Feb 06 2008
Conservative Talk Radio Ain’t Dead, It Just Smells Funky
Welcome Instapundit Readers!: I would like to go on the record as someone who has always opposed John McCain for President, but who also understands that the conservative movement has more to lose with Obama and Clinton in the WH than with McCain in the WH. I second Glenn in recommending this companion piece at Powerline. On the flip side James Dobson is trying to rip the right apart even more. Hope you look around the site and find it worthwhile – Thanks, AJStrata
Super Tuesday was not the end of conservative talk radio – it will always have its listeners. But listening to the talkers continue their rants today against the direction the party is going (which is as fast away from them as possible) I realized they have jumped the shark. The laughable part was how they attempted to blame everyone else but themselves for their predicament. Most of the blame was on Huckabee and his supporters for not supporting Romney (who ran a dismal 3rd across the South). They are truly Mary Poppins Conservatives who have devoted all their efforts in convincing themselves they are the ‘pure’ conservatives (and yes, Hannity used that exact term to describe himself).
The worst part of listening to conservatives tell us how pure and true they are is how they attempt to wrap themselves up in the clothes of Ronald Reagan. The irony and duplicity of these claims is incredible. Reagan was a great uniter, someone who strived for a big tent and demanded respect to principles AND reasonable differences. His 11th commandment was an effort to stop the civil wars which focused on differences and get conservatives to respect each other and form governing coalitions.
Message to Sean Hannity: dude, you are no Ronald Reagan. Not even close. And please don’t tell me you are closer to Reagan than me or any other conservative. It is this “Holier Than Thou” attitudes behind the purity wars on the right which destroyed the coalition. Some complain my fun jabs are just as bad as the harsh and over the top jabs of the Mary Poppins Conservatives (who by definition are practically perfect in every way). But kidding someone about their attitudes towards supposed allies is not the same as calling an ally a traitor or fascist (quisling). And for those who cannot discern the difference I can only say they are lost causes.
I have the same message for Laura Ingraham – you ma’am are no Ronald Reagan either. Look at how your rants this morning shrunk the conservative tent.
Lord help me. I just went out for a short drive and made the mistake of turning on Laura Ingraham. Rarely have I heard such biased vitriol directed against anyone as she directed towards John McCain this morning.
(To think that I imagined things might calm down!)
Now, she obviously defines conservatism as agreeing with her. I don’t know what conservatism is, but to Ingraham, McCain’s 82% ACU rating obviously isn’t that.
Laura, drop the “Holier Than Thou” schtick – it ain’t working and we don’t need three hours a day of listening to you tell us how great you are. Mark Levin – I don’t see you able to come back from the edge – you lost it and us at the same time.
I have also had to ponder those who cannot consider the impact of a Democrat President on our troops we put in harms way as a mitigating factor in supporting a McCain candidacy. I realize they are not hurting McCain – they are hurting themselves. If McCain loses (and I think he will because of the vitriol on the right) then everyone will remember who decided to ‘punish’ America for not agreeing with their narrow (but truly pure, honest) views. There never will be an alliance with people who would do such things to our troops out of exaggerated self importance. This is where this has left the shrinking but pure conservative movement:
After seven years of watching and fighting against Americans who wish to see the country suffer so that they can get at George Bush, the last thing I wanted or expected to see was conservatives saying they would rather see the country suffer than support John McCain over Clinton or Obama, so that they can “get the blame.”
A retreat before victory is assured in Iraq cannot be undone in 2012. And mandatory, single-payer, universal health care, once established, will not EVER go away either.
I am not impugning anyone’s motives. I believe I have a reasonable understanding of principled behavior. But if your goal is to see the country punished because—
You can stop right there. If your goal is to see America punished, and her people open to attack and/or ruined financially in order to prove a point for any reason, then you do not deserve politial power nor are you likely to achieve it.
Is conservative talk radio dead? Nope, but it is clearly not enticing people to their cause by trying to berate them. Like all things whose time has passed conservative radio is just starting to smell a little funky.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. I would be more than happy to ally with conservatives who can respect others who may disagree on the margins. But those who berate others who disagree on the margins simply end up on the margins themselves. And that is why conservative talk radio has lost its influence and clout. McCain’s success is a sign the GOP voters are tacking away from those who once were considered its standard bearers. How did these one time standard bearers lose their vaulted positions with the broader conservative voter block?
Well, if they were objective about it they would realize their demeaning comments struck a chord with these voters. These voters realized the anger vented at Bush, McCain, Warner, and all the others who worked out progress on conservative issues, included them as well for supporting the progress that was made or attempted. They connected more with the impure “RINOs” than the ‘pure’ conservatives. So until the Mary Poppins conservatives realize they were the cause of their current problems, and they will reach out to repair that damage, they will continue down this self destructive path. However, my opinion is these people don’t care that they insulted their one time allies in governing, which means they are more than happy to continue on their path and fade away more and more.
