Bring back Steve Malzberg!
Sharpest?? No wonder Dems won the election
“The enthusiasm that got people out in 2010, I'm seeing at every Mitt Romney rally. Romney's drawing crowds of 20,000, 25,000, 30,000, 15,000. “The enthusiasm that we all saw in 2010 is there. The same issues that existed in 2010 exist today. There hasn't been anything that's gotten better.”
Rush: Everything But Polls Say Romney Landslide (Newmax Monday, 05 Nov 2012)
Talk radio giant Rush Limbaugh says that Sen. John McCain will score a stunning upset over Sen. Barack Obama and win the presidency on Nov. 4
[Rush] Limbaugh Predicts McCain Victory (NewsMax ^ | October 31, 2008 | David A. Patten, FR thread link )
I almost forgot this one :
We Could See a McCain Landslide (Rushlimbaugh.com, August 12, 2008)
I totally agree. My sentiments, concerns and thoughts exactly.
“The fact is that Obama will not run again.”
Don’t be too sure...
(Or, to be super cynical...”Obama won’t have to run after the US Presidency is converted to a Monarchy.”)
Head of the DPW in a small town? Anything to suggest about small town poltiics?
City Councilor in a mid-size city? How have you accomplished something?
State rep? State senator? What do you think about the local scene?
US Rep? US Senator? Advice for building a better future?
Find people with plans, who have successfully executed those plans, and provide daily encouragement and object lessons on how regular people can get involved and make a difference. Because complaining about either Hillary or John Boehner is getting a little old.
I gave up on all of the conservative talking bobbleheads when they failed to address the BC issue in any manner other then saying nothing or belittling those who believe there is an issue.
I have experienced the same epiphany as the author. I like Rush, but Obama’s radicalism and his hatred of this country and its institutions have been the subject of endless hours of talk radio and other conservative media. But beyond its cathartic effect, what has it done to move the debate? Ultimately, it is the low information voters that decide the direction of the country in a bitterly divided electorate. As much as it might hurt to engage the painfully stupid out there, we have to find a way to do so.
Rush has a long history of being wrong.
Back in late 2010 early 2011 he was saying Obama wasnt interested in re-election, that may not even run, and he certainly wont fight for it.(I recognized crap at the time.)
And his nonsense is repeated here in comments regularly.
What amazes me is those who still believe him. The only explanation is that they cant leave the imaginary world he creates.
With a few exceptions excluded, the forth estate is a fifth column.
Otherwise the article isnt bad.
I respectfully disagree. In 2012, the Republican Party, taking its base for granted, nominated and ran a moderate-liberal candidate. The overt hostility from the GOP-e toward the Conservative wing ("Hey, where are they going to go!") further compounded this error. As numerous analyses have demonstrated, Romney was successful with Independents, but the principled Conservatives he needed stayed at home.
The GOP has completely misread the election results. We are not (yet) a county of moochers, but the Republicans are quickly throwing away their defining principles in an effort to make the media and the moderates like them. My guess is they will lose the House in 2014 as a result.
Concering Rush, he has devolved from a leader to a complainer. Those of us who pay attention (and taxes) know what the problems are; we don't need him to remind us on a daily basis (plus, his "Low-information Voter" segments became tedious rather quickly). I no longer listen to his show.
Rush wins the argument everyday. It doesn’t matter. The question is: what do we DO?
People expect too much from talk radio. People tune in as one of the only ways to listen to somewhat like minded thinking they might share. The is so because the MSM, coupled with the White House as a giant propaganda machine, still rules the roost.
Problem with us is that we have not been able to reach people the way we need to because the MSM just locks us out and refuses to report news.
The left controls the movies, schools, and almost every walk of life now. You will not counter them by playing by their rules.
Truth is we are going to have to be much tougher and start using words the way they do.
Then again, maybe it is just too late, the Titanic is sinking and talk radio is the band still playing as we sink. The other side has perfected fraud, so don’t get the hopes up for 2014.
It wouldn’t be so bad losing to nice people, but losing to this pack of rabid mongrels is pathetic.
Except for the Tea Party showing up, on the ground, weird looking hats and all, what have WE been doing since? Leaders emerge from movement, but there is none.
Pretty hard for Rush and other conservative programmers to carry our lethargic behinds over the line, three hours a day, musing on that.
The Tea Party won their first battle and it all came from US, not the conservative talkers who speak and report on our themes.
