Posted on 04/23/2013 2:02:19 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
To borrow a Sarah Palin aphorism, after their election defeat in 2008, conservatives didn’t retreat, they “reloaded.” Instead of finding new solutions to public policy problems or seriously reevaluating Bush’s failures, conservatives focused almost solely on new ways to communicate their old ideas. To do so, they looked to their natural allies in corporate marketing for inspiration — and they looked to the Left for imitation. The result has been a recent and profound turnaround that has allowed the Right the bury Obama’s message and dominate the political debate.
Historical right-wing domination of the media
Traditionally, conservatives have almost always dominated direct mail solicitations, retained the best pollsters money could buy and paid for the most celebrated advertising makers. Message discipline is the first lesson for any Republican politician. Talk radio? unquestionably controlled by conservatives.
Cable news? Fox News couldn’t be more right-wing and popular. The Right had also dominated the Internet for most of the Internet’s fledging history. Throughout the 1990s and for much of President George W. Bush’s first term, conservatives easily ruled online news. And much of that initial sucess stemmed from foundations and entrepreneurial pioneers such as Matt Drudge, creator of the wildly popular headline-aggregating site Drudge Report, and Jim Robinson of the news message board Free Republic. The pair formed a symbiotic relationship. Drudge, who played a role in breaking the Monica Lewinsky story, made waves in the media with scoops on the latest Clinton scandals, and Free Republic provided a platform for conservatives to share conspiratorial perspectives and to organize their own rallies and events. Many of the angry mobs hounding Clinton at public events were mobilized by Free Republic. The impeachment rally that was organized by the Free Republic, “Treason Is the Reason,” featured Republican lawmakers and writer Christopher Hitchens...
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
They ‘won’ by a few percentage points, most of which were fraudulent. Why would conservatives change?
Only RINOs have changed and they are adopting the leftists agenda.
Good grief....I might take this idiot more seriously if he could learn to spell, and proofread his work before hitting the submit button. I’m sure what he has to say is hugh and series! KUDOS to Jim!
“Instead of finding new solutions to public policy problems....”
Translation: “Instead of caving in to libtardism like we want them to, they did something we didn’t expect. So now we’re going to insult them until they do as we say!”
Such children the left is.
The reason for this is the internet is a level playing field so the Left can't compete.
He implies that HuffPo is more widely read than Drudge? I doubt that.
He implies that the use of technology is the key. It is but a tool.
The real battle is a battle of ideas and common perception conveyed to the public by media. Media does not shape like casting a mental image. It shapes by clarifying how all they pieces fit together cementing common experience into a common understanding. From that goals and plan of action.
Unification on the common battle front.
The Left has no common base to build on. They have no base value system. They don’t believe in God. They hold no morals constant. There is nothing there to build upon, except a blind faith in the power of government that they shape.
The right is built upon groups with overlapping common value systems. That makes us more powerful if we are not divided by the fog of war.
Woo-Hoo!
Message Board!
Have 2nd Amendment, will travel...far and wide.
Hear us roar!!!
Yup. And apparently I’m in league with Drudge too. Other than the March for Justice, that’s news to me.
I can now proudly say that it’s no longer Bush’s fault. It’s Jim’s fault!! ROFLOL!!
I also love the part that says we’re financed by rich investors. That’s news to me, too. We’re funded solely by thousand of $10, $20, $50 and $100 dollar donations from FReepers and lurkers who love God, love freedom, love America and love FR!!
Sixteen years going on seventeen and still running strong via reader donations!!
Long live America!! Long live the grassroots patriots!!
What an amazing journey...
Not growing at the early rates, but we’re still getting 30-50 new members per day.
How neanderthal of us, sticking with support for individual responsibility, individual freedom, and limited government! Apparently, we should be experimenting with liberal ideas to show that we are enlightened.
Traditionally, conservatives have almost always . . . retained the best pollsters money could buy
I'll take that as a compliment - and it's true, we always have had the best in private polling.
It reads as if Lee Fang is saying that without F.R. and Drudge, this country would already have gone down the tubes.
To be recognized and acknowledged by your enemies is indeed a high honor. Congratulations Jim.
“Instead of finding new solutions to public policy problems or seriously reevaluating Bush’s failures,..”
Liberals lie. First to themselves, then to others.
Too many of liberal (er, “progressive”) public policy problems are horses that liberals have saddled up in order to ride to greater glories, and especially to ride to the Secular Utopia they are fixated Gollum-like on.
Conservatives understand where Bush failed more accurately than liberals do. Liberals have still not gotten over their blind raging hatred of Bush.
I thought it was all Jim Thompson’s fault? (At least this one spelt your name correctly!).
I can honestly say that I spend the majority of my Online time here on F.R.!
I am more Informed now than I was before I FReeped. It is the Best Website on the Net.
I was 8 years old when F.R. Launched I pray it is still here when I am 80.!
Go F.R.!!!
Television still hasn't recovered and probably never will ~ I just watched 500 hours of Korean history soap operas through Crunchy Roll.
Some fascinating stuff out there.
You and me, baby, against the corrupt, godless communist, socialist, Marxist Islamofascist world:
It's a never ending march for liberty and justice!!
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