Oct. 30, 2010 - The Political Cesspool - James Edwards
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Welcome to the Political Cesspool, known worldwide as the South's foremost populous radio program.
And here to guide you through the murky waters of the Political Cesspool is your host, James Edwards.
All right, welcome to the party, everyone.
Glad you could be here.
Welcome to the show to the Political Cesspool Radio Program.
Saturday evening, October 30th, 2010, six years, almost six years to the day, since the first time we ever broadcast an episode of this award-winning program.
Welcome back, everyone.
I'm your host, James Edwards.
I want to thank Keith Alexander for his contributions this week.
As always, we covered three hours worth of material in the first half hour of this show.
We did it quickly so we could move into talking about all that has happened over the course of the past six years.
And it's been a little over a half decade that we're very, very proud of.
No one else in the world of talk radio has done what we've been able to do.
And of course, those of you in our listening audience have made all of that possible.
So this night, this birthday party is dedicated to you, the Political Cesspool, six years old this week.
And as I mentioned, we're going to be profiling each and every member of the Political Cesspool hosting staff tonight.
You already heard from Keith now joining me in the studio, Winston Smith.
Winston, been a couple of weeks.
You had a couple of weeks off, and good to have you back here on the anniversary special.
James, it is a perfect evening for me to come back on the air.
As you know, I had a death in the family and took some time off at your insistence to sort of take care of things there and reassess my own life as such an event will make one do.
But I had a fabulous time out in my woodshop today, and I was just thinking about the past six years or so that I've been with you on the Political Cesspool.
And I've been looking forward to this broadcast night to get to talk about one of my favorite subjects, us.
Well, that's right.
And Winston, you know, there is a lot to be celebrated there.
You look back on the course of the last six years, all the media attention we've accumulated, all the great guests we've had, all the incredible shows and all the stuff that's going on behind the scenes.
It's kind of hard after you've built your body of work.
It was a lot easier to do these shows, you know, the second year or even the third year.
Now that we've been on the air for six years, we've done well over a thousand broadcasts.
It's very hard to think of just a handful of memories that really jump out to the forefront because so many of them have been so great.
Even the attacks have been great.
You know, being public enemy number one, according to the SPLC and the ADL, all of that stuff, there's so much we could talk about.
When you start thinking about your proudest moments, your most memorable moments, Winston, whether it's comical or victorious, what are some of the things that come to your mind the most when I ask you a question like that?
James, you mentioned a couple of good ones there.
You mentioned the guests that we've had and the very notable and very worthy and very excellent people that I've come to know as friends as a result of my association with the Political Cesspool.
Dr. David Duke for one, and there's Paul Fromm.
And, you know, all the illuminaries that have helped our people survive and have really paved the way for this show.
We stand on their shoulders.
And you mentioned the media attention.
But James, the thing that has meant more to me than anything, nothing can even compare to this, is knowing our fans, knowing our listeners.
They're not just fans, they're not just listeners, not just the audience.
I mean, these are people who care about us.
When I had my little heart attack a while back, I got emails from Frank Roman of European Americans United and from several of the luminaries that I mentioned earlier.
But the vast majority of emails that I got were from just listeners who had never even emailed me before, and they said they had never emailed the show, never sent out a contribution.
And several of them said they were going to send in a contribution to the show on my behalf, just because to make me feel better.
It's the fans.
It's our listeners.
It's our brothers and sisters out there who week after week stay on top of things for us.
They give us news stories.
They send us their emails of encouragement.
They send us their ideas.
The encouragement that they send us, James, you occasionally send some of them out to the other host of the show.
And folks, I want to tell you how much those emails mean to us.
It's like water to thirsty men in a desert.
It's so good to hear that our little part, what we're doing here, is helping you.
It's encouraging you.
And you're encouraging us.
The give and take between your on-air hosts and the listeners, it's precious to me.
It's familial.
It's fraternal.
