This is an amazing debate on CSPAN 2 right now. (Background) Last night was a prelude, but today the GOP has come back with an argument. The crux of their argument today is that there’s a 1,000,000 listener threshold – neither written down nor communicated at any time before this moment – that is the key factor of whether a program is carried or not. So Harkin came back asking, “if this threshold, that’s not written anywhere, then why isn’t Howard Stern on the network?”
Inhofe: “His type of lewd program would not be the type of thing we’d want to broadcast to the Middle East (insinuating that it would encite them)”
Rush Limbaugh’s ‘Club Gitmo’ product line wouldn’t? Rush saying, “hey, buy a t-shirt to remember your stay.” Senator Warner, someone I think is a good guy, is calming it down a bit. Making assurances that Schultz and Franken will be on the air soon. Harkin: “They said that 16 months ago”. Warner: “Within the last 15 minutes I received the assurance.” Harkin: “…ask about fairness and equity. Someday the shoe may be on the other foot, and they should never have to hear only one side of the argument.”
I believe they’re voting on the ammendment now – I’ll update as it’s decided.
VOTED DOWN