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Citigroup eyes options including merger
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Fed's Bullard: U.S. spending slump to sap 2009 growth
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NY City securities workforce down to Sept 2005 level
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S&P dives to lowest level since 1997
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Marsal to lead team of over 600 at Lehman
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bryan Marsal, currently chief restructuring officer of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc , will take over as chief executive of the bankrupt investment bank after the close...
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Paulson defends handling of U.S. financial crisis
SIMI VALLEY, California (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday defended his handling of the financial crisis but refused to say whether any further help will be offered to...
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Dell profit tops Street view, shares rise
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell Inc, the world's No. 2 PC maker, posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as cost cuts offset lower revenue, sending its shares up about...
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Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac suspend some foreclosures
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two biggest U.S. home loan finance companies, on Thursday said they would suspend foreclosures of occupied homes until early 2009,...
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Written by David Shephard
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Saturday, 16 August 2008 09:46 |
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Memo to Conservatives: Wasting 3 hours a day is a terrible thing.
Earlier this month Rush Limbaugh celebrated his 20th Anniversary on the air. The conservative radio host started his show in 1988 and in just a few years he became the dominate voice on AM. Many rightfully credit him with saving AM radio. His success launched the careers of many conservative imitators, including Sean "Three hours a day" Hannity. Today there are literally dozens and dozens of conservative radio hosts across the nation thanks to Limbaugh. As Limbaugh would say, imitation is the highest form of flattery.
We conservatives thought that talk radio could be the vehicle that would enable us to get our message out and combat the lies being told everyday by the mainstream liberal media. Indeed, we like to think that conservative talk radio has changed the American political landscape.
Limbaugh sycophants cite the 1994 elections where Republicans took control of Congress as proof that talk radio has an influence. The ‘94 elections were indeed a victory for the GOP, but was it a victory for conservatism?
The Gingrich Congress started off in a good conservative direction, but soon started acting like Democrats, and by 2006 the American people voted them out. Ironically, when the GOP Congress went astray, Limbaugh was mostly silent. He spent most of his airtime bashing Clinton. I am sure his audience was more interested in Democrat bashing than hearing bad things about the Republicans.
After 20 years of conservative talk show dominance I think it is important to take inventory. We need to ask some questions. How has conservative talk radio advanced the conservative movement? Over the last twenty years has America become more conservative? Sadly, I think the evidence suggest that the answer to both these question is no. The facts show that spending at every level of government has gone up, entitlement spending has grown, there are now 20 million illegals in the country, and it is safe to argue the the Republican Party is more liberal than it was in 1988.
Why is it that most, but not all, conservative talkers failed to put a stop to the GOP Congress from going too far to the left? In fairness they did rally to kill the McCain- Kennedy-Bush amnesty bill. However, over the last 8 years Bush and the GOP were able to greatly expand the Federal government, and hardly a peep out of talkers like Limbaugh and Hannity. Ironically, I would argue that on spending and immigration, and probably foreign policy, President Clinton was to the right of Bush.
The truth is talkers like Limbaugh and Hannity don't advance the conservative movement. At best they help drive up GOP turnout, but whether that is good for the conservative movement is debatable.
To understand the failures of talk radio we must understand that the medium is not suited to educating, and discussing the fundamentals of conservatism. A lecture from Edmund Burke or G.K. Chesterton would never capture or hold a large radio audience. Our philosophy is based on an intellectual movement which probably can’t be explained by the likes of Sean Hannity.
The other myth about talk radio is that it is allows an exchange of ideas, a medium for conservatives to debate and offer solutions to the challenges of the day. The fact is callers to a radio show are not necessarily reflective of most conservatives. Callers are more often than not calling to agree with the host. In fact, Rush Limbaugh has publicly acknowledged that callers to the show are put on to make him look good.
The reality is that the talk show host is the equivalent to modern day conjurer working a carnival exhibit. The radio talk show host, like the conjuror, has all the cards. The talk show host knows what the caller is going to say before he gets on the air, decides if he is going to get on the air, and can decide when he gets off the air. And if a caller gets through and strays from the hosts agenda, the host can always cut him off - "Get off the phone you big dope."
It is also important to remember that talk radio is a business. Unlike a tenured liberal professor, a government bureaucrat, or a teacher union shop steward, a conservative talk show hosts can be fired for poor performance. From a business standpoint it might make more sense to stick closely with the GOP talking points. Aiming your show right at rank and file Republicans is a smart marketing strategy. After all, there are probably enough Republican Kool-Aid drinkers that will listen to a show that mimics their prejudices. And after 911, criticizing Bush and the GOP Congress might have hurt a conservative talk show host’s ratings. After all, as Hannity likes to point out we are a "Nation at war", so there was a need to rally behind the Bush administration.
The view that talk radio influences GOP leaders is also dubious. Leading GOP establishment figures such as Cheney, Karl Rove, Doug Feith, Condi Rice regularly go on conservative talk radio shows, not to find out what conservatives think, but to spread the word. They also know talk radio hosts like Sean Hannity will give them a soft interview. For example, neoconservative Doug Feith went on the Hannity show to plug his book defending the Iraq war. Hannity asked only softball questions and spent the rest of the week parroting what Feith said.
The fact is rank and file Republicans take their lead from Republican political leaders not talk show hosts. Fundamentally conservative talkers are on air as long as they get good ratings, not advance the conservative movement.
Another myth is talk radio helps to spread the conservative message to voters who have never heard our ideas. This is utter nonsense; Hannity and Limbaugh have made fortunes by preaching to the choir. They get the GOP's daily talking points, take set-up calls, and fill their bank accounts. The people that listen to conservative talk radio are committed Republican voters, not independents in search of political information. With all due respect to Sean, no one has ever been "Hannitized." In fact my hunch is that if you took 100 Americans and forced them to listen to the Sean Hannity show for a week, I doubt one person would leave the experiment as a conservative.
The sad truth is that liberals still control the commanding heights of opinion-making. They still control mainstream newsrooms, schools, and culture.
If conservative talk radio was simply ineffective that might not be so bad. However, I am concerned that by confusing GOP talking points with conservative principals, Hannity and Limbaugh may actually do harm to the conservative movement.
To conservatives, and especially young conservatives, I would recommend reading conservative books and periodicals, and turn off talk radio. Conservative talk radio may be good for learning what the RNC thinks, but it is not good at teaching conservative philosophy.
Three hours a day is two much time to waste. Oh, and congrats Russh on your 20th year! |
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