I never read an email from one of our listeners, but that I don't sit back and think that this is a person who has thought about the issues, who is probably going down the primrose path of diversity and multiculturalism and Judeo-Christianity that most of us grew up with back in the 70s and 80s.
And yet these are people who overcame that.
They look at the facts.
They considered the truth.
And they realize that there's more going on than what they've been told, than what they've been led to believe.
And they realize that things are not looking good for our people, but one person by one person, one by one, James, they're coming around and they're seeing that not only is there something wrong, but there's something we can do about it.
And here you have these four or five lunatics on the radio who come on every week and rant and rave and occasionally have a good time with it all.
It's a wonderful thing, James.
Go ahead.
No, I was just going to say, what you're bringing to the table is exactly why I enjoy talking to each and every member of the staff on a night like this.
Of course, the current makeup of our staff, myself and Keith, Winston, Eddie Miller, and Bill Rowland, that's the hosting staff.
And when you have each guy on, you know, normally we rotate the co-hosting spots each week.
Each guy's on a couple of times a month.
But when you have everyone on in the same program and you ask them the same questions, you get so many different answers.
And what Winston's talking about right now is something that I can certainly relate to.
And he's not being overly demonstrative.
He's not embellishing or exaggerating the kind of response that is elicited in our hearts by the listener feedback.
This show is heard by thousands and thousands of people every week now.
And we get so many emails and so many letters.
And I've got actually a drawer in my desk where I keep certain ones that just really stand out to me while we are certainly appreciative of all of them.
To know that we're playing a positive role in the hearts and minds of those of you who are listening tonight is why we do this show.
Of that, there is no doubt.
Because of that, you know, that justifies our existence here on the radio.
And we're going to pick up on that theme when we return.
More behind-the-scenes stories.
Winston and Keith have both name-dropped some of our favorite guests who have become some of our best friends over the years.
And we're going to talk much more about that as we celebrate the sixth year anniversary of the Political Cess Pool Radio Program.
We'll be right back.
Jump in, the political says.
Pull with James and the game.
Call us tonight at 1-866-986-6397.
And here's the host of the Political Cess Pool, James Edwards.
It's our anniversary, October 26th, 2004, the night I first took microphone in hand and brought you the debut of the Political Cess Pool Radio Program.
Those six years, the previous six years have gone by in the blink of an eye.
So much has happened.
I'm going to be giving you my personal reflections during the last segment of this hour, so stay tuned for that.
But right now, we're talking with the other members of the hosting staff, a hosting staff that shares certainly a brotherly love for one another, to say the least.
We have grown together as comrades in arms.
When you dodge bullets together, you certainly bond.
And we've been dodging rhetorical bullets for a long, long time.
We've certainly made a bullseye for ourselves here on this radio program because we stand out head and shoulders above all of the competition.
What we bring to you on this show, no one else in the world of mainstream talk radio is bringing to you.
That's why we've become so well known, and that's why we're going to continue to grow.
But Winston, we've talked a little bit about some of the on-air highlights, some of the most memorable guests for you and Keith.
Eddie the Bombardier Miller's on the line now.
We're going to get to him in one, just one second.
But first, Winston, I know, you know, when you're talking about the behind-the-scenes stories, there's so much, so many we could get into.
You know, when the political cesspool staff's walking down the sidewalk, we can make sailors blush, drunken sailors blush at that.
But so we've done some things.
But, you know, hey, there was one behind-the-scenes story that happened just a couple of weeks ago that I know you wanted to share.
It was a certain phone call that I made to you.
Oh, yeah.
Or did I?
You surprised the heck out of me.
Folks, I was at work.
I was just sitting at my desk writing my little books and drawing my little pictures like I do for my job.
And James called, and I knew it was James because when my Blackberry went off, I have James's name in my Blackberry as Slaphead.
So when James calls it says Slaphead.
And I picked him up and said, hey, what do you want?
And we talked for a bit about the upcoming show and I talked for a little bit longer.
And he said, hey, are you real busy?
Can I call you back a little bit later?
