Category Archives: Right-wing Extremism

The Most Dangerous Man in America

Extinction, Rebellion and Resistance, Right-wing Extremism, World of ideas

 

The clarion call of the new right-wing was all about liberty and freedom. This was, according to Justin Ling, in his podcast aptly called The Flame Throwers, “the language of revolution.”  1998 was time for a New Tea Party. Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich saw themselves as right-wing revolutionaries. In fact Gingrich invited Limbaugh to come to Washington to fire up the new troops that had been elected. This was going to be the politics of extremism with no holds barred.

Limbaugh advised the newly elected Congressmen in 1998. “This is not the time to be moderate, this is not the time to be liked, this is no time to seek to gain the approval of the people you have just defeated.” American politics had entered the age of extremism where there was no room any more for moderation, reasonableness, or humility.

The incoming class of Republican Congressmen and women presented Limbaugh with a plaque that said, “Rush was right.”  They also assured him that there was not a single Feminazi in the bunch.  The right in America was nothing if it was not hyper- masculine. Only wimps would give in to feminists. Women were one of Limbaugh’s most consistent targets of verbal abuse.

At the time Limbaugh’s radio shows were shown on more 600 stations in the USA. He had a television show on another 225 stations. As Ling said, “Tens of millions of Americans were hanging on his every utterance. He now basically runs the Republican Party.”  This was a role later taken over by Donald Trump. As much as he loved being adored by the Republican party, there was one endorsement that he treasured above all others—he got a personal letter from Saint Ronald Reagan himself. He was in heaven. Not only that it was the best heaven of all—Republican heaven.

This is what that blessed epistle from the Saint of the Right said:

“Thanks Rush for all that you are doing for promoting Republican and conservative principles. Now that I have retired from active politics, I don’t mind that you have become the number one voice for conservatism in our country. I know the liberals call you the most dangerous man in America, but don’t worry about it. They  used to say the same thing about me. Keep up the good work. America needs to hear the way things otta be.

Sincerely, Ron”

In many ways, Rush Limbaugh was in fact the most dangerous man in America. He was ready to blow it up—in the world of ideas of course. Though it would have ramifications beyond that.

 

Newt Gingerich Revolutionary

Extremism, Hate, Moral Humility, Right-wing Extremism

 

After the massive Republican victory in the American mid-term elections of 1994, Newt Gingerich  became the new Leader of the House, and he was obviously a firebrand. Nothing else would do. Moderates were scorned.  It was time for a new Tea Party.

The Atlantic magazine said that Gingrich “turned partisan battles into blood sport, wrecked Congress, and paved the way for Trump’s rise.” Polarization in American politics was jump started. American politics would not be the same for decades (or perhaps forever?). He called himself the “most serious systematic revolutionary of modern times.”

Here is one of his early incendiary remarks for which he became famous:

“You cannot make civilization with 12-year-olds having babies, 15-year-old shooting each other, 17- year-olds dying of AIDS, and 18-year-olds getting a diploma they can’t read.”

 

Interestingly, this also established Gingrich as part of the culture wars that have taken over American politics, both on the left and the right.

Justin Ling said this about Gingrich on The Flame Throwers podcast:

 

“What he really was, was a pugilistic bomb thrower who was willing to tear down the entire American political structure with his bare hands if he had to.”

 

These were the type of guys (usually they were all guys) that the American right-wing loved. And still love! They were bombastic; they were confident, and they mocked all the namby pambies of the liberal camp. Later they referred to them as “woke.” Gingrich was Rush Limbaugh’s kind of guy! This was a guy he could support, just like Donald Trump later was the kind of guy he could support.

Gingrich, again like Trump later, called Limbaugh for advice. They ascended together. They joined in hatred of  liberals, an in particular the Clintons, and dragged a nation of conservatives with them. According to Justin Ling, “together they remade the language of politics. Liberals are anti-flag, anti-child, traitors, thieves.” Together they helped create the astonishing polarization of American politics. Their extreme language helped establish extreme hatred for “the other party.” There was no room for moderation. This was a battle between Satan and Jesus. It was the beginning of a new age of extremism in which we are still living . Humility found no home in this new movement.

And it had American talk radio to thank.

A Crusade of lies against the Clintons

Conspiracy Theories, Death of Truth, Politics & Religion, Right-wing Extremism

Rush Limbaugh was very popular among the American right, particularly in rural America. But Limbaugh was not a sterling example of a man with good character.

