Does Conservative Talk Still Matter?

Rush Limbaugh grandly announced on his radio program that he might not support the Republican presidential nominee in this coming election cycle, as none pass his conservative litmus test.

Does anyone care?

I don't mean that as a snide aside. Even among staunch Republicans, does anyone really care what conservative talkers think?

Conservative talkers love to throw numbers around: their ratings and their audience size. And to be sure, they have a sizable audience which numbers in the tens of millions. But having people tune in, and being able to dictate their actions are two different things.

And there are even some in and among the conservative talk community who are willing to admit as much. Last year after the McCain/Kennedy immigration bill crashed and burned a lot of conservative talkers were ready to step up and take credit for bringing the bill down.

But in a piece in the Weekly Standard talk radio host and Republican stalwart Bill Bennett fairly admits that's not necessarily so. Rather than drive the agenda, he says that conservative talkers just "provide a dial tone" over which others will say and do as they please.

And while that may be true of talk in general (and blogging and any other kind of communication) conservative talkers, at least the more high profile ones, seem to take pleasure in the assertion that they are king makers and agenda setters. A myth they turned into reality back in 2000 when Fox News pulled Florida off the board.

But in the intervening eight years conservative talk has made a few mistakes (I rate a few, I'm sure others would rate many). The first being that it was unfailing in its devotion. When even hardened conservatives like Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich and Bob Novak among others began to question the administration's policies -- particularly regarding the war in Iraq -- their dissent was not tolerated. Such individuals were branded, in the words of Limbaugh, as having "wandered off the reservation."

Any group that cannot tolerate dissent is not a group, it's a gang. Reasonable Republicans, and yes, I believe there are many of them -- smelled the stink of recalcitrance on the talkers and began to move on. That the Republican Party right now is searching for identity is obvious and reflected in this quadrennial's Republican candidates. As Limbaugh says, not a "genuine down-the-list conservative" in the bunch. That's because Republicans are looking for something else, whether conservative talkers want something else or not.

Secondly, conservative talk has devolved into self parody. There is a place for and a value to high minded conservative discourse. But what started as rants against liberals devolved into sophomoric humor or truly inane observations: that blacks in Harlem can order iced tea without saying "M-F." Song parodies about "Barack the magic Negro." Insensitive homophobic jokes about the passing of young Hollywood actors. On and on, down from there. All that, to a particular mind set, might be vaguely interesting to listen to while stuck in rush hour traffic. But would anyone with any intelligence really turn to such people for even base political insight? That might have worked in the relative peace and prosperity of the Clinton years. It doesn't fly when the nation and the world face such serious challenges. And Once Stephen Colbert hit the scene; conservative talk pretty much had a fork stuck in it.

There is, then, a reason why Limbaugh announced so grandly that he would not endorse any candidate. Not, I suspect, because there truly wasn't a candidate he could back. Rather because even if he did, probably no one would care.

Comments

[marijam]

It will not matter only if people on the left and center stop listening to it and letting it get under their skin.

It certainly matters to the far right, who love listening to Rush, Ann and Laura, speak their hatred of McCain and tear him down, as well as their hatred of the "liberals". The Democrats won't have to do it, tear down McCain, because its being done for them.

They, Rush et al, think they will come back in a few years with a great conservative candidate. They don't realize that Obama is going to be the next president and that he's going to carry the Congress as well. A new 40-year era of Democratic Congress is going to be ushered in. Thank you, Rush, Ann and Laura. Thank you so much!

Actually, this is going to make Rush, Ann and Laura many more millions in speaking, books, etc. A moderate Republican in office just wouldn't provide as much material as will a Democrat. Don't listen and don't buy the stuff they put out to find out what they are saying. Then it truly will not matter.

[surfcitysteven]

I have been listening to Rush a bit lately, mainly because I am enjoying the whinefest over McCain. conservotalk has been reduced to wondering why it all went wrong and crying about it.

[dana94591]

The thing that scares me about Conserv Talk is that I have had some workers in my home listen to this drivel on their radios. Even mindlessly listening they are getting some of this info and the attitudes but when asked about these ideas they can not give you a "reasoned" explanation for listening to it. I even asked the guy who was repairing my plumbing if he really understood what the person was saying and he couldn't put a reasonable sentence together. Yes, there are educational issues here but I find the irresponsible dissemination of erroreous information so unconscionable. These are the ones who buy red state-blue state designations and they are really chauvinistic about it. I am dumb and I am proud.

[LeftLeaner]

Does Conservative Talk still matter? THAT is the question.

They're fighting for their (despicable) $$$$ lives, the likes of Druggie, Hackity, Cultwhore, and others. How many lives have they destroyed because of their 24/7 hate speak against innocent people whom they disagree with.

Hopefully, this country is turning a page, and "WE the PEOPLE" will be One, once more.

[1will]

Does Conservative Talk Radio still matter?
If you think back to last year it was largely Conservative Talk Radio that stirred up American citizens when Bush and Kennedy (and others) tried to sneak an amnesty program through with little or no debate.
It wasn't Air America that rallied Americans.

