TailOverTeaKettle.com

I caught a few minutes of the Mike Gallagher show today, and he opened saying he just couldn’t undestand the bloggers and other radio hosts who condemned his giving one hour of his show’s air time to the Westboro “Baptist” crazies in exchange for their promise not to picket at the funerals of the slain Amish girls in Pennsylvania.

His contention seemed to be that it was worth whatever price it took to spare the innocent families from having to be exposed to this group’s filty message as they attempted to gin up some exposure for themselves. But I stand by what I said yesterday. It might have been impossible to completely shield those families from the presence of the Phelps crew and their hate-filled message, but, as indecent as their appearance would have been at the funerals, that place would have been the extent of the reach of their message. Putting them on a national radio show just gave them a platform larger than they ever could have hoped. And how can anyone think this has done anything except enbolden them to aim high when they plan their next publicity stunt. What will the cost of the bribe be that time? As Independent Conservative put it, “It sets a terrible precedent for any band of nuts that wants to blackmail their way into getting their trash message a broader audience without interruption.”

He did admit that he was not thinking beyond this specific instance. And he seemed quite proud of the fact that it was his actions that kept the families from being burdened with this. (He also seemed to be quite proud of the favorable write-up on page A-14 of the New York Times as well).

I know that he heart was in the right place, but I’m afraid that monster that’s been created is only going to be getting larger and larger for the next time.