Left wing blogger Justin Felux declares that "Air America is a Joke," and he doesn't mean that listeners are enjoying a lot of laughs from the comedians who fill its airwaves.

Picking up on a theme earlier raised in these pages, Felux savages the fledging network for displacing established ethnic—oriented radio programming, while providing only token representation for the blacks in its lineup.

The question Felux raises is why should blacks continue to support the Democrats when they are given so little consideration on matters which have symbolic meaning to them.

Of course, most white liberals are too busy bubbling over with joy to give a damn. "At last we have a voice!" Who cares if we further marginalize African Americans in the process? Hey, it wouldn't be the first time we've done it.

Like most critics, Felux isn't impressed with the quality of Air America's programs. Come to think of it, can anyone point us to a positive review of any of its programming? Seriously, we'd really like to see if such reviews have been written. Are there any critics out there writing that Al Franken and Janeane Garofolo have taken the art of talk radio to a new level?

After having had a year to prepare itself, and being reported as having large substantial backing, we would have supposed that Air America would want to have a strong debut, to take advantage of the blizzard of publicity it received. Its apparent failure to wow the critics raises the awkward question of whether liberals have a sense of humor anymore. Perhaps their paroxisms of anger over President Bush has dried up the wellspring of humor.

Update: two more black critics blast Air America for its lack of "diversity" and its displacement of black—oriented programming.

Hey, I am kind of warming up to Franken and his colleagues. They may be doing good work out there, after all.

Posted by Thomas