Giving Us The Middle Finger

Thanks, Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, for so accurately representing your family’s sentiments toward the little people of Massachusetts.

That middle finger aimed out the window during Ted K’s motorcade perfectly sums up the situation: we’ll behave any way we like, while you will continue to reward us with eternal political power, all because of our “royal” surname.

Now that the circus is over, the focus has shifted toward political fallout. Harry Reid has already admitted that Ted’s death was really about boosting the party’s fortunes in Congress, while here at home, the local media is ready to assign the seat to crooked Joe Kennedy.

Though The Globies and their apologists are ready to turn the US Senate into the House of Lords, with its former tradition of hereditary peerages, opposition researchers representing a number of candidates will be pounding away at Joe’s shady background.

For its part, talk radio has a chance to be relevant: it may not be able to revitalize a moribund GOP, but it could easily stop Joe with a bit of effort.

Also in target range: Beacon Hill’s Corruptocrats. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg’s ill-fated, clumsy “run” for the vacant Senate seat in New York helped to damage Governor Paterson’s public standing beyond repair. Ultimately, he was stuck in a lose-lose position and made a different selection.

How our legislature and governor proceed from here could absolutely imperil their respective political careers as well. Let the implosion begin!

The War Begins

The day we’ve been dreading for so long is finally here:

- The Globies have already remade Ted K into a saint. Expect the next thundering editorial to be aimed at the Pope for his slow pace in deifying the late senator.

- Don’t believe for a moment that Democrats have time for genuine mourning, the internal war over his successor is already underway. Calls to rewrite the 2004 law in order to provide their party with the advantage of incumbency will grow louder, especially from The Globies.

In fact, Beacon Hill ruling party sleazebags are already plotting and scheming as we speak.

One upshot: the political infighting and backstabbing will be fun to watch.

Another: if the rules are changed, the appointment process could easily destroy Deval Patrick for good, just ask David Paterson.

- Network news coverage could prove even more over-the-top than what is seen locally.

- As nonbelievers are singled out for scorn after making “insensitive” statements about Ted K, watch for the “gotcha” game to begin.

- Even token conservative Michael Graham’s WTKK-FM slot has been overtaken by flaky quasi-liberal talk today. A touchy-feely weekend advice talker is filling-in and providing syrupy, sugar-coated love letters to Ted K. No wonder the ratings are in the toilet.

Here’s a letter from a SaveWRKO reader:

WTF? Today of all days, you would think WTKK would want a news / political person — Dan Flynn maybe?

Even if there were not major breaking news, does it make sense to have a self-help guru covering a political talk show? Does Dr. Laura ever fill in for Rush? Maybe Dr. Dean Edell can fill in for Jay next time he’s on vacation. It’s been almost a week since he hasn’t had one.

It takes a lot to get me to listen to WRKO when Howie isn’t on, but the suits at ‘TKK are making it easier and easier.

— Perhaps trying to one-up WTKK’s leftward shift, WRKO actually dumped Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham today, replacing them with convicted felon Tom Finneran, the corrupt former Democratic House Speaker.

Ted K’s passing provides the elitist, establishment media a chance to flex its muscles, perhaps for the last time. Don’t think for a moment The Globies aren’t prepared to take full advantage of this opportunity to sustain and promote political corruption in Massachusetts.

It’s Getting Creepy Out There II: The Alarming Sequel

The creepy Obama cult’s followers continue to push forward with a weird, but so far successful push to have the Dear Leader dominate every aspect of our lives.

Even visiting a local mall yesterday, it was impossible to escape Obama overkill. At the entrance to Newbury Comics, there was a lifesize image of the Messiah, apparently to let us all know they have been fully indoctrinated and expect us to follow suit.

And just try to find a newspaper without the Chosen One’s photo on the cover and glowing coverage inside, it’s nearly impossible. Turn on the local news and the anchors lead off with partisan propaganda about how Obama is going to save the world.

