The Alliance Spreads

In the car heading to lunch today I flipped over to KSTP to hear what hijinx was taking place on their mid-morning show. As most disappointed locals know, KSTP no longer broadcasts Rush's first hour live. Instead, they've chosen to run with the remaining holdovers of the old morning zoo show "Babs and the Boys". The last boys standing are Ron Rosenbaum and Mark O'Connell, and they've been upgraded to headlining host positions.

But today Rosenbaum was out, and much to my surprise, substituting for him was none other than David Strom. Yes, that David Strom, hero of the middle class, Executive Director of the Tax Payers League and host of Taxpayers League Live (9 - 11 AM on 1280 AM, the Patriot). Due to my luncheon obligations, I only heard a few minutes of the show, but enough to hear O'Connell refer to Strom as "the substitute schmuck". Good natured as the remark may have been, I think some Saturday morning Strom needs to get O'Connell down to the dank, subterranean Patriot studios so he can repay the favor.

Northern Alliance/Patriot infestation of the mainstream media seems to be getting more and more common. Just this past Sunday evening, I clicked on the tube and began a run of my 50 or so "favorite" presets on the remote, only to be stopped in my tracks at the unlikely location of Channel 17. That's PBS-2, locally. It's normally a venue for Hmong language teen age public affairs programming and Lawrence Welk reruns. (It's on my preset favorites just for The Charlie Rose show, I swear). But this Sunday none other than Scott "The Big Trunk" Johnson from Powerline and Northern Alliance Radio appeared on screen. He was discussing the importance of the Lawrence Welk show with a bunch of Hmong teenagers. It was good stuff, though I found Scott's Hmong a little hard to understand, given his thick North Dakota accent.

Actually .... he was on a program called "Equal Justice: Fact or Fiction" which was a recording of a continuing legal education seminar held earlier in the month. Scott was making the persuasive case that perceived racial inequality in traffic stop and arrest statistics are not primarily the product of institutional racism. Scott did a great job and had his rhetorical opponent, Tom Johnson of the left wing Council for Crime and Justice, on his heels throughout the debate.

I don't see any indication on Channel 17 of a rebroadcast of this show, so it may be lost to history. We'll try to promote future mainstream media appearances by NARN/Patriot personalities in advance, so we all can be properly infotained. Next one most likely will be the Elder's appearance on FM107. He's very close to finishing negotiations on a co-hosting gig for My Sister's Garden with Alecia and Starla. Just wait until you hear his controversial opinions on ficus. Local radio will never be the same again.