The Price for Being on Fox News

Last week I was invited to join Sean Hannity again on his primetime show on Fox News. His viewers loved it, sending me several warm and fuzzy emails shortly after advocating for President Obama and change that at least some of us believe in...

I saw you on Hannity & I understand that supporting the pond scum democratic principles that are ruining America would make you come across as a weasel. - Alan in Texas

Guess what you arrogant jackass. First of all most the American population did not vote at all [in November's election]. A large number of them because they are just fed up with the whole government. Secondly I remember millions and millions of people who voted for John McCain. So if we are going to go by logical reasoning ,which you as a jackass are not capable of, most of the people in this country did not vote for Obama .. I bet you spent at least a week looking at yourself in a mirror and loving yourself before you appeared on Sean Hannity's show. - Rich in Nevada

Not an ENTIRE week, Rich.

As good journalistic standards require, I was outnumbered three conservative malcontents to one progressive me. But imbalance is to be expected on Fox when you're a Democrat.

One email writer wanted to know why Democrats "are comfortable in placing future of healthcare, finance, energy, i.e. future of the country, in hands of federal government. Also interested in learning of one federal government department that you can cite as shining example of success & efficiency."

OK ... I shouldn't have ... but I did ... these anti-American government tirades just seem so, well, unpatriotic and terroristic ... I wrote back ...

Would you be nervous if I described to you an organization owned and controlled by the Obama White House with millions of members who must dress alike, are forced to wake up and go to sleep when the government tells them to, provides the only retail and grocery stores in the neighborhood, owns all the housing, offers only government-run health care, has every right to limit the speech of every community member, and has secrets and black budgets to which the public has no access?

Sounds pretty awful, huh? Even socialist. Certainly nationalized.

Well, that's our military -- the most advanced and powerful force in world history. We've won a lot of wars with such a government-run socialist institution.

Would you prefer a privately-held army, navy, air force, and marine corps? Perhaps run by Chrysler or Enron or Lehman Brothers?

I should have quit there, but ...

Let's keep going. Every highway and every road in this nation is paved by the government. The alternative is the dirt roads my grandfather traveled as a boy in South Carolina or privately owned toll roads with somebody's booth every few miles. Is such a transportation model preferred over the Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate Highway System?

Our national government sent the first man to the moon, subsidized delivery of electricity & phone service to 99.9% of rural America, invented the Internet, forced white Southerners to let black Southerners do something as radical as vote, and funded the transcontinental railroad while simultaneously fighting the Civil War.

And even now, let's not forget the last two weeks and the fact that there is no other institution that could handle the swine flu pandemic. Only one person died in the U.S. Just think what happens when the government is NOT around to handle such things ... Hurricane Katrina comes to mind.

I'm looking forward to the next time.

Comments

[joe is in the room]

So why did you go?

If you don't play the game, it will go away.

People who don't have an audience, don't drop their pants.

[dino213aa]

Thank you, Donnie. You make some very valid points.

[rtb61]

You really have to learn to understand these people. For them there is no understanding only belief. Now this doesn't stem from a desire on their part but from a genuine lack of understanding. Many of these issues of social interaction and governance which many people do understand are really quite complex and do require some serious thought to truly grasp a genuine intellectual challenge and it is beyond many, who are forced to see the world through the eyes of belief rather than understanding.
These people are unfourtunately ruthlessly exploited by people who whilst having the intellect to understand, suffer from another brain deficiency that of empathy, they are psychopaths who can not see beyond their own venality. Consider the basic truth of privatisation, people consider in appropriate to break up parts of society and put it under the governance of private individuals, so that it is no longer under the control of the people and,that those parts can be governed to specifically benefit those individuals who control by exploiting the rest of society.
All parts of our socio economic structure are a part of our society and we do always share inherent ownership of them. That we so foolishly abrogate ownership or control of quite significant elements of our society to private for profit control entities is really rather insane, that we often hand of control of these elements of our society to people who are quite literally insane (psycopaths), motivated purely by greed is even crazier.

[evilneocon]

OMG that is like so totally brilliant!

Yes the government runs the military, because national defense is what governments are supposed to do. And our government is very limited as to how much it can intrude on the lives of it's citizens. First 5 words of the Bill of Rights: Congress shall make no law...

I know this will not stop the Libs from trying... and I know you all won the election... Doesn't mean I have to like it or be silent.

[Jonathan Kvitky]

I think you may be missing the point. He's giving examples of programs run by the government which do, in fact, work very effectively.

This is his response to people who claim that our government can't do anything right, while people's phone calls are traveling over long-distance telephone lines that our government set up with a government­-sponsored monopoly because the private sector was unwilling to make such a large, risky investment to build the necessary infrastructure.

[coloradodreaming]

As a senior member of this country I was forced after breaking my ankle to undergo surgery by one of Denver's well known ortho surgeons. I was then forced to undergo physical therapy by an organization whose only purpose was to get me walking. This is the Social Security system that all of the senior members of the US can avail on Medicare. This is Socialized Medicine you ignorant people. It is handled and paid for by our government and managed by same. The most well run department dealing with health care. Don't give me the c--p that we can't have National Health care, we seniors have it and use it. Why can't other Americans have this priviledge? The right wing of the GOP are trying to scare you into the belief that you would have sub-par medical care under a government run program. Try talking to the people who depend and use Medicare.

