A battle for the title of “most conservative idealogue” is on for the 2008 election, and the line has been drawn somewhere between GOP nomination hopeful John McCain and the band of talk radio hosts that dominate conservative airwaves. Who’s winning? It’s hard to tell, but John McCain has shown remarkable stamina and substance in the fight, with many common American independents and conservatives lining up boldly behind him, I among them. His leading adversaries in radio are some of the old guard and the mainstreamers with an extensively established following of conservative listenership, namely Hugh Hewitt, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and the lord of the hosts – Rush Limbaugh. I’ve personally tuned in to Levin, Hannity and Limbaugh several times each in recent months, and every word I’ve heard from them has been a rant against McCain and his lack of conservativeness. And when they’re not tearing down McCain, they’re ripping up Mike Huckabee with other lies and demagoguery. Among those, Levin has been the most scathing, hurling near-profane insults at those who dare to support McCain – basically attacking me, the listener. Limbaugh seems to simply question my stability and sanity when I listen to his broadcast. And so I return the sentiment in kind.
There is apparently only one conservative radio host in the national media who defies them, and proudly supports the nomination of John McCain: the eminently sensible Michael Medved. Medved’s full declaration of support for McCain against Romney came forth less than a month ago, but it was a declaration I warmly welcomed after thinking all of the conservative media had both abandoned me and abandoned any thoughtful consideration of facts and logic.
Read this article for the Associated Press take:
Fighting for Nomination, McCain Also Fends Off Conservative Radio Backlash
Note Hugh Hewitt’s quote, very typical of the right-wing media: “Sen. McCain is a great American, a lousy senator and a terrible Republican… …He has a legislative record that is not conservative. In fact, it is anti-conservative.”
The problem with this kind of widely-held doctrine among conservatives is that it’s founded in a bed of lies. True, Sen. McCain is a great American, but that’s largely because he’s a great senator and a great Republican, with a tremendously consistent legislative record that proves his profound conservatism beyond a doubt. One of the biggest problems here is that so many lies have been told and retold by these same talk show hosts and columnists so many times that they’ve practically become truths by repetition, which in turn makes it easy for the average media consumer to believe that McCain has a legislative record that is anti-conservative.
I believe that a McCain victory, should he be selected for the GOP nomination will be a well-deserved sobering blow against some of the reckless rhetoricians in conservative media, and it just may save the face of the Republican Party before the people who count most – the American people.
29 January 2008 at 7:25 pm
Just this morning on my way to work I made what is an increasingly rare decision on my part to tune into Rush. Lo and behold, he was making the ingeniously original claim that the reason the mainstream media is behind McCain is in fact because they are attempting to destroy the Republican party by supporting a beatable republican candidate. Being an admirer of the man and somewhat recent convert to the idea of a likely McCain nom., I proceeded to take what I began to realize was personal offense to the relentless insults being directed his (and, apparently, my) way. I began to think back to all the years of what I would deem faithful Medved (for example) listenership and felt a tinge of empathy for those continuously embattled opponents of the usual talk radio “talking points.” And, although I agree that Medved is perhaps a unique voice among them (which may account for the scarcity with which I tune to other shows), this homogeny of the “intellectual” right seems to be crescendoing.
So, if those of us who apparently see the light are to respond in kind and apply our analytical skills to the question of motivation, the question very clearly becomes: What is to be gained by fighting against what is to most reasonable conservatives an extremely satisfactory nomination in John McCain? This is an important question because now, as I continue to wage my own campaign of dialogue and and potential persuasion amidst the hordes of my more liberal-minded peers, I am being flanked by right-wing media-not a comforting moment in the ongoing battle of ideas. I look forward to any responses……
Professor Cornbluthe,
Northwest State
29 January 2008 at 7:52 pm
Professor Cornbluthe,
I heard part of the same broadcast, and part of yesterday’s in which a disgruntled Rush asked “who do you want to see behind the desk in the oval office in the next term?” He’s begging his constituency to really consider this, and consider McCain to be the wrong man to sit at that desk, just as I heard him do in 2000. Unfortunately for Rush, McCain looks very likely to become his next president, and McCain just took Rush’s state of Florida right under his nose about an hour ago. Everyone reaps what they sow.
Brent