NPR Has Another Issue

by Max Johnson

Yesterday, corporate candidate John Kasich canceled his appearance on the vanilla Talk of the Nation show on NPR because he did not want to take calls from the listeners. There is no doubt that this make him look cowardly, but that is not news. There is also no doubt that he did not want to be confronted over the fantasy world he wants to lead the state of Ohio into if he wins. This is a world in which you can cut taxes, not cut programs, and the state will prosper. But another question is what does this say about NPR? They are certainly not known as confrontational and they do not shout down their guests. As a listener and a fan, we all appreciate this ability to have a civilized conversation.

But what does it say about Neal Conan and Ken Rudin that Kasich was afraid of listeners, but not afraid of them? My concern is that they are not asking the tough questions. I understand being fair and balanced in the real sense of the word (not the propaganda fair of Fox News). Are they allowing politicians to get away with spin in the desire to not challenge these ideas? Are they not holding these guys feet to the fire and instead talking about polls, scandals, and missteps? Do they allow the political get in the way of the science of government? I rarely hear anyone challenge some of the basic concepts of the tea party movement or the Corporate party? Here are some questions for your next segment:

• What happened to the Teddy Roosevelt environmentalism in the once honorable Republican party? (You can take out the once honorable if you want to be fair).
  
• Why are you running for an office that you repeatedly disparage and scorn? If the election is a job interview, would you hire someone who said such horrible things about the corporation that they were seeking a job with?
  
• What have you learned from the massive expansion in government that took place from 2001 to 2008 (No child left behind, prescription drug plan, the wars, homeland security, and the TARP bailout)?
  
• What specifically will you eliminate to get the budget back in balance?
  
• Can you point to a time in our history that tax cuts for the rich have actually brought more dollars to government? The last two times this was tried with W and Reagan, it resulted in huge deficits, and it turned out that it was in fact "Voodoo Economics.

I have more if you need them, give me a call, Ken.