Posted by
Ron Piekaar on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 4:02:05 PM
Of the many lessons that can be taken from the results of Super Tuesday's elections, the ascendance of John McCain, as the clear front runner on the Republican side, is significant. It is especially significant because he seems to have pulled off this clear victory in spite of the urgent and forceful attempts of right wing talk radio to discredit him and to sway the vote in favor of Mitt Romney.
The lesson for talk radio? There are several.
One major lesson is that despite what is touted to be huge audiences of staunch conservatives, numbering in the millions, who hang on every word of the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingram, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and others, Mitt Romney still finished a dismal third in a field of three, which is a polite way of saying he finished dead last. This, in the face of enormous cash outlays on Mitt's part and a constant barrage of dire warnings of the impending implosion of America as we know it on talk radio's part if John McCain were to ever become president.
And what was John's mortal sin, according to these self proclaimed bastions of all conservative knowledge? Well, apparently he isn't conservative enough. A fact which, in light of his Super Tuesday victory, speaks volumes about the apparent disconnect between right wing talk radio and its intended audience. The inference could easily be drawn, from the results of this election, that either right wing talk radio hosts have lost touch with the true feelings and mood of their target audience, or conservatism in America is redefining itself, or both.
It would not be difficult to understand how a talk radio host, such as Rush Limbaugh for instance, could be suffering from a disconnect with his audience. His program is, more often than not, very heavy on the strong opinions of "El Rushbo" and very light on interaction with his callers. The interactions that do occur are usually from callers who have endured sometimes hours of waiting on 'hold' and who, when they finally do get to speak to "the great one", introduce themselves as "ditto heads". All this is well and good, and very entertaining but also very limiting in terms of the host getting any real information concerning the moods and feelings of all but an almost insignificant number of his listeners. Other such radio shows suffer from the same malady. Guests invited to weigh in on various topics of discussion on these various shows are also drawn heavily from the far right. Dr. James Dobson is an example. The net result is a cadre of right wing radio talk show hosts who have deluded themselves into thinking that just because they have large listening audiences, that those listeners are also marching in lock step with every element of conservative doctrine espoused by the radio host. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The evidence for a major evolution in conservative philosophy in America can be found in the actions of the conservative voters on Super Tuesday. Traditional conservatism has apparently given way to a new and more enlightened tolerance. In a historical sense the old conservative roots, that so strongly influenced the beliefs and behaviors of those who built this nation, called for the genocide of an entire race of human beings in order to protect an angry god from the stench of their existence. Those same conservative roots also condoned slavery and the treatment of blacks and women as second class citizens; a fact also supported by the perversions of the religious tenants of traditional conservatism.
Today, some who call themselves conservative still defend bigotry, intolerance, homophobia and misogyny by citing the same religious sources.
Without wanting to read too much into the McCain victory on Super Tuesday, I hope that it demonstrates the beginning of the end of the most unsavory elements of the conservative philosophy. Those elements that have sought to keep us divided and that have been the ugly justification for the subhuman treatment of many among us who have committed no crime other than to have had the poor judgement to have been born different. The Old Testament god told his followers to exclude all people from entering his holy temple who had certain physical imperfections. Unfortunately, some of that same insanity persists within the hard core of the conservative philosophy. It is the outright rejection of that portion of conservatism that I hope was exemplified in the McCain victory on February 5th. In having co-sponsored various pieces of legislation with certain Democrats, he has proven his ability to acknowledge good ideas from whatever source and has opened a dialogue that has been long overdue. I agree with Barach Obama that we are all one nation, but if you get your ideas from right wing talk radio, you may never come understand just what it takes, in practice, to actually live that belief. If the Right and the Left cannot find a way to work together, America will not long survive. Right wing talk radio has not discovered that yet, but thankfully, its influence seems to be greatly diminishing because I think we, as a people, are getting smarter.