Following Sept 11, he stated, loudly and often, that Bush's war machine was the best possible approach to countering terrorism. His reasoning was simple and bloody-minded: we've done nothing wrong -- the people who attacked us are jealous of our freedom and material encrusted lifestyle -- the only solution is to either kill them all or, through the ruthless use of force (including atomics) so terrify the world that no one would ever dare do anything against the US again.
With the planet properly cowed, we could return to our pr0n films, vid games and reality tv shows among other critical pursuits.
>From time to time a loyal listener, shaken by Stern's
enthusiasm for total war, would call in and try to
present a more rational view of things. This always
ended quickly with shouted denouncements of the
caller's intelligence, patriotism and so on from Stern
and his lieutenant, Robin Quivers.
Fast forward to the present and Stern's change-of-heart.
His recent opposition to Bush and johnny-come-lately questioning of War Plan Iraq is not the result of a thoughtful reconsideration of the facts but the consequence of his own ass feeling the heat.
The FCC, under the Bushies, has become even more selectively repressive and, simultaneously, interested in corporate maximazation and 'morality' policing than seen in recent years.
Of course Stern's show, centered around a sort of controlled and packaged debauchery, is the perfect target for grandstanding FCC officials and Congressmen / women.
His employer, Infiniti Broadcasting, is exerting unprecedented pressure on Stern to 'behave' himself which is really a way of engineering an end to the program without directly firing Stern.
As you may have heard, Clear Channel, a firm whose support for the Bush admin goes above and beyond the call of corporate duty, announced today that stations on its network will no longer carry Stern's show.
I'm not privy to Clear Channel memos or meetings but it's very suggestive this cancellation came swiftly on the heels of Stern's public renunciation of Bush last Monday.
Ironically, this is the very sort of corporate sponsored censorship some of the callers Stern berated a year or so ago were warning about.
He's no leftist.
DRM