And I said, sure, no problem.
And I figured he would never call back because whenever he says, can I call you back later?
He doesn't call back, folks, let me tell you.
That's the truth.
Anyhow, I went back to work.
Excuse me.
Excuse me, folks.
I'm sorry.
I went back to work and sure enough, my Blackberry went off.
And Eric said, slaphead.
And so I answered and I said, what do you want, slaphead?
The guy said, the voice said, when are you going to review my book?
And I said, I beg your pardon?
He said, when are you going to review my book?
And I said, who is this?
He said, it's David Duke.
And so I called David Duke a slaphead.
And, you know, he's the kind of guy.
David Duke is the kind of guy that when you know you're going to be talking with him, you kind of want to be prepared because you don't want to waste his time.
He's a very busy man.
And so I had nothing to say to him other than, well, Dr. Duke, this is a real pleasure.
I'm sorry I called you a slaphead.
I thought you were James.
And he said, well, we've got to keep that boy in line.
We do that kind of ribbing with one another, but I'll give you a little frame of reference behind that story.
And this is the kind of stuff we've got to use our video project to convey to the audience.
I wish I had that conversation on video.
David was in town a couple of weeks ago, and he stopped by on his way to Louisiana and was having lunch with my family.
And we were driving over to a restaurant.
I said, hey, hey, let's do this.
I'm going to call Winston and then, you know, just act like you're me for a second and then, you know, lower the boom on it.
So anyway, that's how it went down.
But it was actually me and David Duke driving to a restaurant here in town.
And then we decided to give Winston a call.
And Winston, you know, had foot firmly in mouth.
But, you know, we could give you a million stories like this.
There's such a friendly rapport between us all, and we genuinely enjoy each other's company.
And that being said, I don't know if there's anyone whose company I enjoy more than our elder comrade-in-arms, Eddie the Bombardier Miller, who has been co-hosting this show with me since 2006.
Eddie has got the third most tenure of the active hosts.
And so, Eddie, when I ask you your favorite on-air moments, your favorite guests, what's first that comes to your mind?
Well, we've had so many guys.
Probably, I guess one of the most enjoyable was my very first one.
I was surprised that you asked me to come out to the old radio station.
And, you know, times were a lot more relaxed and laid back in those days.
We just had a ball up there.
Yeah, before we hit it big, it was all fun and games.
Then once we hit it big, we had to get serious here.
There was no stress.
You know, we were just laid back.
It was like going out to a bar or something, you know, and having a howl time.
And I know what Winston means and you mean by, you know, making sailors bless when we were off the air.
But when we came back on, we had to kind of straighten it up.
But I guess, you know, some of my favorite all-time guests, some of them probably a lot of people don't think about, I have to name Colonel Bogright.
And the time he came out and talked about the CIA and their, you know, the way they were entangled in the international drug trade and how Poppy Bush, Daddy Bush, was involved in that up to his eyeballs.
And another one of my favorite guests was people Bobby don't think about was Senator John DeCamp.
You know, we had him on several times.
People forget that we've had, we don't just have paleoconservative activists on the program.
We have elected officials.
We have entertainers, movie stars.
We've had it all.
But continue on, Ed.
That's true.
You know, John DeCamp, a lot of people, you know, our new guests probably don't remember that he wrote the Frank Uncover Up, which is a true story, and it's ongoing.
Matter of fact, I talked to him about five or six weeks ago, and he said that the human slave business in the United States in the satanic cult movement is bigger now than it ever was.
You know, we normally do a Halloween show with DeCamp, but we didn't get him this year.
But, you know, I know those are some guests that Eddie are partial to.
And we certainly have had a wide variety of guests.
Everyone's got a story.
Since we're doing this profile of each member of the hosting staff, everybody's got a different story about how they became a part of the Cessbull team and joined me here at the studios.
I actually met Eddie way back in 2002 when I was running for state representative.
Now, this was two years before the first broadcast of the political cesspool.