On the David Lettermen television show Rush Limbaugh attacked the Clintons as he always did but he even attacked their daughter Chelsea who was only 12 years old. He made a joke by comparing her unfavorably to the family dog. Nothing was too low for Limbaugh, particularly when attacking liberals. No tactics are off the table in a religious war.

He attacked them bitterly over the death of Vince Foster.  He said on his show that a Washington consulting firm was about to publish a story that Vince Foster was murdered in an apartment owned by Hillary Clinton! Foster was a childhood friend of Bill Clinton and joined the White House administration as counsel and was involved in scandals that in hindsight were pretty minor.  Nothing compared to the later Trump administration scandals. Foster was depressed, anxious and over worked. His death was investigated by 2 police agencies, a coroner, 2 independent counsels, and 2 Congressional Committees. All said his death was a suicide. But all this was nothing beside the fax that was sent to Rush Limbaugh.  The implication of the fax was clear—Clintons were murderers!  This brought polarization into American politics at a whole new level of extremism.  And Limbaugh was proud of his efforts.

Of course, there were many right-wing conspiracies about Foster. One of those was that Foster was assassinated to keep him from testifying against the Clintons. Or that he had been blackmailed by Israel over a secret Swiss bank account. Or that his death was the consequence of a secret tryst with—you got it—Hillary Clinton. Who else? Once more there was no evidence to support this. It was all lies manufactured somewhere on the right where these things are spawned. (and I am not denying that there have been lies on the left as well) But they have really found a congenial home on the right.

Rush Limbaugh helped embed conspiracy theories permanently inside the Republican party. Conspiracies were there to stay. They are still there in abundance. He had gone a long way toward convincing American conservatives that their president and a future presidential candidate were murderers who would stop at nothing to get their political way.  This was a religious crusade. And religious crusades always end badly and don’t allow truth to get in their way.

The crusade against the Clintons has been a remarkable phenomenon in American politics for about 2 decades.  And it is not ending any time soon.  Crusades can do that. American right-wing talk radio has been a big part of that.  Now I do not claim the Clinton’s were entirely innocent political actors.  I am saying though that they have been the object of an unprecedented massive campaign of lies that has been building for decades. Such a mountain of lies would be difficult for a saint to overcome, and for the Clintons it was impossible.

Many of us did not appreciate this when Hillary ran for the presidency in 2016. No matter how absurd, the lies accumulated and had tremendous effect.  After all, how could she combat a campaign that painted her as the leader of a cabal of pedophiles operating out of the non-existent  basement of a pizza restaurant basement in Washington D.C.?  No possible evidence could refute such a massive lie.

Rush Limbaugh played an important role in manufacturing, spreading, and solidifying this campaign of lies.

As Justin Ling said in his podcast series on CBC “The Flamethrowers”,

“The conspiracy theory was here to stay, thanks in large part to Rush Limbaugh. No longer were the Clintons conventional political villains. They were murderers! But whether or not the Vince Foster story really took hold in the minds of Limbaugh, he was leading a political crusade—and he was winning.”

 

 

The result was what one political commentator called “a seismic shift to the right tonight in American political thinking. It is measuring 10.0 on the political Richter scale.” It was massive; it was powerful; and it was created by Rush Limbaugh and his revolutionary cabal of right-wing radio commentators around the country.

It was intensely visible in 1998 in the American mid-term elections. The Republicans took control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1954. They picked up 54 seats in the House and enough seats to claim the Senate as well. It was the worst loss suffered by a sitting President in 50 years.

There was one clear lesson from all of this: Conspiracy theories work.

And the Republicans did not forget that lesson then, and have not forgotten it since.

A Crusade of lies against the Clintons

Conspiracy Theories, Death of Democracy, Death of Truth, Right-wing Extremism

 

On the David Lettermen show Rush Limbaugh attacked the Clintons as he always did but he even attacked their daughter Chelsea who was only 12 years old. He made a joke by comparing her unfavorably to the family dog. Nothing was too low for Limbaugh, particularly when attacking liberals.

He attacked them bitterly over the death of Vince Foster.  He said on his show that a Washington consulting firm was about to publish a story that Vince Foster was murdered in an apartment owned by Hillary Clinton! Foster was a childhood friend of Bill Clinton and joined the White House administration as counsel and was involved in scandals that in hindsight were pretty minor.  Nothing compared to the later Trump administration scandals. Foster was depressed, anxious and over worked. His death was investigated by 2 police agencies, a coroner, 2 independent counsels, and 2 Congressional Committees. All said his death was a suicide. But all this was nothing beside the fax that was sent to Rush Limbaugh.  The implication was clear—Clintons were murderers!  This brought polarization into American politics at a whole new level of extremism.  And Limbaugh was proud of his efforts.

