Beck's politeness, Smerconish's endorsement

[Scott Fybush]

Bob Nelson wrote:

> We'll see how long the honeymoon lasts, but I jokingly have said
> that I'm sure the right will treat our new President with the
> same respect, admiration, and class as the left did with
> our outgoing President... :)

Can anyone imagine a kiddie show host in today's supercharged political 
environment doing a daily "salute to the President" with a glass of 
milk, a la Bob Emery?

That said -

There's certainly some chatter about a return of the Fairness Doctrine 
on the lefty blogs I visit, but it's certainly not a high-profile cause 
of most of the liberals I know, at least not to the extent that the 
righty talk hosts seem to be imagining it to be.

I'm sure there will be some talk of it in the new Congress, but Obama 
has said it's not something he's interested in pursuing, and there are 
significant Constitutional challenges that could be mounted against 
re-enforcement of the Doctrine.

For what it's worth, incidentally, I'm strongly opposed to the return of 
the Fairness Doctrine or anything like it. The last thing broadcasting 
needs now is any further government regulation of content. The FCC does 
a lousy job already enforcing the few content rules it has (as witness 
the never-ending court battles over the indecency fines) - the last 
thing I want is my government wasting my money litigating over something 
Glenn Beck or Michael Savage said to a few tens or hundreds of thousands 
of willing listeners last night.

s