The Death of the Right's Power on Radio and the Web
They had a long run. Rush and Malkin and Lucianne and Drudge and Free Republic and those Littlle Green Footballs.
But it's over. The Obama Presidency will produce untold millions for these guys because frustration and hate is something you can take to the bank -- but with no branch of government under their control, they have been rendered powerless. Who will pay attention when some irrelevant rightist hack like Eric Cantor (R-VA) or Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) rushes to the House floor to cite a Michael Savage diatribe? Nobody.
A great part of the Right's strength was the belief -- shared by many on the left -- that they represented the majority. We were an embattled minority, fighting them, history and demographic trends.
"We are, after all, a center/right country," they said and we echoed.
But now it is clear we are not. We're a centrist country and they are perceived by a clear, strong majority of Americans as the fringe. (Just look at those election returns from 2008 and 2006). They are like the far left. In that famous old dustbin.
I read their websites. They are counting on (hoping and praying) that Barack Obama will be a bad manager like Carter or undisciplined like Clinton. Not very likely. Besides, without control of Congress, what can they do anyway?
They can talk and raise money. We have the White House, Congress and are better at raising money.
So they are back to where they where after Goldwater lost. The wilderness. Except there is a difference, in 1964 they had never been in power. They were wrong, but fresh and untainted. They had ideas, not just hatred of gay people and an obsession with abortion.
Now they are the Old Guard (Bob Novak predicts Newt Gingrich as their 2012 nominee).
I give Obama alot of credit for all this. But I give just as much credit to the right for being so consumed with making money (legally, illegally) and issues Americans don't care about that they have become a joke. But count on Limbaugh and Bill O to make more money than even they can dream about. But, hey, as long as we raise their taxes to the skies, I'm cool with that.
BTW, I started watching Fox. It's so much fun now.
Me, too, MJ. I particularly, enjoyed Fox's attempt to outline a Acorn-Ayres-Khalidi Ruling Axis. Where are some real Bolsheviks when conspiracies abound.....?
BTW, have you asked Rep. Bachmann when she started hating America? When did she give in to "unAmerican" Americans and Communists? It appears that after the election, she was quite gracious to Obama. How can you be gracious to a communist? (sarcasm).
November 10, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Careful, MJ. Rush Limbaugh should probably pick the priciest luxury good that he's bought with his millions and name it after one or both of the Clintons. These guys thrive in the wilderness.
And, heck, even Josh Marshall is worried about this. Right after the election he posted his thoughts about where TPM would go in 2009 in part to answer the question -- how does TPM grow in its first years outside of the opposition?
That's not to compare Marshall to Limbaugh, of course. But it is to say that a partisan or ideological enterprise can sometimes grow fastest when it's just taken a stunning defeat.
I think we're moving from center right to center and maybe even center left. But I also think that Limbaugh and Murdoch and all of those types expect to make a lot of money off that transition.
November 10, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Real America crowd actually loves the opposition. You can't refute a policy that is not in effect.
November 10, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's much more fun to be the party of whiny opposition when you're actually in power. Sure, some of the dead-enders will stay on for a long time, sniping and cursing every time another sick kid gets to see a doctor or another poor family keeps its home. But a lot of them mostly liked the bullying and the vicarious sense of access to power, and they can be peeled off in fairly straightforward fashion.
Of course, having them join the democratic party won't be terribly helpful either.
November 10, 2008 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it would be naive for us to assume they are toast. Disillusioned conservatives will flock to listen to the likes of Rush, Hannity and O'Reilly.
What's more, if things don't go well with President Obama then many in the middle will start to listen to. The pendulum swings and doesn't stop swinging. There will be high times for the right again, and lows for the left.
Don't make the mistake of allowing the euphoria of Obama's victory to cloud your judgement. This is the beginning of a long slog to consolidate President Obama's mandate, and to simply write off the reactionary right is a recipe for failure in that regard.
November 10, 2008 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've been alive a long time, and I've seen control cycle from one party to another.
I can even remember when the Democrats had complete control of the NC Senate and House and split into two warring factions: the Dixiecrats and the Democrats.
That is what I suspect will happen this time, both federally and in Dem majority states. Everyone (conservative and liberal) will run as a Democrat (since Republicans can't win) so there will be Conservative Democrats and Social Democrats.
The real elections will take place at the primaries.
November 10, 2008 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope the long and tortured reign of the right wing talking heads is over, but I'll hold my judgment on that one for awhile. Fox News is pretty amusing right now, they can't quite praise Obama for anything he does and yet they really have nothing else to talk about, so it's become a slide show of cute Obama family pictures, Lego Fashion Show highlights and stark terror warnings that are as vague as can be expected from Fox News. I do expect them to become irrelevant some time soon, especially if Obama and his administration continue to ignore them and the world will be a much better place if that does occur.