By the way, Hugh Hewitt provides a shining example of how to lead and not berate.
“I realized they have jumped the shark.”
Funny, the same thought came to my mind as I was driving to work. Half way to work I found myself just changing the station from Rush to Dennis Prager, who I generally don’t listen to but found his show an oasis this morning.
And I agree with you on Hewitt. I generally listened to Hewitt every day until he became nothing more than a Romney commercial, now maybe I will start listening again.
AJ, I’m in complete agreement with you on the purists, but I still will not vote for John McCain. My objections to him are not on issues or principle or whatever. My problem with a John McCain in the WH is that I truly believe he is unsuitable for the job as commander-in-chief by temperament that borders on the unstable. I do not trust the man on any level. And his lack of understanding of the economy, at least in my mind, is a dangerous lack.
I think John McCain is a petty, vindictive, mean-spirited man and the last person this country should entrust to the presidency. Although I respect his service to the country, I do not think that his POW time qualified him in any way to be President. Although I respect the leadership skills the military taught him, I do not think that leading a squadron comes anywhere close to his claim that it supersedes leading a corporation or a state as governor. I do not see patriotism and profit as being mutually exclusive and to imply such is a sign of pettiness. John McCain is just not a good man, a nice man, or a very smart man, no matter how politically astute he might be. So for those reasons, I cannot in good conscience vote for him and I won’t.
I won’t sit home. I will support all downticket Repubs. I might look around for a libertarian hawk, if such exists. I won’t support a dem., but I will not vote for a McCain ticket either.
Sara,
So you would let all those brave troops die for nothing in the sands of Iraq by letting Clinton or Obama win? Do you ever consider how our troops would prefer to not be there and have everything line up their way?
You and I share the same impression of McCain which is why I never supported him. But we go to war with the military we have, not the one we wish we had. I suggest you fight harder for a GOP Congress along with McCain instead of handing the WH to real liberals. Your call, but cannot respect your position when I compare your desires with the sacrifices of our military – they just don’t equal out.
You’re free to do what you wish, and others are free to find it admirable… or not.
Hang in there Sara ,I agree and if it doesn’t work out for Mitt maybe a third party will arise that we can support. I have no intention of being a part of letting a man with the temperament and judgement of John McCain have control of the nuclear suitcase if it indeed exists.
What he coould do with poor judgement and a temper fit there would dwarf the harm to our troops should Hillary be elected IMHO.
I blame the republican party for allowing the primaries to become so front loaded and so far out from the election that only name recognized SENATORS are doing well, especially when the’ve been proven to be the worst candiates and Presidents .
The party is worse than asleep at the switch they have tried to foist a seriously flawed candidate upon on us, failing to recognize that he would be propped up by the media long enough to get nominated then torn assunder by a smarter, younger, better looking, better debating Dem candidate with ample help from the formerly fawning press.
The McCain versus either Hillary or Obama debates will be in my estimation the equivalent of a college professor debating a third grader. OK maybe a seventh grader.
AJ, unfortunately, I think once Hillary and Obama make a deal, the WH is lost anyway. 8 years of Hillary/Obama, 8 more of Obama/? I do not want to hand anything over to any antiwar type or anti-military type either. Afterall, I spent 26 years of my life married to the Navy and I vowed as the first tanks crossed from Kuwait to Iraq that never again would I sit back and let the anti-war crowd do to this generation what they did to us during Vietnam. It is my #1 issue. But I do not think McCain is stable enough to be Commander-in-Chief. It really concerns me on a deep level that I don’t know how to express in words.
I’m at a loss at the moment to know what to do or what to add to the conversation. I’m afraid that the purist “conservatives” have dug us into a hole so deep and then continue to pour water down the sides making it impossible to scale this slippery slope.
I want someone who see the strategic value of keeping a bases in Iraq. I want someone who understands that terrorists are not just militants or, gawd forbid, freedom fighters. I also want someone who understands economic policy. I’m not so much caring about the social issues since I don’t think the President has much control, nor should he/she over matters of social culture, other than thru the appointment of judges/justices. McCain won’t appoint liberal judges, I agree, but he will appoint judges who are more like O’Connor and Kennedy and will end up always being swing judges. Is this a good or terrible thing, I don’t think it will be terrible, even if not my first choice. In my fantasies, I see a Petraeus/Bolton ticket, so that shows you how out of step I am with everyone, purist or not.