[dctuss]

I have said the same thing for YEARS!!!! Im a former Marine, and when people say "the gov't shouldnt be involved in healthcare" I have always said, "well, you trust them to provide security and defend the country- so u only want them to kill people for you- not help people??"

also- to the "im a self made man" crowd- i have long asked "so when you woke up this morning,went to the bathroon and flushed, did u not think about the publicly funded sewer u just used, or the federal highway you take to work- or the public electrical grid that you use with out ever thinking "how did this get here?" and also, isnt it great i have all these things to make my life easier, so i can concentrate on my business??"

[lisaman]

Donnie, I can not even tell you how much I enjoyed this article. Keep up the good work.

[SueInCA]

And under Bush recommendations, parts of the highway systems that run from Mexico to Canada have been sold to foriegn companies to run and maintain. Just another great example of shifting everything overseas which was the goal of that administration. These people cannot see it because they are lock-step with the republican doctrine. Talk about re-education camps, they did not need them although those camps were built long before Obama took office.

Great post, Donnie, but you could have taken it even further lol.

[seatea1967]

It's a fight you can't win, but sometimes it feels good to at least throw a punch.

[blaqntelligence]

"Would you be nervous if I described to you an organization owned and controlled by the Obama White House with millions of members who must dress alike, are forced to wake up and go to sleep when the government tells them to, provides the only retail and grocery stores in the neighborhood, owns all the housing, has every right to limit the speech of every community member, and has secrets and black budgets to which the public has no access?"

Excellent piece, Mr. Fowler. Except.....

Within the next 24 hours sean hannity, glenn beck, michelle bachmann et. al will take that sound bite, blast it across the airwaves 24/7, and raise the specter of an Obama Secret Army programmed to eliminate all who won't follow his socialist/­communist/­muslim/ant­i-christ/f­ascist agenda.

And this: "Well, that's our military..."

Will never see the light of day, nor occur to their lurching drooling legions.
Not even those IN the military.

[goesto11]

If conservatives want to live in a country where the government doesn't control the direction of the country, they can go live in Somalia.

[SueInCA]

Right that......­..........­..........­..but they would not get the analogy

[iamarivergirl]

If you make a list of all the good things that progessives have done for this country there wouldn't be room for it here. My father was a democrat in the 30's and 40's and switched parties as soon as it looked like the dems were getting a heart. There was a mass switch in the south to repubs because of civil rights. For them to claim Lincoln is a joke. It truly is the party of hate. He loved to use gov funds...ie SS, Medicare etc, and honestly thought he was "getting over" on the gov, but hated the idea that people who were "not like him" could also get the same benefits. His thinking was typical repub...Take advantage of everything the gov gives, but rail against everything the gov does. Such Hyprocisy!

[blood1]

In this country, after a political campaign and election, there is a winner (eventually) and a loser. I don't know which came first (chicken vs egg), but during this election cycle, the rhetoric by the GOP was extreme and because the GOP nominees rarely took any steps to calm those waters, the rhetoric has become a part of their mantra.

The questions you posed were valid, but the response from the "malcontents" will rarely acknowledge the positive aspects of the government actions. It is sad that this extreme rhetoric continues as it does not help, but these "malcontents" will only stop when they have regained political power.

I suspect that the majority of Americans would prefer honest debates between the two major political parties on the major issues at hand, but the group that is being the most vocal/ negative are the malcontents from the loosing political party - well at least they are the people that are being broadcasted by all media.

I first thought their rhetoric would die down, but that has not been the case, so the only option is to confront them, otherwise I fear that their rhetoric will become the "conventional wisdom".

This is not a call for anything more than a call for using words in well constructed sentences rather than rants to confront them (conservative malecontents). I suspect that it may be a long slog, but the progressive members of society have no option but to talk back.

[customgreen]

Very good piece. Only exception is the part regarding the Feds paving all the roads. Not true, the feds provided large sums of money to pave the roads, but private contractors did the work. Also not all roads were funded by federal dollars. A lot of roads were done with state money. I would also urge you to use caution when bringing up the infastructure. By nearly all accounts it is crumbling, underfunded, cannot handle the large volume, and in many instances is hopelesly outdated. Just my little rant after being in the heavy highway construction business for over 30 years. I still loved the piece, but you know that it will not matter to the haters. They have to hate progressives, it's a Republican law.

[LeftRight]

That's one way of looking at the highways. Yes, the private contractors were the people with the jobs, but without the federal funds it would have NEVER been done! So to claim that it's the contractors who built the interstate highway system is also not really correct.

[Donnie Fowler - Huffpost Blogger]

you're right about the feds not paving all the roads. i only said "government" and that might have been a little too subtle or at least unclear. state and local governments had an even larger impact.

[oldngrumpy]

If, as you say, private contractors built the roads, then who paid them and made sure that similar standards were used across state lines? Wouldn't it be great to have a bunch of hiways that end at the state lines, or have completely differing standards of construction and driving rules? At the time of the interstate hiway initiative there were also many corrupt state governments scattered throughout the country that would have created a much more expensive and inefficient process even if they could all agree on the necessity of such an elaborate system. The federal interstate system was responsible for much of the prosperity that quickly followed with the additional efficiency available to move goods across our country. It really was responsible for much of the modern supply chain that we enjoy today. This was especially true for agriculture and I can't think of anyone who would prefer to go back to localized supply dynamics after becoming accustomed to the variety and affordability present in our food supply.

[mommadona]

Why do you bother?

Let them starve/stay outside.

Then, feed them, and they will come.

~Herding Cats 101~