This Is Refreshing

What I've long hated about the corporate broadcast media is that it gladly provides a forum for just about every right-wing blowhard it can find and rarely if ever challenges what these fascist bastards have to say. And when corporate media outlets finally do bring on a liberal or a moderate to challenge these whackos, it's usually some weakling who runs off and hides in a corner when the right wingers start spewing their Nazi bullshit.

But not today.

I listen to KGO's liberal talk show host Bernie Ward as often as I can. What I like about Bernie is that (1) he is fearless, and (2) he doesn't take shit from anyone. He gladly accepts calls from extreme right wingers, then absolutely blows them out of the water every time. The reason he is able to do this is because he actually takes the time to inform himself on the issues.

Well, here is the video of Bernie taking on Texas Republican radio host Chris Baker during a debate on MSNBC. Baker, a right winger, gets so frustrated over the ass-kicking he is receiving that he actually storms off the set.

Calitics sums up the exchange this way (via Crooks and Liars):

Baker: Time of War! New York Times Treasonous! Bush Haters!

Ward: Should the government control what a newspaper prints?

Baker: Time of War! New York Times Treasonous! Bush Haters!

Ward: Answer the question. Should the government control what a newspaper prints?

[Repeat until Baker loses his mind, calls Ward names, and storms off because his Rove-approved talking points aren't working.]

That perfectly sums up how the whole thing went down. Bernie demonstrated how easy it is to shoot down extremists like Chris Baker. Calitics also had this to say about what happened:

Crooks & Liars has video of KGO's late-night talk show host Bernie Ward destroying Texas Republican radio host Chris Baker on MSNBC. The two were there to discuss the New York Times' reporting of the Bush Administration's recent financial dragnetting.

Ward gets Baker to completely lose his cool and storm off the set. This is instructive not because Baker lost his cool, but because of the way that Bernie Ward refused to play his game. . . .

Ward changed the basic assumptions of the conversation, and then refused to be baited by Baker's Republican-party talking points or the host's attempts to drag him into a diversion about "the courts" (where you've already conceded that government censorship of the press is a legitimate question). See how effective that was?

If only our politicians could be that relentless.

You owe it to yourself to watch the video.