FAIRNESS DOCTRINE BECOMES A HOT BUTTON ISSUE

As reported here first at TAB, Dennis Kucinich and many of his Democrat bretheran are making a push to bring back the Fairness Doctrine and silence any and all voices of opposition to Democratic Party and the Driveby Media. The top two titans of Conservative talk radio, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, both weighed in on the issue today. Here's a snippet from Rush:

As is typical with liberals -- in some instances you'd have to say that Kucinich is acting Stalinist in this -- they have given it their best shot to try to have an open-minded, open-ended debate in radio. They can't get coverage, they can't draw an audience; they can't draw an audience in the commercial field, at any rate. So what do they do? They attempt to silence the opposition, and this is an assault on the First Amendment, disguised under that word "fairness."

Sean Hannity had Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) on his radio show today (unfortunately, no audio link or text) [UPDATE: FULL AUDIO HERE.] and Accuracy in Media picked up on the story today as well:

Democrats in Congress are pushing for legislation that they say would bring more balance to the media, but critics say would muzzle conservative voices. The Fairness Doctrine, a federal regulation requiring broadcasters to present both sides of a controversial issue, was enforced by the Federal Communications Commission from 1949 to 1987, when it was dropped during the Reagan administration.

Many in the broadcast industry credit the dropping of the rule to the rise of conservative talk radio that became a booming industry, featuring personalities like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. Bringing back the regulation will ensure more even-handed coverage of political issues, said Jeff Lieberson, spokesman for Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), who has proposed the "Media Ownership Reform Act."

"The political interests of media owners can have a direct and indirect effect on the way news is presented to the public, so it's important that all sides are heard," Lieberson told Cybercast News Service Tuesday. The Fairness Doctrine is a key component of Hinchey's bill, which also sets tighter limits on media ownership. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has proposed a companion bill in the Senate.

"This is not an attempt to muzzle them at all," Lieberson said of conservative talk show hosts who are opposed to the Fairness Doctrine. "They will still be heard. This will ensure that different views that are not theirs will also be heard."

Sweet sassy molassy! Are there any liberal points of view not being heard?!? What world are these people living in? No, never mind; I know the answer. They know they control 90% of the media...they want to eliminate the other 10%, and they trying to do it with lies.... This is scary stuff, folks.