New York Times Vs. Talk Radio and the Future of the Republican Party
The New York Times recently opined that the rise of talk radio and new media has harmed the chances Republican presidential candidates. A book on talk radio's history challenges the notion, explaining how the medium helped grow conservatism.
Online, July 21, 2013 (Newswire.com) - New York Times columnist Thomas B. Edsall asserts that talk radio is decreasing the Republican Party's chances of winning a presidential race - even though in the last two election cycles the candidates least favored by talk radio won the GOP nomination -- John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012.
This advances an argument contrary to that in The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment by Fred V. Lucas (History Publishing Company). The book asserts that talk radio has played a defining role in shaping the conservative movement in the United States, but is not all powerful in either conservatism or the Republican Party.
In a column last week, Edsall cites other experts contending Republicans were more successful when the mainstream media dominated.
"There is a striking correlation between the rise of conservative talk radio and the difficulties of the Republican Party in presidential elections. In an April Reuters essay, 'Right Wing Talk Shows Turned White House Blue," Mark Rozell, the acting dean of the George Mason University School of Public Policy, and Paul Goldman, a former chairman of Virginia's Democratic Party, wrote: Since Rush Limbaugh's 1992 bestseller 'The Way Things Ought to Be,' his conservative talk show politics have dominated G.O.P. presidential discourse - and the Republicans' White House fortunes have plummeted. But when the mainstream media reigned supreme, between 1952 and 1988, Republicans won seven out of the 10 presidential elections.'"
The Right Frequency gives several examples of how talk radio influenced the Republican nominating contest -- particularly in 1996 and 2000. In those years, Limbaugh took a disliking to the insurgent candidacies of Pat Buchanan and John McCain respectively. With Rush rallying the troops, establishment candidates Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000 secured the nomination.
But, the Times piece makes the same mistakes many on the left and right make regarding talk radio, as explained in the pages of The Right Frequency.
"The view that conservative talk radio is an all powerful, or as former Republican Senator Trent Lott said, 'talk radio is running America,' is ridiculously overstated," The Right Frequency says. "If that was the case, Obama would have never been elected president. For that matter, John McCain would not have been the GOP nominee in 2008, and the runner up would not have been Mike Huckabee, the two candidates least liked by talk radio hosts."
The book later says of Limbaugh, "Nor has he controlled the Republican nomination process-obvious in the 2008 choice of McCain as the GOP standard bearer. He was no cheerleader for Mitt Romney during the 2012 primary either."
The book continues that it's difficult to deny the influence of talk radio, explaining that nearly 80 percent of talk radio listeners vote, compared to just over half of the general public, and how adding an entertainment and humor element to politics has prompted a more engaged public and added a populism to a party previously seen as elites.
For more information about the book or to set up an interview with the author contact Don Bracken at djb@historypublishingco.com or (845) 398-8161.