The Finne-felon Seeks Bush Pardon

No, I’m not making this up, nor is it an early April Fool’s joke. WRKO’s resident morning show felon and former Democrat House Speaker Tom Finneran has actually got the nerve to petition President Bush for a pardon!

Apparently, the fact that Tommy Tune Out was caught red-handed committing perjury is irrelevant, the Bay State’s Hack-In-Chief has enlisted the support of four ex-governators in his appeal to the outgoing president.

From The Globies:

Former House speaker Thomas M. Finneran, seeking to cleanse the stain left by his 2007 conviction for obstruction of justice, is angling for a last-minute pardon from President Bush and has lined up a group of former Massachusetts governors to back his request.

Finneran submitted an application for a presidential pardon last month, and the four governors – Democrat Michael Dukakis and Republicans William F. Weld, Paul Cellucci, and Jane Swift – followed up with a letter to the White House praising his integrity.

Finneran has already been “severely punished,” the governors wrote, citing the loss of his state pension, the suspension of his license to practice law, and his firing from a lucrative private-sector job.

“And he has suffered daily taunts and ridicule of those who believe that every elected official is the equivalent of a common thief,” the governors told the president in their letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe. They assured Bush that Finneran has “seen the error of this episode” and is truly sorry.

How could Team Swifty really believe The Felon was punished? Other than ridicule in the local press, he hasn’t suffered a bit. Despite tiny ratings, he makes a fortune as WRKO’s failed morning show host. They had to shut down the entire newsroom in order to pay his bloated salary!

Did he spend time in prison? Who are we kidding here?

Though I’m not surprised Tommy would try to pull this stunt, why were these former governors willing to help? He certainly doesn’t deserve it.

Gays Thrilled Severin Has Joined Them

I’ll let this speak for itself as we await your (sure to be inspired) reaction below:

(Bay Windows)

We lost California but gained Jay Severin

Boston’s bad boy of talk radio, Jay Severin (96.9 FM WTKK) has had a change of heart about what he used to call “homosexual marriage”. It seems the national protests for same sex marriage rights caught his attention. On his November 17th broadcast ( listen to the podcast here ) Jay says that the “Jeffersonian standard” that “rules” his political life indicates to him that if it doesn’t break his leg or pick his pocket, then it’s of no harm to him. He indicates that “we can all be proud of ability to evolve” without “caving in”. Jay further state that he’s” always been for human rights. And that means no discrimination against people for whom they love, with whom they sleep.”

As a long-time listener to Jay I’ve always been confounded by how a practical, Libertarian leaning, fiscal conservative could be against gay marriage. I lean Libertarian and I think the government has no business in the marriage business, for gays or straights. Jay is also a self-described libertine (which would make him a Libertarian libertine).

It’s been a long time coming but I’m glad he’s finally arrived at our party.

Severino bug eyes image: Boston Herald

Take It Out On The Globies

Let’s face it: we’re stuck with corrupt, one-party Democratic Party rule. Demented voters have been conditioned to believe that the best way to get revenge on Bush is to vote for Democrat crooks here at home.

But what those who are furious over Friday’s massive toll increases ($7 just to leave the airport?) can do now is to take it out on their enemies at the Boston Globe.

The Globies have backed Corruptocrats, smeared Republican opponents and fought Question One, which would have eliminated our state income tax. Voters did what they were told and have now been rewarded with a massive tax increase anyway. Suckers!

Even this morning, they’ve failed to give prominent space to the toll fiasco on their website.

The Globies work to undermine their readers seven days a week, focusing on conditioning the public to believe in high taxes, massive government and crooked politicians (who need only have a “D” after their names).

Are you still buying the Globe? Advertising in it? Somehow supporting it in some other manner? End that relationship NOW.

Have you undermined your Globie enemies yet today?

Voters Want More Corruption, Dems Happy To Oblige

Given our current, sorry circumstances, why is anyone surprised to see Beacon Hill Corruptocrats getting away with stuffing bras full of ca$h and groping random women on the street?

Think about it:

– Unhinged Senate President Therese Murray (D-Smashmouth) knows she can cover for Prius Perv Jim Marzilli (D-Fondlington) and Dianne Wilkerson (D-Bribebury) until they disappear into political oblivion.

Under Obama, the feds are not likely to push embarrassing investigations into the conduct of other Democrats, so this means waiting just a few short months for it all to go away.

– Crooked Dem senators who enjoy full protection may be a lot less likely to rat out the other criminals in the chamber, especially Murray herself, who seems awfully nervous regarding the FBI’s investigation. Just to get out of Boston, she’s actually willing to do public events in her district these days.

– Instead of punishing Beacon Hill Democrats for creating a disgusting atmosphere of corruption, voters rewarded them with even more seats. All it took was shifting the blame to Bush and it was the few remaining Republicans who took the hit, not the perps themselves.

