Posted by
King Vinyl on Friday, November 07, 2008 10:01:06 AM
I want to preface this by stating that as a 6 y/o boy I was mesmerised by my first taste of politics in watching Ronald Reagan debate Jimmy Carter. The first time I heard Rush my father and I were driving through Kansas in my teens. Some years later I spend about 8 to 10 hours a day listening to various talk show while at home and at work. There are some that I like better than others, one my favorites is Savage just because he is not afraid to take on anyone, and because he tell good stories. I can't stand Oreilly, Hewitt most of the time because both tend to gravitate to what they think is right without the support of the facts. Hannity, Ingraham, Galahger, Medved, and Levin are all trying to be the next Limbaugh. The Rush doctrine that has propelled him to fame is a simple four letter word, 'fact'. When Rush presents the ideals of the conservative movement he uses historical facts to back up his oppinions. But then I have just stated the obvious, so lets get to the rest of the story.
Starting at this time last year the GOP found itself in a huge dillema. The top tier prospects in the partys preidential nomination field were all liberal. Despite his record of achievement as Mayor of New York Rudi Guiliani had a socially liberal record on issues the base found unacceptable. John McCain had fought conservatism from within the GOP as a Senator enraging that same group of voters. His insistance upon reaching across the isle without expecting Democrats do so in return was his achilles heal. Mitt Romney who claimed to be Conservative was perhaps the most Liberal of the bunch. His record as Govenor of Massachusetts was clearly pro choice, pro gay rights, pro goverment health care, and amnesty for illegal aliens. Despite his record he ran a campaign opposite of all those positions which left most informed voters troubled by his change.
It became even more clear that as the primaries approached and with Bush's ratings falling that Conservatives were not on board with any of them. The talkers most of all saw this as their formats became a platform for the primary get out the vote effort. When it became apparent that the detested McCain had just as much of a chance as the other two the talkers sought to promote someone to knock him off the top tier. They didn't want Hunter, Paul, or Tancredo because they thought their views to be too radical. They saw it as a weakness in the general election that Huckabee had been a Baptist minister. So they pushed a late coming Fred Thompson into the void. The problem was that Thompson didn't really want the job. Sure he would serve if elected and do so to the best of his abilities, but he lacked the drive to campaign for the right to do so. As time passed it became more evident Thompson might actually help McCain win more vote. So the talkers allowed Mike Huckabee into the spotlight. Immediatly he gained traction as his charisma and wit seemed to resonate with the base. But then a strange thing happened even though McCain was about out of it, so was Mitt Romney. It seemed as if Mike had stolen the show and was poised to take the parties nomination.
Behind the scenes the talkers who promoted the idea that Reagan was the measure of the conservative movement tagged Romney as the one who they felt best represented those traits. Outwardly they began an MSM style smear campaign on Huckabees record. When Huckabee won a suprise victory in Iowa they knew they had to act fast. Again they attacked Huckabee and in turn pushed McCain over the finish line in New Hampshire. Why wasn't it working? The desired effect was Romney but instead voters had run away from him. So knowing that he had a superior war chest they promoted his uncontested victories in Nevada, Wyoming, and Michigan as somehow superior to his opponents. With South Carolina approaching they knew they had to do something quick so they broadcast to the masses that Huckabee didn't have a chance at winning. Their thoery was that with McCain winning in New Hampshire and the Romney wins Huckabee should concede and drop out. But then it happened again McCain won the primary contest and Huckabee came in a strong second. Then Guiliani dropped out after Florida. So going into Super Tuesday it became a three man race. Well we all know what happened then, Huckabee came out of nowhere and took a huge percentage of states and McCain did as well, leaving the talkers to speculate that Huckabee had stolen votes from Romney. Even though the facts beared out the opposite result. The in a huge majority of states taken by McCain with Huckabee finishing second the addition of the Romney vote would have put Huckabee over the top by huge margins. In contrast the few states in which Romney finished second in only two could the Huckabee vote have changed the outcome. In fact if Huckabee would have merely taken the 3% Paul got in Missouri he would have beat McCain without the Romney vote.
Denying the obvious the talkers ratched up their anti-Huckabee campaign. They said he is a bigger liberal than McCain and couldn't possibly win the nomination. They called for him to step aside, they floated the notion that a vote for Huckabee was a vote for McCain. In MSM fashion they promoted the words and discounted the record of Mitt Romney. They continued their smear campaign against Huckabee, by distorting his record on positions of trade, immigration, and taxes. In the end Romney had no path to the nomination and was forced to drop out. They lamented his decision and in the wake of his concession they fought even harder against Huckabee out of resentment. When CPAC voted to support the postumous campaign of Romney and then gave Huckabee a forum to speak to them eventhough they had both Romney and McCain address them prior to the vote. In Washington the GOP stopped the vote tally with 95% reporting in their primary contest and declared McCain the winner in a very close contest. When it became clear that Huckabee had a shot despite the odds stacked against him they convinced Romney to deliver the final blow. Mitt could have done the honorable thing and at least released his count. But instead of giving the voters a choice and even going so far as to give his votes to Huckabee who would have won many of them anyway if had hadn't been in the race, Mitt endorsed McCain.
Now the balance of power would shift as the contest between the Democrat nominee would most certainly beat McCain because 60% of the base had not chosen him to represent the party. The talkers blamed Huckabee for this much the same way the MSM blames Bush for the economy. The party that fought so hard against Mike Huckabee's rise had one so with no regard to the outcome of their own failings. The facts bear out the truth a vote for Romney was in fact by a measure of his own endorsement a vote for John McCain. Despite the facts that the majority of those primary contests had Huckabee finishing second. This disconect from reality caused talk radio ratings to plumett as they sold their only virtue, oppinion based on fact for a 'Paper Tiger Conservative'. Sure they tried to make up for it by convincing McCain to pick a Conservaitve running mate which he actually did. Even though they were hoping he would tap Romney, who they had tried to pass off as Reagan.
Then they tried the same failed strategy they used in the primary to promote McCain. They tried to convince independent voters that McCain was Conservative by getting him to make promises from the stump that were in line with their principles and run away from his record. They knew that the addition of Palin would carry the base. But the McCain stategy of playing the middle wouldn't carry Independents who know the issues just as well as Conservatives. McCain was running carbon copy to Obama all the issues that mattered which became even more apparent to the masses when they both signed onto the bailout. The based justified their support based on Palin's conservatism and the hope for the future of the party. But where McCain lost this race was that he ideas were upstaged by Palin's presentation of the issues and the facts and knowing this his campaign tried to heal her to his lead of Liberalisms which brought the house of cards tumbling down.
So when you want the silver lining on this lost election cycle of 2008 remember this. The best thing about the idea that there will be a 'fairness doctrine' is that talk radio won't be able to interfere with the 2012 primary process.