Air America: The Nonexistent Scandal

An excellent diary today on Daily Kos rips apart Brian Maloney's ridiculous claim that Air America is involved in a scandal where it supposedly ripped off children and stole from them.

The diary is by user maha, and it's highly recommended. A quote:

What do we have so far? All allegations that the allegedly pilfered Gloria Wise money went to Air America Radio are based on one, and only one, source: Michael Horowitz in the prestigious, if ephemeral, Bronx News. And Horowitz got his information from "informed sources" of undetermined origin.

And, folks, that's it. Brian Maloney picked up Horowitz, and Hewitt and Michelle Malkin picked up Maloney, and by means of much huffing and puffing and overheated rhetoric (Malkin: "Will Air America's self-proclaimed champions of the poor and downtrodden--Franken? Garafolo? Springer?--touch this story with a ten-foot pole?") the righties manage to create much smoke without any visible fire. The rightie bloggers link to each other's allegations as "proof"; they link to anything they can find that mentions Air America in a negative light as "proof"; but in fact nothing has been made public that supports Malkin's claim ...

Air America is being investigated in New York for diverting federal/local funds--possibly "hundreds of thousands of dollars"--meant for inner-city kids and senior into the station's coffers.

...other than the "informed sources" quoted by Michael Horowitz in the Bronx News.

Michael Hood of blatherWatch has also been covering this. It's just more garbage cooked up by Brian Maloney, who has now been mentioned in the national media, and is now experiencing high traffic volume.