# Leftist U.S. Military Personnel??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 1, 2005, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leftist-u-s-military-personnel/328870 "2005-11-01T06:16:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leftist-u-s-military-personnel/328870/21 "2005-11-02T01:54:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Monty** , I think the relelvant part of that annecdote is that, because both are Americans, upperclassmen at military academies should not heap abuse on plebes. It’s not the title, it’s the behaviour it warrents. Said it better than I could. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leftist-u-s-military-personnel/328870/22 "2005-11-02T02:58:14Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Of course, the military censors all but right wing opinions from having radio shows on the Armed Forces Network. Just ask Ed Schultz how tolerant the military is of leftist views. This has come up before, but I’ll answer it again here. [Q: How are programs selected?](http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/faqolator/faqdaddy.asp?qid=6) **A:** Weekly Nielsen (television) and Arbitron (radio) ratings in the United States and periodic DOD surveys are used by AFRTS to identify the most popular shows to match AFRTS audience demographics. In recent years, AFRTS has been able to acquire and air 90 to 95 percent of the top 75 U.S. prime time series. No single U.S. station or network provides a similar service. **Warning:** the link is kinda wonky; you may have to hit it several times to get the page to load. If it just won’t load, go to the AFRTS [homepage](http://www.afrts.osd.mil/), click on the [FAQ](http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/faqolator/faqdaddy.asp?cust=myafn&cid=6&opt=1&rurl=http://afrts.dodmedia.osd.mil), under “FAQ Categories,” click on [Programming.](http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/faqolator/faqdaddy.asp?cid=3) The second question is the one. If you feel Leftist views are under-represented on military radio and television networks, then perhaps shows with Leftist views should strive to garner higher ratings, or otherwise appeal more to the military servicemembers who fill out programming surveys. If Leftist views are being “censored,” then it’s the censorship of _choice_, not only of American servicemembers, but of the larger general American audience, as well. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leftist-u-s-military-personnel/328870/23 "2005-11-02T11:45:43Z")
Why of course! Why didn’t I go to AFRTS’ site to find the _real_ reason why left wing views are banned on AFRTS? They would _never_ lie about it! Of course the administration that concocted forged documents about the Iraq-Niger uranium connection, that knowingly and deliberately lied to lead the nation into war, that turned the US into a nation that condones and practices torture, they would be _happy_ to broadcast divergent points of view. Gosh, why am I so cynical? ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leftist-u-s-military-personnel/328870/24 "2005-11-02T12:13:29Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Gosh, why am I so cynical? Low blood sugar? Old age creeping up on you? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leftist-u-s-military-personnel/328870/25 "2005-11-02T12:21:14Z")
As i pointed out, AFRTS would not even air an hour of Rush’s show a day until forced to by a groundswell of public demand. Not very right wing at all. (Great music mix. A country song, then a rock song then a rap-crossover then a pop song then a country song. Sort of a Short Attention Span Theater of the Air.) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leftist-u-s-military-personnel/328870/26 "2005-11-02T13:05:33Z")
Note that Rush was added during the Clinton administration. [Conservative pundits and lawmakers](http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Forces_Radio_and_Television_Service) raised a big stink about it. > [@](#): > > The daily hour AFRTS broadcasts Rush Limbaugh has been criticized as right wing “propaganda” beamed to a segment of the population whose votes were decisive in the 2000 elections. Boehlert notes that Limbaugh’s show was added to the network only after conservative lawmakers and pundits raised a fuss: “In 1993, then Rep. Robert Dornan, R-Calif., along with 69 other Republican House members, sent a letter to President Clinton’s first secretary of defense, Les Aspin, demanding that both Limbaugh’s radio show and his syndicated television show (on which Limbaugh compared preteen Chelsea Clinton to a dog) be broadcast to the military.” AFRTS responded: "The Rush Limbaugh Show makes no pretense that his show is balanced. **If AFRTS scheduled a program of personal commentary without balancing it with another viewpoint, we would be open to broad criticism that we are supporting a particular point of view."** But after just a few days of “conservative media and Republicans [crying] censorship,” Limbaugh was assured his show would air on AFRTS. When Clinton ran the DoD, they were big enough to allow a decidedly unfriendly voice to AFRTS. AFRTS assured [Ed Schultz](http://www.wegoted.com/EdInTheNews/more.asp?ID=64) that he was added to the schedule, then after Schultz criticized the administration for the troops and Bush rehearsing the Q&A session, he was dropped from the schedule. He was dropped because of politics. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leftist-u-s-military-personnel/328870/27 "2005-11-02T13:20:43Z")
Whatever. I note that Rush is not on my local AFTRS station, or he is on at Oh-Dark Hundred. Anyway, the OP is answered. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leftist-u-s-military-personnel/328870/28 "2005-11-02T13:24:42Z")
Well, people can quibble over the definition of liberal, but… General Norman Schwarzkopf has proclaimed himself a liberal on several occasions (leading the Democrats to hope, some years back, that he might run for high office as a Democrat). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leftist-u-s-military-personnel/328870.md?page=1)