What motivates a seminar caller? (Rush Limbaugh, Reaganomics, activist, radio)

[wutitiz]

This came up in another thread where a guy decided that he'd had it with Reaganomics, among other things, and he was scraping all the GOP bumper stickers off of his car. Only problem is that Reaganomics came along roughly 30 years ago.

Typical seminar caller. They always trip up and give themselves away. 'Seminar caller' was AFAIK a term coined by Rush Limbaugh for liberal callers who pretended to be disgruntled conservatives who were fed up with the GOP, Bush, conservatism, etc. The phenomenon was evidently common enough for Rush to give it a label.

It turns out that Dick Morris actually once held seminars teaching people how to do this, hence the term.

Blog: Fact-Checking Limbaugh's Seminar Caller

Ironically Morris later decided to carve out a career as a conservative pundit and activist. Does this guy believe anything of what he spouts?

What is the psychology/mentality behind the seminar caller tactic? As a conservative, it has never occurred to me to log on to Daily Kos and pretend to be a liberal who has become disgusted with liberalism. What exactly is the motivation, and what is the point?

[Chimuelojones]

Originally Posted by wutitiz

This came up in another thread where a guy decided that he'd had it with Reaganomics, among other things, and he was scraping all the GOP bumper stickers off of his car. Only problem is that Reaganomics came along roughly 30 years ago.

Typical seminar caller. They always trip up and give themselves away. 'Seminar caller' was AFAIK a term coined by Rush Limbaugh for liberal callers who pretended to be disgruntled conservatives who were fed up with the GOP, Bush, conservatism, etc. The phenomenon was evidently common enough for Rush to give it a label.

It turns out that Dick Morris actually once held seminars teaching people how to do this, hence the term.

Blog: Fact-Checking Limbaugh's Seminar Caller

Ironically Morris later decided to carve out a career as a conservative pundit and activist. Does this guy believe anything of what he spouts?

What is the psychology/mentality behind the seminar caller tactic? As a conservative, it has never occurred to me to log on to Daily Kos and pretend to be a liberal who has become disgusted with liberalism. What exactly is the motivation, and what is the point?

If this is true, then Rush knows what they are doing before hand. He's out to make a "point". Rush's show is not a open forum. Call screeners know exactly whom is who and what points Rush wants to make.

All radio hosts do this. Can you imagine if Rush allowed everyone to talk, the nuts would rule and his sponsors would really run for the hills.

There is a reason they call it a "show".