Of course, there were many right-wing conspiracies about Foster. One of those was that Foster was assassinated to keep him from testifying against the Clintons. Or that he had been blackmailed by Israel over a secret Swiss bank account. Or that his death was the consequence of a secret tryst with—you got it—Hillary Clinton. Who else? Once more there was no evidence to support this. It was all lies manufactured somewhere on the right where these things are spawned. (and I am not denying that there have been lies on the left as well)

Rush Limbaugh helped embed conspiracy theories permanently inside the Republican party. Conspiracies were there to stay. They are still there in abundance. And he had gone a long way toward convincing American conservatives that their president and a future presidential candidate were murderers who would stop at nothing to get their political way.  This was a religious crusade. And religious crusades always end badly.

The crusade against the Clintons has been a remarkable phenomenon in American politics for about 2 decades.  And it is not ending any time soon.  Crusades can do that. American right-wing talk radio has been a big part of that.  Now I do not claim the Clinton’s were entirely innocent political actors.  I am saying though that they have been the object of an unprecedented massive campaign of lies that has been building for decades. Such a mountain of lies would be difficult for a saint to overcome, and for the Clintons it was impossible. They are not saints. Many of us did not appreciate this when Hillary ran for the presidency in 2016. No matter how absurd the lies accumulated and had tremendous effect.  After all, how can she combat a campaign that painted her as the leader of cabal of pedophiles operating out of the non-existent  basement of a pizza restaurant basement in Washington D.C.?  No possible evidence could refute such a massive lie.

Rush Limbaugh played an important role in manufacturing, spreading, and solidifying this campaign of lies.

As Justin Ling said in his podcast series the Flamethrowers,

“The conspiracy theory was here to stay, thanks in large part to Rush Limbaugh. No longer were the Clintons conventional political villains. They were murderers! But whether or not the Vince Foster story really took hold in the minds of Limbaugh was leading a political crusade—and he was winning.”

 

 

The result was what one political commentator called “a seismic shift to the right tonight in American political thinking. It is measuring 10.0 on the political Richter scale.” It was massive; it was powerful; and it was created by Rush Limbaugh and his revolutionary cabal of right-wing radio commentators around the country.

 

It was intensely visible in 1998 in the American mid-term elections. The Republicans took control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1954. They picked up 54 seats in the House and enough seats to claim the Senate as well. It was the worst loss suffered by a sitting President in 50 years.

The lesson: Conspiracy theories work.

 

A Safe Place to Hate.

Conservative, Evangelical Christianity, Fear, Hate, Moral Humility, Politics & Religion, Right-wing Extremism, Trumpism, Woke

 

There had been a lot of social change just before Rush Limbaugh arrived on the scene. There was gay liberation, women’s rights, and liberalism. Many felt they could no longer say what they wanted to say. Political correctness was seen as a stifling chain. They also thought no one was speaking like them or to them. They were ignored and invisible. As Justin Ling said in his CBC. Radio series , “In the universe of right-wing media compared to the Wall Street Journal and like the later Fox News Limbaugh’s listeners were older, whiter, more conservative, and more religious. For this slice of America Limbaugh created a safe space.” He created a safe place to hate.

Surprisingly, because there was a Republican in the White House, as Ling said, “he convinced these old, white, conservative, and religious Americans that they were disenfranchised!” Even though they were in the majority! It was pure alchemy. He told them they were looked down on. He milked them for their resentment—the elixir of devils. As Ling said, “He formed a kind of counterculture; a resistance against the liberals, and the progressives, and the feminists.”

In the mid-80s he syndicated to about 50 stations across the country but by 1990 he got 450 affiliates. He was the rock star of talk radio and the conservative movement. He led a Rush to Excellence Tour to various stadiums around the country with as many as 10,000 people.  As Justin Ling said, “Limbaugh declared a culture war”. Limbaugh put it this way:

“We are in the midst of a culture war. What are rights? This culture war illustrates precisely what is going on. We in America are in the midst—it’s an exciting time to be alive—we are in the midst of a redefinition of who is going to define right and wrong, what the punishment is going to be for those who violate the limits that we place on our behavior. We are arguing about who has the right to tell us what is right and what is wrong. We’re arguing over what censorship is And to me its pretty scary.”

