Associated Press is the latest media outlet (on the heels of the Washington Post and CNN) to suggest that John McCain's primary wins could show conservative talk radio is "having little effect." AP reporter David Bauder filed a report today (complete with a quote from MRC's Brent Bozell):
John McCain heads into Tuesday's Florida primary facing resistance from not only his fellow candidates, but also from the leaders of conservative talk radio, who some suggest have put their reputations on the line, as well.
Talk radio pioneer Rush Limbaugh said that if McCain or Mike Huckabee are nominated, "it's going to destroy the Republican Party." Mark Levin calls the senator "John McLame." On Monday, Laura Ingraham said she was "concerned about the mental stability of the McCain campaign" and had cuckoo-clock sound effects accompany his words.
"Sen. McCain is a great American, a lousy senator and a terrible Republican," Hugh Hewitt told The Associated Press. "He has a legislative record that is not conservative. In fact, it is anti-conservative."
Yet with McCain winning primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and in a virtual tie with Mitt Romney for the lead in polls in Florida, the top radio personalities are facing the possibility that their words are having little effect.
Radio host Michael Medved said that the big loser in South Carolina was talk radio, "a medium that has unmistakably collapsed in terms of impact, influence and credibility because of its hysterical and one-dimensional involvement in the GOP nomination fight."
Its continued resistance to McCain will be ineffective and will hurt both the Republican Party and the radio industry, Medved said.
The long-running hostility toward McCain stems from his failure to follow conservative orthodoxy on issues including immigration, global warming and money in politics, Hewitt said. McCain's endorsement by The New York Times -- the newspaper conservative talkers love to hate -- was just another indignity.
Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, warned against any conclusion that talk radio hosts would be diminished if McCain were to win the GOP nomination.
"It will give them an opportunity to reposition themselves in a more independent and populist way," Harrison said. Talk show hosts aren't judged on whom they pick as a candidate, any more than the jobs of football announcers are on the line with their Super Bowl predictions, he said.
They're judged on ratings and revenue, and every indication is that the election season will be a boon for talk radio, he said.
Limbaugh picked up on that point on the air last week when he rebutted any analysis by the "drive-by media" that McCain's strong showing had been a rebuke to him. He noted that a chapter in one of his books was titled "My Success is Not Determined by Who Wins Elections."
"You nominate the nominee; I don't," he said. "This notion ... that I've been overcome here, McCain's beaten me back, that's not the way to look at this, because that whole line of thinking relies on the fact that you people have to be perceived as mind-numbed robots and that you are all a bunch of sponges and you sit out there and you have no brain and you have no independent thoughts. You just listen to what I say and you go act on it.
"We know that's not the case," he said. "It's never been the case."
It's a reflection of the muddled primary race that radio talkers are more fixated on whom they don't like _ McCain _ than any candidate who wows them.
"The mood is that everyone offers something and nobody offers everything -- and that's why there is so much confusion," said L. Brent Bozell, founder of the conservative media watchdog Media Research Center.
Here are a few recent samples of conservative talk radio fervor against McCain:
-- Rush Limbaugh responded to the media's suggestion that McCain wins mean Limbaugh losses.
-- On her free audio page, you can listen as Laura Ingraham takes after McCain on Monday. Ingraham reacted badly to McCain implying on NBC that Romney’s ideas on Iraq would lead to victory by al-Qaeda. (At about 3:40 of the clip)
This is cuckoo-land! This is cuckoo-land! Right? This is actually to me – I’m terrified in hearing this. This actually scares me. I mean, if he can interpret what Romney says as he has, how is he going to interpret what some of the bad guys are saying to us? Doesn’t that make you concerned? It makes me very worried. I’m not trying to exaggerate how concerned I am about the stability, the mental stability of the McCain campaign.
-- On Friday night, Mark Levin underlined how the New York Times editorial endorsing McCain on the Republican side said his stand on treatment of prisoners shows his true character: “Yes, he has completely sold out and joined the ACLU in the treatment of al-Qaeda terrorists, this we know.” (Scroll down and check out the "Audio Rewind" section at marklevinshow.com). He added:
“Of course, they poor poison all over Rudy Giuliani...But they do love their John McCain, because, ladies and gentlemen, they don’t think he’s a conservative. They don’t think he will manage as a conservative. And they’re not going endorse him anyway, as I said the other day, when push comes to shove, in the general election, they’ll kneecap him the way they do every Republican. But they just want to make sure the Republican Party and the conservative movement have nowhere to go but home.”