And Eddie just happened to be a voter in my district, and he caught some of my literature and came out to my campaign headquarters and introduced himself.
And we stayed in contact ever since then.
And of course, Eddie helped me with my campaign when I ran for state representative back in 02.
We ended up getting a very respectable percentage of the vote.
And it was actually that very campaign that paved the way for me to begin this radio show because I made a name for myself in the community.
And then this opportunity to host a show came about because of that.
So it's kind of like a broken trail.
But anyway, I met Eddie through that campaign.
And I had Eddie on the show as a guest just to talk about local community activism because Eddie has always been a community organizer, if you will.
And he's always had his hand in the cookie jar and a lot of local movement.
So I had Eddie on the show one day just as a guest.
And I said, you know what, Eddie?
You bring something here.
You've got this kind of raw charisma that I think would really fit in well with what we're trying to do here.
And Eddie shortly thereafter became a member of the hosting staff.
This was back in 2006.
And the rest is history.
And Winston, let people know why it was Winston that nicknamed Eddie the Bombardier.
And when Eddie made international news last week in France as a member of this hosting staff, they actually gave him his full name, Eddie the Bombardier Miller.
There's a story behind that.
How did he become the Bombardier, Winston, or why did you give him that name?
And you got 30 seconds.
At the time, I was just kind of passing out nicknames like you pass out Halloween Candy.
I gave Art Fritt the name of Lord of the Board.
But Eddie, just talking to him and listening to him talk, he just looked like a bombardier to me.
I just thought he'd look good.
And like the leather bombardier jacket with the cap and all that.
I just imagine him in the nose of a B-17.
The fact that he's absolutely bombastic and fiery.
If you've ever been to a public meeting with Eddie, you'll know quickly that there's more to the name Bombardier than just his appearance.
Let me promise you, I've seen this man get kicked out of more political rallies than you can count.
And it's not because he's outlandish or unruly.
It's just because he asks the tough questions and he demands an answer.
Anyway, we'll be right back.
Right after these messages on the show and express your opinion in the political cesspool.
Call us toll free at 1-866-986-6397.
We're having a party here tonight in the friendly confines of AM 1380 WLRM Radio Studios.
It's been the home to the Political Cesspool for many, many years now, now over six.
Welcome back to our anniversary show.
It's something we do every year, kind of looking back on our careers and where we intend to go from here.
Every year, it's a blessing to still be on the air and still serve as your voice on the AM Radio Airwaves.
Talking about behind-the-scenes story, guys, you know, that's something that I think our fans really enjoy.
We don't really talk about these things a lot.
We'll talk about some of the media attention that we generate.
And, you know, I think that's certainly an accomplishment that they'll want to know about something that they've had a direct part in, those in our listening audience.
But the behind-the-scenes stuff, the day-to-day stuff, our exchanges and communications behind the scenes in between each live broadcast is something that we really don't get into a lot.
We're sitting here in the studio tonight.
When you think back on some of the memories we've had in the studio, Winston, what's your most vivid?
I think you know what I'm thinking.
There was a time when the air conditioning went out in the middle of summer and we just sat there roasting.
And I think I thought I had heat stroke and you were sweating.
You took your shirt off and wrapped it around your bald head.
I know.
He's not kidding, folks.
Guys, I got to tell you, I remember that show.
It was the summer of 2008.
I don't remember what day it was.
Probably because it induced amnesia.
It was so hot.
No, I thought I was going to die.
This radio station got so hot.
You had to go outside, I think.
I did.
It was 100 degrees outside.
It was 100 degrees outside.
When you stepped outside, you felt like you were just walking into Antarctica or something.
It was so hot in the studio, I started seeing spots.
I stripped down to my, not my boxer shorts, just my regular shorts.
I was wearing shorts that day, put my t-shirt around my head like a turban.
And, you know, the show must go on.
We got to bring it to you.
We can't stop.
So I just, you know, we kept on going, but you couldn't exaggerate how hot it was that day.
