rhodes, Malloy). Franken allows republicans to make their bullshit talking points on his show...Franken is for the nice little, my brain fries-easy moderates...

What I like about Franken...he's somewhat liberal, I enjoy his books, I like a lot of his visual comedy and I like the way he'll attack on camera when he's attacked.

However on radio Franken sucks!!! He's has the prime time slot in NYC so anyone in that time slot can command the guest and politicians selling books or whatever else they want to sell or be heard over the airwaves.

Al Franken is by no means anything special on radio.

[K-W]

17. Well, I love Franken, and I like him on the radio.

He just manages to let a big lie split through far too often and he is too defferential to high profile or well educated conservatives IMO.

[no_hypocrisy]

16. I figured it was the tactic of giving the freepers enough rope to hang

themselves. Their bluster and logical fallacies indirectly enhance our message.

[sadiesworld]

22. My fear with AAR is that it will turn into a crasser version of NPR.

I want more populist voices discussing trade, outsourcing, universal healthcare, saving SS, etc. If AAR simply becomes a vehicle for the promotion of the left's positions on social/cultural issues and dem vs. pug bickering...it will just add to the divisive atmosphere.

[wyldwolf]

23. my hope is that it becomes even more confrontational

We've tried mealy mouthed monotone "progressive" radio (Pacifica, to a lesser degree NPR) and they just don't garner the ratings needed to survive in a commercial environment.