Live from Music Row Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio.
During the second hour, Carmichael reiterated his take on the mainstream media’s overpaid talking heads and described how they are only in it for the money.
Leahy: We are joined in studio by my good friend for about 30 years now Crom. He’s the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael. Good morning Crom.
Carmichael: Good morning Michael. How are you, sir?
Leahy: You’ve been on the airwaves here. When did you start with the old Teddy Bart Round Table? I didn’t know anything about Nashville.
Carmichael: I would say sometime around 1984.
Leahy: You had been on the air for about six years when I first moved to Nashville. I didn’t know anything about Nashville. And I loved listening to that show. What I really loved about it Crom was that Teddy Bart was pretty much a liberal guy and everybody else was liberal and there you were. And there you were back in 1984 and 1990 when I started listening to you building the edifice of logic brick by brick. And here you are today still building the edifice of logic.
Carmichael: Yep. It was Teddy’s show so he was nice to include me and my logical point of view and the things and my logical point of view that I was saying in the 80s are still true today…
Leahy: They are.
Carmichael: Because they are logical. Human nature doesn’t really change that much.
Leahy: No it doesn’t.
Carmichael: So as long as your foundational way of thinking and your principles are accurate than you may miss a particular incident but you are not going to miss a particular incident but you are not going to miss the drift of history.
Leahy: One of your themes on this program has been that the talking heads who appear on CNN and NBC and MSNBC are vastly overpaid.
Carmichael: And ABC and CBS. All of them.
Leahy: They are vastly overpaid and they are not that bright. And they are paid probably 10 times, 20 times what they are worth in order to unquestionably spout the left-wing narrative about America.
Carmichael: Yes. First of all, they probably tilt left to begin with. They probably do. But more importantly, they are very good readers and they will say whatever it is that they are told to say. So they are not paid to think. And it’s an amazing thing. Now, with an athlete, they are paid to think in terms of the game itself.
Leahy: Exactly.
Carmichael: An entertainer is paid to think in terms of creating the entertainment value that they create that other people are willing to pay for. But in the case of the media, they are paid to say exactly what they are told to say. Nothing more and nothing less. That’s what they are paid to do.
And what’s sad to me and very confusing quite frankly is that Republicans when they go on to a show they don’t do a particularly good job of pointing out the biases of the hosts. And if they did then it would be a more interesting conversation.
Leahy: Here’s what’s very interesting, you’ve been saying this consistently in a year or so since you’ve been back on this program and come to find out we have dramatic evidence that proves your point. Don Lemon from CNN perhaps the poster boy to illustrate this point was interviewing Chris Cuomo the other day. And this is what came out of Don Lemon’s mouth on the air at CNN.
(Don Lemon CNN clip plays)
But here’s the thing. Jesus Christ. If that’s who you believe in Jesus Christ admittedly was not perfect when he was here on this earth. So why are we defying the founders of this country? Many of whom owned slaves. And in the Constitution the original one they put slavery in there that slavery should be abolished because it was the king wanted it. Then the Congress said no way.
Leahy: Crom now apparently Don Lemon has no knowledge about the basic premise of Christianity that Jesus Christ was the only perfect person ever to live on earth. He was God on earth.
Carmichael: There are so many interesting things about what Don Lemon said from the standpoint of confusion or hypocrisy. It’s like when somebody asks me, well what would Jesus Christ think? Or what would Jesus Christ do?
And I’d say, well that’s a tough question because there has only been one of them and he’s the son of God. I have a really hard time putting myself in the shoes of the son of God. But what do you think Jesus would say? That’s what I say right back to them. (Leahy laughs) But in the case of Don Lemon, Don Lemon is saying, because he tried to say that Christ isn’t perfect.
Leahy: Well he did say that. He said admittedly with his faults.
Carmichael: Let’s assume then that he is the most perfect. In other words, he’s the closest to perfect. And by the way, this is the Left’s standard on everything. If you are not perfect, in fact, he even criticized Christ for not being perfect and because in his mind Christ isn’t perfect therefore these generals who are not perfect should not be put on statues. I’m not going to try to get into this particular statue debate. It’s more the argument of perfection. Let’s carry that further to the police.
Leahy: Ahhh.
Carmichael: And that’s the key point here for the Left. And let’s compare the police to the teachers’ unions. Ok? Because of the police in 2019, there were nine unarmed Black men who were killed by the police. There were a higher number of white men but let’s assume for purposes of discussion, let’s assume that every one of those Black men was wrongfully shot. But it was a number and it was nine. Is Don Lemon only going to be happy if that number falls to zero?
Leahy: Apparently.
Carmichael: Yes. So that’s the key here. Is that for Don Lemon, and by the way he doesn’t hold himself to the same standard because he admits from time to time to make a mistake? So if he admits from time to time to make a mistake, should he resign from his position and acknowledge that he’s not perfect and only a perfect person should be sitting in his position?
Which of course, given human nature is not achievable. And to believe that the police can be perfect is to believe something that is not possible. And to advocate it my question to that person whoever is advocating do you live by that same standard? And do your supporters live by that same standard? Because equality under the law and equality of thought, these are all things that matter tremendously.
And so what Don Lemon has the typical straw man argument. He sets up something that cannot be. That’s the straw man. And then he takes something else and compares it to that to try to win the argument. So I would say to Don Lemon, I’d say you are not perfect either. It’s kind of like in the Catholic world you have minor sins and you have mortal sins.
Leahy: Venial sins and mortal sins. I was raised Catholic. I try to stay away from those immortal sins. (Chuckles)
Carmichael: But for Don Lemon, they would be indistinguishable. It was such an interesting comment especially in light of some of Don Lemon’s previous comments when Barack Obama was president. And he actually said a lot of things that Terry Crews is saying now.
Leahy: Terry Crews is a Black guy who is basically critical of the Black Lives Matter movement and had an on-air confrontation with Don Lemon.
Carmichael: Yes. And Marcellus. He’s a sports guy on ESPN.
Leahy: At least for now. (Chuckles)
Carmichael: But he also is very critical. Very critical of Black Lives Matter because of what he read on the Black Lives Matter website what Black Lives Matter stands for.
Leahy: Basically a Marxist agenda to destroy America.
Carmichael: Yes. So anyway, it is interesting. The argument that he is trying to use is that he sets up a strawman and then he knocks it over because Chris Cuomo lets him proving the point that we are making that they all sit around in a morning meeting and all agree what they are going to say or Jeff Zucker tells them what they are going to say. And what position they are going to take. And by the way, you are going to be fired if you don’t adhere to the position.
Leahy: And you’d lose that huge salary that’s 10 or 20 times bigger than any market would pay.
Carmichael: Exactly.
Leahy: They are in it for the money Crom.
Carmichael: (Chuckles) There is no question about that.
Listen to the second hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Don Lemon” by Neon Tommy. CC BY-SA 2.0.