We worked with the heat exhaustion and the prickly heat rash and the dehydration.
And I swear when we left, I went to the nearest convenience store and I bought, I don't know how many bottles of water.
I just slammed those things until I just couldn't drink anymore.
James, you said it right.
You just cannot imagine how what an inferno it was.
I was going to start calling the radio station Bail, you know, change the call letters to B-A-A-L.
I got to go back.
You know, that's what's so great about our archives is that, you know, you can get all these great guests in the archives.
Everybody that we've named dropped tonight, all those shows are in the archives.
They're all there.
You know, but I got to go back and find that show because I know we were talking about it on the air that day.
And I don't remember when it was.
I got to go back and find that one.
That's a treat.
And there's so many treats there in those broadcast archives dating back to the very beginning.
And, you know, that's kind of a fun project.
Go back to some of the early archives and compare our show then to now.
And it's just kind of fun to see the evolution as it happens.
It's all documented there.
I remember another great, or not so great behind-the-scenes memory, Winston, coming into the studio one night.
And one of the employees here at WLRM, I thought that they had just been eating something that stunk really bad.
I wasn't going to say anything because I didn't want to embarrass anybody.
I was like, what are y'all eating?
But it wasn't that.
What it was, and what they didn't know either, because they didn't have any hand in it.
They were wondering what the smell was, but they didn't want to say anything.
This anaconda or something, this huge snake had crawled into one of the machines there and roasted itself and had been rotting there for, I don't know, a few, long enough to smell.
And we did a show in this ungodly odor, both thinking that the other was responsible.
And what it was was a snake had somehow gotten into the studio.
This is a true story.
It was bile.
I mean, I wasn't there for that show, but that stink, that funk, it stayed there for a week.
It was a while.
The only way it could have been worse is if it had happened when the air conditioning went out.
Well, that was so.
Yeah, that's the truth.
Fact, the station manager made us play tapes for a couple of days because they had to close down the studio for a thorough cleaning.
That was back, that was years ago.
There's so many stories, you know, you do a show like this once or twice a year for three hours.
You can never get all the stories in.
But, Ed, before we get to Peter Scoop Stanton, what's one of your behind-the-scenes?
Do you have a behind-the-scenes memory that comes to mind along the lines of that, which we've been discussing?
Well, I guess it could be kind of like, I don't know, maybe bitter revenge.
I guess you're not supposed to have revenge, but you fellas will probably remember years ago when we were just in our infancy, this is money-bagged guy who was just loaded with money.
His name was Larry Bates, Dr. Larry Bates.
And, you know, he hated our guts.
You guys remember him?
And he tried to get us kicked off the air.
And guess who is still on the air?
And guess who's gone?
That's right.
We have outlasted so many.
Larry Bates was another talk.
Yeah, he's a charlatan, a talk radio host here in Memphis.
Rush Limbaugh wannabe, you know, politically correct, country club neocon.
And he hated our show and did everything he could to get us thrown off.
And yet, as Eddie mentioned, here we are still years later, stronger than ever before, thanks to our listening audience, where Larry Bates has gone the way of the dodo.
No longer on air because who wants to listen to neoconservative talk?
I mean, what's unique about that?
That's right.
And we go all over the world now.
People all over the world that's a political test pool.
And Larry Bates, I guess you could probably take a slingshot.
And if you shot, you could cover all his audience, the range of his audience in any direction.
And I mean, he was such a clown.
All that money he had, but he couldn't buy, you know, he couldn't buy a decent show.
He just couldn't buy it.
He didn't have it.
Well, we've certainly racked up our enemies, both and well-known.
And that's something we're as proud of as our friends, the friends that we've gathered over the years.
Just so much, folks.
I mean, there's just no way, you know, we're just scratching the tip of the iceberg here.
But I've got a man on the line now who can certainly bring to your attention some behind-the-scenes stories that we'd like to share with you.
Peter Scoop Stanton came to the show, not as a regular co-host, but as first our international correspondent.
