Are the Neocon talk radio hosts obsolete?

[JimInNY]

With all of their whoring for Romney over the past couple of weeks, they seem to have come up way short. Can we now consider them obsolete?

All of their candidates are gone from race. That tells me that people either aren't listening or don't put much weight on their opinions any more.

That makes me LMFAO!

[RonPaulFTFW]

The right wing neo-cons are dead.

The republican party is moving left just like the democrats moved right a few years ago.

[WilliamC]

Rush just said he was still relevant!

I heard him!

heh heh.

[JimInNY]

Rush just said he was still relevant!

I heard him!

heh heh.

My ass he is. Cancel his show! He is done! :D

[TC95]

Rush just said he was still relevant!

I heard him!

heh heh.

I rarely listen to Rush, but I decided to tune in to him today to hear how he was dealing with Romney suspending his campaign. I also listened to him a little bit yesterday in the car on the way to the grocerty store.

Yesterday, some guy called up and said how he really dislikes McCain and was wondering what people like him were supposed to do if McCain gets the nomination. He asked if he was just supposed to say he likes McCain now just because he gets the nomination. Rush said that he doesn't have to say he likes McCain and not to make his vote FOR McCain, but AGAINST Hillary, instead. So, basically Rush's advice was to vote for McCain anyway to keep Hillary out of office.

Then today he went on and on about how the Repubican party is asking conservatives to come on board for the good of the party even though we don't have any true conservatives anymore. Rush basically said that it's the Republican leadership's job to fix the party that they broke so that conservatives will want to come on board.

He also said that the Republican party is depending on conservatives to get out there and vote for McCain because they fear and loathe Hillary, so they want Hillary to get the dem nomination because we fear and loathe her enough to vote for McCain just to keep her out. Then stupid Rush decided that maybe it would be a great idea if he asked his listeners to send Hillary money to increase her chances of getting the nomination, so that we will get out there with all our fear and loathing of Hillary and vote for McCain in November even though we hate him, too.

So, he railed on and on about how it's so wrong for the Republican party to ask us to stay on board even though they're not a conservative party anymore, but he said that he is considering asking his listeners to donate to Hillary so she'll have a better chance of winning, so that conservatives will vote against her in November.

You know what? I loathe Hillary, but I don't fear her. I'm not gonna vote for McWar just to keep Hillary out of office. I'm writing in Ron Paul anyway even if he doesn't get the nomination.

I say that Rush deserves Hillary for being such a whore for the Republican party that he'll consider asking his listeners to donate to her to help her chances of winning so that conservatives will vote for McCain anyway, just because his name isn't Hillary.

Rush hasn't officially asked his listeners to donate to Hillary, but he said he's considering it. Well, I think he just asked them to without outright saying it. A lot of his sheep will probably do it just because he mentioned it.

[RonPaulFTFW]

Guys... why are you so worried about hillary?

she's broke and white males are now voting for Obama.
She took out a 5 mil loan from her own coffers and obama raised 7 million in 24 hours.

I don't think she'll win.

[Mani]

I rarely listen to Rush, but I decided to tune in to him today to hear how he was dealing with Romney suspending his campaign. I also listened to him a little bit yesterday in the car on the way to the grocerty store.

Yesterday, some guy called up and said how he really dislikes McCain and was wondering what people like him were supposed to do if McCain gets the nomination. He asked if he was just supposed to say he likes McCain now just because he gets the nomination. Rush said that he doesn't have to say he likes McCain and not to make his vote FOR McCain, but AGAINST Hillary, instead. So, basically Rush's advice was to vote for McCain anyway to keep Hillary out of office.

Then today he went on and on about how the Repubican party is asking conservatives to come on board for the good of the party even though we don't have any true conservatives anymore. Rush basically said that it's the Republican leadership's job to fix the party that they broke so that conservatives will want to come on board.

He also said that the Republican party is depending on conservatives to get out there and vote for McCain because they fear and loathe Hillary, so they want Hillary to get the dem nomination because we fear and loathe her enough to vote for McCain just to keep her out. Then stupid Rush decided that maybe it would be a great idea if he asked his listeners to send Hillary money to increase her chances of getting the nomination, so that we will get out there with all our fear and loathing of Hillary and vote for McCain in November even though we hate him, too.

So, he railed on and on about how it's so wrong for the Republican party to ask us to stay on board even though they're not a conservative party anymore, but he said that he is considering asking his listeners to donate to Hillary so she'll have a better chance of winning, so that conservatives will vote against her in November.

You know what? I loathe Hillary, but I don't fear her. I'm not gonna vote for McWar just to keep Hillary out of office. I'm writing in Ron Paul anyway even if he doesn't get the nomination.

I say that Rush deserves Hillary for being such a whore for the Republican party that he'll consider asking his listeners to donate to her to help her chances of winning so that conservatives will vote for McCain anyway, just because his name isn't Hillary.

Rush hasn't officially asked his listeners to donate to Hillary, but he said he's considering it. Well, I think he just asked them to without outright saying it. A lot of his sheep will probably do it just because he mentioned it.



WOW! After all that, we are back to, "The Lesser of Two Evils." Hillary VS McCain. Unbelievable.

[TC95]

Guys... why are you so worried about hillary?

she's broke and white males are now voting for Obama.
She took out a 5 mil loan from her own coffers and obama raised 7 million in 24 hours.

I don't think she'll win.

That's exactly why Rush said he was considering asking his listeners to donate to her. He knows she's going broke and is afraid she'll be out and conservatives won't hate Obama enough to vote for McCain. He said that if he does ask his listeners to donate to her, the slogan will be, "Keep her in it, so we can win it." I guarantee you that a lot of his stupid sheep will do it, too.

