Concept Albom

I was driving home from Jackson, Michigan today after doing key audits at three of Jackson's prisons (one of which was at what is left of the great Southern Michigan Prison at Jackson, formerly the largest walled prison in the world), when I happened to hear the Mitch Albom program on the radio. Now, Mitch's show is syndicated and it probably does very well in most areas of the country but long-time listeners know Mitch's politics are left-liberal. I frequently end up screaming at his show which causes my wife no end of consternation. "If you hate his show so much, why do you listen to it?" To which my mental answer is that I need to know that there are people who think this way and that my worldview is still intact...but my actual answer is something like, "Sorry, honey."

Anyway, after discussing the Mark Foley affair, he ended the segment with a statement that went something like this (I can't repeat it verbatim because I was driving and couldn't take notes, though all the drivers around me were talking on cell phones and ignoring most lines on the road, but I digress):
"What kills me is that when Bill Clinton got into an affair with a young woman all the Republicans thought that was terrible and he should be impeached but when a Republican Congressman engages in sexually suggestive emails and IMs with a sixteen year old page, they don't think it's a problem at all. Aren't they essentially the same thing?"

Mitch, Mitch, Mitch. First they are not essentially the same thing. Foley's acts were much, much worse than Clinton's. Monica Lewinski was an adult, not a child, and even though he carried out his sexual fantasies with her and Foley (probably) didn't (with any of the pages), the idea of treating a sixteen year old page as a potential sexual partner is much more morally depraved than trysting with a young adult tart. Second, I don't believe I have heard any Republicans saying that they think Foley's actions were anything but outrageous and sick, if not criminal. If Mitch is going to accuse Republicans of thinking this is no big deal, he should have produced a name or a quote from someone who had this thought or made this statement. He can't. They didn't.

Finally, it is this completely bald-faced liberal slant that gets a complete pass in the press or in any news coverage that continues to bend the public to the will of these liberal media mavens. Albom is a best-selling author, writes plays and books, has had some of his books made into movies and has a highly rated radio program. He is frequently on TV as a sportscaster as well as a culture critic. What he says makes a difference. The liberals don't need Air America with Mitch on the airwaves. He does it better, in stealth mode, and does it for a wider audience.

One other thing he said was that if the stock market (the DOW hit an all-time high today) is doing so well, why are the people in Michigan not feeling it? I virtually yelled at the radio, "Because they think like you do, Mitch!" An analogy would be that I hire a band to work a party and I promise them to pay them with a keg of fine homebrew (it's my story and I'll spin it any way I like, thank you). Then after they show up at the party, they bring in another guy (let's call him their agent) and he takes a few gallons of the beer from them as his payment for making sure that they are treated right by mean old me. Then, as the party winds down, he takes some more of that beer and gives it away to people that he thinks might be able to help him find more clients like my band and some to people that might want to hire bands for their parties, you know, to form some networks for his own business-which is ostensibly, just to ensure his clients, the band members get "treated right". At the end of the night, when the band is ready to drink their beer, there's hardly any left but the agent is drunk as a skunk and all his future clients and their future clients are in their cups, as well. That's the nature of Michigan's over-unionized workforce and the reason this state is at the dead bottom in terms of job losses in the country, while the stock market and the economy is booming! The unions are drunk with power and the workers are thirsty for a beer.

And, yes, I did yell at the radio. Sorry, honey.

Fair and Balanced, what a concept.