"The Left Out" - Commentary by Tony Seton

The Left Out

Ten days ago, the plug was pulled on All-American Talk Radio. The story didn’t make the Times or the other so-called liberal media. Wall Street didn’t collapse. No one joined the ranks of the unemployed.

For eighteen months, my political pard pal Peter had been hosting the week-daily two-hour program which was heard over a number of smaller radio stations and a satellite system or two, as well as the Interent. But there wasn’t enough distribution and virtually no sales support, so the program was cancelled.

I don’t report this because the other media failed to pick up the story. Nor ‘cause Peter is a great guy who was supported by Katrina, an exemplary producer. Not even because SetonnoteS aired on the program or the fact that I was a substitute host on a bunch of afternoons.

A-ATR was a healthy leftie alternative to the daily venomous screeds of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk. For more than a dozen years, right-wingers have been poisoning the dialogue about what is right about and for our nation. They have outright lied about important issues, distorted facts, tarred decent people trying to get the truth out, and the result has been that tens of millions of Americans have been brainwashed.

I don’t use that term lightly. It would be easy to allege that it’s just an enormous flock of stupido-Americans who have bought the deceit. But in fact there are a whole lot of otherwise-intelligent people who, inundated with innuendo and falsehood, day after day, week after week, year after year, without hearing the facts in context, now believe very important things that aren’t true. Worse, they have been infused with distrust, even hatred, of liberals who may be wrong on some points but don’t deserve the animus.

Thoughtful lefty Maureen Dowd published a column yesterday in the Times which included some of that right-wing vitriol...from her brother. It was frighteningly harsh and illuminated the need for the other side to be at least as well-informed, coherent and effective. Without voices like A-ATR there is a growing danger that intellect, justice and honest morality will be marginalized.

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.