Independent Republic Of Cowardice

When CNN appointed former Screws and Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan to succeed Larry King as host of their 9pm Eastern weekday show, there were hopes of an upturn in ratings. Sadly, after a well-trailed first night interview with Oprah, viewers lost interest and Morgan found himself third in the cable news stakes, behind Sean Hannity at Fox News and Rachel Maddow at MSNBC. So he decided on a headline-grabbing boast.

Fringe Gammonista Mike Graham ...

He would ban Madonna from his show! Cos she was dead boring! Sadly, no-one who mattered took any notice (including Madonna), and Morgan continued to get a cable news ratings shellacking handed to him by Hannity and Ms Maddow. It is the kind of lesson that has clearly not been learned by fringe Gammonista Mike Graham, who for some reason has been given the mid-morning weekday slot at Murdoch-owned TalkRADIO.

Graham, who grandly titles his broadcast offering “The Independent Republic of Mike Graham”, is not at all independent: if he so much as peeps in a style that displeases the Murdoch mafiosi, he will be out the door so fast his bellies won’t have time to wobble.

But he has made a bold decision: he’s going to ban a load of those Rotten Lefties™! So it was that the TalkRADIO Twitter feed told yesterday of his pronouncement “I can tell you for now - Angela Rayner, David Lammy, Owen Jones, Ash Sarkar will never appear on my show as long as I've got breath in my body”. “Mike who?” they answered in response.

Why say such a thing, quite apart from the possibility that Ofcom may take an even dimmer view of TalkRADIO’s move in the direction of Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse) than before? Ah well. Right-wing bias is only a part of Graham’s rationale here. The greater part is not to see himself losing the argument.

As is Graham pleasing his all too easily pleased regulars this morning by tearing up a copy of the Guardian “live on air”. How courageous! Beats having to actually talk to a Guardian journalist and be forced to shout them down before cutting them off. After all, letting them get a word in edgeways would not do. Because Mike has to be seen to be winning.

Hence his pronouncement, after none of those he targeted cared who he was, that “There’s nothing better than all these triggered lefties whining and asking who I am. #Winning”. Coward having to lie to prop up his ego. Having to Retweet his few supporters. Having to maintain the pretence that he is important.

Hence the Fox News-style invention “Join the home of common sense with me and a growing army of listeners at 10am [at TalkRADIO] - we’ll be asking why the usual suspects are trying to destabilise the government”. Not quite as wacko as Trish Regan pretending that Covid-19 was a Democrat way of impeaching Trump again, but on the same road.

... and his alter-ego waiting to get out

And hence he is reduced to boasting of how many listeners he has by comparing his audience with what he claims is the number who listen to Novara Media. TalkRADIO, whisper it quietly, hardly breaks through the ratings noise floor.

Mike Graham. Such a spineless coward that he’s scared of a chat with Angela Rayner. But he does exactly what the Murdoch mafiosi want of him, so that’s all right, then.

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