Kevin James (broadcaster)

Kevin James (born 1963), an American radio host and conservative political commentator, hosts "The Kevin James Show," which focuses on local and national politics. The program airs live on KRLA AM 870 in Los Angeles between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., Monday through Friday. Previously, James was an assistant federal prosecutor and an entertainment lawyer. He achieved notoriety for a May 2008 appearance on the television program "Hardball with Chris Matthews", during which James insisted that Sen. Barack Obama did "the exact same thing" as Neville Chamberlain but after numerous inquiries was unable to say what that thing was.

Early life

James earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma and attended the University of Houston Law Center.cite news | url=http://krla.townhall.com/pages/KEVINJAMES | title=Kevin James Biography| publisher=KRLA |date= 2008 | first= | last= | accessdate =2008-05-17] He is a member of the California State Bar. [ [http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member_detail.aspx?x=137156 California Bar Membership] ]

Career

James worked for three years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, prosecuting federal crimes. He also worked for more than 10 years in private practice, representing entertainment industry clients.

After several years as a guest and substitute host for talk radio programs in Los Angeles, James worked as the morning drive host on KTOK AM 1000 in Oklahoma City in 2004. In 2005, James became the host of "Red Eye Radio", an overnight (1 a.m. to 5 a.m.) call-in program on KABC (AM) 790 in Los Angeles [ [http://www.kabc.com/listingsEntry.asp?ID=307339&PT=Press+Releases "Kevin James Named New Host of Talkradio 790 KABC's Red Eye Radio"] , KABC March 3, 2005 press release] .

Over Memorial Day Weekend 2007, James began hosting "The Kevin James Show" on KRLA AM 870 in Los Angeles. [ [http://www.krla870.com/subpage.asp?StationId=KRLA-AM&PageNo=35 "KRLA Website"] ] . "The Kevin James Show" is currently the fastest-growing local talk radio program in the Los Angeles market, according to Arbitron.

James also appears as a guest commenter on television news programs. He was a regular on Court TV’s now-cancelled "Catherine Crier Live" and has appeared numerous times on "Hardball with Chris Matthews". [ [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24357858#24357858] In this MSNBC video, host Chris Matthews ends the segment by stating that James won the debate regarding the negative political impact of Barack Obama's affiliation with Rev. Jeremiah Wright] .

May 2008 "Hardball" appearance

James achieved national notoriety for a May 15, 2008, guest spot on the MSNBC television program "Hardball with Chris Matthews" in which James first supported a comparison of Barack Obama to former British prime minister Neville Chamberlain's "appeasement" of Hitler in Munich in 1938, then admitted, after two minutes and 24 seconds of sustained argument, that "I don't know" what Chamberlain actually had done to invite the comparison. [ [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24655385#24655385 Video Clip Appearance] from MSNBC]

Earlier that day, President George W. Bush, addressing the Israeli Knesset, had said that, while "some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals," he believed that "we have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history." [ [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/05/20080515-1.html] White House Transcript, May 15, 2008]

While James said he did not know if Bush was in fact making a veiled reference to Obama, he argued in favor of the comparison itself. The other guest, Air America Radio president Mark J. Green, denounced Bush's comparison. "It was bad enough when John McCain used this sleazy guilt by association of Obama and Hamas. Now comes President Bush using guilt by analogy, that somehow Obama is Chamberlain, and anyone who the Bush people don't like is Hitler".

After James agreed with the analogy to Chamberlain, host Chris Matthews turned to James and, saying he was conducting a "history check", asked, "What did Chamberlain do wrong?" James was unable to answer, although over the course of the next five minutes, Matthews asked James variations of the question more than 20 times.

References

External links

* [http://krla.townhall.com/pages/KEVINJAMES Kevin James] on KRLA