And then after he moved back stateside, he became our Washington, D.C. correspondent.
And he's on the show intermittently.
He used to be on quite regularly, but he's still sending in emails each and every week, still keeping us posted and calling into Sean Hannity all the time.
He actually gets on the show.
He's a regular guest on there.
Peter Scoop Stanton has certainly accumulated his on-air memories with us here in the Political Cesspool.
I think he started working with us back in 2007.
And a couple of behind-the-scenes memories also.
Scoop, how you doing, buddy?
Hey, Scoop, how you doing, buddy?
Outstanding.
Hey, it's good to have you back on tonight.
You know, we've got to do this more often.
Listen, I know you've got a couple of great stories, and I've shared with the audience a little bit about your background with us.
Tell them about the night we went to the Ron Paul meeting.
Well, it was a hot July weekend in 2007.
It was the first time I ever met any of the political cesspool staff.
Yeah, he had been calling in from overseas and from Washington.
He actually came to Memphis to tour the studio and meet us in the flesh.
And it just so happened that very same weekend, we had been invited as guests of a local Ron Paul camp.
This was back during the 2008 campaign.
What happened there?
Well, it was former Cesspool staffer Jeff Melden invited us to go.
And being a Successful family, we all decided to go.
Not as members of the Cesspool, but just as Ron Paul supporters.
So myself and Winston were sitting next to each other, and it was the first time I met Winston, and we were passing notes like a couple of fifth graders in class.
And then people were talking about Ron Paul, this, Ron Paul, that.
Then somebody said, mentioned that, oh, since Memphis is such a diverse area, we should try to include more diversity and more people of color.
And Eddie the Bombardier Miller earned his nickname that evening.
I can't quite remember what he said, but it's not fit for a family broadcast.
And he got so hot and bothered that he was asked to leave the meeting room at Range USA.
Meanwhile, Mr. Edwards, his whole head turned feet red because he was getting upset.
And I was saying, oh, I am home.
Yeah, Pete, Scoop is a guy that revels in this kind of rancor that we have from time to time when we go out.
We don't limit our activism to the broadcasting booth.
We do it in the real world too.
And every now and then it gets a little heated on the battlefield.
And that rivals only the time I went to a Marsha Blackburn meeting with Eddie the Bombardier Miller.
He was also ejected from that meeting.
Eddie, you got 15 seconds.
Why'd you get kicked out of the Marsha Blackburn meeting?
eddie eddie is uh oh no he eddie had a coronary We got to get him back on the line.
Can you call him back in the conversation?
All right, everybody.
Stay tuned.
We got another segment coming up and then a special treat for you in the third hour.
It's the Political Cesspool Anniversary Show.
tuned don't go away The Political Cesspool, guys.
We'll be back right after these messages.
We gotta get out of this place.
If it's the last thing we ever do, we gotta get out of this place.
Welcome back to get on the political cesspool.
Call us on James's Dime, toll-free, at 1-866-986-6397.
And here's the host of the Political Cesspool, James Edwards.
You know, when we do these shows, these special anniversary shows, it really brings into sharp focus why we do this show at all.
So many great memories, so many great times, both on and off the air, great friends, great fans, great guests.
It's all great here.
And we've made a name for ourselves.
The listening audience is solely responsible for that.
We're proud of the people who love us.
We're proud of the people who hate us.
And we're proud to be able to continue to serve as your voice heading into what will be our seventh year of broadcasting.
Eddie's Bombardier Miller has signed off this evening.
I was going to tell you a story about when he got kicked out of a local meeting.
You know, all he did was asking, he was asking our United States Congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn, she represents our district here in Tennessee, some very pointed questions.
He was doing it politely but sternly.
And her handler let it be known that she wasn't going to be taking questions like that.
All he was asking her is why, as a conservative, I'm paraphrasing, she voted to keep the United States and the United Nations, and she wouldn't answer him.
And he didn't take to that well at all.
You know, these are our elected officials.
These are our servants.