 

And there it is again—fear—the secret sauce of paranoia and right-wing hysteria.

Like Trump later, Limbaugh went from being a spoiled rich kid to a champion of the working class. People all over America were starting to take notice of Limbaugh. I remember at the time hearing about him from a friend of mine, a trucker. Truckers loved Limbaugh, just like they later loved Trump and basically for the same reasons. They liked to have a wrecking ball in their corner as did my friend the trucker, and much later the truckers convoy in Ottawa in 2022. They got a rush from Rush Limbaugh.

As Justin Ling said, “On his radio show he was the voice of God on a one way street. And he loved nothing better than to run over liberal women. On his radio show he said, “this is a show devoted to what I think.” On the Dave Lettermen show he said people were bugged by him because “I have almost a monopoly on the truth.” No one could ever accuse Limbaugh of humility. Humility was a liberal vice. And his fans loved it.  He also said “This is a benevolent dictatorship. I am the dictator. There is no first amendment here except for me.”

Now he was entitled to be the dictator of his own show. If we don’t like it, we don’t have to listen to it.

 

Rush Limbaugh: Loved and Hated

Right-wing Extremism

I first head about Rush Limbaugh from a truck driver friend of mine who said he listened to him every day while driving across North America.  He found his show immensely entertaining. “Never a dull moment”, he said

Rush Limbaugh launched his incredible radio career in Sacramento California. He came from an affluent family. He had already been fired from 3 jobs in talk radio, but in California he developed a formula that would prove very successful. He appeared every day in the studio with newspaper clippings that were the raw material for his show.  And he knew the good stuff; the stuff that would get his audience worked up. “Engaged,” is what modern social media moguls would call it. Much of it was not overtly political. It was topical but focused more on entertainment.

 

At first Rush was not very political. He wanted to be like Larry King putting on a fun and zany show. It was conservative, but conservative light. He was a rule breaker. But as he because successful his politics defined the show. “People loved him and absolutely hated him,” as Justin Ling said in his podcast series The Flamethrowers.

 

Limbaugh was made the subject of “one of the greatest billboards in the history of billboards.” It showed a car radio with push buttons on the AM dial. The caption was brilliant: “Don’t you just want to punch Rush Limbaugh?” That is exactly what a lot of Americans wanted to do. As Ling said, “For Limbaugh, this was the sweet spot. Being loved and hated is his rocket fuel.”That is what liberals just don’t get.  Limbaugh loved the extremes. There was nothing Caspar Milquetoast about him.  Milquetoast was the character in a cartoon Timid Soul, and there was nothing timid about Rush. “the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick.” He was light and easy to digest, the exact opposite of Limbaugh. Limbaugh was the one who hit with a big stick.

In 4 years in Sacramento Rush tripled his audience. He was off and the world of politics in America would never be the same again. No more milquetoast. No more mush. It was time for real men. Listeners wanted something visceral. They want something reactionary. They had been looking for someone to say what they’ve been thinking. And there was an audience that had been waiting for this kind of show.”

 

He caught fire across America. He took his show to New York City where it was nationally syndicated. It was 1988. If callers were dull, he cut them off in mid-sentence and called it “caller abortion.”  He was definitely not polite or mild mannered. He called feminists “Feminazis.” He called the NAACP the National Association for the advancement of liberal colored people. It should be called NAALCP.”  He called liberals by nicknames like “the philanderer” for Ted Kennedy.  A man who later became president took up a lot of Rush’s techniques, tricks, and causes. Donald Trump learned a lot from Limbaugh.

 

Limbaugh combined the sermonizing of Father Coughlin with conservative interactive talk. He offended a lot of people, but as Ling said, “For Limbaugh, offending people was the whole point. He is saying the quiet parts out loud.” Many found it horrifying; others considered it a breath of fresh air. Some loved talk that went to edge, or sometimes over the edge, into racism, misogyny, homophobia and mockery of ethnic groups. He said what others were too timid to say. He lost a lot of listeners and he gained a lot of listeners. Those who stayed loved him. They were there for the duration. No mealy-mouthed liberals for Rush. He definitely was not politically correct!

