One of the few folks I have added to my “hero list” of late is James O’Keefe, the intrepid activist who exposes the left for what they are by secretly videotaping them.
He is the young man who made his debut when he confirmed what we all knew, that ACORN, a subsidiary of the Obama political machine, was a fundamentally corrupt, leftist organization. I respect any man as pasty white as O’Keefe who dresses up as a pimp and gets ACORN employees to help him, on camera, with child prostitution, money laundering and human smuggling. The result? Congress de-funded ACORN, and it has all but folded.
Of course, the left cries that O’Keefe’s tapes were unfair and not properly edited (you know, like every newscast their own media outlets do). They fell prey to a dirty trick by O’Keefe: he pushed the “record” and “play” buttons on his hidden camera. It is cool when “60 Minutes” does it, but somehow when the right plays “Candid Camera,” the left cries foul. It seems that, when they cannot control the narrative, they get quite miffed.
Liberals in general, and NPR in particular, only know how to react to events in two ways. They are either appalled (which was their go-to reaction in the ACORN scandal) or offended. That is pretty much what they do. And many liberals do not have room left on the bumpers of their Volvos for any more stickers airing their pious indignation. They are currently suffering from “appalled fatigue” due to Republican efforts to de-fund them.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, of which NPR is a part, gets $430 million a year from the government to cover inane subject matters better left alone. If they get their budget cut, they might not be able to do “All Things Considered,” but instead just consider fewer things and keep it tight.
When a bad business model like NPR is kept on life support, politics must be involved. The people at NPR, like all liberals, are used to having their way at the expense of others, all the while remaining unappreciative and downright pissy. At the now-famous videotaped lunch between Ron Schiller, chief fundraiser for NPR, and faux Muslims he mistook for potential donors, Schiller acted out the NPR stereotype as if Saturday Night Live had written the script. He went on for way too long raving about a recent, eclectic wine he was captivated with — much like NPR does on everything it covers.
National Public Radio simply delivers a pleasantly monotonal, carefully modulated cadence of Democratic talking points. It is, in effect, a PR organ for Obama. The only media more dedicated to one person would be North Korea’s state media reporting on Kim Jong Il, Castro’s outlets in Cuba, and Oprah’s “O” magazine.
If NPR had to operate like the rest of the media, it would be forced to be interesting. I could see them starting a gonzo morning DJ show where they pull zany stunts like calling the National Press Club and pretending that Yo Yo Ma once played Handel’s opera “Rinaldo” in C Minor rather than D Major. Imagine the uproar caused by such a prank. Howard Stern might want to keep an eye on these crazy guys.
Let’s view NPR as a government-funded start-up and see if it can, like the rest of us, fend for itself in the competitive free market. Wall Street has paid back the government for money it borrowed, and we made a profit. NPR should have to pay back money given to its organization. They do have assets like “Sesame Street” and some brands of value developed over the years. Let Big Bird fly in the competitive broadcast market and see how far the flightless bird can get before it is eaten by the Fox. Maybe they can film it for a showing on Animal Planet. Should that happen, no doubt NPR will be the wildebeest.
Ron Hart is a syndicated op-ed humorist, author and TV/radio commentator. Email Ron@RonaldHart.com or at visit RonaldHart.com.