Seems to me, we’ve lost our nerves, making excuses that some RINO will take over our movement, so let’s not try.
There are plenty of organizations out there, and the NRA is only one. There is one other with nerve— the Libertarians, and most southern churches. The black 2A defenders just marched. Has anybody gotten in touch with them?
We may not like each other’s views, but look at all the single issues that bring us together in the blink of an eye, and there is no vehicle for a disparate group of Americans to come together and carry that single issue.
Freedom of Religion and Speech and the Right to Bear Arms is has a silent majority out there, still. Churches are going to have to get in on some of this, lest they get silenced themselves, or taxed out of their own solvency.
I can relate to this author - I was demoralized after the election and have had a bit of “what’s the use/may as well focus on matters close to home” attitude - mostly because the Republicans are so spineless.
I also can relate to Rush - he, Barone, others, including a lot here were just shellshocked at how what we thought was just a White Guilt, moment-in-time fluke in 2008 has been really revealed to be a sad state of culture/pop-culture stupidity. It’s still hard to believe that the backbone based on True and Godly principles is now routinely mocked and portrayed as the exception - not the fiber.
I agree with many of the comments posted here. I don’t listen very often anymore but I wouldn’t be too hard on Rush. There is room for criticism but let’s make it constructive. Most of us know that talk radio or other media isn’t going to win the day for conservatives. Our problems are deeper than the sphere talk radio deals with. Our problems are moral and, let’s face it, no one wants to go there. Even here on Free Republic the occasional articles addressing the moral abyss that is America don’t usually get too many replies - a few, but it’s like people are tiptoeing around them. We stink like a bloated cesspool and we all know it. The line in the sand has been drawn. We have two claims for absolute truth competing head to head and our side it losing. I do agree with ClearCase_guy that our focus and energy politically might be better spent at the local level. It will probably never rise to the point where talk radio will deal with it - but who knows. I think Christian Americans need to prepare for real persecution and I wish all Americans would spend more time on their knees praying for their country and taking stock of their own heart and relationship with their Creator. Another post of today is worth reading if you haven’t already - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2980294/posts
At best, talk radio is preaching to the (shrinking) choir. At worst, its job is to keep that choir content that someone is out there who shares their beliefs. Opinon-making is being increasingly done on the Internet and the Comedy Channel. Conservatives don't have to like these facts, but they have to recognize them and change tactics.
[I realize that most persons have moved on by the time I finish writing long comments, but I’m going to post what I wrote anyway.]
>”...none of this data penetrated the minds of less engaged American voters, all of whom who listened to the media’s siren song and reelected Obama.” [Bookworm]<
Yes, as others have said, the left has greater access to the people who are only casually interested in politics (and I like the term “low-information voter”). That’s a major handicap. We on the right fulminate against the left on talk radio and at sites such as this one, and against RINOs or less conservative Republicans (such as McCain and Romney), yet we don’t even manage to win in the primaries in large turnout elections such as the presidential ones.
With a little luck, and a slightly better candidate, we might get a few more percentage points in the elections and get somebody elected who’s preferable to the likes of Obama. We’re underdogs in any major contest with the left, though, because they control the schools, the entertainment industry, and the mainstream news media.
I don’t see an easy or quick way to remedy this (and I’m rather pessimistic about whether it can be remedied). I don’t oppose internal criticism (though I dislike continually hearing people swear that they’ll never vote for this person or that — against any alternative). Just raging against what we think is wrong here, though, won’t give us access to the low information voter.
I think we need to make more inroads into the mainstream media. Attempt to reduce their bias at least in the ways that are open to us. For instance, lately I’ve been editing some Wikipedia articles, mostly for non-political purposes (merely because I’m interested in the topics). I’ve also tried to reduce leftist political bias when I see it, though. Not in dramatic confrontational ways (not yet anyway), or by substituting bias of my own, but by honestly trying to make the articles more objective.
My trivial efforts are just a drop in the bucket, but if millions of persons on the right did something to reduce the bias of the pop media, that might help. We still need rightwing talk radio and internet sites that promote the right — if for nothing else, as places of refuge, and to bolster our spirits — but just winning battles there won’t win elections. One way or another we need to influence the so-called “objective” media too, both by modifying what’s there and by helping less biased competitors.
I am tired of the anger.
Rush is better than most. But I barely listen to talk radio any more.
I understand things make us angry.
But anger is not helpful. Marching orders, as this author mentions, are. I am interested in making things better, not stewing in angry juice.