– The sorry state of local talk radio means one of the primary checks on their power has been neutered. WRKO, for example, is down to just Howie Carr and The Felon, who actually SUPPORTS corruption on Beacon Hill.

And WTKK isn’t much better, with syndication in the morning, sandwich/burrito talk from noon-3pm and Pinstripes in the late evenings. Jay Severin can’t be bothered to spend much time on local issues, so the listener’s only hope is Michael Graham or the night gal who suddenly seems to have returned to the Herald.

With the Obama-Patrick tag-team now in full control, we’re going to see a lot more of this kind of behavior, not less.

And unless Murray can be nailed for whatever role she might have in the bribery scandal before Bush leaves office, she’s got nothing to worry about. In her own district, Republicans aren’t even organized enough to give her an opponent, despite a still quite respectable GOP voting base in the area.

Foreign Leaders No Match For Arrogant Boston Liberals

World leaders, you have met your match: the sheer arrogance brought upon by single-party rule in New England.

What else explains the disgusting sense of entitlement that exists within the Bay State’s corrupt politics-media ruling class?

With today’s revelations that WTKK’s Jim Braude tried to interfere with Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s motorcade, the libtalker has revealed just how overconfident Boston’s politically-connected hacks have become.

From the Boston Herald:

State police Sgt. Steven Godfrey said he was at his post for two minutes when his lieutenant radioed that the escort was leaving the library. It was then that Godfrey heard a “car horn blaring” and saw a black SUV “traveling northbound in the southbound lane” on Morrissey Boulevard.

Godfrey then saw the SUV making an illegal U-turn.

“I don’t know whether this is a terrorist or an aggravated driver,” Godfrey recalled yesterday. “Had they continued to go all the way around the U-turn . . . they would have been heading in the direction that the escort was coming.”

Godfrey said he ran into the roadway, arms flailing and yelling, to get the driver’s attention.

“This was a potential life-and-death situation for this person and/or one of us,” Godfrey said. “Had he continued to drive in toward the escort, he could have put his life in peril. He could have been shot. The Secret Service doesn’t take this stuff lightly.”

The driver, who turned out to be Braude, pulled over and began yelling at Godfrey out the window, according to the sergeant.

“You people don’t know what you’re doing,” Braude said, according to Godfrey. “You people are screwing up traffic. There’s people that need to get places. I demand to know what’s going on.”

(Braude said he never demanded anything.)

Godfrey told him the “only demand that would be met” was his demand for Braude’s license and registration. Godfrey mailed Braude a citation for wrongway operation and illegal U-turn.

“This was a situation that could have become an international incident,” said Godfrey, a 20-year veteran of the force who didn’t know the media personality. “This guy just had that demeanor of entitlement.”

Especially troubling is not just the fact that Braude feels justified in fighting his citation, but that there are 100 other local hacks who would have behaved the same way in those circumstances.

And why didn’t we find out about this until now? The incident occurred in April, when the PM was here to suck up to the Kennedy family.

Did The Globies cover this story at all, or are they protecting a local establishment figure, as they usually do?

This astounding level of self-importance is what happens when checks and balances are removed from the political process. Because Massachusetts is ruled by Braude’s friends, laws don’t apply to him, they’re for serfs.

As I mentioned earlier this week, Eagan and Braude’s ratings have been sliding like crazy recently, with the most recent figures showing Rush Limbaugh now beating them.

And with stupid “topics” such as bickering over sandwiches and burritos in the studio, why would anyone be surprised?

Braude image: Ted Fitzgerald, Boston Herald

Sackings At CBS Radio – Boston

Several trade sites are reporting another round of fresh layoffs at CBS Radio Boston today, but it’s not yet clear who was affected.

It seems that no media company can escape the collapsing revenue environment these days.

Where will that leave WBZ? Probably in no better shape than its lower-rated competitors. With car dealers going broke, radio has lost its primary source of ad dollars.

And Obama’s ill-advised push to bail out the automakers (obvious payback to the labor unions) won’t help one bit as long as their finance units remain unwilling or unable to provide new loans.

All Obama’s plan does is postpone the inevitable, as Detroit is clearly well beyond saving at this point. Until those bloated union contracts are nullified, which the Dems will never allow, the Big Three don’t have a prayer.

What Margery Is Afraid To Tell You

Let’s face it: Margery Eagan’s performance at the Boston Herald has been spotty for some time. Occasionally, the WTKK talker makes a decent point or two, but it’s usually followed up with a crappy piece that probably isn’t worth publishing.

In particular, she has an obsession with the appearance of other women, coming across as catty and petty. That is still evident in her references to Sarah Palin.

In Sunday’s Herald, however, she’s played defender of evil, attacking those who dare to question the increasingly-creepy cult forming around Barack Obama.

Clearly, the body-snatchers have full control over Margery, so she’s gone on the offensive, accusing cult critics of suffering from “Obama Derangement Syndrome” (itself a cheap rip-off of Michelle Malkin’s Bush Derangement Syndrome of a few years back).

