The blogoshpere is full of opinions, but this one you're paying for. Your tax dollars are going to National Public Radio Blogger and Morning Edition commentator John Ridley to editorialize "I'm sorry, but chick fights are sexy" in his new blog on the NPR website called “Visible Man”, which will appear twice a week. Ridley chimes in on why he likes Elizabeth Edwards for his first post:

Ladies throwing down is just plain hot, and that's true whether they're drunk and tussling on the Vegas Strip or if they're doing some verbal mud wrestling in the media. And the woman least afraid to get her li'l dukes up, and therefore currently the sexiest in politics, is Elizabeth Edwards.

Newsweek’s cover story also carried a half-page feature on page 29 about the "Leaders of the ‘Shock Jock’ Pack." (I could not find the article online.) Writer Jessica Ramirez wrote, "Don Imus’s world imploded last week after he made racist and sexist remarks." Ramirez used data from Talkers Magazine, including a list of "Up-And-Comers." Note the labeling contrast:

Mark Levin was "An ultraconservative in the Sean Hannity style. This best-selling author’s show is syndicated through ABC Radio Networks."

Stephanie Miller was "One of the most popular and funny liberal radio hosts in the country. Miller is syndicated by Jones Radio Networks."

Ed Schultz was "A dominant liberal voice with a political bent similar to Al Franken’s. Schultz is syndicated by Jones Radio Networks."

On the Thursday edition of what would be MSNBC’s "Imus in the Morning" simulcast, NBC reporter David Gregory spent almost 15 minutes of air time discussing the radio host's firing with the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

Gregory, who quarreled with Sharpton on the April 10 "Hardball" over his role in the Tawana Brawley false rape charges, did not broach the subject again. He did, however, challenge Jackson over his use of the slur "Hymie Town":

David Gregory: "You referred to New York as ‘Hymie Town’ in the past. You, you apologized for that and you expected and indeed retained your platform in America as a civil rights leader and as an important voice in this country. Why, again, if I may, should Imus be denied that same opportunity for redemption and to retain a platform that potentially could be used for good?"

On his show tonight, Bill O’Reilly asked Al Sharpton if he was going to go after the rap music “stars” who consistently denigrate women and glamorize violence. The Rev told Bill that after “getting rid of Mr. Imus”, his National Action Network will “start looking” at some of the corporations that backed Imus. Sharpton claimed that some of those corporations also own some of the record companies. Sharpton told O’Reilly that this was “just the beginning of a long war” to deal with this type of language and behavior.

But in March 2005 Sharpton defended the content of rap music while condemning the violence surrounding the industry. He made it quite clear that it was “not about the lyrics” but the violence committed by the rap artists. Sharpton even went so far as to invoke the rap artists’ First Amendment rights to rap and sing about violent acts. Here is what Sharpton had to say in his March 9, 2005 interview on CNN...

On Monday’s "American Morning," CNN spent five minutes on the outrageousness of its daily competition: Don Imus’s remarks on MSNBC describing the Rutgers University women’s basketball team as "nappy-headed hoes." New CNN contributor Roland Martin was brought on to echo Al Sharpton’s demand that Imus be removed from his radio and TV microphones. Martin also went after left-wing women’s groups for not signing on to the anti-Imus cause as quickly as the National Association of Black Journalists.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I was surprised to see how many women's groups did not sign on early on. You listed some now, but that's like late, right?

Tom Tancredo has become well-known as the country’s most energetic Congressman against illegal immigration. He’s now running for president on that issue. National Public Radio also has a deeply ingrained reputation – as a taxpayer-subsidized network of gooey liberals. They speak in tones so sleep-inducing that their programs should be regarded as a potential traffic hazard.

On April 1, these two legends met, and sparks flew. The program was Sunday’s "All Things Considered" broadcast, hosted by Debbie Elliott. The trouble began at hello: Elliott introduced Tancredo as a man who "gained national prominence with his fierce opposition to allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens."

Below are some excerpts from Rush Limbaugh's acceptance spech given March 29, 2007, as he received the first annual William F. Buckley, Jr. Award for Media Excellence. You can watch the video at MRC.org. I took the liberty of putting some items in bold for emphasis:

Thank you all very much. I know it's late. Brent told me to cut my speech to forty-five minutes, rather than the hour and a half I was going to go. I, there have two references tonight to my humility, and I'm sorry the cover's blown.

Cal Thomas had to leave. He had to catch a plane, but he came by and told me he wasn't going to be able to hear my humble remarks. Brent has referred to it.

I, I, I'm a little stunned by it, because it's, it's been referenced also tonight I think by Cal that I do satire. And the humility that, that, that I, I think I bring to what I do is borne of really the roots of this award.

When, when Brent called me and said we've, we've got this new award, the William F. Buckley, greatest conservative in the world award, and you've won, won the first one. I think that's what he said when he first posed it. And I said, 'well, that fits.' A little humility there.

I said that is amazing, I, you know, we conservatives don't get many awards, but we actually have an audience. These PBS people and NPR people give themselves all these awards, but nobody's ever seen the shows that get awarded.

We actually have an audience, and so we are a threat, and we don't get awards. It's an honor to get an award. It really is.

MRC's Gala is the "conservative Oscars," the MRC is a "important resource," and Keith Olbermann is about as popular as Haman at a Purim celebration. Those are just some of the observations from conservative bloggers about the MRC's 20th Anniversary Gala.

