Post a Comment On: Internal Monologue

Colorful language warning...oops too late. Think Progress via Kos:
NBC is refusing to air an ad for the new Dixie Chicks documentary, “Shut Up & Sing.” Variety reports, “NBC’s commercial clearance department said in writing that it ‘cannot accept these spots as they are disparaging to President Bush.’”
What I don't understand is that Bush is at 38% approval rating, with very high disapproval. Couldn't NBC make some money of disparaging Bush? Don't late-night comedians disparage him all the time? Doesn't Conan O'Brien make Bush jokes? (Yes, he does.)

What is going on here? I can completely understand when corporations do anything to make a buck. But when they turn away money I start scratching my head. Does their viewership skew so wingnut that if they aired these ads they'd lose so many viewers that it would be counterproductive? Or is there some Republican agenda here? Who is doing it, what are they getting for it, and who is letting them get away with it?

Another explanation is that this is all some kind of Weinsteinian publicity stunt, in which case NBC played right into his hands. (And so did Internal Monologue.)

And kudos to the Dixie Chicks for bashing Bush long before it was cool to do so!

UPDATE: Greenwald posts on this, and is excellent as usual.