And Eddie didn't like the turned-up nose she gave him.
She thought she should be bowed to, and he let her know how he really felt.
And so, you know, I've never been with Eddie in public where he didn't get ejected, except for the night we went to sing karaoke.
Scoop, you can fill him in on that a little bit more.
Okay, after the Rod and Paul rally, James likes to hit a local karaoke bar in Shelby County where he's a regular regular.
And he had his assigned table, which happened to be empty.
And James, being the most charitable man there is, said, I got severe tonight.
So afterward, after he left, his wallet was much lighter.
But James, he sang, he opened up the, he got the crowd going by singing, I believe it was Mac the Knife.
So then.
Oh, Bobby Darren.
Right, right.
So then James wanted the whole festival to go on.
So it was myself, Winston, the Bombardier, and the lovely Mrs. Edwards.
So when we were up to go, the monitor just said the fest pool.
So needs to say, this is the first time I met James Winston and the Bombardier, and they had to literally drag me on the stage because I've only sung karaoke twice.
And both times, let's just say I was not, I wouldn't be able to drive a car legally in any of the 50 states.
So we sung.
I forgot the name of the song.
I think it was Runaround Soup.
That by Dion, that's right.
And we, I tell you what, all jokes aside, we sung in harmony.
We were on queue.
We just, I mean, it was like we were performers.
Hey, we were a barbershark quartet that night, gentlemen.
Right.
And I mean, I couldn't believe how good we sounded, and we got a huge ovation.
And, you know, after that night, I said, you know what?
This is got to be one of the top five times of my entire best times of my life, including the recent birth of my daughter and my marriage.
Hey, Winston, you know, when a guy's comparing meeting me and you and singing karaoke with us to the birth of his child and his marriage, that is high praise indeed, especially coming from a man like Scoop Stanton.
I've got to question his priorities there.
That sounds a little, I don't know, Scoop.
You may want to rethink that.
Yeah, well, hey, don't get your, hang your heads too high because also in the top five was me getting arrested by the local authorities.
Again.
Hey, we're not going to pursue that line of questioning.
You know, we're going to leave that be kind of like we let be my speeding tickets.
So, you know, I got to tell you, Art Frith, if he could have been here tonight, he was supposed to have called in.
He had a last-minute conflict.
Art Frith was our producer for a few years at WLRM.
He really took this show to another level professionally.
But God knows he gave me hell about those speeding tickets.
And Winston, I'll let you say a quick word on behalf of Art Frith, who really has left his fingerprints all over this radio program, but not to be here tonight.
He normally calls in on these anniversary shows.
He's retired now, but still does some production work for us.
What can you say about Art?
What can't you say about Art?
You said it just right, James.
Art has been a broadcast professional for most of his adult life in the Navy.
He was a journalist.
He knows how to communicate.
And when I first came on board, it was pretty much just James and me.
We had occasional co-hosts come on.
But it was Art who really taught us how to behave on the air, how to speak, and when not to yell, and when not to slam the sponsors.
We kind of had a habit of doing that sometimes.
We would slam our own sponsors.
But Art is a true gentleman.
He is a mentor.
He has served his country.
And it is an honor and a privilege to get to know someone like Chief Art Frith.
And I hope he's happy and relaxed up there in Michigan taking his pictures.
The last set of pictures he sent me was of some signets, some baby swans.
And there was just stunning pictures.
I still have a picture on my desk at work of a B-17 that landed here in Millington.
He was privileged to get the fly on the B-17.
I cursed him out like you wouldn't believe that because I wanted to be on there as well.
Well, you know, he also interviewed him.
Art is the communicator.
You know, he knows, Art and I always had contests about who could interview the most oldie singers.
And there was a time there we had more oldie singers on the show than political guests.
And, you know, he got to interview Gary Sinise.
He's not an oldie singer, but pretty cool guy nonetheless.
And also Paul Revere, Paul Revere, and the Raiders.
You know, Art's just a guy.
You never know.