[1will]

Conservative Talk Radio is not as relavent as it was 20 years ago. We now have Foxnews to give us the other side of issues that we never formerly got from CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC or any of the other liberal leaning news services.
Conservative Talk Radio will howerver always matter as long as it's listeners number in the millions if not tens of millions. As for Conservative listeners following the pundits such as Rush, people always made up their own mind on the Right. They will continue to do so. Conservative voters will make up their own minds on McCain, Huckabee and Romney while lefties deify Obama and make excuses for all of the illegal campaign funds that flow into Hillary's campaign.

[Fletch17C]

I hope that the reason Limbaugh will not endorse a Rep. candidate is because he knows the Reps will lose -- and he doesn't want to latch himself onto a loser.

Back in 1992, that bonehead P.J. O'Rourke basically did the same thing. When it became clear that the Clinton/Gore team was about to kill the Bush/Quayle disaster, O'Rourke wrote an article for Rolling Stone in which he told readers that they shouldn't bother voting at all. He said something like (not an exact quote), "If you need to pull the lever to feel important, your life is a mess."

I really believe that if Bush had a shot at winning a second term, O'Rourke would have been cheering from the rafters. Instead, he ran like a rat from a sinking ship. I hope Limbaugh is feeling squeamish about the Reps' chances in November and he's also running scared.

[ohiomark]

Last year Liberals were screaming about bringing back the "Fairness Doctrine" because talk radio was having too much influence.

Now they are declaring talk radio irrelavent.

Make up your mind Libs.

[TommyMcCarthy]

I personally know quite a few people who get a good portion of thier political "news" from Limbaugh, O'Rielly, and Hannity, and based on this (admittedly anecdotal) evidence, it's my view that thes clowns have had a profound effect.

I can't count the number of times in the last 20 years I have heard an otherwise intelligent friend or co-worker declaim on some aspect of politics and culture and spout the conservative line (and the Limbaugh/O'Rielly version of the facts) and I KNOW just where they got it.

Now which came first....the chicken or the egg? Are these guys (and gals) predisposed to conservatism and thus tune in to talk radio/hateTV?..... or have thier opinions been molded over time by these goons? I'd say at least in part it's the latter.

While these guys may not read "The Nation" or watch "Book TV" they do vote (consistently) and they have an influence on thier families and neghbors.

I'd like nothing better that to see the Red team going into November hoplessly divided and snarling and spitting at EACHOTHER like a sack of cougar cubs.

I don't think the Democrats should indulge themselves in the luxury of believing that will, in fact, happen.
Regards..................................tm

[mamacat]

Elsewhere on Huffpo there is an item detailing that 8 of the top 10 watched news shows belonged to Fox. Someone must be paying attention to the right wing talking heads, or they wouldn't be polling so high in the ratings. I think there is a very dangerous dark streak in American politics. There are people who are proud to announce that they do not have an open mind, and that they are happy to parrot what they hear. They believe that they are being told what to believe and to say, and they are proud of it. It gives their empty lives direction and meaning. I have seen and heard it with my own eyes and ears. There is a movement on the right that is as dark as dark can be, it is just lacking a leader and a clearer message. So far it remains a minority, but then, Hitler was a minority when he seized power, too.

[GhostOfSchlesinger]

Well, we could never accuse them of being overly bright.

Antagonize BOTH parties while Americans are starting to wonder why they can't find anything but an extremist right winger on their radios.

I'm sure Rush and the boys are wondering whether some old guy that remembers the Fairness Doctrine is going to say, "Hey, uh, wait a minute. Don't those airways belong to us?"

Then, when they turn to their Republican friends in Congress for support, there will be neither a Republican Congress or a Republican White House.

All of which means that they are watching the fulfillment of their deepest, darkest fear - that Americans might once again hear "fair and balanced" reporting of the variety that is NOT just a branding slogan.

Might it be possible that we could both take back our country AND our airwaves this year?

[nikto]

No.

[Hugo de Balsac]

Rush Limbaugh is a constipated oaf breathlessly trying to talk his way out of a paltry user fee for a public pay toilet.

[StealthisBlog]

Tellmethetruth- because Hillary is their wetdream. With her as the nominee or even President, they get to really gin up the hate machine without having to talk to Al Sharpton. It'll be the '90s all over again, you know when they first hit it big. They get to talk about Monica and stained dresses, Whitewater, Vince Foster and all that fun stuff. For them it's a return to the good ol' days. And just as before the '06 midterms you started hearing republickins talking about how it might be better to lose and turn control over to somebody else just as the shit hits the shinola, at which point you can blame the new folks in charge.

So now you get the ballsy Ms. Coulter shilling for Hill. Well duh. If she would go after Sen. Obama the way she did after John Edwards, there might be real sanctions against her. She deserved to be dropped by every paper in the country after that comment at CPAC last year but unfortunately in some circles gay bashing still makes you a hero.

[cylindar]

You got that right!! Limburger is nothing but a has been.