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First Podcast Post TEST
Why I go on Fox News
Last night I got thrown into the latest round of spitballs between Jon Stewart and Fox News on the O’Reilly Factor. I first appeared on Fox News in 1999, on Neil Cavuto’s Show, and continued to make countless hundreds of appearances through the years on all the shows. Currently, I’m a regular on the Fox Business Network.
This whole time I’m asked: Why do you go on Fox News?
It’s a question I’ve been asked a thousand times. My answer may surprise you, and will hopefully spark a healthy debate.
First, I have to admit I have been ambivalent at times, when so many of my liberal friends badger me about going on. Liberal bloggers have beaten me up for it, saying I give them cover for the fair and balanced thing, etc. Trust me, it’s no picnic getting crazy hate mail from the right for being liberal, and hate mail from the left for not boycotting the right.
How did this predicament happen to me, anyway?
I helped pioneer progressive radio by actually landing a gig at WLS in Chicago in 1997 when more people had been to the moon than had been liberals on talk radio. One day I had a caller who said we need more Nancy Skinner’s on the radio. My guest in studio got their number, and Air America Radio was born. The caller was Shelly Drobny and his wife Anita who founded Air America, long before its misadventures.
Although I had signed a letter of intent to be a host upon launch, I had made another fateful decision: to throw my hat in the ring for the U.S. Senate primary in Illinois. I had been debating the big political topics (Impeachment, Iraq, Global Warming, NAFTA, Budgets) for eight years now on a 50,000 blow torch in Chicago, so crazier things have happened. The pollsters said there was a guy in the race who was pretty good, but had no chance of winning because his name sounded Middle Eastern. Yes, of course, I found myself running against Barack Obama, and I lost to POTUS – big time!
No worries. I liked him a lot during our race, and went on to cheerlead for him on the national cable channels during the race, and throughout his presidency, I’ve been a very strong voice for the economic policies that he was forced to implement upon taking over 1600 Trainwreck Ave. in DC.
Which brings me to my point. What have I learned moving in and out of conservative and liberal media venues. (I have also been on MSNBC through the years – filling in for Bill Press on Buchanan & Press and Ron Kuby on Curtis & Kuby and CNBC guest hosting, etc.)
Beliefs determine reality. Worldviews determine beliefs. There is actually a quantum physics term for this called memes. These belief genes are mostly inherited, but can be transmitted from person to person like a virus.
So, if someone has, say, a conservative worldview, with all that implies, then when they are confronted by someone with a progressive worldview, with all that implies, then the conservative says “you are out of touch with reality” because you are out of touch (with their reality), based on their beliefs and memes. And vice versa.
This is why I’m often asked if I think conservatives believe in what they are spouting. I think they do, because your beliefs form your reality. Are there objective facts? Yes, of course, but people glom onto the facts that support their beliefs. Do I think there is an overarching objective set of facts that support my worldview? Of course, that’s why I’m a liberal. But I know many fine conservative friends of mine who would say “of course, that’s why I’m conservative.”
The key difference is that I think I’ve seen through the glass darkly a bit here. If you have any chance of changing worldviews, then you have to actually converse with those who have a different worldview than you do. Don’t get me wrong, I love MSNBC and watch it religiously and love to be on the network. But am I really changing anyone’s mind there? Aren’t we the ya ya sisterhood amen club there? You may ask the same question about Fox. Are you really changing any minds over there? That is a debatable question, but I think I have. I think that people are only open to different ideas, or memes if you will, when they don’t despise the messenger out of the gate. That’s why I don’t do nasty. Look how well all the potshots and attitudes do for Sarah Palin. She is definitely not a meme-changer. She does reinforce existing worldviews; that’s why her crowd loves her. She tells them they are right. You don’t have to listen to those nasty liberals and their lies, or eat green vegetables, just chalk up the ticket fee darlin’.
Most of my e-mails are off the charts so creepy that they are quite fun. But occasionally I get a jewel. My favorite was from a self-described “white evangelical Christian, ex-military who works in the nuclear weapons industry.” He said that he probably was not my typical fan profile, but that I had persuaded him to change his mind on climate change, the need to address it and the opportunities therein. That feels really good to hear. And even last night, I got this:
Nancy,
I tend to be a conservative, but I must applaud your performance on the Factor tonight.
Not that you won or lost a debate with O’Reilly, that was not at issue – but that your “world view” was (I thought) spot on.
Bravo!
We need to return to disagreements w/o extreme disagreeableness.
Now, I’m still a conservative – but also fan of yours.
Is that an oxy-something or other? A conservative Nancy Skinner fan?
Sincerely,
Eddie Herron
No, Eddie, it’s not an oxymoron. It’s called one meme at a time.
Nancy vs. Sarah Palin
Nancy will be on MSNBC this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. ET (2:30 CT; 1:30 MT; 12:30 PT) discussing Sarah Palin and whether her “charisma” will affect the coming elections.
Remember, Nancy helped prepare Michigan’s Governor Jennifer Granholm to stand in for Palin in VP Biden’s prep for the vice presidential debate, so she knows everything there is to know about Sarah Palin.
