What the WashTimes says about Lott, and us

"[Sen. Trent] Lott's assertion that the immigration bill will enhance our ability to keep tabs on potential security threats only shows that he knows very little about what is in his bill or is desperately spinning...[T]he Senate bill includes provisions that will make it absurdly easy for a potential terrorist to obtain a 'probationary' visa and create a fraudulent new identity for himself with the assistance of the U.S. government. Mr. Lott's comments about the immigration bill are unfortunate in their own right. But his suggestion that talk radio is a problem that someone has to 'deal with' because it makes it harder to ram the immigration bill through the Senate is even worse, because it raises the specter of reviving the 'Fairness Doctrine' ---the Federal Communications Commission policy (repealed in 1987 at President Reagan's urging) that effectively barred any serious political debate from occurring on the airwaves. The result of the demise of the 'equal-time rule' has been the rise of issue-oriented talk radio---perhaps the one area of the media where conservatives dominate.

"So, liberals who say they believe so strongly in the First Amendment want to revive the doctrine in order to prevent talk radio from doing what is has done on the illegal-immigration issue: educate people about what has been jammed into this massive bill and how it affects their country. ... We trust that those Mississippians who are making their opinions on illegal immigration clear to Mr. Lott will let him know that they are watching very carefully what he does regarding the 'Fairness Doctrine' and other efforts to shut talk radio up." ---The Washington Times