Interesting, Ms. Weiss:

“For instance, if an advertiser wants to pull his support from a show, he has every right to do precisely that. This isn't about free speech, Ms. Moron: it's about free markets.

“Well, fine: true enough, as far as it goes, although I must say I would find this argument more persuasive if said advertisers -- notorious for their limp-noodle spines -- had canceled Mr. Maher eons ago, rather than waiting to succumb to a malignant phone-a-thon ginned up as a substitute for war.”
http://www.drudgereport.com/Weiss/weiss.htm

As far as it goes appears to be all the way.

Was there some earlier reason for the limp-noodle spined sponsors to cancel out on “Politically Incorrect”? Granted, Mr. Maher is somewhat notorious himself, particularly in the inflammatory argument arena he has devised for himself, but isn’t there such a thing as eventually taking a case, or a point of view, too far? It is very possible that Mr. Maher’s statements were meant merely to entice debate among his panel and boost show ratings (something limp-noodle spined sponsors actually enjoy), but that is not how his comments were taken.

Yes, Mr. Maher has as much right to be a public idiot as the next man, but we also have the right not to watch him -- as well as the right not to purchase items from his sponsors. Apparently Mr. Maher’s sponsors are well aware of this fact, and so they have pulled their accounts.

Or do you just have something against freedom of choice in the free market? Is there a set standard by which all purchases are to be made? Is there some market template somewhere that defines when a supporter can and cannot drop support? I believe the contract Mr. Maher held with Sears and FedEx held an escape clause, to the effect that if the sponsor wishes to drop the account for any reason, he may. Well, he did.

...And where is that line of new stiff-noodle spined sponsors to revive the show that I now find pleasantly absent from my ABC affiliate?

America actually does work, but sometimes you just have to let it work -- or it can’t. What makes America work is a thing called tolerance, not rights. We don’t have to agree about rights, but we do have to agree to be tolerant of rights -- all of them:
http://news.excite.com/news/r/011001/01/television-maher

Cheers,
Daniel Spires

Sent