You know, I think it’s pretty clear that I belong to the wrong party:
She was a 25-year-old junior staffer when the Florida Republican Party gave her an American Express card.
Over the next 2½ years, nearly $1.3 million in charges wound up on Melanie Phister’s AmEx — $40,000 at a London hotel, and nearly $20,000 in plane tickets for indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom, his wife and kids, for starters. Statements show thousands spent on jewelry, sporting goods and in one case $15,000 for what’s listed as a month-long stay at a posh Miami Beach hotel, but which the party says was a forfeited deposit.
The credit card records, obtained by the St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald, offer the latest behind-the-scenes look at extravagant and free-wheeling spending by the party touting fiscal restraint. Not only did certain elite legislative leaders have their own party credit cards to spend donors’ money with little oversight, but Phister’s records show these leaders also liberally used an underling’s card — without her knowledge, she says.
I try to make an honest, but modest, living. If you value what we try to do here, please consider making a contribution to Booman Tribune. I hear Glenn Beck makes over $30 million a year. It’d be nice if I could make one dollar for every thousand that Beck makes.
We couldn’t even keep Air America afloat. Is that because progressives are suspicious of profit or just because they don’t like to listen to talk radio?
Booman I asked this in earlier thread but you probably missed it. Is there a way we can sign up for some kind of monthly “subscription” to the website? Like an automatic regular payment via Paypal?
There’s one member who set up with his credit union to send me $10/month, which is very cool. But I don’t have a subscription system in place.
Paypal, which you are using, certainly offers subscriptions!
Is that because progressives are suspicious of profit or just because they don’t like to listen to talk radio?
They aren’t willing to take 5 years of losses to grow an audience and brand. Isn’t 5 years what it took Faux Noise to turn a profit?
I think it because Progressives don’t need a media that just repeats talking points. Conservatives like having a media 100% dedicated to their point of view. Progressives just don’t seem to need that.
Radio?
hahahaah!
I live in the 21st century, not the 19th.
I’ve heard Glen Beck. Glen Beck is a favorite scapgoat of mine. Booman, you’re no Glen Beck.
No.
Neither of the above.
It’s because the right wing masses are too stupid to be able to entertain themselves while the left wing masses are too smart to listen to the bullshitters who took over the station.
I mean…really!
Randi Rhodes?
The never funny Senator from Minnesota?
Please.
I tried to listen to Air America for quite a while. Eventually I just gave up. They were saying nothing that I didn’t know already…in fact, they were not saying things that needed to be said because they were desperate for ratings… and my own inner monologue is more entertaining, so why bother?
Now…right wingers?
They mostly can’t think at all or they wouldn’t be right wingers. Duh. So they cud-chew their way through days and nights of Fox News and right wing talk radio in order to fill their empty minds and lives with noise that agrees with their worst emotional proclivities.
Duh squared.
Cubed, even.
Bet on it.
AG
As I recall, Air America was also grossly mismanaged by people that had no clue how to actually run a business, which sort of hurts when you’re trying to run a business.
Hmmmmm…
Sounds like the overall story of the Democratic Party for about 70% of the last 60 or 70 years.
Hmmmmm…
AG
Actually, for years the Democratic Party mastered the art of running lousy campaigns with horrible candidates, and then wondered why they lose. Howard Dean actually did a lot during his chairmanship of the DNC to turn this around, mostly by stressing that the first step in any successful campaign is to SHOW UP and articulate to people what you stand for! Anyway, I’m not really sure what running a business has to do with Democratic politics and policies, as I’ve never bought into the “run gov’t like a business” drumbeat.
“…running lousy campaigns with horrible candidates?”
Party, business, family, one’s own career…any endeavor has to be managed efficiently if it is to succeed.
How about “…running lousy offices and/or factories with horrible workers and/or bosses?”
Same same.
AG
We couldn’t even keep Air America afloat. Is that because progressives are suspicious of profit or just because they don’t like to listen to talk radio?
I’ve reached the point where I get so much information online that I don’t even watch Keith or Rachel that often anymore. I enjoy their presentations, but they’re usually repeating news I read online 8 hours before. I may need to start listening to more podcasts because I do enjoy Rachel’s in-depth stories. But. Those stories are often discussed extensively online the next day, with links to pertinent media clips.
Any progressive media company would need to be really really flexible and able to package info in a number of ways. I don’t believe radio even enters into the equation.
I think Conservative radio and Fox News does better because of something to do with the Authoritarian Follower Mind that needs to be told what the groupthink, the hive-mind, whatever you want to call it, is echoing today or they’re lost. They need the script of the day, the talking points. And the more complicated the artificial reality they’re all trying to keep alive in their minds, the harder it is to keep all of those “beliefs” in their heads.
Liberals process and critique the raw news themselves and then like to discuss it with each other, often disagreeing about what it all means. Internet comment sections server this purpose better than a top-down format like radio or TV. Some liberals are followers, just looking to the wise leaders’ views to see if they’re judging things the same, but don’t require 12 hours a day of reassurance that they are right about everything.
And alot of the time it’s just nice to listen to some music, you know.
We’ve got a successful liberal talk radio station here. They just don’t buy any of the programming from Air America anymore since it went defunct. They’ve got Bill Press, Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes, a local show, Thom Hartmann, etc. 24-hours a day of it. I listen to it when I’m in the car doing errands around town. It’s not bad and I usually learn something new. I doubt that they make much money though. Lots of Public Service Announcements instead of commercials. That may have something to do with it as well. Maybe it’s harder to sell something to a liberal and advertisers just aren’t as interested in us.
But Rush Limbaugh doesn’t make his $18 million a month from ads alone. There’s gotta be all sorts of dirty industry and foundation money that influences his daily message.
In my experience, progressives simply are not able to market anything.
Given the quality of some blogs that I read daily, including this one, they should be self sustaining. Do I see any blog asking me to let other people know about the blog?
NO. Occasionally asking for cash help but no marketing to drive the market to support them.
There needs to be a simple program put together by people who do understand how marketing works that can be sent to bloggers to try. If one thing doesn’t move the readers, try another.
This is a worthwhile product, sell the hell out of it.
I found the link to this blog via Balloon Juice, in case anyone is interested. John Cole lists it in his Blog Roll.
progressives and democrats are cheapskates. I can’t count the times a “progressive” or democrat has wanted my work for free. It’s all unpaid internships and low salary work. and a lot of the time there’s no reward at all.
the conservatives have spent time and money building their infrastructure, and that includes a salary you can live on.
and you wonder why progressives so rarely win.