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
I've said this before about the AP
January 28, 2008 - 22:05 ET by BobAnthonyAnd I will say it again...AP, last 2 letters in the word CRAP!
What If?
January 28, 2008 - 22:26 ET by Intellectual HonestySo what if Romney wins Florida and/or the nomination ? Will the AP go back to calling talk radio "the tough right wing juggernaut" and start rehashing the fairness doctrine advocacy articles from last year?
of course....
January 29, 2008 - 13:24 ET by mbuelThey will bust out a little old fashioned "liberal" fascism.
MSM buildup...
January 28, 2008 - 22:23 ET by VT Con ManThere seems to be much more MSM puffery about mcRINO this year than 2000. All the more reason to vote against him in the primaries. His shameless pandering and outright lying about his opponents is downright repulsive at this point. Not to mention his lame love affair with all things left of republican.
crAP, I like that
edit: what is with the slamming "talk radio" vs the candidates? how lame is that?
David Bauder is the
January 28, 2008 - 22:21 ET by TEDavid Bauder is the blithering idiot from the Associated (with terrorists) Press who actually alleged (citing no evidence, of course) that the 8 p.m. cable ratings were "dominated" by Bill O'Reilly "and Keith Olbermann". O'Reilly gets more viewers at 8 p.m. than CNN, Headline News and MSDNC combined, and O'Reilly's audience is 3.5 times as large as Olbermoronn's. Yet, Bauder claimed that 8 p.m. was "dominated" by O'Reilly "and Keith Olbermann". "And Keith Olbermann"? ROTFLMAO!
Check Talk Radio
January 28, 2008 - 22:34 ET by Lame CherryApparently while the liberals are fixated on McCain for the moment, they don't quite get it that Limbaugh and company have made effectual hammering on Democrats.
Hillary though with Bill taking a dive has opened up a huge margin for Obama.........who if one remembers is benefiting from Breck Girl Edwards being so named by Rush Limbaugh.
Liberals had better stop worrying about John McCain as he has peeked as I predicted and he knows it. After Florida he moves into country which favors Mitt Romney. Romney ties in Florida at the least comes in a few points behind, McCain will start to sink the polling numbers after this.
So while McCain is winning elections because liberals hiding as independents are voting for McCain to screw up the process as Kos so advocated, it is only fairytale hope that talk radio is not shaping this election.
Obama winning is because Rush, Sean and Laura have been talking. That is more devastating than McCain.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
This is a Joke, right?
January 28, 2008 - 22:34 ET by IamTinmanRush, Levin, Hannity and the other conservatives in the talk medium are currently enjoying great ratings regardless of who is in office or running.
AP and the MSM are just trying desparately to hold on to their audiences by painting these commentators as irrelevant, but as long as they maintain their market share they could care less.
Which writer for the
January 28, 2008 - 22:56 ET by motherbeltWhich writer for the Washington Post is responsible for keeping a big enough audience for the newspaper? Which columnist will lose his job if circulation falls off? None, because they all have a small part in the paper, writing one or two columns a week. Layoffs may happen among the news staff, but not because a particular reporter isn't drawing enough readers.
Talk radio hosts, on the other hand, are on their own, and responsible for keeping their
ratings up. If they don't, they don't sell advertising time, and they get cancelled.
The MSM say's talk radio
January 28, 2008 - 22:37 ET by BlazerThe MSM say's talk radio is having "no effect".
Translation: It's will have plenty of an effect and real soon.
Here's to hoping Super-Tuesday will have all the liberal pundit's seeing red (literally) when the real conservatives come out to vote McTrain wreck into the rest home he so deserves, once and for all.
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
The MSM say's talk radio
January 28, 2008 - 22:47 ET by motherbeltThe MSM say's talk radio is having "no effect".
Well, I guess we won't be hearing any more about reinstituting the "Fairness Doctrine" then....
THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE...
January 29, 2008 - 08:53 ET by danybhoymotherbelt,
Ohhhh, you would be wrong. The "Fairnss Doctrine" will be on the agenda. It may be one of those things that all of those hard working members of Congress will have hours of hearings about. But since it will be little more then window dressing since so many in Congress hate talk radio because most of them have thin skin & hate it when talk show hosts & their callers explain why the gov't sucks.
The MSM will cheer it on, of course. But ANY revival of the "Fairness Doctrine" should include television news/comment. Fair is fair, what's good for one is good for the other.
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin
The Fairness Doctrine is not the only threat to talk radio
January 29, 2008 - 09:15 ET by nkviking75Check out my forum item on proposed FCC rules on "localism" in radio for more attempts to meddle with programming.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
I must have missed all the
January 28, 2008 - 22:40 ET by gopsteveI must have missed all the stories about editorial page endorsements having little effect in the presidential elections as the GOP won 7 of last ten prez elections...I am sure that story is out there, just have missed it.