He's going to be flying a B-17 one day and producing our show the next and then interviewing Gary Sinise tomorrow.
So you never know what you're going to get with that.
He's been on stage with Riverdance.
But he certainly took this show to another level, professionally speaking, back in 06, 07 when he first started working with us.
He worked with us for a couple of years, then retired.
You know, you can only handle us for so long.
But I want to say this from the bottom of my heart.
We're coming to the end of this hour.
I am so blessed to be able to work with the crew that I work with, the current incarnation of our hosting staff, Winston.
Yes, you are.
Bill Rowland, Eddie Miller, and Keith Alexander and myself.
When it first started, I can remember my very first show on this program vividly, October 26, 2004.
Austin Farley, you know, something should be said for him.
Austin Farley was the original co-founder of this show.
Without Austin Farley, there would have never been a political cesspool.
He helped get me in contact with the station ownership here at WLRM and the rest of Sistory after we had ran that state representative campaign together.
And I remember the first show.
We were doing an election primer for Bush versus Carrie on October 26th of 2004.
I remember that first show.
The original crew of the Political Cessbool was myself, Austin Farley, and Jess Bonds.
They're all gone now, or they're both gone now.
I'm the only original left.
But everyone that's here now has been with me for a long, long time.
Bill Rowland came on shortly thereafter.
And then, of course, the rest of the crew filled out with, of course, Winston, then Eddie, and now Keith.
And so the hosting staff we have now is second to none.
And, you know, I don't want to sound corny, guys, especially with Scoop on, because Scoop doesn't like a lot of sentimental talk.
He's a man's man.
But, you know, if you go out tonight and you look at the stars and you look at the moon and you think about our place in this world, we're pretty insignificant in the long run of things.
But if our listening audience is somehow positively inspired as a result of our work, that makes all the sacrifices worthwhile.
And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
This has been nothing but an honor and a privilege to serve as not only the host of this show, but indeed its co-creator.
I guess if we were talking in the lingo of oldie singers, I would be not only a singer, but a songwriter as well, because I host the show and I also had a hand in it.
Austin Farley really is the smart one here.
He's kind of like that member of the Beach Boys who wrote all the songs but doesn't have to go touring.
Brian Wilson, he just lives off the royalties now.
He helped me create the show and then he retired himself.
But for all of the, in all seriousness, for all the members of the Political Cessible hosting staff, both past and present, Jeff Melton, Jess Bonds, Austin Farley, and then, of course, the present crew.
I love y'all from the bottom of my heart.
The correspondents we have, Pete Stanton, the production crew here at Liberty News Radio, Art Frith, our listening audience.
We all team up together to make this happen.
Of course, the sponsors of this radio program and the network itself.
And you look at media attention that we have garnered, and it's incredible.
I remember standing outside the Opryland Hotel in the summer of 2004 when I got a call from the radio station saying they wanted me to start my own show.
And it took a few months to get everything lined up, and we started in October of 2004.
But I remember that day just as clear as a bell, and it's gone by in the blink of an eye.
But I remember standing on the curb of the Opryland Hotel waiting to get in my car when I felt the phone ringing.
I answered it, and that's when the cesspool was born.
And everything else has gone by so quickly.
But you don't let James fool you.
He wasn't there waiting for his car, he was there opening doors for people coming in.
I wish that you're not supposed to let people know that.
But you know, from that day to this day, you just got to look back and say, How did I get here?
I remember, you know, the first time I was on CNN and up in Manhattan and coming out of Paulazan studios and walking around Times Square.
Paulazan didn't last much longer after she had me on, but nevertheless, you know, walking out of CNN studios thinking, How did I get here?
And that's the honesty, God's truth.
And we got here because of our listening audience, and we got here because we have the courage of our convictions to go out and speak the truth, to tell the truth in love, and have guests on that deserve a platform.
And, you know, all the ingredients, all the people who have had a hand in this show, it's all come out right.
And you're going to hear one of our best interviews ever coming up in the third hour.