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The Spectacle Blog
The beginning of CPAC is probably as good a time as any to talk about John Derbyshire's American Conservative cover story about conservative talk radio. I'm a frequent -- and grateful! -- guest on talk radio. I remember what a breath of fresh air Rush Limbaugh was when he first hit the national scene. As I mentioned in my tribute to David Brudnoy, I spent the summer of 1994 glued to talk radio.
To some extent, I think Derbyshire's complaints about "Happy Meal conservatism" and "ideological comfort food" are really complaints with the popularization of conservatism. When conservatism was primarily an intellectual movement rather than a political one or even a niche market, when "Firing Line" was the most popular conservative broadcast, the right was pretty small. It is now, even in its current attenuated form, much larger, a real mass movement of sorts. Conservative talk show hosts are doing what they are supposed to do and offering a kind of political commentary that is bound to appeal to more people than readings from Edmund Burke.
That said, it seemed that in the 1990s conservative talk radio was good at tapping into a sense of outrage that benefited Republicans. This still goes on, but has at least partly been replaced with an echo chamber effect. I can't tell you how many of my conservative friends who primarily get their news from talk radio and Fox were genuinely shocked when the Republicans lost the 2006 elections. Many of them were surprised again when Barack Obama beat John McCain, even though polls clearly showed that this was the likelier outcome for most of the year. (But those were liberally biased polls! And Republicans don't have landlines! And they lie to liberally biased, landline-calling pollsters!)
The downside to what Derbyshire calls "ideological comfort food" is that it blinds you to what the outside world thinks. Now, even that's not always a bad thing -- on a whole host of issues, from Obama's designs on our health care system, to the vast increases in federal spending anticipated by the Democrats, to the laundry list of bailouts, nationalizations, and stimuli on the horizon -- the people behind the microphones are right and a majority of the American people are wrong (depending on which poll you believe). But can people who speak in movement-ese, all red-team all the time without nuance, persuade that majority they are wrong?
I think it is a stretch to blame talk radio for the right's problems -- and Derbyshire, in his judicious piece, doesn't -- and know conservatism would be worse off if it were silenced via the Fairness Doctrine or something like it. But conservatives need a way to reach beyond the base and try to convert some swing voters. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing Sean Hannity ain't it.
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More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/02/26/talk-radio-and-the-right
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Alan Brooks| 2.26.09 @ 12:10PM
it would be good if the real heavyweights
(though i'm not saying hannity is no winner-- he is very astute-- as he was with colmes for all those years)
such as
Geo Will
Derbyshire himself
Victor Davis Hanson
Krauthammer
Jonah Goldberg
had daily radio, even TV shows, of their own. but the world wasnt created to make us happy.
alan Brooks| 2.26.09 @ 12:37PM
if only the Derbyshire had a show. only an Englishman such as him can write and speak like that. "cloth eared moon booted" Bush administration.
i traded emails with Derb last year on my obsession-- brave new world-- and he is writing a pessimistic book, sure to be first class. but I said
"It's worse than you think, John; we will live very long lives, but in a world of bad schools, bad neighborhoods, bad crime".
Derb replied that spanish-speakers will take care of us in nursing homes.
Derb is nobody's fool.
Seymour Kleerly| 2.26.09 @ 1:16PM
Right Wing Propaganda be it Fox News or Talk Radio does many things. 1; Dumbs down it's listeners. 2; fosters hate and mistrust of anyone to the left of them(the rest of the Planet). 3; allows the most simplistic and ugliest to be the voice the Republican Party. R.I.P.
Alan Brooks| 2.26.09 @ 1:23PM
that's what the Founders wanted, Seymour.
the Founders weren't gays, you know.
back then "gay" had a different meaning.
ruth| 2.26.09 @ 1:46PM
Seymour Kleerly doesn't.
Alan Brooks| 2.26.09 @ 1:55PM
Seymour doesnt get it how many sharptons and jesse jacksons there are on the left.
Red Phillips| 2.26.09 @ 2:11PM
Alan, Krauthammer, VDH and Goldberg are part of the problem. They are all pro-war interventionists. Kraut and VDH are interventionists on steroids. It is the War that doomed Republicans in '06 and the economic meltdown, which was partially due to massive spending on foreign policy, that doomed them in '08. There is no way to run a frugal Empire.