Ronildus Maximus

Conservative, Right-wing Extremism

 

Rush Limbaugh worshipped him like no other. He called him “Ronildus  Maximus.” This is what Limbaugh said about why he liked Ronald Reagan so much:

“I have to rank Ronald Reagan as one of the greatest presidents of all time. Certainly of my life time. Ronald Reagan demonstrated that all you have to do is unshackle the American people. Let them exercise the freedom that is the natural yearning, God-given of the human being—and nobody can stop them. Reagan said, you know better than anybody else what’s best for you and you’ll do better for yourself if people just get out of your way.”

 

That was American conservatism in a nutshell and it is not entirely unattractive.  I would not call it right-wing extremism.

 

Ronald Regan put it this way: “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant; it is just that they know so much that isn’t so.” That is a pretty sly critique, and again, not without its attraction.

Rush Limbaugh however was different.  Very different. He was a right-wing extremist.

 

Can 40 million listeners be wrong?

American Fascism, Conspiracy Theories, Death of Truth, Hate, Populism, racism, Right-wing Extremism

 

In 1929 America and the rest of the world experienced a crash. The 1920s, called the Roaring Twenties, when wealthy people leaped enthusiastically in to popular endeavors such as Speak Easys and led the country into financial disaster and common people were desperately unhappy about it.

Father Coughlin stepped out of the fiery preacher role on radio and became the “conduit for a real and very understandable anger.” He rode a populist wave of anger. He became the voice of outrage and had spectacular success on the perfect medium for anger—the radio.  Anger has been the bed rock of talk radio ever since, particularly right-wing talk radio.

In the language of today, Father Coughlin was a populist—he was anti-communist but also anti-capitalist. He supported some unions, but not the more radical unions. He started out left, though not extreme left. As Justin Ling the host and writer of the CBC podcast Flame Throwers said, “Coughlin’s audience was estimated at 40 million listeners. At that time that was a third of America. Limbaugh at his height would have only about 1/20th of America.” This is much more than Fox News obtains today. These were huge numbers! And all this from a Canadian priest!

Meanwhile money poured into the church he was restoring and he arranged for it to build a huge iron cross, one the KKK could not burn.Coughlin turned to a politician he could support. It was someone who distrusted the political class like he did. So, he turned instead to someone who distrusted the bankers and big business. This was a champion of everyman. Not a far right politician.  This political leader was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the author of the new deal.

Coughlin was clear, “It is either Roosevelt or ruin,” he said. FDR was a shrewd politician and “he saw in the radio priest, a new way of meeting the masses.” Coughlin saw in FDR a vehicle for his new social justice calling.  Justin Ling pointed out “As President, FDR recognized the visceral yet intimate power of radio. Through his fireside chats he entered into America’s living rooms as a trusted guest.” Coughlin inspired the President who followed suit. As Ling said, “Coughlin is no longer that small town Catholic  fighting anti-Catholic bias.” Later Coughlin abandoned FDR when he started making deals with the bankers rather than throwing them out as he done earlier. Later, when FDR made a deal with Stalin (and Churchill) Coughlin was furious. “Coughlin was vehemently anti-Communist.” He changed his slogan to “Roosevelt and ruin.”

Coughlin started his own political party and then turned to the dark side–the far right. He blamed Jews for their own persecution. He also adopted various conspiracy theories such as the one that Jewish bankers were part of an international cabal. He also cited the conspiracy theory of the elders of Zion which falsely claimed that Jews were part of a international Jewish conspiracy to rule the world. He claimed that Jews and Communists together were determined to take over America. Coughlin gave up on left wing causes and turned instead to supporting Hitler and the Nazis. He went about as far right as he could go.

He came to be called “the father of Hate radio.” Though someone else grabbed that crown from him about 100 years later.  We will get to him. Coughlin began to be abandoned by his erst while supporters. Many called out his mistaken litany of facts that were not facts at all. Federal regulators warned him that they would not allow the airwaves to abused in that manner. As Ling said, “In today’s world he was cancelled and de-platformed.” The radio star was done, but his influence lived on to be used by other pundits from other political persuasions.

As Ling said, “Coughlin was radio’s first real celebrity. He weaponized bombast but met his listeners where they were at. He sat in their living rooms and echoed their concerns. He helped to propel presidents to power. He tried to have a say in running the country from behind a microphone.”  He did all this by unleashing the power of hate. He was soon followed by many others.

