Howard Stern: The FCC Are Communists, Democrats Update: It's from 2008!

Update: Well, whaddya know! The rant below remains entertaining to me, but it's not new. In fact, it dates back to 2008.

Back in the day and before he escaped earthly radio's gravitational pull and began broadcasting off-planet, Howard Stern was never more exercised than when he was railing against the Federal Communications Commission, that august body of idjit galoots who did so much to make him popular by fining him for every poop joke, burp, fart, and steaming pile of excrement he referenced on air.

Indeed, radio listeners from the good ol' days of the Depression may get weak in the knees when thinking about fireside chats and Fiorello LaGuardia reading the comics over the wireless, but I'll always remember Stern's great Fuck The FCC rally circa 1987, held in the shadow of the U.N. and Raoul Wallenberg Plaza. Al "Grandpa" Lewis haunted the scene so memorably repeatedly shouting "Fuck the FCC!" over the airwaves.

Now Stern is back with this short but inspired rant against his old nemesis and the Democratic Party more broadly ("I am done with them"). Via Breitbart.tv and Eyeblast.tv (which uploaded the piece originally and whose server is now as overworked as Jackie The Joke Man Martling). A snippet gives you the flavor: 

The fact that these democrats are the FCC are communists - they're for communism. They don't want to see companies - this is gangsterism.

Listen here.

Reason on Howard Stern, including every awful punning headline you can imagine, over the years.

Comments

[x,y]

Typical lefty sentiment. Dems are only bad when your particular ox is being gored. See also Anthony Bourdain (food).

[Brian Sorgatz]

It has nothing to do specifically with what XY said, and it doesn't even mention Stern, but check out this blog post of mine (recently moved, due to circumstances beyond my control, to a new URL): "FCC stands for Federal Communist Commission."

[Brian Sorgatz]

Did I get too obnoxious in pimping my blog in the above comment? Oops. Sorry, folks.

[Tulpa]

Hey, I like dragging out the 90s nostalgia as much as anyone, but seriously who cares what this talentless hack thinks? He was toast once anyone with a $30 webcam could make fart and lesbian jokes and post them on YouTube.

[m]

Tulpa, that indeed describes his career. Stern created the monster but the zombie left the building and multiplied. Who knew stuttering John would be smart enough to predict the demise and try to branch out?

[Tulpa]

The ironic thing is that Stern was entirely a creature of FCC regulations. If radio had been more open to competition and less strictly regulated as to vulgar content, no one would ever have noticed him.

[R C Dean]

Hey, Howard Stern still has an audience. Anyone who calls out the brass-knuckles crowd now running the Democratic Party is fine by me.

[DC]

The only problem is back when the Dems were blocking the Sirius-XM merger, Howard said he would never vote Democrat again. Then when the presidential election came, he kept saying he couldn't decide between Hillary or Obama. The guy is an idiot.

[B]

So he made an outragous statement and then switched? So he's Glen Beck?

[Wow]

Awesome job of giving no example to verify and sounding like a buffoon. Keep up the great work.

[MacGhil]

I had hope for him when he said of Ron Paul during the campaign, "He just makes so much fucking sense!"

I guess he decided to vote for more nonsense instead.

[Tulpa]

Like I said, 90s nostalgia. An attitude I can sympathize with.

[The Libertarian Guy]

Never have liked Stern, but I'll grant him some props on the FCC issue.

[TomG]

I enjoyed Stern a lot when he was on commercial radio, but he's a life member of the Stern Party, rather than a committed libertarian. He successfully hijacked the LP in New York when running for governor (for about 3 seconds), but only cared about what he could gain from it, not what he could do for it. I'm sure this latest rant is more of the same.

[Mike Laursen]

I started listening to Howard Stern right when he was doing his Libertarian Party governor run. I took the Party seriously back then, and was really offended (but kept listening). Before long, I started admitting how absurd the Party's behavior could be and started to love Howard.

[Mark]

This is not a new clip. It's two years old. It was recorded during one of Howard's rants about the FCC during the merger delay between Sirius and XM.

[David]

Back in 2004 Stern was praising Bush, then after the primary he got his marching orders from the buy in charge at CBS (Kazmarin?) and suddenly became pro-Kerry.

[mitch]

I listened to Stern for like 15 years, but then he started getting his politics from Al Franken, and I stopped. Maybe it was a corporate decision, like you say.

[Mike Laursen]

Stern's not a guy who can be given marching orders. His flip-flops on politics are the result of his chaotic thought processes.

[Link Do]

I used to really love Howard Stern back in his hey days. Since his move to Sirius though, it all seems to be geared towards that stupid Howard TV show of his.

Lou
http://www.fbi-logging.se.tc

[nobody]

AnonBot? Is that...you?

[dwcarkuff]

I first starting listening to Howard back in the day when he first came to NY on WNBC. It was the first time I ever heard anything like it and I couldn't believe it. Of course it had to get old fairly quickly and I don't think anyone can argue that Howard is anything but a self serving dick and can be incredibly cruel. He can not seem to distinguish between powerless, defenseless targets and the blowhards and bullies he should go after.

[Sam Grove]

Something like Dr. Laura.

[m]

I always thought a celebrity was fare game but the other subjects of his humor left me uneasy. The idea of paying for his radio would made me feel complicit.

[Seventh Son]

He also suggested that the Columbine shooters should have raped their victims.

[m]

He has three daughters and I'm sure that was part of his crass humor. I think his wife just got fed up with defending the act as the girls aged. The only show I ever really wanted to hear was the September 11th day.