November 10, 2008 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Its interesting to note that the folks on Freeper are calling for a Fox Boycott? They betrayed the cause by reporting those Palin stories. What I would like to see is more progressive radio. XM baby, thats the future.
November 10, 2008 3:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
What can the Republicans possibly say in order to get back in power? What will their message be in trying to regain the Congress or White House?
There's nothing they can say, the snake oil they sold the public to get elected for the past 25 years has now been shown for what it is, bullshit. Less Government? Less regulations? Trickle down economics? "free trade"? "free markets"? Tax cuts? Family values? flag waving? Try selling that to get back in the public's good graces.
Hey, how about another Contract with America?
The Republicans have only one way to get back in power in the near future, and that's for Obama and the Democrats to screw up; and the way they might do that is to get in bed with Wall Street and the boys in the Corporate board rooms which will lead to trickle down government.
November 10, 2008 5:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Republican Party is dead. The conservatives will infiltrate the Democrat Party.
November 10, 2008 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's what they said in 1964 after the LBJ landslide, and that's what they said in 1976 after Carter won because people wanted to punish the Republicans for Watergate. They also said the same about the Democrats after 2 Reagan blowouts. Do you really want a one-party system?
November 11, 2008 3:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
As long as there's a NeoCon breathing, I'm going to consider the celebration premature.
Sometimes they go dormant for years.
November 10, 2008 6:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's amusing to see how full of yourselves you libs are right now. You won in 06 and 08 by lying, by pretending to be for lower taxes and less spending. Most of the dems that won in 06 were allegedly conservative. Obama ran on a middle class tax cut. Sooner rather than later the truth will come out, and people will see they were duped. Carter lead to 12 years of Republican rule. Clinton lead to 12 years of Republican control of Congress and 8 years of Bush. When you start moving left, same thing will happen this time.
November 10, 2008 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
And now that America has seen the totality of "8 years of Bush", it's an albatross that can be hung around Republicans' necks for years to come. The trainwreck which is the George W Bush administration has spent more than the next 2 or 3 generations can ever repay, so let's put to rest the canard of Republicans being fiscally responsible.
Keep wishing, my friend - you're about to be sadly disappointed.
November 11, 2008 7:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
I for one don't mind them going dormant. Just as long as they GO!
November 10, 2008 6:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks MJ, but I disagree - Republican rule has been bad for business, but right wing morons will come back strong, or try to, and we won't be able to shut them up. As soon as Obama makes his first Dem cabinet appointment, the spittle will begin flying again.
And best of all, there are young new righties entering the fold every day, hearing Rush's show as if for the very first time. And these young folks will grow up accepting the Ramesh Ponnorus of the world as master thinkers. God bless 'em.
November 11, 2008 2:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
MJ-
I am sorry, I realize what I am going to say here is not related to this thread, but to an earlier one of yours, in which I asked to tell us to give us some idea of how you know your IPF Newsletter is "the most widely distributed weekly newletter on the Middle East in the world". Instead of answering me, you resorted to Stalinist demogoguery and called me "a settler" ("see folks, he is an 'enemy of the people', we don't have to relate to him"). You make all sorts of undocumented assertions in your numerous postings, I think if you make one like that which you should be able to give us information about, you would do a lot to enhance your credibility.
So again, how do you know your IPF newsletter is the most widely distributed one of its type in the world. I am waiting for your answer (unless, of course, you can't answer it-which will speak volumes about you).
November 11, 2008 3:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'll reply although I prefer not engaging with West Bank settlers.
We know how many IPF Fridays are distributed (about 200,000). And we know what the (few) other weekly newsletters claim like AIPAC's Near East Report (100,000).
IPF Friday is emailed directly by us, reprinted weekly in TPM and Huffington and usually in another half dozen places so....
Nothing else comes close.
We don't distribute to the settlements which is why you haven't received your free subacription!
November 11, 2008 7:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
For your information, I live in a suburb of Tel Aviv. Now, according to your friends in the Palestinian Authority, Tel Aviv is listed also as a "settlement" in their propaganda (Palestine Media Watch pointed this out recently in the Jerusalem Post). So if you don't send to "settlements", you had better cut off everybody in Israel. However, even if we accept the definition of "settlement" meaning Jewish communities in Judea/Samaria, aren't these davka the people you want to reach with your message? After all, they the ones you want to expel.
November 11, 2008 7:44 AM | Reply | Permalink