The Doctor Is Out

Score one for decency.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger announced that she is ending her radio show at the end of the year. She told Larry King that her decision has nothing to do with the racial slur she emitted on the air last week, but rather to regain her right to free speech. Says the not-so-good doctor: "The reason is I want to regain my First Amendment rights. I want to be able to say what's on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry, some special interest group deciding this is the time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates, attack sponsors. I'm sort of done with that."

In other words, she's afraid of losing advertisers.

Say what's on her mind and in her heart? I never thought she had either. Even the Tin Man and the Scarecrow had one or the other, and, when it comes to facing adversity she herself created, Dr. Laura has about as much courage as the Cowardly Lion.

A friend of mine who's a nationally known journalist - I'm not mentioning any names - was one of many who put pressure on getting Schlessinger off the air, and Dr. Laura's appearance with King was her way of insisting the she's jumping rather than being pushed. I don't know how Schlessinger is going to speak out for the mean-spirited social values she's championed all these years without a microphone - her Web site, I assume - but if she uses the opportunity to offend anyone else, she'll be called on it.

Incidentally, though Schlessinger apologized for using the N-word, what she said afterwards was almost as offensive. She thought that once Barack Obama was elected President, black people would realize that racism is dead and stop complaining - this in light of racist political rallies over the President's spending plans. She sounds like the Rush Limbaugh fan who once declared, "[Limbaugh] is right. Racism in this country is dead. I don't know what the (pluralized N-word) are going to complain about now."

Oh ,well, I hope this is over, because we're waging two wars simultaneously, and there's no time for fighting. (Get it?)

Now that Dr. Laura is showing herself the door, now's a good time to put the pressure on other right-wing talkers to make a less-than-graceful exit. Let's go after Glenn Beck next.