The good doctor. Photo credit: Phil Konstantin

Following her n-word laced rant on air, Dr. Laura is quitting – but not without casting accusing glances at the “liberal media” first.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the conservative right’s favourite agony aunt and straight talker, is stepping down from her radio show when her contract ends in December. The move comes after the radio host took an exceptional amount of flak when she broke one of the cardinal rules of any media: She said the “n-word” 11 times in an on-air broadcast last week. Dr. Laura used the word to, though notably not at, a black female caller, in the context of asking why black comedians can use the word while others cannot. Also notably, that wasn’t the caller’s question.

The conservative radio personality, who’s been on the air for nearly 30 years, told CNN’s Larry King on Wednesday night that it was her decision “not to do radio anymore”, adding, “I want to be able to say what’s on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry or some special-interest group deciding this is a time to silence a voice of dissent.”

As it turns out, this whole debacle is the product of a liberal media bias. At her blog, Dr. Laura wrote, “Now, when I first started out in radio, people would disagree…they DISAGREED…they didn’t HATE.  They didn’t try to censor, they didn’t try to destroy an opposing point of view.  Instead…they just argued and debated, and argued and disagreed, and debated and argued.  But our society has changed dramatically.  Self-appointed activist types breed hate, breed anger, breed destruction should anyone hold up a mirror or dare to disagree.  This environment, as you know, is not only in radio and television…it is in politics; it’s in every area of our society…in your neighborhoods, in your school districts, at work…”

Conservatives, rallying round their fallen lady, have pounced on this idea with abandon. Brian Maloney, conservative talking head blogging at The Radio Equalizer, shrieked, “After scoring a major victory in their battle for talk radio censorship, ‘progressive’ groups are now poised to take down as many hosts as possible. The cows are officially out of the barn. Moo!”

Maloney warned, “In the wake of Dr Laura Schlessinger’s sudden departure from broadcasting, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Laura Ingraham and dozens of other talkers could be next to face the axe.”

As to the idea that it Dr. Laura’s decision to leave, Maloney further claimed that Dr. Laura “clearly” “got the message she’d get no backing from conservatives and threw in the towel after 30 years of leading the fight against cultural decay in America.” Maloney added, “Who can blame her for being disgusted?”

Conservative pin-up girl and erstwhile governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin also came to Dr. Laura’s defense. Or rather, she Tweeted in Dr. Laura’s defense, because if you can’t offer your support in 140-characters or less, why bother? Palin wrote from her BlackBerry, “Dr.Laura:don’t retreat…reload! (Steps aside bc her 1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence”isn’t American,not fair”)”

Gawker.com, however, was not impressed by Palin’s analysis of the situation and of the First Amendment: “I know what you’re thinking: How were Dr. Laura’s First Amendment rights violated? Isn’t she just receiving heavy criticism for her casual use of an offensive racial slur on the radio? And isn’t that criticism in fact a beautiful example of the First Amendment, which is designed to, as Supreme Court Justice William Douglas put it, ‘invite dispute’ and ‘create dissatisfaction’? These questions arise from a mistaken reading of the First Amendment, unfortunately shared by most constitutional scholars, whereby a person’s rights to freedom of speech are not violated by vigorous criticism or public condemnation.”

The Periscope Post predicts that Dr. Laura, with her re-found fame firmly in hand, will not go gently into that good night. You, liberal media, have not seen the last of her!