Oh, I see. Talk radio, day
January 28, 2008 - 23:27 ET by motherbeltOh, I see. Talk radio has no effect. The Kennedy familiy's endorsement means Obama's election is a done deal.
Then I take it there is no need for the "Fairness Doctrine"
January 28, 2008 - 23:35 ET by R D HelmI mean, if talk radio has become as utterly impotent as the left is trying to convince us of here.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. -J.W. von Goethe
McCain
January 28, 2008 - 23:48 ET by iveseenitallMcCain, a true war hero, has become a lying little twit, despised by millions.Talk radio didn't do it to him; he did it himself. What a shame. He should've quit while he was ahead.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
isia,
January 28, 2008 - 23:50 ET by R D HelmMcCain's lie about Romney supporting a set date for troop withdrawal was beyond the pale. I hope this total fraud of a "conservative" has his head handed to him tommorow, or if not, on Super Tuesday.
I swear, if this clown wins the republican nomination, I will vote for his democrat opponent.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. -J.W. von Goethe
"I swear, if this clown
January 28, 2008 - 23:53 ET by Blazer"I swear, if this clown wins the republican nomination, I will vote for his democrat opponent."
I second that RD, two different road's, same destination.
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
Blazer,
January 29, 2008 - 00:04 ET by R D HelmIt is like I said elsewhere here earlier today. If we are going to have amnesty, tax increases, environmental nuttiness and what have you, signed into law, it would be far better for the republicans come next election if the signature on those bills was a democrat, not a republican.
I believe McCain would sign them all without so much as blinking.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. -J.W. von Goethe
R D
January 29, 2008 - 00:01 ET by botgyou, hater, leon, eyecare, rhayes, monty, mobius, proffy, all voting the same ;^>
Supreme Court, National Security, Borders, Fiscal Restraint, my litmus test for President.
botg, you forgot Dave High. :-)
January 29, 2008 - 00:09 ET by R D HelmOh, and Snotty, too. LOL.
And see my comment just above yours.
There is method to my apparent madness.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. -J.W. von Goethe
Snotty? i did too say
January 29, 2008 - 00:13 ET by botgSnotty? i did too say eyecare!!!
but i left out one million dearly departed
Supreme Court, National Security, Borders, Fiscal Restraint, my litmus test for President.
botg,
January 29, 2008 - 00:19 ET by R D HelmHey, after two years, its hard to keep 'em all straight.
I mean, they all sound so much alike.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. -J.W. von Goethe
this place is so full of
January 29, 2008 - 00:22 ET by botgcontent it just makes 3 weeks seem like two years!!!!
Supreme Court, National Security, Borders, Fiscal Restraint, my litmus test for President.
McCain wants Amnesty, Higher Taxes, Gay Marriage, Abortion
January 29, 2008 - 08:33 ET by PopularTechJohn McCain: The Democrats' Favorite Republican (Video) (1min)
"I believe my party has gone astray. I think the Democratic Party is a fine party, and I have no problems with it, in their views and their philosophy." - John McCain
McCain Calls Conservative Leaders 'Agents of Intolerance' (The Wall Street Journal)
"Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be ... on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right." - John McCain
McCain's Age (Townhall)
Age: 71
- McCain graduated 894th out of 899 in his class at the United States Naval Academy
Betrayal, deceit, corruption and John McCain (The U.S. Veteran Dispatch)
"While still married to Carol, McCain began an adulterous relationship with Cindy. He married Cindy in May 1980 - just a month after dumping his crippled wife and securing a divorce."
