Obama to Appear on 'Conservative' Radio Show

Of course it's a 'conservative' who endorsed him, so take the conservative label with a huge boulder of salt. If Obama had any guts he'd appear with a real conservative host.

Rush Limbaugh comes to mind.

The White House has arranged for President Obama to appear as a guest of a conservative talk radio host who endorsed his candidacy, to answer questions from callers on health care reform on Thursday, a White House aide tells ABC News.

Michael Smerconish, a Philadelphia-based conservative talk show host, will broadcast his nationally syndicated program from the White House Diplomatic Room alongside the president. It’s the first time a radio broadcast will originate from the White House since President Obama took office in January, according to an Obama aide.

Smerconish surprised many observers -- and enraged many of his listeners -- by announcing two weeks before the election that he was supporting Obama.

“John McCain is an honorable man who has served his country well. But he will not get my vote. For the first time since registering as a Republican 28 years ago, I’m voting for a Democrat for president,” he told his listeners in October 2008.

I'm sure Smerconish's pals at CNN and MSNBC will be thrilled for him.

First They Came for the Moderates

A good piece from Classical Values.

Far from being an anonymous blog, Media Matters is a hardball operation organized and funded by key Clinton players like former White House Chief of Staff John D. Podesta (with the usual Soros ties, natch). While the "cyber-lynching by faceless, nameless bloggers" might play a role, I think the Media Matters campaign represents something considerably bigger than that.

I'm glad to see Smerconish's op-ed featured in the Huffington Post, because this campaign is a real threat to moderate and independent free speech.

I think the Clinton left would rather take down guys like Imus or Smerconish than a nutjob like Michael Savage, and that's because moderates and independents are a bigger threat. The far right is easily stereotyped, and in the long run, they can actually be seen as helping (not hurting) Hillary Clinton. If the goal is to get her elected, silencing the moderates (and, of course, libertarians like Neal Boortz) is a vital first step. If I were working for the Hillary campaign, I'd advise precisely such a campaign. Little wonder that another primary target of the Media Matters campaign is Democrat Chris Matthews. Like Imus, he's a Democrat against Hillary. They hate Matthews so much it reminds me of the attacks on Lieberman. Seriously; if you check out the links, you begin to see a pattern. While its stated goal might be to go after the right wing, Media Matters is very much in the business of enforcing Democratic political conformity.

More at Redstate: Clintonistas Targeting Non-Conformists.

The Michael Smerconish column is here.