Carpundit has taken me to task for telling the Globe that Tom Finneran is someone with “some class and some dignity.” Carpundit instructs: “He is a convicted felon.” The Scoop offers a similar observation.
I’m not going to reargue the case against Finneran, except to say, again, that I think it was largely bogus, not to mention politically motivated. Essentially, Finneran was given a choice: Plead guilty to trumped-up charges or go to prison. If you haven’t done so before, I do urge you to read Harvey Silverglate’s take, published in 2005.
Am I a Finneran lackey? In 2004, when he was still speaker, I profiled him for the Phoenix. You be the judge.
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man who's an npr fan
“some class and some dignity”The words class and dignity don’t belong in a discussion about commercial radio. Even if Finneran had class or dignity (and I don’t think he does – see below) they wouldn’t mean squat in regards to his show on WRKO. All that matters is whether or not he gets the ratings.As for why I don’t think Finneran has class or dignity, it’s actually because of his radio show. Regardless of whether or not he was railroaded out of office and into his conviction, if he had class and dignity he wouldn’t be on a 50000 watt platform. He’d humbly accept that maybe, just maybe, he really was an autocratic dictator and he’d shut up and sit quietly in some cushy consulting gig where he can’t hurt anyone.
Anonymous
I’m missing something – Finneran either had to plead guilty or go to jail? Couldn’t he have, maybe, gone to trial, been found not guilty, and avoided jail? If he took the deal, isn’t it possible that he thought there was a decent chance that a jury might actually find he was guilty of these “trumped-up” charges?That said, I don’t think Carpundit’s point has much merit, either; the fact that someone is a convicted felon does not (in and of itself) prevent him or her acting with some class and some dignity.
Peter Porcupine
This is what I wrote literally two years ago -http://capecodporcupine.blogspot.com/2005/05/upon-my-oath-as-gentleman.htmlThe Speaker’s fatal flaw was hubris; that is almost part of the job description for a talk show host. He may have found his niche.
Anonymous
Tom Finneran is a convicted felon. He lied to the Feds concerning his involvement in the gerrymandering of his district, Harvey Silvergate not withstanding!I don’t believe that you should influence an employment decision concerning McGuirk. That is the province of RKO and it is up to the management to set the parameters he must work within.It seems that you are a leader of the PC Speech Police, so I wander where you have been in regards to Howie Carr’s longtime subtle racism, Russ Limbaugh’ latest rant”Barack the Magic Negro” and Jay Severin’s racist anti-Arab remarks.I guess I shouln’t even mention Michael Savage!
Dan Kennedy
Anon 4:55: Instead of wondering (or “wandering,” as you put it), why don’t you look it up? I’ve gone after Rush, Howie, Savage and a bunch of others at one time or another.