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First, I don't think main stream media (MSM) intentionally skews their news to the left in some sort of conspiracy theory like the the conservative talk show hosts would like you to believe. I think its more that MSM reports on things that change in our world. Things that change in our world are inherently progressive and are identifed as liberal and/or from the left.
By definition, conservative views are traditional views, things that don't change and have stayed the same. Not really good fodder for news. Why bother reporting on something that doesn't change?
Therefore, conservative talk radio has had to do something to make their news interesting. They make their news interesting by taking an anti-liberal/anti-progressive stance. If you listen to conservative talk radio it all about how the left wants to change things and why this is a bad thing if you have conservative views. The conservative views themselves aren't the news, the news is that the left wants to changes these views. Its ironic that there would not be conservative talk radio if there wasn't a liberal left to disagree with!
Nice posts, a few thoughts in there that had never occured to me
I have noticed that the more a conservative hates liberals and the more he rants against them the more popular he is. Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh being good examples. The conservatives who, although they disagree with liberals aren't constantly harping about how awful we are, they don't get that kind of superstar adoration
I have noticed that the more a conservative hates liberals and the more he rants against them the more popular he is. Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh being good examples. The conservatives who, although they disagree with liberals aren't constantly harping about how awful we are, they don't get that kind of superstar adoration
All I know is that I'm a conservative, I don't think you're awful, and the liberals here just adore me.
Not sure how we gauge if liberal talk radio succeeds or not; same for conservative talk radio.
If the success or failure of any form of talk radio is gauged by the outcome of elections, the electoral landslide of Obama and the major capture of yet more house and senate seats by the DEMs seems proof that what liberals and DEMs are saying and doing is working; or possibly that whatever conservatives and the GOP are saying or doing is not working.
Not sure this even matters. The words liberal and conservative have become meaningless; no one can intelligently define todays complex over-loaded plate of political issues in one single word, and no one style of ideological approach to those issues will work in a one-size-fits-all manner. The terms liberal and conservative have become epithets, void of description.
Of course, the GOP has tried their one-size fits all program for the last 8 years, largely to the ruination of our country. Here's how the GOP / conservative mind has been working for us all lately:
FOREIGN POLICY ARENA
Problem issue: Pesky foreign nations won't show us their WMD.
GOP solution: Hit them with the military option.
Problem issue: Pesky foreign nations want to have their own new-ku-lar power.
GOP solution: Hit them with the military option.
Problem issue: Pesky foreign nations make fun of us.
GOP solution: Hit them with the military option.
DOMESTIC POLICY ARENA
Problem issue: Wife left me for a circus midget.
GOP solution: Tax cut for the wealthy.
Problem issue: Bridges falling into rivers.
GOP solution: Tax cut for the wealthy.
Problem issue: Fifty million without health care.
GOP solution: Tax cut for the wealthy.
Problem issue: Toilet paper is too scratchy.
GOP solution: Tax cut for the wealthy.
Problem issue: Wall Street has stolen us blind.
GOP solution: Tax cut for the wealthy. And pardons for the guilty.
One-size solutions do not work any better than terms like liberal or conservative work at defining ourselves.
Of course, the GOP has tried their one-size fits all program for the last 8 years, largely to the ruination of our country. Here's how the GOP / conservative mind has been working for us all lately:
Not sure how we gauge if liberal talk radio succeeds or not; same for conservative talk radio.
This seems, at least IMHO, a no-brainer (no sarcasm nor insult intended, I hasten to add). Conservative talk radio succeeds because there is a bigger market for it. One of the reasons being that "liberal" talk radio really boils down to that misery and guilt should be shared by the whole country. For that reason alone, it lacks an essential element of what makes good talk radio be successful. That is, an element of humor. I am a conservative of the Old Right type...but one of my best friends is a flaming yankee liberal. And even he will grudgingly grant some validity to this aspect of it. It is hard to get a message across if the whole underlying tone is that the world should be perfect, and the reason it isn't is because of the "rich", the "racists" the this, that or the other. People -- even many liberals -- get tired of that same old theme...
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If the success or failure of any form of talk radio is gauged by the outcome of elections, the electoral landslide of Obama and the major capture of yet more house and senate seats by the DEMs seems proof that what liberals and DEMs are saying and doing is working; or possibly that whatever conservatives and the GOP are saying or doing is not working.
It can't be though. The market determines it. This is apples and oranges. As it is, the election of Obama cannot be construed as a conservative nor liberal (as commonly defined) mandate. Much of it was disgust by many true conservatives over Bush and the neo-cons.
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Not sure this even matters. The words liberal and conservative have become meaningless; no one can intelligently define todays complex over-loaded plate of political issues in one single word, and no one style of ideological approach to those issues will work in a one-size-fits-all manner. The terms liberal and conservative have become epithets, void of description.
I MOSTLY agree with this. Not withstanding that the terms "liberal" and "conservative" will almost always coorespond to a particular vision of the world and a particular side of whatever the issue...they can also be mis-used and miscontrued. Thomas Sowell wrote the best book ever done on this general topic. That is, it is the "vision" which matters...not the label.
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Of course, the GOP has tried their one-size fits all program for the last 8 years, largely to the ruination of our country.
Again, GOP and "conservative" are not synonymous...but anyway... your bottom line on an above post is that (drum roll): "Tax cuts" for the "wealthy" are "bad".
What is wrong with letting those who make most of the money and create most of the jobs keep more of their own money, fer gawd sake? And why is it imperative that those who pay no taxes at all, get unearned income from those who do?
You many be one of those who are envious of the "rich"...most of us aren't though. That I failed to acheive that status (due to my own life choices and limiations), doesn't translate into that am envious of those who have. I want my own children to become one of the "wealthy". Do you not wish the same for your own? And if so, why should they be punished by taxation and being labeled "the bad guys" because they worked their way up. At what point (income bracket...?) do the working poor become the poster child of income redistibution liberals and become the "rich" to be made the scapegoat...?
I have noticed that the more a conservative hates liberals and the more he rants against them the more popular he is. Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh being good examples. The conservatives who, although they disagree with liberals aren't constantly harping about how awful we are, they don't get that kind of superstar adoration
Completely disagree with you, at least with some of the left's radio shows. I remember listening to Air America during the night a few years ago, and it was constant whining about everything with subjects such as animal rights, conservatives, the war in Iraq, Gaza, gay rights, global warming, etc. It was non-spot pouring of emotions
Debate him about what??? WMDs NOT found in the neoCON war?? Bin laden NOT found by the neoCON warmongers?
Listen.
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