Brian Anderson says that Air America is doomed to fail.

Of course, the Left's attempt to revive the "Fairness Doctrine" won't be applied to NPR, which is by definition, "fair" and perfectly balanced.

It would be too bad if the canopy didn't open when LT. Franken decides to bail. Or if his chute failed. Or even better if the G force of attempting to pull out of a deep dive into bankruptcy knocked him out.

I'll believe it when I see it. The dextrosphere was claiming this time last year that AA wouldn't last the summer. Don't get me wrong: I'm glad it failed to swing the election and I wish it an ignominous demise. But, see first sentence.

There is a fourth ingredient to be considered. The best of talk radio makes individual potential a part of its repertoire. It is inherent in the conservative themes of tax cuts and various forms of de-bureaucratization - getting government out of the way of our achievement. Who tells us we're competent enough to arm ourselves in self-defense, or to look out for illegal aliens and report them to the authorities? Who tells us we're capable of planning for our retirement? Who tells us we can manage our diets? Al Franken?

Limbaugh is the king of lauding individual effort. Two broadcasts stand out. One was his reaction to a scene in the rubble of the Los Angeles Riots. A crowd stood outside a destroyed post office, waiting in vain to receive their monthly welfare checks. Rush was beyond furious at how the government had bred such a sense of helplessness into these people. The other was a past Labor Day when he asked for calls only from people who had been laid off and had started successful businesses in the aftermath. The unspoken message was YOU CAN DO THIS, TOO.

Listeners want to be a part of the program, not just as callers but as the subject material. Liberal talk radio fails in this regard. When the topic isn't about bashing non-liberals, it's about the wondrous things that central planning will endow to a pasively awaiting public. Most adults don't appreciate being treated like children. Such people aren't receptive to punditry that leaves the listener out of the equation.

More accurately, that aforementioned unspoken message is "more of you are capable of doing this than you realize." One may also perceive a more subtle message: that there's also more of the non-entrepreneurial variety of career advancement ability than is being used.