John McCain: The Geraldo Rivera Republican (Human Events)
McCain: I'll Respect Hillary (NewsMax)
"I Have No Doubt That Senator Clinton Would Make A Good President." - John McCain
The Real McCain Record (National Review Online)
Abortion:
John McCain Supports Embryonic Stem Cell Research (Audio)
McCain Softens Abortion Stand (The Washington Post)
"But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations." - John McCain
Anger Issues:
Andy Card: I Have Seen John McCain's Anger (NewsMax)
John McCain: I Have Anger Issues (NewsMax)
John McCain's Temper Preceded Vietnam (NewsMax)
McCain Goes Nuts Near Senate Floor (NewsMax)
McCain's Out-of-Control Anger: Does He Have the Temperament to Be President? (NewsMax)
Vanity Fair Tiptoes Around McCain's Explosive Temper (NewsMax)
Endorsements:
Juan Hernandez, Open borders Advocate Endorses McCain (HotAir)
Republicans for Al Gore (Environmental Protection) Endorses McCain (Press Release)
The New York Times Endorses John McCain and Clinton (Reuters)
Foreign Policy:
McCain considers setting benchmarks for Iraqis (Arizona Daily Star)
McCain falls asleep during the State of the Union Address (Video)
McCain: No 'Torture' for 9/11 Mastermind (NewsMax)
McCain to Close Gitmo: "The first day I am President" (Video)
McCain: Torture Worked on Me (NewsMax)
Global Warming:
McCain and Lieberman Push for New Anti-Global Warming Legislation (The National Center for Public Policy Research)
Senators McCain and Lieberman Propose Energy Tax (The National Center for Public Policy Research)
"No drilling in ANWR, nor in the Everglades, nor off the coast of Florida... To think that drilling in ANWR is the solution to our incredible energy needs is frankly, is not keeping in the reality of what's there, and what it would take to get it out" - John McCain
"I always have a glass of ethanol before breakfast every morning" - John McCain
Illegal Immigration:
McCain Would Sign Amnesty Bill as President (Video)
John McCain gets a 'D' on his Immigration Voting Report Card (Americans for Better Immigration)
- McCain favors business lobbyists’ desires for foreign workers vs. protecting American workers’ wages and jobs
- McCain’s hopes of giving millions amnesty will saddle American taxpayers with huge costs of $20,000 per illegal per year
- McCain has taken the pro-amnesty position in nearly two dozen votes
- McCain only promises to make 2 million of the 12-20 million illegal aliens go home
John McCain Praises Pro-illegal Protests (NewsMax)
McCain aide touts 'Mexico first' policy (WorldNetDaily)
McCain: "Americans Will Not Pick Lettuce for $50 an Hour" (AFL-CIO)
McCain called plan 'amnesty' in 2003 (WorldNetDaily)
"I think we can set up a program where amnesty is extended to a certain number of people, Amnesty has to be an important part..." - John McCain, 2003
McCain: U.S. Should Welcome Illegal Immigrants (FOXNews)
McCain Voted For Illegal Immigrants To Collect Social Security (UC Daily News)
Michigan Crowd Boos McCain On Illegal Immigration (Video) (1min)
Open borders advocate Juan Hernandez has joined the McCain campaign (HotAir)
U.S. Border Patrol Agents Angry with McCain (NewsMax)
Marriage:
Christian Leader James Dobson says 'no way' to McCain candidacy (WorldNetDaily)
"I think that gay marriage should be allowed if there's a ceremony kind of thing, if you wanna call it that. I don't have any problem with that" - John McCain
McCain: Same-sex marriage ban is un-Republican (CNN)
Taxes:
"I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated." - John McCain
McCain: For and Against Tax Cuts (Video)
McCain Boasts That He Voted Against The Bush Tax Cuts (Video)
McCain Would Vote Against Tax Cuts Again (The Club for Growth)
- McCain sponsored and voted for an enormous 282% tax increase on cigarettes in 1998
- McCain was one of only two Republican to vote against the $1.35 trillion tax cut in 2001
- McCain was one of only two Republicans to twice vote against permanent repeal of the death tax in 2002
- McCain was one of only three Republican to twice vote against the $350 billion tax cut in 2003
McCain’s Costly Tax on Energy (National Review Online)
- The EPA Estimates Sen. McCain's Plan Would Hike Gas Taxes By 68 Cents Per Gallon
- The EPA Estimates Sen. McCain's Plan Would Reduce United States GDP By As Much As $5.2 Trillion
McCain Rejects Anti-Tax Pledge (CNSNews)
Veterans:
McCain Can't Buy His Way Out of Votes Against Funding for Veterans
- McCain Voted Against $19 Billion for Military Hospitals
- McCain Voted Against Amendment to Provide $2.8 Billion For Veterans' Medical Care
- McCain Voted Against 2005 Amendment to Provide Guaranteed Funding Stream for Veterans' Health Care
- McCain Voted Against Establishing $1 Billion Trust Fund to Provide Improvements to Military and Veterans' Health Facilities
- McCain Voted Against Adding $1.5 billion to Veterans' Medical Services in FY 2007 by Closing Corporate Tax Loopholes
- McCain Voted Against Mandatory Funding of $6.9 Billion in FY 2007 and $104 Billion Over Five Years for Veterans' Health Care
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
good work
January 29, 2008 - 13:25 ET by jitumaluPopularTech, do you have a list for Romney as well?