WMAL-AM

Chris started his radio career at WMAL in the summer of 2006, after spending 17 years at CNN. He leans towards Libertarian/Conservative values, but is widely known as a “Practi-crat”, someone who takes orders from no one. Over the past two years, there have been numerous examples of callers to his show who have called him a “racist” or a “racist bigot”, and more. One of the first people to call Chris a “racist bigot” was a caller named Mohammed (who called two nights in a row back in August 2006, disguising his voice and calling himself “Steve” and “John” -- perhaps not comfortable with his own race and nationality?) This person went on to berate Chris for having the audacity of calling for all Muslims to get together and take part in a peace march condemning Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations who’ve flown jet bombs into buildings or who’ve blown up women and babies into scattered pieces of limb debris.

On August 10, 2006, U.S. and British authorities foiled plans by followers of Al Qaeda in Britain to blow up close to 10 jetliners traveling between both nations. Mohammed thought that Chris was to blame for bringing forth the fact that the perpetrators were followers of the Religion of Peace. Eight of these clowns are on trial right now in London, and they happen to be Middle Eastern. Is this being a “racist”? Another caller that night suggested that the ones to blame for the jetliner plot are those who oppose illegal immigration. Oh, aren’t Liberals such a logical bunch? Lunacy, I tell ya!

Another priceless caller was Ricardo, a Nicaraguan living in Virginia. He called at the height of the illegal immigration debate (May 25, 2007) and went on to say that the entire WMAL roster are a bunch of racist bigots. Bigotry is known as the stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief or opinion. Maybe it’s just me, but if you want to control rampant illegal immigration, add border security, a smaller government and strong defense - does that make you a ‘bigot’ or a concerned taxpaying U.S. citizen? I can just hear the “sucking sound” south of the border -- it’s our dollar bills being vacuumed away forever by the ilegales!

In recent weeks I’ve noticed a surge in usage of that term by callers to Plante’s show. It first started with Chris’ take on the Sen. Obama - Rev. Wright relationship. Certain people who scream “Racism” at Chris say nothing of the blatant and open anti-Semitism, anti-Israel and anti-AmeriKKKa views of the supporters of the Senator from Illinois.(2) Wouldn’t Obama be considered a racist when we analyze his views on Pennsylvania’s small-town residents clinging to guns and church? Imagine if John McCain had stated that welfare kings and queens in inner cities won’t hold a job throughout their entire lives and cling to a lifetime of benefits from cradle to grave, courtesy of the ‘gubmint’!

Or if McCain had stated: “ I can no more disown Eric Rudolph than I can disown the white community. I can no more disown him than I can my black grandmother”. Liberals are only tolerant of free speech when they agree with it. If a political party has determined that you need money and help from the government because you are of a certain color, then that is racist to the tenth degree.(3)

There have been local issues in recent weeks where Chris has been called a racist, but none as interesting as when he called on Montgomery County for their refusal to allow their Ride-On buses to display a welcoming message to Pope Benedict XVI - after the county had originally decided that they would do so! First welcoming the Pope and then withdrawing the welcome is a very special sort of insult that probably indicates a generalized hatred and disgust with Roman Catholics that most likely should be investigated by the Civil Rights Commission and the Justice Department. That investigation should be done because someone at the Mont.Co. Board or the Board’s immediate staff, or maybe someone in the County Council’s general counsel staff did, in fact, think it through. It’s not the place of government in this country to engineer calculated insults and threats to the safety of anyone on the basis of their religion.(4)

As fans, we assume that the various topics are chosen by Chris and his producer in order to generate some hot debate. Chris will then let opposing views say their piece and attempt to engage them in some sort of meaningful debate, but when they can’t overcome his cold logic, they get frustrated and revert to name-calling. Chris lets them go on and on for too long, and then, when he finally shuts them down, they go and leave nasty comments against him in order to try and get him fired because they are so ticked off at him. Although he should always fight fire with fire, Chris ought to ferret out the liberals early on during phone calls (like Mark Levin does), and then read them the riot act instead of trying to debate them. Chris always answers liberals’ calls first, because that’s who he wants to engage in a debate.(5)

Chris Plante is neither a racist nor a bigot. When I see Chris’ fan base, mostly composed of “Caucazoids”, Blacks and Hispanics, it brings a smile to my face because I think of him as a “uniter” and someone who does not look at skin color or gender to determine how you are going to be treated. As Jim from Clinton, MD said: “I’m a black man from the ghetto, and Chris Plante is not a racist!” (Shameless plug: Go to Jim’s new Plante fan site at www.inplantewetrust.com, starting on May 1^st).

The probability that Chris Plante is a racist is as remote as a former U.S. President hugging and kissing Hamas senior officials. Oh, never mind…. And one more thing: Chris Plante is not a racist!