The mild-mannered, soft-spoken Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., continues to be in the middle of a conservative firestorm over his remarks to 770 KKOB Radio host Jim Villanucci on Wednesday in which he called for a return to the so-called Fairness Doctrine.

The doctrine, which required broadcasters to balance opposing viewpoints on the air waves, was dumped toward the end of the Reagan years and led the way to unabashedly partisan radio commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and ... Jim Villanucci.

Limbaugh had fun with the Bingaman comments on his own three-hour radio show Wednesday.

And CNSNews.com (founded in 1998 by the right-leaning Media Research Center's L. Brent Bozell III), actually printed a transcript of the exchange between Bingaman and Villanucci.

In an interview Wednesday, Villanucci told CNSNews.com that Bingaman was adamant about the need to balance conservative voices with liberals on the airwaves – and that his listeners called for four hours to oppose such a move.
 
“I guess the shocking part was to have a senator sitting across the table from me, basically threatening my job and my show on my show – (it) was kind of stunning,” Villanucci told the CNS reporters.
 
Bingaman’s office confirmed that the senator supports efforts to reinstate the regulation, but Bingaman spokeswoman Jude McCartin told CNSNews.com that her boss has no plans to introduce any legislation himself toward that end.

Meanwhile, quite a few of you weighed in after we first posted the story yesterday. Here's just a sample:

Senator Bingaman reminds me of entertainers who, once they've achieved the status of becoming a famous household name as a result of their acting profession, assume a posture of "statesmen" who presume knowledge they don't have, postulate preposterous, unfounded ideas about how to solve problems that don't exist, then set about opening their big mouths about an issue every time there's a camera and/or a microphone put in front of their face. Bingaman should spend his time doing the work of ALL the people he represents, not just the people who may have voted for him. If we're going to have the incorrectly termed "Fairness" doctrine reinstated, then we should have an alternate voice and vote in every legislative body in America. If Bingaman is a liberal Democrat, sitting in the U.S. Senate, then let's put a conservative Republican sitting next to him to offset, i.e., BALANCE, every vote, every opinion he makes, every bill he writes, and every lobbyist he reaches out to. You want fair and balanced, Jeff? Then move over. We're cutting your chair in half, and giving the other half to someone with a handkerchief to dry your whining cry baby tears. If you liberals can't stand the heat, then go back to your cushy law offices where you can represent every whining plaintiff in every frivolous law suit that comes along. It's incredible that an elected Senator of the United States Senate would spend one minute of his elected, salaried life as a Senator wishing for, pushing for, campaigning for re-institution of the biggest misnomer in media today. Over 2000 talk shows, with working Americans hosting them, since the FD was lifted in 1987, when there were at most about a 100 talk shows in America, with only a handful that talked about anything significant in the lives of Americans. Higher calling, Jeff? More intelligent then than now? I think you're looking in the wrong direction, Senator. Look in the mirror and repeat after yourself: I need a higher calling, I need more intelligent self-talk.
And stay away from radio talk show microphones. America will be better served. 

 I am all for "Fairness" - as in rebuttals for NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, New York Times.....I have NEVER seen such a slanted press in my entire life (& I'm a Sixties Hippie!). Why does the Press not just scream that they are all liberal Democrats? Why does a successful woman like Gov. Palin get bashed? Come on, "Fairness Doctrine"? You Hypocrites.

 Quote from above:
"But the most successful talk shows have been from the conservative side of the spectrum"
What more needs to be said?
Liberals can have as many talk radio and tv talk shows as they want also - they just have to find the viewers or listeners.
What ever happened to constitutional rights?
Nice to know that Bingaman, a Liberal Democrat wants to force the liberal viewpoints on citizens, rather than allow freedom of choice. 

Unbelievable - because certain democrats have not been able to successfully compete in the radio market with Air America they want to change the laws to OVER-regulate radio and end free-speech.

Democrats - this is what you are walking into when you elect a full house of democrats; white house, house and senate.

If this REALLY where you want this nation to go? They left obviously has a hold on television and the movie industry, but they can't deal with the fact that conservatives are mor popular on the radio so they want to change the laws.

And you think some of us conservatives are kidding about a trend towards "communism?" The last regimes that stopped free speech were the Red Chinese and the Soviets.

This is truly, truly frightening.

Good. These are common airwaves, broadcast for common comsumption. They should be held to common standards. Fair doctrine it is.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said right out loud in an interview with 770 KKOB Radio's Jim Villanucci what many of his fellow Democrats have been reluctant to say out loud -- that he favors the restoration of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" that would require a balancing of viewpoints on the largely right-tilting world of talk radio.

"If enacted, the Fairness Doctrine (which is anything but) would create logistical nightmares for radio programmers, leading quickly to shuttered stations," according to "The Radio Equalizer" Brian Maloney. "The need to 'balance' every viewpoint presented would also destroy the entertainment value of talk radio."

You can see a clip of the exchange embedded in Maloney's article.

The Fairness Doctrine was introduced in 1949, requiring broadcasters to devote a certain amount of airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest and to air contrasting values.

But it was repealed in August 1987 by a 4-0 vote of the Federal Communications Commission and the decision was upheld by the Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit in February 1989, followed by an explosion of talk radio hosts and commentators on both the left and right.

But the most successful talk shows have been from the conservative side of the spectrum, most notably Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

Contrary to Maloney's assertion, Bingaman is not alone among liberal Democrats in backing the return of the Fairness Doctrine.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has said, "It's time to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine," The Hill reported in June 2007.

And Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was quoted in Broadcasting and Cable magazine around the same time as saying, "Well, I think the Fairness Doctrine ought to be there ..."

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has expressed his opposition to reinstituting the Fairness Doctrine, while an Obama aide has said the debate is "a distraction from the conversation we should be having about opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible," Broadcasting and Cable magazine reported in June 2008.