Subject to the Herald’s standards (which must have been relaxed a bit to run this rubbish), it’s her column, so that’s not my objection.

In two places, however, she’s completely out of line. See for yourself:

Meanwhile conservative talk radio, having failed to prevent Obama’s election, has launched the undermine-him-right-out-of-the box squad. My Herald colleague and fellow WTKK 96.9 FM talk radio host Michael Graham has his own Obama resistance movement, warning about civilian police forces and mandatory youth indoctrination, etc.

Personally, I love Michael. Politically, I think he’s out there.

“So Michael, are you deranged?” I asked him yesterday.

“Just because you’re paranoid, huddled in your bed in the fetal position doesn’t mean somebody’s not out to get you,” Michael said.

Deranged? I let you be the judge.

First, Margery wants you to think that conservative talk radio “failed” to defeat Obama, despite being burdened with John McCain, a candidate the right never wanted.

And if Rush Limbaugh and others are so ineffective, where does that leave Margery Eagan? She fails to note in her column that in the most recent Boston ratings, Rush is now beating her program in the critical 25-54 demographic.

That’s thanks to a 22% drop for her team, versus a 44% gain for Rush over spring 2008 figures.

Second, many talk programmers I know would be quite uneasy over the way Eagan has used her column space to attack a fellow host so directly. An oblique reference to The Felon in Howie’s column is one thing, but at most stations, Margery would be in hot water this morning with management.

The problem is that she’s undermining WTKK’s image and credibility by making a co-worker out to be a nutcase. A station’s brand name can be damaged this way.

Obama cultists will be looking for a variety of ways to attack resisters in coming weeks and months and Margery has offered her own approach, weak as it may be.

Were We Used By Curtis Sliwa?

Just a short time after kicking off an evening Boston program that has perplexed many in New England, baggage-burdened New York City radio host / Guardian Angel Curtis Sliwa is apparently switching the show to national syndication.

That’s after convincing locals that he was interested in Boston-area issues, despite his Big Apple / pinstripe background.

Now, we’re learning that WTKK may have simply been a short-term testing ground for a national show to be heard during that very timeslot, primarily on Citadel – ABC Radio stations.

In other words, we’ve been had.

With Citadel so close to a complete corporate financial collapse, it needs cheap programming that can be fed to its stations nationwide. Never mind the fact that Sliwa’s only success in talk radio was as part of a left-right morning show team.

Now, he’ll do four hours alone, in markets where most people have never heard of him. Citadel’s dire situation makes all of this largely irrelevant.

But what’s in it for WTKK and Boston? Not a damn thing.

This is like having one of the Yankees warm up for a few weeks in a Sox uniform for the benefit of his teammates in New York.

Welcome To Red Massachusetts

Despite the influx of Boston-area residents, the South Shore is still surprisingly moderate to conservative, with McCain beating Obama in several towns and coming darn close in many more.

I noticed it in my area recently, where McCain signs greatly outnumbered those for Obama.

Along with the North Shore and parts of MetroWest, this is Boston talk radio’s target audience, NOT the city itself.

If you don’t know that by now, you shouldn’t be on the air or programming a radio station.

Thanks to tonight’s national election results, talk radio is now in for an unprecedented audience surge, the one format that will grow as music FM dies.

Let’s hope our local stations, including WRKO’s post-Entercom owners, get a handle on this quickly and capitalize on it.

Stations Plan Coverage, Sort Of

Both WTKK and WRKO are trumpeting their election night coverage, but neither has assembled what could be considered a dream team.

WTKK’s might be okay, but what’s with the pinstripe-loving New Yorker in the lineup? Let me guess: he’ll be “here” via his phone line. Will he be discussing our local issues from there?

Boston, MA (November 3, 2008): Boston’s Talk Evolution, 96.9 FM-WTKK will host a special live Election Night broadcast on Tuesday, November 4, 2008 beginning at 7pm and continuing until the results are in.

96.9 FM WTKK’s Margery Eagan (Monday-Friday, 12noon – 3pm) Michael Graham (Monday-Friday, 9am – 12noon), Michele McPhee (Monday-Friday, 7pm – 10pm), and Curtis Sliwa (Monday-Friday, 10pm – 1am) will team up to bring listeners and a special studio audience up to the minute results from across the country. In addition to the latest results, they will get live reaction and reports from around the country and host special guests including Jay Severin, Jim Braude and local political go-to people. WTKK’s Ed Cherubino will be live in the newsroom

Meanwhile, over at WRKO, there’s not much of a staff left that can handle election coverage, so they’ve given up on it:

Beginning at 7p, we’ll provide the expansive resources of Fox News for up to the minute race results, national reaction, and every major speech from both candidates camp. We’ll also include local reports from our area’s elections and ballot questions.

Let’s hope WRKO is transferred into more capable hands soon. This is pathetic.