Who is Lars Larson and did he singlehandedly sink Oregon's....

[MinnFats]

....schools, public works, city government,police protection etc.?
Watching "Now with Bill Moyer" on PBS over the weekend, that's the impression I was left with.

He shot down the tax referendum with a gigantic lie about the state holding a secret half-billion dollar reserve, and the voters burned down the referendum on his say-so.

Have I got it right? I had never heard of him. But it's further evidence that every goddamn city in the country has one -- a lying asshold right-winger with a zombie corps willing to do his bidding.

For this, they get invited to do their shows from the White House.

What the hell?

Did anybody take this creep to task for his criminal lies?
Did he ever apologize for his evil falsehood?

And is it true that this asshole is going into national sydication.

[gmoney]

1. Good question...

$70 a year is chicken feed for almost anyone. How do the Repukes sleep at night knowing that they sold out a huge group of people for about $6 a month.

Those same Repukes won't think twice about cutting Bush a check for $2000 to spread the lies... they WILL be on the wrong side of history, should there be a future to look back on these times.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Lars Larson was originally a mainstream newscaster

who went off to become a rightwing mouthpiece. (Kind of a variation on Joe Soucheray, who started out as a sportswriter for the Trib, if I'm not mistaken.)

Anyway, a couple of months before I left Portland, he was hired by the KATU-TV, the local ABC outlet. The hiring was controversial, to say the least. I don't know what his current status is.

If you're a native Minnesotan, you may remember George Rice and Al Austen doing editorials on WCCO. They always seemed to go out of their way to act non-partisan.

[MissB]

6. They dumped him ages ago. His commentary was replaced by

Ron Saxton, who ran for governor in 2002 as a moderate republican.

[oregonjen]

3. Does "Now with Bill Moyer" repeat?

I would love to see it. Yes, I believe he has a national show, which airs in the late afternoon-evening.

He is a jerk. If he did lie and affect the outcome of Measure 30, we need to do something.

He does have a local(airs statewide in Oregon) radio show which airs 12-4pm, weekdays, then an evening show nationwide

[kaitykaity]

4. Yes, he's national now.

I told him about how Randi ripped him today, and he said
"is she just mad because I have a national show and she
doesn't?"

You believe that shit?

[IrateCitizen]

21. Y'know, they interviewed Randi on NOW as well

She's out of Palm Beach, FL -- the same place that OxyRush is broadcast from, and she regularly beats him in the ratings.

She said she's been pleading with ClearChannel to syndicate her show for some time now, but they refuse each time.

They say it's a business decision -- yeah, right. :puke:

[neverforget]

5. He's part of a crowd that wants to turn Oregon into a Libertarian

paradise. :puke:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. Living in Oregon

turned me against Libertarians big time. I see them as nothing but selfish vandals.

[Lars39]

8. He's the reason I keep wanting to change my username.

I had no clue he even existed when I named myself. Cold shoulders hurt. :(

[MissB]

10. Funny, everytime I see your name

I do think of the one Lars I "know".

[Lars39]

12. Kindly, I hope.

:)

[kaitykaity]

11. Awww, we're shorry. So shorry.

:grouphug:

He really is a sanctimonious bastard, though.

[Lars39]

13. *blushes, scuffs toe in dirt*.... aw, shucks ! That's sweet of you.

I guess I'll have to start thinking of a new name. I hate losing all my brownie points, though. :)

[kaitykaity]

14. Don't let him do that to you.

He's not worth it. Wear the name with pride and make it your own. :evilgrin:

You could even do a parody of him--that is if being sanctimonious, egotistical, and smarmy aren't foreign to you.

[Lars39]

20. Might take a stronger stomach than I've got to pull a parody off.

He sounds like a real winner. :eyes:

:hi:

[MissB]

9. I don't think he single-handedly sunk things

The half-billion reserve was widely debunked by the Oregonian (newspaper from Portland metro area) before election day. Because Oregon uses vote-by-mail exclusively, it is possible that some percentage cast their votes based on that. However, I think it would be a stretch to say that everyone voted that way because Lars said to.

Measure 30 lost 2-to-1 in the Portland metro area. Usually, a race (be it a candidate or measure) can be won or lost in Multnomah county.

Last year, Multnomah county residents voted to tax themselves to bail out Portland area schools and mental health services. Before this election (Measure 30), the Multnomah County Chairperson, Diane Linn, did a couple of very foolish things that probably did way more damage than Lars Larson could. Seriously, the people that listen to Lars aren't likely to have voted for Measure 30 anyway.

Linn tried to give county workers pay for a day or two that was missed because of a snow storm in January. That went over... bad. Then, she said that there *may* be *some* refund of last year's tax measure if Measure 30 passed. That didn't go over too well either.

Portland already protected itself to some extent. It would have been very difficult to convince voters in this county to tax themselves again.

I believe that Bill Sizemore et al did more damage during the 90's than Lars could ever do.

[stevedeshazer]

15. He'd like for everyone to think he did

He's a moron, one I have met personally long before he took on his current radical right persona.

But what really did this very modest temporary tax increase in was negative advertising, courtesy of the astroturf group Citizens for a Sound Economy (sic), a true nest of vipers headed by none other than the despicable Dick Armey. Oregonians were duped by out-of-state advertising.

Here's what folks 'r sayin' about CSE (straight from their web site)

"Folks, you've got to get to know this organization...They have been doing a great job all over the country educating people."

- G.W. Bush

"Every fight I've ever been in, I've been in it with Citizens for a Sound Economy"

-Dick Armey, former House majority leader.

"CSE is one of the most effective grassroots lobbying organizations around--anywhere."

-Katherine Harris

----------------------------------------------------------------------

more, not for the faint of heart: http://www.cse.org/

[MinnFats]

16. thank you all for the illuminating discussion!

Lordy, we do have a lot of work to do, don't we!?

[Michael Harrington]

17. They get away with this

Because too many people believe the bill of goods Reagan sold them: that you can have low taxes (which almost no one really does when these cuts are passed) and still have all the Gov't services that you want, because the money will come out of the hide of others, preferably marginal racial and economic groups.

[stevedeshazer]

18. Hard to believe that after 23 years of failure

that people still believe they can have their cake and eat it, too.

[Logansquare]

19. That was a really good show

not just about Larson, but also an interesting spin on how a rising of just plain vulgar TV is being caused by media consolidation.