Posted by chicagomedia.org on April 03, 2009 at 16:14:05:
'Cowed: My experience as the radio guest of Erich 'Mancow' Muller
One of Mancow Muller's producers at WLS AM 890 left messages Tuesday morning: Mancow and his co-host Pat Cassidy "loved my column" in the paper that day about the Bill Ayers fracas and wanted me to come on the air to talk about it.
I couldn't get back to Mancow's people in time for Tuesday's 9-11 a.m. show, so they asked if I'd come on Wednesday morning. I said no, sorry, that wouldn't work. And I had a meeting Thursday morning. But I had time Friday morning. They were cool with that and booked me.
When another producer followed up to remind me via email, I confirmed and asked what Mancow's take was on Naperville North High School disinviting Ayers after a community uproar over Ayers' radical past:
"Their take on Ayers was they felt he should have given the speech," she replied.
That surprised me, but then again, Mancow has long preened about his belief in freedom of speech - justification for years of making poop and penis jokes on the air.
It turned out not to be true. After a brief exchange about the indictment of Rod Blagojevich, Mancow launched into a tirade about how angry my column had made him and what a terrible person Bill Ayers is.
He took particular issue with this paragraph:
Ayers' story raises provocative questions about the limits of acceptable protest in a free society, the informal statute of limitations on serious youthful transgressions and the relationship between repentance and forgiveness. Listening to him and questioning him could be quite a learning experience.
He objected particularly to the use of the term "transgressions" in the context of the acts of violent vandalism Ayers has admitted to and is alleged to have committed.
Others raised that objection, too, I told him. They complained that "transgressions" is a mild, mitigating word. My intent was to use a broader, more general term that would apply not only to Ayers' crimes but also his inflammatory statements and other acts some 40 years ago when he was a leader of the Weather Underground protesting the Vietnam War.
And, since I was writing about the sorts of big questions his story raises, I wanted to include a host of other offenses, criminal and otherwise, that others might have committed long ago.
But, I told Mancow, in retrospect I regret the choice of that word because it didn't convey what I wanted it to convey, and...
That may have been the last word I got in.
Mancow began ranting about Barack Obama's appearance at Notre Dame, Obama's use of a TelePrompter, the allegations that George W. Bush wore some sort of transmitter during a debate five years ago and the double standard on college campuses where conservative speakers aren't allowed a proper forum.
I attempted to interject that, in fact, I agree with him about double standards in academia and that oppressive, hypocritical orthodoxy is among the sins of modern liberalism. But conservatives are guilty of it as well, and we should all be willing to listen and question rather than howl and point.
But by that time, he and Cassidy were simply nattering at each other over whether Cassidy was a liberal (he says he's not),then the music came up they cut to commercial and, click, dial tone.
It was the weirdest, worst interview I've ever been involved in. The attempted ambush I didn't mind --- it's a strange tactic, though, if you think you might ever want to have guest back --- and it was only 10 minutes out of my day. But it was simply lousy radio. He didn't even give himself a chance to get the best of me by letting me talk and then going at me point by point (some hosts like to do this after they've said goodbye to a guest).
Post-script -- Muller's periodic appearances on WTTW Ch. 11's "Chicago Tonight" in which he offered dramatic readings of half-baked commentaries were a disgrace to that program's generally thoughtful tone. They're gone now, but so are all the other Tuesday evening guest commentators -- the station tells me the feature was discontinued in December.
(Chicago Tribune)