Jean Shepherd was always my idea of a media rebel. Phil Donahue never was. But he became one for me this morning on Democracy Now! Donahue, right, smiles easily and calls himself lucky. He says his success spoiled him, which I'm sure is true. But behind the smile and the luck there's a gritty malcontent who knows what's wrong and says it vigorously. "Shut up — and sing!" That, Donahue says, is what Bush regime capo Karl Rove has told the mainstream media. And it has done so, especially MSNBC, which booted him off the air just before the invasion of Iraq, ostensibly because of poor ratings but actually because of his liberal, antiwar views and the platform he offered progressives. What does he say about the right-wing patriots now running the country? "They can't find enough flags to stand in front of." What does he say about their God-loving politics? "God himself must be wincing at this pretense and false piety." As soon as Democracy Now! posts the video segment, I'll put up a link. Don't miss it.

Postscript: They've posted the segment. Here tiz. Click on "Watch 256k stream" for broadband.