Talk-show host not afraid of anti-war stance
By Kenneth LaFave
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 8, 2003
The USS Roosevelt is on its way to the Persian Gulf, a hundred RAF aircraft
are flying in the direction of Iraq, and every conservative talk-show host
in America is backing the coming war 100 percent.
Except Charles Goyette.
Actually, there may be some other conservatives on talk radio nationwide
who are anti-war, but here in the Valley, Goyette is the only one.
Goyette hosts a show on KFYI-AM (550) from 4 to 7 p.m. weekdays.
"I believe the essence of conservatism lies in doing things that have
proven themselves," he says. "We faced a far more formidable foe in the
Soviet Union, and we defeated them by containing them."
Goyette thinks containment should again be the policy of choice in dealing
with Iraq.
"I want my countrymen to be wise, not foolish, and wisdom requires you to
understand the unintended consequences," he says. "One unintended
consequence of occupying the Middle East is that it would serve as a
recruiting poster for the likes of Osama bin Laden. The fact is, Osama and
Saddam (Hussein) are largely products of our previous interference, of us
sticking our hands in scorpion pits."
His anti-war stance makes some listeners unhappy.
"I get some flak," he admits. "Some guy called and said that Scott Ritter
(the former U.N. weapons inspector who opposes a war with Iraq) was facing
child-molestation charges, so therefore I must be a child molester, too.
"Callers like that are self-evidently idiots."
(Ritter was arrested after reportedly contacting an undercover officer
posing as a teenage girl over the Internet. His case was settled and
remains under court seal.)
The overwhelming support shown for going to war with Iraq by most
conservative radio talk-show hosts, along with the level of criticism aimed
at Goyette for his opposition, raises the question: Is talk radio sometimes
a case of the tail wagging the dog? Do all conservative talk-show hosts
really say what they mean, or do some of them say what they think their
listeners want to hear?
Goyette declines to comment on that possibility but dances across the
intriguing idea of authentically conservative talk radio as essentially
radical:
"Conservative talk radio developed in part because it represented people
seeking a non-establishment voice, somebody telling them something besides
what the media and academicians were telling them.
"Now, to a certain extent, the whole global warfare/welfare stance has
become the established point of view. In striking out a position like mine,
I am still the anti-establishment. That's a pretty good place to be."
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