Wow, THAT Was Fast

A few days ago I heralded and praised the new GOP aggression in seizing items off the radical Donk shopping list - like the reimposition of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" - and pre-empting the expected Obamedia spin on them by defining them truthfully and designing counter-legislation to at least slow down the runaway neoBolshevik juggarnaut.  Senator Jim DeMint's attaching the Broadcaster Freedom Act to a plumb Dem wish list item as unconstitutionally giving the District of Columbia full congressional representation was an act of legislative brilliance not seen on our side of the aisle in far too long a time and figured to make the majority have to choose whether to pander to their strongest voting base or muzzle Rush Limbaugh and his talk radio progeny.

The center-right effort to head of another "Fairness Doctrine" at the pass has burgeoned rapidly of late (via Newsmax Insider).

Moves are afoot to head off any Democratic efforts to reinstate the so-called Fairness Doctrine and stifle conservative talk radio.

A group of radio insiders has formed the Free Radio Coalition to fight the reinstatement, Radio America President James Roberts said on Tuesday.

Radio America talk show host and former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock will chair the coalition.

“The reinstatement of the misnamed Fairness Doctrine would constitute a massive assault on our cherished First Amendment rights and should be of concern to all Americans, regardless of their political or religious persuasion,” Hedgecock said.

Group members want to hold a conference of talk show hosts and religious broadcasters in Washington to plan strategy, the Washington Times reported.

They also plan to prepare expert testimony in case the Federal Communications Commission or congressional committees hold hearings on the Doctrine.

However, the DeMint (and Mike Pence on the House side) strategy's success turned out to be so sudden and comprehensive that all the FRC's preparation may have left them all dressed up with no place to go:

The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved an amendment banning reinstatement of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" that would threaten conservative talk radio.

Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina attached the amendment, called the Broadcaster Freedom Act, to a bill giving the District of Columbia a voting representative in the House. It passed by a wide margin of 87-to-11.

All right!  Now the FCC can't reimpose the Fairness Doctrine!  At the very least, congressional Democrats will have to do it themselves (probably by trying to slip it into one of their assembly line of gargantuan, national bankruptcy, economic implosion-inducing appropriations bills) rather than in the bureaucratic shadows.  Hooray!

Well, not quite yet.  The BFA would still have to make it into the conference version of the D.C. "Addaseattome" bill, and Red Barry would still have to sign it.

And that, as they say, is the rub:

But it's not clear if the amendment will survive as Congress debates the voting rights bill.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois also won approval for an alternate amendment ordering the Federal Communications Commission to encourage radio ownership "diversity." It passed by a vote of 57-41.

A DeMint aide said Durbin's measure will "impose the Fairness Doctrine through the back door by trying to break up radio ownership,” Fox News reported.

The First Amendment's tatters, IOW, are not out of the woods yet.  So keep stockpiling your powder, FRC, and keep it dry.  DeMint & Pence still need all the backup they can get.