Alan Brooks| 2.26.09 @ 2:20PM
you didnt mention the other two.
you'll notice in that comment I mentioned Will first, Derbyshire 2nd.
Crusasder| 2.26.09 @ 2:26PM
Too many times "right wing radio" turns into "Republican talking point radio."
How about "Constitutional radio?"
Bob| 2.26.09 @ 4:07PM
There are lots of problems with conservatives, but talk radio is not one of them. Hard core conservatives have been dumbed down from the intellectual giants of decades ago. Rush and Hannity get the facts wrong most of the time. This lack of trustworthyness has become a hallmark of the conservative reputation. It is not surprising given the rise of social conservatism and "intellectual" leaders like Rush and Hannity who don't even have college degrees.
No, the problem is that conservatism remains undefined. It does not stand for fiscal conservatism given the Bush administration and the Congress that passed those initiatives. It is divided between social conservatives and libertarians who have opposing views on social issues. In addition, there is no leadership on ideas. Where's the Republican budget proposal? People don't like the party of "no".
Lastly, the party only looks backwards to Reagan and not forward to a nation that looks very different from the time Reagan was President.
Right wing radio and Fox is simply mirroring the dumbing down of conservatives started by the takeover by the religious right. In the beginning, it was reason that was the primary factor -- now it is belief without reason.
Conservatism will grow again when reason rises, secular conservative principles are defined, and ideas start emanating from Republican leaders. For example, conservatives should be solidly against preemptive war and for FAIR trade. We ought to support pragmatism and analysis. If there is some spending that is stimulative, we should be for it. If tax cuts don't actually work in the real world, we should be against them and vice-versa. We should be promoting intelligent dialog with opponents.
As conservative voters, we should listen just as much to MSNBC/CNN as we do to Fox/Rush. We should check facts for ourselves when they are in question. For example, there is no magnetic train from Disneyland to Las Vegas in the stimulus bill and yet, people accept what Rush and Hannity say. That's a huge problem
Republicans are becoming independents because they are being pushed out by social conservatives and the dumbing down of the party. This must change.
Red Phillips| 2.26.09 @ 5:56PM
Alan, Derb is good on immigration and he supported Ron Paul. His problem is his secularism, which he often makes an issue of.
Will is a consummate insider pragmatist. In some ways he is better than VDH and Kraut because he is less ideological. He is honest but can be condescending at times.
Goldberg is one of the better of the NRO bunch and has been more honest about immigration than some.
ruth| 2.26.09 @ 6:22PM
I knew Bob was a Keith Olbermann lover! Both are thoughtful, erudite, but most especially- gracious gentlemen!! Bob, do you get an Olbermann tingle up your leg when you watch this obnoxious blowhard?
PB| 2.26.09 @ 10:55PM
As ever, Mr. Derbyshire makes a compelling argument. But it is what he leaves out that strikes me.
His nostalgia for British radio is understandable. Yet what would he say of the state of British conservatism, vs. American? The Tory leaders may be articulate and intellectual, but even the currently listless American GOP seems like a stable ship compared to the Tories, whose grovelling toward Muslim shakedowns is almost as bad as Labour's. There being no Rush, Hannity, etc. has not exactly helped conservative matters in the U.K.
The fault lies in the party and its leaders (Rush was certainly not a McCain-as-nominee fan - nor for that matter Dole, Bush I, etc..), not in the radio hosts, that conservatism is in trouble.
ruth| 2.26.09 @ 11:55PM
Exactly, PB. Well said. I think we need more verbal bomb throwers on our side. Let's shake things up! Stodgy loses everytime.
Bob| 2.27.09 @ 8:19AM
Well, Ruthie, your intellectualism continues to amaze us as a representative of the social conservative brain trust. The fact that you can't comprehend objectivity is not my problem. And for the record, I watch all three news channels and then do my own research.
Chris| 2.27.09 @ 5:05PM
Give me Firing Line any day. The Right--as a political entity--may have been small, but that was good. They were an elite. Meanwhile the majority of Americans have always been conservative. It was the best of both worlds. Now, not so much.
ruth| 2.27.09 @ 7:17PM
But I bet you save that special tingle for Keithy, perhaps Chrissy.
record| 8.21.09 @ 2:31AM
The fact that you can't comprehend objectivity is not my problem. And for the record