For its part, talk radio is gearing up to fight him for as long as possible and ready to beat back their attempts to wipe out the medium.

Sunday, I was interviewed for a live Monday morning drive time talk program in Canberra, Australia. The host seemed alarmed by what was going on here and told me that any successful move to shut down opposition voices in America would quickly be emulated by his own government as well.

I tried to reassure his listeners that 58 million Americans who didn’t join the cult are ready to fight for this country, especially to protect freedom of expression. There are a lot of spooked people over there right now, however. They wonder what the hell is going on here.

I wish I had a better answer, as McCain’s crappy campaign explains only part of the problem.

But the hands-down creepiest development on the Obama front is news that a movement is underway to create a national holiday to honor the Dear Leader himself. No, that’s NOT a joke, I wish it were.

Obama’s support base has now moved so far into cult territory that there’s really no distinction between his followers and those who followed Jim Jones to Guyana, other than in terms of size and scope.

As Americans, we’ve long viewed ourselves as above the sort of extreme movements that have brought (often initally democratically-elected) dictators to power elsewhere. Obama is quickly becoming our Chavez, Castro or Ahmadinejad.

Will his supporters wake up before it is too late? I doubt it, the brainwashing is now complete.

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.

Used To Criticism?

In a news story announcing Tom Finneran’s hiring, the felon himself makes the case that he’s already accustomed to taking critical calls:

He also declared himself more than ready for the rough- and- tumble of talk radio, saying after 26 years in public life he’s accustomed to “people calling in and criticizing.”

The problem is that unlike talk radio, where these calls come directly from the public and go right out over the airwaves, Finneran had a full staff on Beacon Hill to insulate himself from this kind of heat. And, given his legendary arrogance, Finneran likely has one of the thinnest skins in politics.

And here, he really must have had reporters laughing at this comment:

Finneran was accused of lying under oath in a lawsuit that stemmed from a legislative redistricting plan.

Finneran said today he made a mistake and is now paying the price for it.

No, Tommy Taxes, thanks to Julie Kahn and whatever sleazy deal got you this job, you’ve paid no price whatsoever.

Press Conference: Opportunity Lost?

In their press conference this morning, we’re told WRKO management announced that Tom Finneran would not start his new morning drive talk show until mid-February.

If that’s really the case, then they’ve lost the one advantage they’ve had going into this deal: the current wave of publicity surrounding the now-convicted felon.

Why the delay? If this guy’s really ready to go, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t start on Monday.

Five weeks from now, Finneran’s troubles will be old news, the spotlight will be on something else and news of his hiring will be stale and boring to the local media.

Add to that the lack of a natural talk radio audience constituency for Tommy Taxes and this show should prove to be Dead On Arrival.

The Battle Vs The War

With Tom Finneran’s hiring, Julie Kahn’s reign of terror may have won a battle, but she’s sure to lose the war.

Already, foolish attempts at reasoning are being made by WRKO’s managers, including a sad misconception about the value of media attention. Sources say that Howie Carr is actually being encouraged to rip Finneran to shreds, with the idea that any publicity is good publicity.

Because of their lack of experience, what they don’t realize is not only is it not good for WRKO, it will actually speed up Finneran’s demise, as Carr is positioning his forces for an all-out offensive against the convicted felon.

Tommy Taxes doesn’t have a chance.

Meanwhile, Finneran is said to believe that the intense opposition to his hiring will quickly subside, within a week or so, which will allow him to do the show without serious challenges from callers.

Yes, the callers could very well drop off after an initial week or two, but that doesn’t mean anyone is listening.

In his arrogance, Finneran believes he understands the world of talk radio as well as the legislature. But he’s about to learn a very tough lesson, as he realizes he’s working for a station whose audience simply doesn’t want him, in an industry where he doesn’t belong.

This is why Kahn is all but sure to lose the war: she thought she could force her will onto the listening public. When this goes bad, as it most certainly will, Kahn will go right down with him.