In defending his on-air use of "bitch-slapped," Caldara as Boyles' guest misled on ties to blogger

Summary: Independence Institute President and Newsradio 850 KOA host Jon Caldara appeared on 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show on January 28 to defend his on-air use of the term "bitch-slapped" in reference to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY). In response to a question from Boyles, Caldara stated that "I know" Ari Armstrong, a blogger who has been widely quoted as defending Caldara, without mentioning that Armstrong in fact formerly worked for Caldara as an author and researcher at the think tank.

Defending his January 21 on-air use of the term "bitch-slapped," as a guest on the January 28 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show, Newsradio 850 KOA host Jon Caldara mentioned a widely quoted supporter of his, libertarian blogger Ari Armstrong, without disclosing that Armstrong was a contributing author and research associate at Caldara's "free-market" think tank, the Independence Institute.

As Colorado Media Matters noted, Caldara suggested on his January 21 program that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) got "bitch-slapped" by rival Sen. Barack Obama (IL) during that evening's Democratic presidential debate. In response to a petition drive the liberal advocacy organization ProgressNow Action has mounted seeking to pressure Caldara's advertisers, Caldara has defended his use of the misogynistic expression in the Colorado media. Armstrong has defended his former boss' remark since January 24 on the libertarian blog FreeColorado.com, calling ProgressNow's petition a "witch-hunt," and noting that the term "bitch slap" has appeared in three local alternative newspapers. A January 26 article in the Rocky Mountain News also quoted Armstrong to the same effect, as Colorado Media Matters has noted.

During the January 28 broadcast, Caldara responded to Boyles' question, "[D]o you know this guy Ari Armstrong?" by saying, "Yeah, I know him. He does a great blog called FreeColorado.com." Caldara, who has been president of the Independence Institute since November 1998, did not disclose Armstrong's ties to the Independence Institute, which on its website lists 24 "articles" by him.

KHOW and KOA both are owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc.

From the January 28 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

BOYLES: And this is what this guy [Michael] Huttner [ProgressNow executive director] says: You have a "history of hate against women" -- which we'll come back to -- and saying, warning you, if you don't apologize they are going to send emails to tens of thousands more to people who should call the advertisers of KOA and demand that they should not be associated with you and his show demeaning women. Now, we got calls out to Mr. Huttner, and we'll see if he wants to come on the show, and apparently Miss [Patty] Calhoun [Westword editor] has said it many, many times. And this guy -- do you know this guy Ari Armstrong? I don't know him.

CALDARA: Yeah, I know him. He does a great blog called FreeColorado.com.

BOYLES: OK. But apparently he's found a place where they use the term "bitch-slap."

CALDARA: This is what amazes me; not only has he found that this term "bitch-slap" has been used by all of Mike Huttner's political friends, including [Air America radio host] Randi Rhodes and [Democratic political strategist] James Carville, and [progressive website] DailyKos, and Westword, and the Boulder Weekly. You know, it's a term of slang. But we find out -- and I just saw this yesterday on Ari Armstrong's website -- that back in 2007, September 9th, to be precise, I'm looking at it on the screen -- Huttner's own ProgressNow.com website uses the term "bitch-slap." So -- what amazes me about these guys who are funded by folks like Tim Gill and Pat Stryker and others -- I thought the left wasn't supposed to use those destructive politics.

—C.H.