Let’s talk the philosophy of political balance on network television for a minute.

Jay Leno showcased a political folk singer (Conor Oberst) the other night, and allowed the singer to perform “When the President Talks to God”. Watch the video clip here.

The acoustic song asks some difficult questions about the contents of the conversations between the President and God. The anti-Bush forces love the song of course.

In a few days, Leno is going to feature Ann Coulter, the raging right wing nutjob who spouts intense hatred for anyone opposed to Bush.

I suspect that Leno is having Coulter on as a balance, to offset the left wing Oberst.

Oberst asks protest-questions about the possible contents of communications between the President and God. After all, the President claims to talk to God - can’t we ask what they talk about?

Coulter spews hate and intolerance. She seems to think that Democrats don’t deserve to live. She would prefer America to be a one party religious state. She seems to desire a fascist theocracy of the worst warmongering type (in order to forcibly convert the Muslims).

In my view, those two guests do not balance each other out. Coulter clearly wins the equal time battle. Leno would need a couple of weeks of pure left wing propaganda to “balance” against giving Coulter more credibility.

Coulter is a high profile media celebrity. She and her ilk are radical revolutionaries. They are kind of a threat to our pluralistic political system. They talk as if they want loyalty oaths and religious tests and no dissent. And their people are in power now, trying to achieve such seeming goals.

You can’t balance such right wing radicalism of those in power against a folk singer being critical of the President. It’s a mouse against an elephant. You’d need thousands of mice to achieve balance.

But in terms of actual minutes on tv, I guess Leno can argue that he has balanced things.

See the DailyKOS article linked below for loads of discussion of protest songs in general and about Conor Oberst.

Daily Kos: Leno Show Protest Song - When the President Talks to God
Last night, folk-rocker Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) performed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. If you’ve heard any of his albums, you know Bright Eyes is clearly political (he participated in last year’s Vote for Change tour, as noted in the Rolling Stone excerpt I posted below the fold).

But last night’s performance was just incredible — in fact, I’m legitimately surprised NBC even allowed it to air. Bright Eyes performed a song (not on any of his albums) called “When the President Talks to God”. Maybe I’m just not used to seeing anything half-way politically-controversial on broadcast TV, but I found it amazing — just go watch. And please, please recommend this diary so others can see. Bright Eyes’ lyrics have been compared to Bob Dylan’s, and this performance certainly summons up a bit of that old spitfire rebel spirit that Dylan personified. It’s a breath of fresh air. Enjoy.