This should be an interesting segment, so tune in or record it!
Nancy on MSNBC talking toxic tea parties
Nancy joins David Schuster on MSNBC and debates Armstrong Williams on the question of whether tea parties are toxic to the Republican party. Skinner says that people resent the tea party folks constantly saying that they alone represent the “will of the people”. The real measure of political will is at the election polls and not shifting public opinion polls.
Listen up Liberals: Progressive means Progress!
I lost my U.S. Senate primary race to Barack Obama six years ago today. I remember because it was my birthday. I also remember something that our President, then state senator, said in a light moment during the campaign after I impersonated him and he shot back one of me, “All we need is courage and big bold ideas,” he said in his best high-pitched Skinner voice. He was right on with that as I repeated that mantra at every chance. I was pleased to hear him say it yesterday in Cleveland on his last- minute pitch to pass healthcare reform.
“I don’t know about the politics, but I know what’s the right thing to do,” he said, nearly shouting as the crowd cheered. “And so I’m calling on Congress to pass these reforms — and I’m going to sign them into law. I want some courage. I want us to do the right thing.”
Well, Mr. President, I have also believed that doing the right thing is good politics. President Obama and I both opposed the war in Iraq at a time when the polls were hugely in favor of the war. Look what happened. With time, the truth came out. The public slowly assimilated it, the polls completely flipped, and we are withdrawing all troops.
The moderate and conservative Dems should heed this experience. Get some spine and pass the bill. The truth will come out. People will be happy. The polls will change, and we can move on to make it better and better.
To the liberals in the party, I must say the same. I am strongly in favor of a public option, as you can see from untold TV food fight battles and my advocacy efforts. In fact, I first started talking about a public option during my Senate primary with Barack Obama in 2003. I didn’t call it that, I called it USA Choice for Healthcare, and described it as a government plan that will compete with the private sector to provide an affordable plan to Americans who could not find one in the private market. I was not a single-payer advocate because I knew that politically, a single-payer could never pass given that the vast majority of Americans were enrolled in an employer-based program. But, more importantly, the idea of “competition” was a keyword in GOP rhetoric. How could they win that spin battle?
They managed to twist “competition is a good thing” into “anything the government touches is a bad thing” and won the short-term rhetorical war. But they cannot win the battle.
Healthcare reform is too fundamental to our survival, as a nation, and as individuals. Americans know that. And just as they came around with Iraq, they will come around on healthcare. So listen up, liberals (and I don’t care which name you call me), but progressive means progress. Abolitionists didn’t tie their fate to women’s suffrage. They made progress with each movement.
The same is true with healthcare. You have to free Dennis Kucinich and the others who signed the pledge letter for the public option to do the right thing. It’s not perfect, no. But it’s traction. When people get used to having the government involved, even if for now it is to stop the worst abuses in insurance company behavior and end monopolistic premium increases, it is progress.
I believe that offering a public option in the next congress and the next one after that will get us closer to that goal. As people understand the cost structure, they will choose to have “government competition” over “repealing progress” and returning to the days where insurance companies are allowed to throw you off while you are sick and dying, when having a pre-existing condition means a very insecure future.
All or nothing is fine when we are playing poker with chips, not when it literally means life or death for untold thousands of Americans while we wait another decade to try it again.
Your exemplary efforts to push it this far and get it done deserves the highest of praise. I was with you in that. The other side says they will kill the bill at all costs. You can’t aid or abet that obstructionist behavior.
As President Obama said yesterday. Have the courage. Do the right thing. This week we can make more “progress” as progressives than anything we’ve done in literally decades.
It’s time to unite in the 11th hour and put something historic in the history books. Then let’s start writing the next chapter. Much work yet to be done.
Big News!
We’ve got big news. Very soon Nancy will be launching a new daily national conference call for her listeners called The Quantum Call– “The QC.” You can participate on the call every day by phone or computer, and download a podcast that captures the best of the QC and much, much more each night.
The Supreme Court, in its outrageous “Citizens United” decision, has inspired the gang at nancyskinnerlive.com to get creative, and The QC will deliver on that!
We will also be adding a new feature to the site called “Prep Me!” As you know, Nancy has been doing lots of TV these days and she wants your help. We are going to put our topics out there and ask for your two cents before the food fight. Nancy gets so many good e-mails after an appearance, she wants to hear from you beforehand. The spin wars are heating up and we want you on the team.
Also, we’ve moved our e-mail service to Constant Contact to manage all the communications from nancyskinnerlive.com. This is your chance to sign up and customize your e-mail subscription opt-ins to be sure you get just the details you want on The Quantum Call, TV appearances, blog posts, Prep Me, radio news and more.
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2010 is a pivotal year in politics. The stakes are enormous. Will we move forward or regress to a dark place we worked so hard to get out of? Join the conversation – sometimes wacky, sometimes maddening, Nancy looks forward to sharing it all with you in 2010.
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Nancy on Happy Hour 3-4-10
Nancy on Happy Hour taking on the whole gang over the jobs bill. Why would the GOP vote against a paired-down, pork-free, paid-for Jobs Bill?