[Robert]

It did get old fairly quickly, which is why he kept developing his act as he and his audience matured. And what if some of the people you should go after are blowhards and bullies, and others of them are powerless and defenseless? If you deserve it, you deserve it.

[Mike]

Its the 90s all over again! That was also the last time I listened to Howard Stern. His E! show as hilarious.

[Apostate Jew]

I first heard Stern in 1984 doing a bit on the election - "Otto Spielbach [or some such] for President". It was clever so I listened.

Now ... he's about as clever as Limbaugh comparing the President to Kim Jong Il (which the fat boy did last week).

[NAL]

Uh. Limbaugh is no longer fat and what's that got to do with anything, anyway?

Obama and the Dems ARE acting like dictators. They're forcing this very unpopular reform on the people. They're not just ignoring the constitution (what else is new in Washington?), but they're going out of their way, with kamikaze mindset, to VIOLATE the constitution just to get control of healthcare...which, as they know, is a means to control everything. Tell me, how is that different than something Kim Jong Il would do?

[Apostate Jew]

Did I mention anything about politics? I only said that I didn't think Stern and Limbaugh were funny anymore. Incessant fart jokes and inapposite comparisons do nothing for me. (I do treasure hearing the song parody "I lied to you" on Limbaugh's show but that was ages ago.)

Life is not all about politics.

And "the fat boy" is my nickname for Limbaugh. Sorry, I'm just a "skinny supremacist", I suppose. I can change the nickname to "the pill popper" if you like.

[m]

We call him the "I" guy. I don't listen to Stern or Limbaugh anymore but they always struck me as two sides of the same coin. Funny, that they both share a January 12th birth date.

[Geotpf]

If they are truly ignoring the constitution, I'm sure somebody will file a court case and the Supreme Court will decide as such. They are the only ones who get to decide what violates the constitution.

As for "acting like dictators"-that's why we have elections. In fact, there will be an election for Congress coming up in just a couple months, if you haven't heard. In any case, what Obama is doing on health care is very similiar to what he said he would do on health care prior to being elected-again, not very "dictator-like"-or even unpopular.

[WTF]

If they are truly ignoring the constitution, I'm sure somebody will file a court case and the Supreme Court will decide as such.

Right - it's Just That Simple!

"Someone" will "file a court case" and BOOM - the Supreme Court decides!

First hurdle is something known as Article III standing. Good luck with that.

It doesn't require "someone" to file suit or the Supreme Court to tell when elected officials are violating the Constitution.

And the cure for elected officials violating the Constitution (i.e., violating their oath of office) is impeachment or recollection, depending on the position. No need to wait around until an election and allow them to continue ignoring the supreme law of the land.

[Robert]

Heh, "...paid for by the Spielbach-Mengele Committee."

[P Brooks]

Howard Stern bores me.

That is all.

[Mokers]

You can really tell how douchey somebody is by how much they argue that Howard Stern is still funny or original.

[Episiarch]

Howard Stern was, at one point, quite brilliant (if you get his humor, which it is clear some of you don't--at all), but that was when he was based around the relationship with his wife, which he no longer has. Mr. King of All Media lost it when he got divorced, but that doesn't change the fact that he's always railed against censorship.

Also, his really old skits with Billy West doing Larry Fine from the Three Stooges? FUCKING AMAZING. And the time he and Gilbert Godfried did the entire show impersonating Jerry Seinfeld--both of them the whole show? I was stuck on the GW in traffic coming from Jersey and it made my day.

[Dangerman]

My boss has XM in the work trucks, and we listened to a replay of that episode, and I laughed very many laughs.

What I still like about Howard is that his show is like a "Best Of Crappy Internet Humor" in 2D, so I can listen to a queef-off and get work done at the same time, which is hard to do with visual Internet Trash.

[Dave]

You guys are all knuckleheads. This rant is from July 2008.

http://www.businessandmedia.or.....52511.aspx

[JW]

I actually met Stern back in the early 80's when he was at DC-101 in Washington. He was doing Kemp Mill Records in-store promo.

I had his signed self-portrait doodle for about 10 years in my files before it was thrown away in a file purge. By that point, he had fallen off the radar and I thought, meh, that's the last we'll hear from this guy.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Kemp Mill -- ah, for the days of Strawberry Hill & valium.

[P Brooks]

the time he and Gilbert Godfried did the entire show

Just

fucking

kill

me.

[Episiarch]

You have no taste. Gilbert is a freak, but a funny freak. You probably hate Jews, you anti-Semite.

[G. G. Duck]

AFLAC!

[P Brooks]

you anti-Semite.

You forgot

RACIST.

[I heard]

you also hate women and puppies;-(

[fortyouncer]

He does great interviews. When he is making fun of politicians, celebrities, or going over the news he can be pretty funny. It's a long show, and he's been around a while, so theres going to be a lot of boring shit you can point to over the years. But overall he's been consistently funny, especially compared to the competition out there.

[Robert]

That's it. Filling so many hours and staying entertaining the whole time is impossible. The fact that he could be so good for so much of the time, and over so many years, when others tended to stop developing and get stale is amazing. He surpassed the pros that he learned from by far.

The only talent I know of who could pump it out like that was Jean P. Shepherd, and only for a short portion of his time on radio did he have an hours-long show like that. Shep surpassed Stern in King-of-All-Media versatility, but Stern went way beyond Shep in total draw.