Liberal Radio Hosts Shameless

As easy as it might be to forget them in the cobwebs of the AM radio dial, the liberal pretenders to the Rush Limbaugh throne are still broadcasting, and they're often utterly, shamelessly ridiculous. Case in point: Even Al Sharpton lamely used his radio show to defend Joe Biden's anti-Republican "they want to put y'all in chains" race baiting in front of a black audience.

Another case in point: Liberal radio hosts adore Harry Reid for making utterly unsubstantiated ugly charges that Mitt Romney evaded taxes for a decade. Bill Press has routinely declared his love for the tactic -- even on CNN, where someone might have noticed. On "Reliable Sources," Press taunted the journalists who might want to play by the rules of evidence.

"Harry Reid is not a journalist. Harry Reid is a Democratic politician who doesn't want Mitt Romney to get elected," Press curdled. "What he is doing may be diabolical, but it's brilliant, because what's Mitt Romney been talking about for the last two days, he's been talking about his freaking tax returns. So Harry Reid is playing hardball."

On "The Stephanie Miller Show," her regular guest Lee Papa, who calls himself "The Rude Pundit," echoed Press and added that liberal lies haven't been strong enough. "My ethical standard is that we (Democrats) should be telling better lies. So frankly I don't even care if this is true or not. I think it's remarkable that a Democrat is actually playing hardball." Miller enthusiastically agreed.

Usually, when authors take up the subject of talk radio, it's a jeremiad that conservative talkers are out to ruin our national discourse with their lies. Who would that be? Start with Bill Press, who wrote a book titled "Toxic Talk: How the Radical Right Has Poisoned America's Airwaves." The book is touted for exposing the "destructive power of Rush, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly" and all those conservatives who push "lies, propaganda, and bigotry" on the populace.

Press also wrote "The Obama Hate Machine: The Lies, Distortions, and Personal Attacks on the President -- and Who Is Behind Them." Press is presumably the Obama love machine that puts out lies, distortions and political attacks to get Obama re-elected, despite his horrible record.

Now there's a rebuttal to that book. It's called "The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment." Author Fred Lucas chronicles conservative talk-radio stars over the decades, reminding us how they kept the American idea alive. (A disclaimer: Lucas works during the day as the White House correspondent for CNSNews.com, a division of the Media Research Center, which I lead.)