Thom Hartmann just briefly had on Author Roger L. Simon, CEO of Pajamas Media (the blog network including Michelle Malkin). Roger Simon is a Hollywood producer who is one of the “post 9/11” NeoConservatives. His book is titled “Blacklisting myself” about his decision to speak out and deal with the consequences to his career of his change in political philosophy.
After dumping his phone call and announcing he doesn’t like to trash a guest after they “leave”, Thom does exactly that. The agitation shows just how insecure Thom felt at being challenged by someone who knows his movement from the inside and can argue about John Locke and the origins of the terms “Left” and “Right” wing. I don’t think Thom is used to being challenged.
Roger Simon recently did a one hour interview on C-SPAN with Armstrong Williams which can be viewed HERE. Mr Simon is a very interesting fellow and not quite what you probably expected. He talks about his invovlement in his 20s with the Civil Rights Movement, his friendships in Hollywood with Woody Allen, Richard Pryor and others, visiting a crack house with Timothy Leary and other stories about his Hollywood career.
His “conversion” away from his leftist life – began with the OJ trial and how it turned his view of the Civil Rights movement on its head, and then 9/11 and the reality hitting hard that there ARE people out there who do want to kill us.
The interview did not cover Pajamas Media, which would have been interesting. Armstrong also pushes hard on the subject of God and religion which leads to a few uncomfortable moments. Armstrong pushes him hard on… “If you don’t have a belief in a religion, where does morality come from?”… and Mr Simon clearly has some work to do in the future to answer that question.
Back to Hartmann – a caller on Hartmann’s show leaves the subtle insinuation of pedophilia – with no pushback from Thom – further reinforcing the central thesis of Mr Simon’s book that people on the left know no limits on what they will do to fend off people when they can’t deal with their ideas.
This episode probably explains why Progressive Radio is going to stay a 2% market share.