I know I’m starting to feel anger over all sides invoking Ronald Reagan. Reagan was Reagan because he was Reagan and not because he was a Republican or a Conservative. He brought us back to a pride in America after the “malaise” of Carter and the shame of the anti-war Vietnam years. He made us believe in ourselves again. He didn’t always tell us what is wrong with us or the country, he told us that what was right about us was our strength. He would not like the purist thought, nor the backstabbing of a McCain. He had a lot of luck too with allies like Margaret Thatcher and the ability to charm his enemies into believing he was dumber than they were. In a sense, Bush also has that particular ability. But a saint or the perfect he was not and he did not try to be. His biggest asset was that he’d spent years honing his views and solutions and the benefit of seasoning maturity and being a grown up, something both sides could benefit from now. Rather than trash his opponents, he would invite them to a sit down and then listen to them and make them feel important, so that even though he didn’t ultimately do what they wanted, they didn’t feel he’d dissed them in the process. As an aside, I was a meet and greeter volunteer at a very posh blacktie pre-event cocktail party where the GOP elite were in attendance for $1000 a head. Reagan was the guest of honor. I watched him from my corner work the room and make every person there feel as if he’d come just to see them. And before he left, he stopped in front of me and said, “we haven’t met, but I want you to know that you have a smile that lights up the room, I hope you’ll keep smiling for me and thank for keeping this herd in line.” Just to think he noticed me at all, blew me away, but to get such a compliment from the President of the U.S., was an awe-inspiring moment in time for me. That was Ronald Reagan, not what we have today.
Sara,
Well said! Get yourself a blog and get the word out. BTW, the Gang of 14 which McCain was infamously a part of actually cleared the way for justices like Roberts and Alito (the latter it is well documented would not have had the votes to override a filibuster in the Senate).
Sounds like you have your head on, just keep being a beacon of sanity. You got my ear!
I asked this on another blog. Does anyone else find it odd that Mitt Romney, the ultimate suit and tie businessman, kind of geeky wonk, has his widest appeal with what I call the levi and cowboy boot states? The cowboy in Reagan and George Bush appeal to me, but what is it about Mitt that brings along those types from the Rocky Mountain west and the big sky country of say Wyoming or Montana? Or Alaska? It just doesn’t compute in my mind. You would think he’d have his strongest appeal with the Wall Street suits and investment bankers or the policy types of Washington, yet he doesn’t.
Sara,
Romney has left me cold. I was a Rudy champion, but had others I could easily support (like Thompson). Sadly none of them are very charismatic – except McCain.
It’s been astonishing to watch, read and hear the so-called conservative punditry as it went apocalyptic over McCain’s ascendancy for the Republican nomination. Quite frankly, it’s been almost other-worldly to witness. People who normally display a calm demeanor that us mere mortals could only hope to possess, are going bonkers over McCain.
I’ve read where their animus is because they have so much of their hopes invested in Romney (The Corner) or just have emnity at McCain’s independent streak (The Corner, Rush, Coulter, Ingraham, Beck, et al) but I’m left thinking that there must be something else at play here?
Here we have a bona fide American hero, a military veteran, a staunch fiscal-conservative, an excellent pro-life record and it seems that because he against codifying the legality of water-boarding (a defensible position, even though I don’t personally agree) and against tax cuts before cutting the deficit (which, by the way, means not passing the lard onto the next generation), they go ballistic.
I’m beginning to think now that with them, it’s mostly the tax cut issue. They all are well up there in the high tax brackets and because McCain refuses to do what Bush did (cut taxes while raising the National Debt), they are letting their own greedy self-interests drive their vitriol.
Shameful!
Those are all mainly Mormon states. Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Eastern Washington and Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Northern Arizona, Western Colorado … mostly Mormon.
I like Mitt alot and Rudy was my second choice. I like Fred, but I knew from the beginning that he was only there half-heartedly and now I wonder why he was at all. If he really wanted to have some say, he would have endorsed and assured Tennessee to someone other than Huck. The fact that he didn’t and that Huck took Tennessee tells me volumes about who he liked all along.
But, liking Mitt doesn’t make me blind to his lack of appeal to a broad number of GOP voters. If I’d been running his campaign, I would have been advising him to do many things much differently. For reasons I’ve already stated on McCain, I picked Mitt as the best of the remaining choices. My big problem with Rudy was purely personal. I despise prosecutors and the prosecutorial mindset. I was a big supporter and I still am for a Rudy Attorney General slot or Head of Homeland Security. Newt for Secretary of State. General Petraeus for Sec. Def. Now find me a candidate for President who I can support and who can also win.
There is one silver lining if Hillary gets the nod (don’t shoot me), Teddy Kennedy and John Kerry will definitely be marginalized after their public humiliation of her with their Obama endorsements. She, like McCain, doesn’t forget and can be very vindictive, albeit in a more nefarious way than McCain’s outspoken eff yous.
McCain charismatic? Wow! AJ always liked McCain because of his tough, military stance on Iraq. Don’t let AJ fool you. Right behind Rudy, he supported McCain. I can read it behind the lines in his posts… one thing is for sure he hates Romney! I could care less but why does he hide it?