Media strategist David All called our Gala featuring the DisHonors Awards the "Conservative Oscars" and added these observations right after the dinner:

UPDATE 11:03 PM: A few quick random thoughts…
…Wheel…of…fortune… Pat Sajak, yes, that Pat Sajak, totally owned (PWN3D?) the audience. He made a joke about YouTube, which of course grabbed my attention. And he made quite a few tasteful fat jokes about Al Gore. Honestly, tough to believe, but the guy had us all rolling.

Blogging Bloggy Bloggers …Lots of YouTube references throughout the night, though oddly, not a single reference to a blog. There was however practically a standing applause when Neal Boortz said that, “thanks to alternative media, we don’t need [the mainstream media] anymore.”

Okay, now that we've all got MC Rove out of our systems, here's a reminder about the real main event of the D.C. social circuit this week: the Media Research Center 20th Anniversary Gala.

Did I mention that legendary radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh will be there?

Rush told his listeners as much in his opening dialogue a few minutes ago, and we at the MRC are very much looking forward to Rush and other friends of the conservative movement sharing the evening with us tonight as we mark 20 years of the Media Research Center busting liberal media bias.

Remember, you can check out the live Webcast at MRC.org starting at 8 p.m. EDT tonight. We'll also have a comment thread open at NewsBusters so you can add your comments in real time.

Just an update from Wednesday night's Hardball: Newsweek's Howard Fineman effusively praised Libby trial juror (#10) Ann Redington on MSNBC, and he did it again Thursday morning in an interview in studio on the Laura Ingraham Show. He called Redington "bright...level-headed...eloquent" and even "probably correct" on wanting Libby to get a pardon.

Of course, he also strained a logic muscle by claiming that Libby messed up in the grand jury room because he didn't realize the special prosecutor who's sending him to jail is somehow his buddy. "Fitzgerald was their friend," said Howard, since he didn't end up convicting anyone under the covert-agent-identity-protection law. Yeah, and Ken Starr was Hillary's buddy, too, since she didn't end up indicted.

National Review Online's Kathryn Jean Lopez updated yesterday's story on Patrick Leahy pushing for a Justice Department probe of Laura Ingraham with MP-3 audio. (She joked, "Good luck with that, man. Oh, maybe this Democrat Congress thing could be a wee bit fun to watch.") Here's the transcript of Senator Leahy's inquiry to Wan J. Kim, the assistant attorney general for civil rights. Leahy's asking about a show he clearly hasn't listened to, since he couldn't accurately pronounce the host's name:

According to press accounts, right-wing radio host Laura Ingray-ham, or In-gramm, or Ingra-ham, had urged her listeners to jam a phone line set up by Democrats to investigate alleged voter irregularities. She said, uh, she told her listeners everybody call that voting line at the same time and basically, mark it inoperative. Is that something, that, um, that your division investigates?

Al Franken, the biggest name on the now-bankrupt Air America Radio, will soon be leaving the network. Radio Equalizer has the details:

We're hearing tonight that Al Franken is leaving Air America and giving up on talk radio for good.

His last day on the air will be December 8. A few libtalk stations have already begun to leak word of Franken's impending exit.

This confirms rumors we'd been hearing for several weeks that are now confirmed by these on- air announcements.

We'll have much more on this breaking story as details emerge.

Following the practice of other media outlets, the 3pm PST (6pm EST) top-of-the-hour headlines on ABC News Radio failed to identify Rep. William Jefferson as a Democrat. The Democratic congressman is under investigation for bribery after being caught on videotape accepting $100,000.

The report, about 30 seconds long, alternately referred to Rep. Jefferson as a "Congressman" and "Louisiana Congressman." However, the story never tagged him as a Democrat.

"Culture of corruption," anyone?

An LA radio station is fed up with CNN anchor Lou Dobbs' constant attacks on illegal immigration. Lalo Alcaraz and Esteban Zul host the "Pocho Hour of Power" on KPFK, and don't like Dobbs' "soft bigotry in a three-piece suit." So far there have been no takers, despite prize offers.

Reports the New York Daily News:

"He used to have a business show, and now it's all-immigrant, all the time," Alcaraz told us. "Call me crazy, but if I had a TV show, I'd do different topics. And what he's doing is a kind of cultural bigotry that [immigrants] are inferior in some way. In reality, they're working their asses off. It leads viewers to think, 'Now I can discriminate against Panchito.'"

Last month, the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting called Dobbs' "tone on immigration consistently alarmist," with the Space.com founder claiming that Mexicans are "an army of invaders" who want to reannex parts of the U.S. for Mexico; that "illegal alien smugglers and drug traffickers are on the verge of ruining some of our national treasures," and that "the invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans" through "deadly imports" of diseases like malaria — and even leprosy.

The implosion of Air America continues as its CEO jumps ship. Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer has the details.

After just over a year at the helm of financially troubled liberal radio network Air America, CEO Danny Goldberg is on his way out. Still unclear is who, if anyone, will replace him as top dog.

The changes take effect Friday, April 7, according to an internal source.

Goldberg, a former record label executive overseeing rap, hip hop and pop acts, joined the ailing network in early 2005.

He's also a partisan activist and lefty book author, contributing to many ultra-liberal politicians, including embattled Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA).