This writer is a conservative trying to expose the failings of the conservative media in its relations with the Tea Party and other populists. To be honest it's kind of hard to tell who he's talking to.
Perhaps because, having nodded along with Limbaugh for eight years, it would be a blow to confront the fact that all along you were also blind to Bush's excesses, and your blind partisan loyalty played a part in enabling all you presently decry
Simply put, if conservatives have a problem, Limbaugh isn't it. Oh, he's probably hurt or at least de-motivated his side's debating skills, because he's taught his listeners that you can win an argument by not having anyone there to disagree with you. But that was always part of the culture, and Friedersdorf's complaint is more connected with misinformation. And in that respect Limbaugh figured out the market, but didn't create it. The mass of conservatives want to hear that they're winning all the time. That they're on the verge of final and absolute victory, which apparently exists. That's the commonality between believing that Bush was an epoch-making president ten years ago and that a government shutdown would work out great for the shutter downers today. Yes there may be inconsistencies between these beliefs, but they serve the same demographic. No surprise, then, that some are making money off both messages.
1 comment:
I still think Americans would be a lot better off reading financial news reports if they want to be informed about what drives these political circuses. Then again, most seem to prefer feeling to thinking.
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