Sara:
When people were asked what they knew about Mitt Romney in a study of the political candidates, I forgot the percentage, but most people only knew that he was a Mormon! Romney is a marvelous man. Few people are as fit for the job as he is. He would of been one of the top five greatest presidents in the last 100 years. America is passing him up. His enthusiasm, his energy, his intelligence, his understanding of economics, he would of been apt for the challenges and the surprises that will face the President — economically, military, and domestically. He already has the experience of being both a Vice President and President — where he lead his companies to the top — ethically and honestly. Romney’s biggest failure was he didn’t talk about himself enough!
I agree with you on McCain. I hate to bash him but this is how I see him: He is very courageous man, he will stand up firmly for what he believes perhaps arrogantly and foolishly so… he will focus all his energy on finishing the job in Iraq no matter the cost. However, the guy will show his incompetences. He doesn’t have the temperament (bitter, grudges, angry, smug, etc.) nor intellect to deal with China, he doesn’t understand economics, he doesn’t understand domestic issues nor does he care about them, Russia will be expanding under his nose — he is a one issue guy, and the truth of the matter is he would be no better on Iraq then Romney, Hillary, or Obama. None of them will pull the troops out! All of them support the troops. While the country is facing serious internal challenges, he should not be in charge. I could go on but enough have already spoken about him.
If Hillary and McCain are what the United States produces as leaders, I fear where this country is headed.
WOW!
Once again you are so wrong it is scary.
The RHINO’s ARE the problems in the Republican party.
The elitist New York/DC GOP is dead and this is their last gasp.
They, and you, want to go back to when the GOP was happy with whatever bones the Dems threw us.
We MUST purify the party and only allow Conservatives to run it and the country.
Talk radio is 100% correct on this issues.
John MEXcian is the worst choice.
His illegal immigration stance, and YOURS AJ, is the biggest mistake the GOP can make.
Look at the results from Tuesday and you will see Conservatives did NOT vote for Mexicain and those who think Illegal immigration is a key issue voted AGAINST him overwhelmingly.
McLAIM is totally missing how much anger there is towards him with real conservatives and it will be the death of his campaign.
Wake UP!
We do NOT need the GOP to pretend to be liberals.
We need the GOP to be more Conservative and fight.
This is about rigth (GOP) vs wrong (DNC —Good (Conservatives) vs evil (Liberals) and Republicans vs Democrats.
Stop being Naive and see what is happening in this country.
Join the fight or stick to writing about Iraq…the one thing you get right.
Same here. And I tried to tell people that if they didn’t get behind Rudy, they were going to get McCain. Fred threw me. It looked like he was going to get rolling in Iowa. I gave him money. I should have given it to Rudy.
The Right’s “Purity” Strawman…
I’m starting to see a very persistent meme developing around various bloggers and pundits on the right. It centers around the words “ideological” and “purity”. It goes something like this:
Conservatives like Sean Hannity…
Sara,
I also had an amazing encounter with President Reagan. It wasn’t as great as yours but I can understand the feeling. It was a huge fundraising event in an arena. We got there late and figured we’d be the nosebleed section. But No! They herded those first in line to the top and I ended up about 10 feet from the front of the stage, right in the center.
As President Reagan was waiting to be announced his eyes scanned the crowd and they landed on me but I was sure he didn’t actually see me, but I gave him 2 thumbs up anyway. And what do you know, he gave me 2 thumbs back! Thousands of people but as those eyes were scanning the crowd he really was connecting eye to eye with those in the audience. Just like a normal guy. Now HE had charisma!
LOL! Cepan,
You are hilarious! Keep it up and the entire GOP will be in the hands of the moderates.
Klimt,
Dude you are on very dangerous ground here. Do not come to my site and call me a liar – you will find your ass banned so fast you won’t know what hit you.
I have been opposed to McCain ever since 2000. Only an idiot would be so blind as to claim I was a closet McCain rooter just to try and deny I am right about why McCain is winning now. I have many posts opposing McCain because he is too far left for me. I don’t even consider him pro-life because he supports ESCR – one of my passions.
First and only warning. You are on my site. You can debate, but don’t ever think you can impugn my integrity here. Are we clear?
Anyone who is upset with what I am observing as to what is happening to the GOP better get it clear now – I opposed McCain forever. I am not gloating or glad the GOP ended up here. I warned people this day was coming so it could be avoided.
Now that the far right has driven itself over the cliff they want to blame those who tried to stop them?? Gimme a break.
What a wonderful story. Reagan did that to everyone. It didn’t matter if you were liberal or conservative, he was still your President and he gave you the impression that he honestly wanted to see you prosper.
He was America’s Dad.
Actually, the conservative talkers have impacted the results. Clearly, McCain would have won more states, maybe all wrapped up by now, if the talkers were not pointing out his significantly flawed record and crooked talk.