{"id":31792,"date":"2009-02-26T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T02:40:34","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T02:40:34","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T02:40:34","slug":"dick_durbin_introduces_backdoor_attempt_at_the_fairness_doctrine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/02\/26\/dick_durbin_introduces_backdoor_attempt_at_the_fairness_doctrine\/","title":{"rendered":"Dick Durbin Introduces Backdoor Attempt at the Fairness Doctrine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: In the Senate this afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, the Senate today is voting on two versions of the Fairness Doctrine, starting in 24 minutes, if they\u2019re on time. The first bill in the Senate on the Fairness Doctrine is authored by Dick Durbin of Illinois. His bill proposes these contrivances that I wrote about in the Wall Street Journal op-ed. ‘Localism,\u2019 meaning local content, ‘a notice to broadcasters they must ratchet up and increase the local content on their radio stations. Other guidelines for programming and diversity and advisory boards overseeing radio stations, ‘making sure that the laws,\u2019 the requirements in the Durbin bill ‘are monitor and upheld.\u2019 The second vote is the anti-Fairness Doctrine bill offered by Senator Jim DeMint. It\u2019s an amendment, actually that would forever close off the Fairness Doctrine as something that could be voted on in the Senate. <\/p>\n

The conventional wisdom is that Durbin will win and DeMint will lose, because there are more Democrats than there are Republicans in the Senate. Now, of course, this is just the Senate. It\u2019d then have to go to the House, and it\u2019s interesting. Obama has said that he\u2019s not in favor of the Fairness Doctrine, but I don\u2019t think this is the Fairness Doctrine. They\u2019re not calling it the Fairness Doctrine. These are new guidelines, new restrictions: ‘local content,\u2019 ‘diversity in ownership,\u2019 that kind of thing. So don\u2019t let anybody tell you they\u2019re not going for it. They certainly are, and it\u2019s happening in the Senate even as we speak. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Dick Durbin on the floor of the Senate this afternoon.<\/p>\n

DURBIN: Section 307(b) of the communications act requires that the FCC ensure license ownership be spread among diverse communities. It\u2019s there already. I don\u2019t think this is socialistic, communistic, or unconstitutional. It\u2019s in the law. So to say we\u2019re going to promote what the law already says is hardly a denial of basic constitutional freedoms. Second, the communications act requires the FCC eliminate market entry barriers for small businesses to increase the diversity of media voices. That\u2019s Section 257. So to argue that what I\u2019m putting in here is a dramatic change of the law, is going to somehow muzzle Rush Limbaugh, it\u2019s not the case. What we\u2019re suggesting is that it is best that we follow the guidelines already in the law to promote and encourage diversity in media ownership.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right, folks, I\u2019ve been in this business all my life. I understand the Communications Act of 1934, 1944, 1995, 2003, \u201904, I know it all. Let me first ask you a question. Senator Durbin, if it isn\u2019t about changing things, why do this? If the law is already the law, why do this? Why throw my name in here? And why talk about it being communistic or socialistic or whatever else — communistic, socialistic, unconstitutional — you must be sensitive to the charge here, if you start defending it that way. Let me tell you about diversity of minority ownership. This has happened not just in broadcasting. It has happened in automobile dealerships. Let me tell you how it works, or how it did work, and how it has worked. FCC did come out with diversity in ownership rules. The only problem was that the people who were the targets of being the owners had no way of buying broadcast properties. So what happened was that a consortium of white business people would hire a black or minority to lead the group and go purchase properties. The black guy would be given equity, the African-American would be given equity in this company, and that\u2019s how minority ownership came about. I\u2019ve seen it.<\/p>\n

Auto dealerships. I remember in Los Angeles and parts of Northern California, all of a sudden a rule came down that certain dealerships, a number of dealerships had to be owned by minorities, so what would happen is a bunch of traditional auto dealers would go down to the barrios of Los Angeles, and they would pick somebody out, ‘Hey, you, Hector, over here,\u2019 and they\u2019d put Hector in charge of the company, and Hector is at the dealership, doesn\u2019t know beans about what he\u2019s doing, but they teach him along the way and Hector gets his self-esteem up, he\u2019s running a Lexus dealership. He\u2019s out there test-driving Acuras with people. What Durbin wants to do here is ramp this up and expand it and just as people who can\u2019t afford homes are being lent money they can never pay back and then be allowed to live in the homes, what Durbin wants to do is to allow diversity — he means racial and ethnic diversity of ownership — he wants to break up companies that own significant numbers of radio stations, and none of them are violating the law at the moment in the number of stations they own. <\/p>\n

There are laws about cross-ownership of newspapers, television stations, radio stations in the same market, and some companies have expanded their radio holdings, they\u2019ve had to divest a TV station in the market or a newspaper or what have you. There isn\u2019t a company in violation of the law right now in terms of diversity in ownership. What Durbin wants to do is force additional minority ownership and then the local ownership, the new diversity ownership will then say, ‘You know, I don\u2019t care whether the Limbaugh show is making a lot of money, I don\u2019t want it on my station. I\u2019m going to put on whatever I\u2019m going to put on.\u2019 That\u2019s the objective, and the words fairness and the words doctrine are never used. This is just one of the three branches. Then, after they get diversity in ownership, minority diversity ownership, then will come the local content rules, which I\u2019m sure Durbin will then say, ‘Well, those rules are already on the books, too, we gotta start enforcing, nothing unconstitutional, communistic or socialistic about this. I mean, Pol Pot never even did this, and the gulags, and our people at Club Gitmo. This is perfectly within the grounds of the Constitution.\u2019 So we\u2019re just going to enforce the local content rules which are going to say that 90% of a station\u2019s programming must be local. <\/p>\n

The Fairness Doctrine will never be used, and they\u2019re voting on this today in the Senate. The very idea, he says, that something in the law is going to muzzle Rush Limbaugh is not the case. Then why do it? Obviously, I\u2019m not being muzzled by the current law, which you say is already the current law, Senator Turban, so there\u2019s something different here. When somebody goes to the floor of the Senate and says, ‘I\u2019m not trying to muzzle Rush Limbaugh,\u2019 yes, you are. It\u2019s like when somebody says, ‘Look, it\u2019s not the money,\u2019 it\u2019s always the money. So they\u2019re trying it, while Obama is out there saying he has no interest in it. Well, and he can say truthfully, if this thing ever gets past the House into the Senate, say it gets to his desk, just sign it, ‘You know what, I don\u2019t see Fairness Doctrine in here, I said I was opposed to that, but I\u2019m all for diversity in ownership. I\u2019m all for more minorities and poor people being able to own radio stations, it\u2019s only fair.\u2019 Sign it off. That\u2019s how this stuff is going to happen. This is why I wrote the op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, said Mr. Obama, okay, you\u2019ve told us about Fairness Doctrine, about some of these other contrivances, how do you feel about — never got an answer. Yes, that\u2019s right, I did get an answer. It\u2019s happening on the floor of the Senate — (laughing) — right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: In the Senate this afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, the Senate today is voting on two versions of the Fairness Doctrine, starting in 24 minutes, if they\u2019re on time. The first bill in the Senate on the Fairness Doctrine is authored by Dick Durbin of Illinois. His bill proposes these contrivances that I wrote about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDick Durbin Introduces Backdoor Attempt at the Fairness Doctrine - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2009\/02\/26\/dick_durbin_introduces_backdoor_attempt_at_the_fairness_doctrine\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Dick Durbin Introduces Backdoor Attempt at the Fairness Doctrine - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: In the Senate this afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, the Senate today is voting on two versions of the Fairness Doctrine, starting in 24 minutes, if they\u2019re on time. 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