The genie of political radio was out of the bottle and would never get back in. as Ling said, “Coughlin fell into conspiracy theories and hate as a way to energize and galvanize his support, and he would not be the last.” Once politicians, pundits, and frauds saw the power of hate, others followed as surely as night follows day. He proved how powerful the toxic combination of racism, hatred, and conspiracy theories could be.

 

 

 

Anger the Bedrock of Right-wing talk radio

Hate, Right-wing Extremism

 

The story in the CBC podcast written by and hosted by Justin Ling began with a Canadian priest Charles Coughlin — a populist crusader who wound up espousing conspiracy and hate 100 years before Rush Limbaugh got his medal of freedom from President Donald J. Trump. What Coughlin did was crucial. He proved how potent radio could be.

 

Right-wing radio flexed its muscle with a boycott of Polish Ham. And the Kennedy government almost wiped right-wing talk off the map.  Right-wing radio began with loud, brash, infuriating zealots. According to Ling, these “broadcasters would fan the flames of a new populist ideology; they give a voice to a swath of Americans who felt like they never had one. They energize and then they radicalize the conservative movement.”]  That movement was home to ordinary conservatives and conspiracy pedlars and everything in between. Father Coughlin started off in Canada but graduated to Detroit. He was of the ‘go big or go home’ mindset. That influenced many that came after him. It has been the mark of right-wing radio ever since.

 

n the 1920s, talk radio was launched from what now seems a very unlikely source a firebrand Canadian Catholic priest. He claimed he got a “welcome present from the Ku Klux Klan” when he arrived in Detroit. Although the Klan reserved its most venal vitriol for black Americans it had other groups in its sights as well. As Ling said, “they had more than enough hate in their hearts to attack immigrants, especially Catholics who were flocking to Detroit to work in new auto plants.” When he arrived in Detroit, he was greeted with a burning cross courtesy of the KKK. That did not scare him off. Coughlin made arrangements to deliver talks on the radio, a relatively new media at the time. He knew he needed to raise money for his church which had massive debt for its huge church and was not raising enough from donations to sustain it. The situation was dire and at the same time the local KKK group was uttering bellicose statements about the church. He had a deep rich voice with near musical cadence that was very powerful on the radio.

It was particularly effective at transmitting anger and hatred. in fact, it was amazingly effective at that.

The Fairness Doctrine

Right-wing Extremism

 

 

Under the administration of  President John F. Kennedy the FCC which regulates broadcasting in the US was ordered to get serious about enforcing the “fairness doctrine.” As a condition of the license of broadcasters they had to broadcast matters of public interest in a manner that was “fair and balanced.” It actually was on the books since 1949 but was only sparsely enforced. The Kennedy administration gave it new teeth. In 1963 it issued what it called a “clarification.” It was declared to be immaterial whether a program was presented under the label of Americanism, anti-communism, or state’s rights.  These of course were all the standard right-wing tropes.

All kinds of liberal organizations started filing “fairness” complaints. This drove the right wing movement crazy. The FCC ordered that insulted parties had the right to reply on air at no cost. Even the National Council of Churches jumped on this band wagon. The complainers could demand transcripts which the broadcaster had to supply. It was a huge hassle to those broadcasters.

Carl McIntire railed against this doctrine to his millions of listeners. He claimed the FCC put this weapon in the hands of their enemies to harass radio stations (and later TV stations too). These were thought to be deliberate tactics of the Kennedy administration. Soon one third of the right-wing radio stations were off the air.  McIntire actually bought his own station to protect his empire. He invested all he had in this defensive movement. After a lengthy court battle McIntire lost his license. Even after that he did not give up. He bought an old military mine sweeper and floated it off the coast of Cape May Jersey in international waters beyond the perceived jurisdiction of the FCC. But that did not work either. In 1973 he shut it down, blaming his religious opponents and opponents of free speech.

 

By then right-wing radio was on its death watch. Owners of radio stations were cowed by the fairness doctrine. The right-wing movement declined in concert with the fading of talk radio.

 

When a person felt aggrieved by a broadcast that person could sue the radio stations for the right to reply. Radio stations had to give radio time for free to their sworn enemies!  They could also demand transcripts of radio shows that stations had to hire people to provide. Imagine hiring people to produce evidence against you and then giving it to your foes! This was serious stuff.

 

McIntire railed against this liberal nonsense. But the FCC campaign was enormously successful. By 1960 one third of the right-wing radio stations were off the airwaves. It looked like the hated liberals were winning the war of the skies.

 

By the 1970s right wing radio was in the doldrums.  But it was not completely dead.