The democrats have been calling for the reinstatement of the “Fairness Doctrine” for years now, and at the point at which the volume of that demand has reached a Spinal Tap “11” they pull back and claim naw, we never called for that.
What’s with the lying, anyway?
In 2002 the Oregon Democrat Party passed a resolution calling for an end to what they derisively call “hate radio.” Remember? It read:
Resolutions adopted by the Democratic Convention
March 10, 2002
1. Democratic Party Call to Action
Where as, extreme right-wing talk radio dominates nearly 90% of the talk-radio market, and democrtic, environmental and labor issues are lambasted 24 hours a day without challenge, Whereas, the Government and Political Reform Legislative Agnda from theis convention call for the reinstatement of the “Fairness Doctrine.”
It goes on to commend D’s to monitor hate radio and keep a data base.

From the Eugene Register Guard in 2002:

“And last month, the Oregon Democratic Party’s central committee passed a resolution calling for the reinstatement of the “fairness doctrine” to require equal time for all sides of political debates on the air. The resolution also urged fellow party members to monitor talk-radio hosts for anti-Democratic bias, increase participation by calling into talk shows, and pressure radio stations and their advertisers to “restore balanced discourse to the public air waves.”

And of course there’s the discussion recently about how Senators Clinton and Boxer discussed a “legislative fix” to talk radio. Listen to the discussion of that here.
And as World Net Daily compiled, a bunch of lawmakers who think that the only way to win the debate is to stifle it said:

“In my view, talk radio tends to be one-sided. It also tends to be dwelling in hyperbole,” she said. “It’s explosive. It pushes people to, I think, extreme views without a lot of information.”
Pressed by Wallace about whether she is for bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, Feinstein said, “Well, I’m looking at it.”
Following that exchange, others were more direct.
“It’s time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine,” said Durbin. “I have this old-fashioned attitude that when Americans hear both sides of the story, they’re in a better position to make a decision.”
Kerry, the 2004 presidential nominee for the Democrats, also came out swinging.
“I think the Fairness Doctrine ought to be there, and I also think equal time doctrine ought to come back,” he said on the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. “These are the people that wiped out … one of the most profound changes in the balance of the media is when the conservatives got rid of the equal time requirements and the result is that they have been able to squeeze down and squeeze out opinion of opposing views and I think its been a very important transition in the imbalance of our public eye.”

Earl Blumenauer