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A good idea gone bad Sunday, Apr 13, 2008 By David Sanders I thought it was a wonderful idea: Six o'clock in the morning and I, along with my partner in crime, Stacy Sells, formerly Stacy Pittman, were in the studios of the local public radio station kicking off its annual spring fund-raising drive. For the record, and for those who think otherwise, local public radio isn't draining the federal budget. Instead, it makes it through the year because of all the wonderful people who give their hard-earned cash out of the kindness of their hearts to purchase all the fine programming, and I for one am glad it's around because nothing beats Car Talk on Saturday mornings. But there we were, Stacy sipping on her fancy coffee and I working on my orange juice. Our voices were about to penetrate the airwaves for a very worthy cause. How could we move listeners to tap their vast sums of wealth for this very worthy cause? Like it or not, the public radio crowd overwhelmingly tilts to the left. (This leads one to ask why it is they would have me ? one of the voices of mainstream conservatism ? on the air. Perhaps it's affirmative action for people like me who listen or it's because they are so kind to air the audio of my television show, which appears on statewide public television, and they feel compelled to have me on. Nonetheless, they ask me to do it, and I frankly enjoy asking people for money.) So, then my great idea came to me. Considering the crowd and what was going on in politics, I felt I had identified a potential reserve of untapped cash for my friends at public radio. My plea went something like this: "Ladies and gentleman, I'm really honored to be with you this morning and I have to think that there are many of you out there listening who are Hillary Clinton supporters. It isn't the best of times for you or the Clintons ... I'm sorry. But, the fact remains that your candidate will probably not be the Democratic nominee this year. That prize by all estimations will be going to Barack Obama. So with that in mind, I know there are many of you who had budgeted your money so that this fall you could contribute to Hillary's general election campaign, and why not, she's the local girl and every person in this world, including me, thought just a few months ago that she would not only blow through the Democratic primary, capturing the nomination with ease, but that she would handily defeat any Republican, short of Ronald Reagan himself. Well, we all know that is not the reality we face today, and I know you're not thrilled about it and, if I might be honest, neither am I. But, the fact remains that many of you still have money sitting in your bank account, earmarked for Hillary, so why don't you do something different with that money? Why don't you support a worthy cause, which you love and treasure so much? So call today and give the money you had intended to give Hillary this fall and give it to this station, because we sure need it, and, well, Ms. Clinton doesn't." I know what you're thinking; it was brilliant. It had all the elements of a good ask: A compelling case, a worthy cause and an identified pool of money that was there for the taking. But, apparently some of the station's more fervent Hillary supporters didn't think so, as I was made aware later that there were angry calls coming into the phone bank staffed with eager volunteers. They weren't pledging their campaign cash to our worthy cause; they were mad. So very politely, the staff caught me at the next break and asked that I scrap my brilliantly hatched plan and, of course, I complied with the request. The whole episode makes me wonder if there is a band of Clinton supporters who are either not in touch with reality and not willing to give up on their gal, or they know something the rest of us don't, and figure, in spite of the odds, Hillary will become the nominee. I'm betting the former. The whole episode was a learning experience for me. Here's what I learned: Don't expect all public radio listeners to recognize a lighthearted attempt at humor, especially at 6 a.m. ------- David Sanders writes twice weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock and is a host of the Arkansas Education Television Network's "Unconventional Wisdom." His e-mail address is DavidJSanders@aol.com. |
