How Does Talk Radio Help the Right?
At Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Conor Friedersdorf writes:
To listen to [conservative talk radio hosts] talk, you'd think that the conservative movement hadn't a hope of accomplishing anything until Rush Limbaugh became a nationally syndicated broadcaster in the early 1990s. Don't get me wrong. I share the opinion that the American media of several decades ago had its ideological blind spots. And I'm thrilled that the Internet has given the public many more options for news and opinion than ever before, especially for conservatives and libertarians.
But I have a question for Hewitt. In 1980, before the talk radio explosion, Fox News, or Power Line, Ronald Reagan won the White House. Four years later, despite his detractors in the establishment media, he cruised to a second term. Now skip ahead to the time after talk radio's rise. It's been a terrible period for the conservative movement's professed goals: despite Congressional wins in 1994 and presidential victories in 2000 and 2004, we've seen the size and scope of government increase, the erosion of federalism, and an explosion in the national debt.
So Professor Hewitt, for conservatives out there who care about actual policy accomplishments and the health of the country as opposed to returning Team Red to power – who want to shrink government and protect civil liberties – what evidence do you have that talk radio is a useful ally, let alone an essential one?