[blakjak]

Funny you mention this. Check out this article from Glen Beck today:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Glenn Beck


Well, actually, it's not just the rumors of my demise; it's me, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and every other conservative talk radio host.

Here's how the theory goes:

1. Rush Limbaugh is the most powerful and influential conservative talk radio host around.

2. Rush Limbaugh spoke out on the air against John McCain.

3. John McCain still did well in the primaries.

4. Rush Limbaugh must have no power or influence.

5. Conservative talk radio is dead.

But that cute little theory leaves out a few important facts.

First, no one -- from Rush, to Schwarzenegger, to Ted Kennedy, to Oprah -- has enough power to dictate an election. Nor should they. The founding fathers thought that might be a bad idea -- remember, they had already gotten their fill of the whole monarchy thing.

Secondly, I don't wake up every morning hoping to influence anyone to do anything. Unlike Air America (the liberal radio network that has consistently failed) I don't consider it my job to win elections for any one candidate, let alone an entire political party. My job is to entertain. Period. If people relate to what I say, and maybe find a little piece of themselves in the process, then great, I get to keep my job for another day.

But let's put that aside for a second and assume hypothetically that talk radio's mission is to directly influence behavior. Let's even assume that all the hosts get a morning talking-points email directly from the White House and/or Halliburton with our "original thoughts" of the day outlined.

What influence would any of that really even have on an election?

Sure, conservative talk radio has an enormous audience -- tens of millions of listeners -- but over 215 million Americans were eligible to vote in 2004. So even if talk radio hosts could completely manipulate every single voter in their audiences, it would still be just a fraction of the voting public. In a close general election, with two vastly different candidates, that fraction could very well make a difference. But in a wide-open primary with a half-dozen candidates all claiming to be conservative? Not a chance.

Even when people point to instances where talk radio has had influence, they're missing the point: it's not the hosts who had the power, it's our listeners. For example, when the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill was being rubber stamped through Congress last year, it was conservative talk radio that ignited the fire that eventually stopped the bill in its tracks. But that fire didn't start because we brainwashed people; it started because we focused them.

We didn't change anyone's opinion, we just helped open their eyes to the one they already had. And that is the real power of talk radio -- we can take an issue or a problem and shine a national spotlight on it. Sometimes enough people look and decide that it warrants action. Sometimes they don't. But that's not our decision to make; and it's certainly not our job to make it.

Part of the reason why this is even a story is that the media doesn't understand talk radio at all. They like to pretend that our listeners are one big, dumb voting block that's ordered around by us hosts. But while that would make our advertisers extraordinarily happy (and wealthy) people, the reality is that our listeners are exceptionally smart, independent people.

Years of open, honest conversations on the air have resulted in an implicit trust between talk radio listeners and some hosts. But just because you trust someone doesn't mean you always agree with them let alone blindly follow them. For example, you might trust your real estate agent, but you're not going to buy a house just because they describe it to you. Talk radio is the same way: we bring our listeners to the issues we think they might like, but they ultimately do their own homework and make their own decisions.

Our listeners are the people who actually know what McCain-Feingold is. They are the people who have done a full cost-benefit study of McCain-Lieberman. They are the people who have listened to hours of analysis on the Z-Visa buried in McCain-Kennedy. They are the people who care enough to know what they're actually voting for.

As a result, some of them have considered all of the information and decided that John McCain is worth their vote because he is brilliantly ahead of the curve. Others have decided that he's simply the best bet to keep Clinton or Obama out of the White House. But the vast majority of them have spread their votes out among candidates named Huckabee, Romney, and Paul (and, in some cases, Giuliani, Thompson, Hunter and Tancredo as well).

No matter the reason, the point is that our listeners have their own brains. They make up their own minds. Talk radio may be one source of information, but it's certainly not their only one.

The biggest irony in all of this is that most of the people who are claiming (or is it hoping?) that talk radio has no influence are the same people who are hoping for a Hillary/McCain match-up this November.

Why is that ironic? Because nothing -- absolutely nothing -- will drive more listeners to conservative talk radio than a liberal back in the White House.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/07/beck.talk.radio/index.html

[michaelwise]

How many of us agreed with them before we became enlightened? How many Dr. Paul supporters, who were former listeners, did they lose?

[JimInNY]

How many of us agreed with them before we became enlightened? How many Dr. Paul supporters, who were former listeners, did they lose?

They lost anyone with a brain.

[michaelwise]

Conservative talk radio and the main stream media are a steering machine. They are now steering Hillary to be the democratic nominee by talking as if she already is. They present only the candidates, in a good light and with more coverage, who are acceptable to their corporate owners. We know most good coverage means most votes. This is sad.

[Geronimo]

Beck must be crushed. He was playing suicidal yesterday. Poor bastard!

[TC95]

That's exactly why Rush said he was considering asking his listeners to donate to her. He knows she's going broke and is afraid she'll be out and conservatives won't hate Obama enough to vote for McCain. He said that if he does ask his listeners to donate to her, the slogan will be, "Keep her in it, so we can win it." I guarantee you that a lot of his stupid sheep will do it, too.

I listened to Rush again today and he said that the idea to ask his listeners to donate to Hillary is off. He said that they were lied to about Hillary being out of money. Apparently, it was rumored that she was so broke that she wasn't even paying her campaign staff. He said that she did in fact lend her campaign $5,000,000.00, but her staff is being paid and she's not as broke as was being let on. He basically said it was an evil ploy by the Clintons to get more money.

I wonder how many of his listeners actually gave her donations before Rush officially gave the marching orders to do so.

I'm never listening to Rush again. He sickens me.