". Did anyone else catch Daschle yesterday blaming Rush L. and Fox news for all of his failures? It was pathetic
I would love to know how many others saw this. He failed and now Rush is the problem and is " a right wing conspiracy

I saw it, too, Imogene. I couldn't stop laughing. Well, ok, I stopped eventually, but it took awhile.

The sad thing is, he meant what he said. Little does he understand the laws of supply and demand. If there were a demand for democratic talk radio there would be more democratic talk radio.

This is maybe more in Daschle's mind than what he said out loud, if Neal Boortz is correct: THEY’RE AFTER TALK RADIO - THIS IS JUST A WARNING SHOT (You'll have to scroll down a little to find it). Keep in mind, Neal Boortz has been known to make things up, so take it with a grain of salt.

What disappointed me was that Daschle made a "blanket generalization" about threats. He offered no proof whatsoever, not even an anonymous source. If Daschle tried to post that little diatribe on this site he would have been smeared all over the board for making conspiratorial accusations without any proof

So True, So True!! I know there are so many Americans that want to hear someone on talk radio speak about raising taxes and making the federal government bigger. (Sarcasm) It is another sad reminder of the terrible movement that seems to be eminating from the Democrats here lately; The fact that noone is responsible for their own actions. It seems they want to make everyone out to be a victim of some outside influence, not by their own doing. If a person is poor, it's not because maybe they chose to drop out of high school and not go to college, it's because they are simply "less fortunate" and those who worked 2 jobs to go to college and now make good money are simply "more fortunate." When the terrosrists attacked New York and DC, some Democrats wanted to investigate as to "why they feel this way" instead of condemning them for their actions. I think it goes back to wanting to make people feel as if they are victims of circumstances beyond their control, and the gov't is the only way they can be "saved." I for one feel we are captains of our own ship, and if we run aground and sink then it is no body's fault but our own. Don't blame me because if I make a good living and you don't. I worked really hard to put myself through college, and I don't feel like you should get a handout from me because you chose not to work hard. I will be more than glad to show how how I made myself a desirable job candidate, and you can make your own way. I think Rush, and Neal and Hannity and the like are simply repeating the voices of a lot of mainstream Americans in a way that has not been done before. All these people out there who feel this way had never had a voice for their ideas, and I think that is why conservative talk radio is growing so explosively. If a Liberal wants to start a radio show and people want to listen, that's great. Just don't try and make the gov't force shows on the air that noone listens to.

It must be the same right wing conspiracy that Hillary Clinton accused of attacking her husband.

LOL
But on the serious side. It sounds as though Daschle did have some threats against him and/or his family. It has nothing to do with Rush, but it is too bad that these things happen. There is probably a lot of this.
Gosh whatever will they do with O'Reilly (sic)?

Yeah, you have to wonder what really caused this.

He didn't lash out after someone sent anthrax to his office. What caused this eruption?

I think I really don't want to know.

Mike

I suggested the reason Daschle lashed out is because Alan Colmes lost his job - which means that leaves, maybe, one or two nationally syndicated AM talk liberals. Yeah - i'm sure that's it (It has nothing to do with that loss of the Senate control...)

Yikes - I hope a dissenting opinion is allowed on this particular bandwagon. I'm not going to start receiving death threats for perceiving much of what right-wing talk radio hosts spew as hate speech, am I?

While some of you are using this opportunity to take gratuitous swipes at Tom Daschle (here and in another thread), let's not forget that the isssue is threats being made to our elected officials, whether we're fans of theirs or not. I personally consider Daschle to be spineless and ineffectual, but I'm hardly going to make light of threats received by him or his family - or use his concerns as some kind of political football. I did not see the original footage, only the coverage after the fact. Did Daschle did blame anyone for his "failings"? Did he so much as mention a "right-wing conspiracy"? Not in any of the coverage I've seen (even on Limbaugh's site). Can someone direct me to a source?

While I don't believe that Rush Limbaugh is directly responsible for any threats to Daschle or his family, I wouldn't consider suggesting that Limbaugh tends to have a calming effect on his more avid devotees. I only ever hear of or read about threats to liberal politicians. Do conservative politicians not receive such threats - or do they just keep quiet about them (which doesn't sound likely to me)? The anthrax attacks, for example, were all directed at liberal politicians and the media. Could it be that liberals are less likely to issue (or attempt) death threats than conservatives? Or are hate-mongers on the public airwaves in some way responsible for incitement? I'm just asking...

Perhaps, I can help clarify my mockery of Daschle, Wertz.

I poked fun at him because he did not offer any proof in his little speech (I saw it). He didn't offer ANY concrete or even vague examples. He provided NO EXAMPLES. For all I know, he made it up. For me, proof is everything.

Second, people on the right receive threats all the time. Last night, O'Reilly provided an actual example of a threat he received and what he did about it. In an interview with Rush Limbaugh by Sean Hannity, Rush claims he's been threatened also (although I was only half paying attention during his interview and I can't recall if he provided an example).

The "right wing conspiracy" comment is a joke - a play on what Hillary Clinton said a few years ago during the investigations of her and her husband.

In relation to anthrax (and I believe Mike stated this before), do you find it odd that Daschle is more upset by vaguely referenced threats by conservative listeners of talk radio than the fact that the perpetrator who mailed him anthrax has not been found? I did.

Not really. On the basis of the coverage I read, I'd assumed that the anthrax attacks were among the threats to which Daschle had been referring, if not explicitly.

Wertz,
Ithink it is one of those things..."you had to be there". Daschle was pathetic in his presentation. I wish I had, and perhaps can find, a transcript of it. The threats to family and himself angle was, I thought, was a minor part of the diatribe. He said very odd things about people listening to these programs and rushing out to do terror. It was really quite pathetic.
I feel for anyone who has his family threatened, and it should not be so, but this was way out. We all know the threats are spread around pretty equally.
Jaime is right the reference to Right wing conspiracy was because of Hillary C and her remarks on a morning show. She was just SO SURE Billy didn't do it again.

Grrr....I've spent my entire lunch hour trying to find a link to the full text of Daschle's press conference so that everyone may decide for themselves and I could not find one.

Sorry, wertz. All I can go on is memory. I KNOW it struck me odd when I was watching the press conference (the very first time and every time thereafter) that Daschle did not offer any examples. It was so blatantly vague, which is why I think it stands out so strongly in my head.

Imogene/Jaime: Okay, I'm just going by what I've seen - and should know better than to trust any media coverage of anything. The reports I saw focussed on two things: Daschle's mention of personal threats and his concern that too many Americans confused entertainment with news (most of the items I saw devote about 75% of their coverage to Limbaugh's response). While the latter is also a reasonable concern (though I'm more wary of those who confuse news with entertainment), I'm not sure what kind of a case he was making or what exactly he was citing.

I'm not at all surprised, Imogene, that he was fairly pathetic in his presentation. That, sadly, tends to be the norm for Democrats these days.

Oh My Gosh!
In the kitchen baking pies ....of course I have the news on the tv! What can I say, I am addicted.
Now it is Gore! He is attacking Fox news, and the Washington Times in particular. He is saying they are slanting everything and only talk about Republican "Talking Points Right Wing Conspiracy - ACT II