Posted on 01/28/2008 7:27:44 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
John McCain heads into Tuesday's Florida primary facing resistance from not only his fellow candidates, but also from the leaders of conservative talk radio, who some suggest have put their reputations on the line, as well.
Talk radio pioneer Rush Limbaugh said that if McCain or Mike Huckabee are nominated, "it's going to destroy the Republican Party." Mark Levin calls the senator "John McLame." On Monday, Laura Ingraham said she was "concerned about the mental stability of the McCain campaign" and had cuckoo-clock sound effects accompany his words.
"Sen. McCain is a great American, a lousy senator and a terrible Republican," Hugh Hewitt told The Associated Press. "He has a legislative record that is not conservative. In fact, it is anti-conservative."
Yet with McCain winning primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and in a virtual tie with Mitt Romney for the lead in polls in Florida, the top radio personalities are facing the possibility that their words are having little effect.
Radio host Michael Medved said that the big loser in South Carolina was talk radio, "a medium that has unmistakably collapsed in terms of impact, influence and credibility because of its hysterical and one-dimensional involvement in the GOP nomination fight."
Its continued resistance to McCain will be ineffective and will hurt both the Republican Party and the radio industry, Medved said.
The long-running hostility toward McCain stems from his failure to follow conservative orthodoxy on issues including immigration, global warming and money in politics, Hewitt said. McCain's endorsement by The New York Times _ the newspaper conservative talkers love to hate _ was just another indignity.
Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, warned against any conclusion that talk radio hosts would be diminished if McCain were to win the GOP nomination.
"It will give them an opportunity to reposition themselves in a more independent and populist way," Harrison said. Talk show hosts aren't judged on whom they pick as a candidate, any more than the jobs of football announcers are on the line with their Super Bowl predictions, he said.
They're judged on ratings and revenue, and every indication is that the election season will be a boon for talk radio, he said.
Limbaugh picked up on that point on the air last week when he rebutted any analysis by the "drive-by media" that McCain's strong showing had been a rebuke to him. He noted that a chapter in one of his books was titled "My Success is Not Determined by Who Wins Elections."
"You nominate the nominee; I don't," he said. "This notion ... that I've been overcome here, McCain's beaten me back, that's not the way to look at this, because that whole line of thinking relies on the fact that you people have to be perceived as mind-numbed robots and that you are all a bunch of sponges and you sit out there and you have no brain and you have no independent thoughts. You just listen to what I say and you go act on it.
"We know that's not the case," he said. "It's never been the case."
It's a reflection of the muddled primary race that radio talkers are more fixated on whom they don't like _ McCain _ than any candidate who wows them.
"The mood is that everyone offers something and nobody offers everything _ and that's why there is so much confusion," said L. Brent Bozell, founder of the conservative media watchdog Media Research Center.
Hewitt said he would vote for Mitt Romney "if I was voting today," but he's not. He also likes Rudy Giuliani.
If McCain were the Republican nominee running against either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama, Hewitt said he would support McCain. So would most of his colleagues in talk radio, he said.
"It's not about taking your ball and going home," he said.
Hopefully, McCrazy will lose and Medved’s career will be over!
That would be cosmic justice!
It should read “Conservative Radio Talkers”. That would leave Medved out.
I disagree with alot of persons on this blog. I will vote for McCain. I will vote for Romney. I think McCain would be a better candidate Nationally and I think he is more Conservative than Romney at heart. Romeny is just recently said the right things. McCain you know he will stand up for most Conservative social issues. Economically he will be good. He will be a supreme warrior. I trust him to defend this country. Rush is all wrong. His sins are not as great as many think.
Arizona Freepers have a totally different take on McLame thank yours. I don’t think McLame has a conservative bone in his body. He and Arnold would make a great set of twins.
I don’t care what anyone says. I WILL NOT VOTE FOR JOHN MCCAIN. I WILL WRITE IN MICKEY MOUSE. HE CAN’T BE TRUSTED AS FAR AS I CAN THROW A HOUSE.
Try the many articles here at FreeRepublic, other posters have done a good job of cataloging the multitude of McCrazy’s sins against conservatism.
Apologies to any who feel I am spamming this message on campaign threads, but it is an important message on a key vote which needs to get out.
mccain would bring back the Fairness Doctrine.
The so-called "money in politics" is really more of a concern about McCain's legislation restricting freedom of political speech...
Mark Levin Hates McCain very much.
Doctor:
That is why we have a republican democracy, so that we are able to vote for whomever we feel would best take our country in the right direction. I respectfully disagree with you, but your vote is yours to bestow. I hope that you will read, study and pray on your decision, as we all should.
Fred
Has Mark Levin said he Hates McCrazy, or is that just your interpretation?
“(McCain’s) sins are not as great as many think”.
________________________________
A few words from ‘the other’ (David) Limbaugh:
“I respectfully reject that McCain’s honorable and sacrificial character-building experiences or his self-description as a “straight talker” place his veracity above question. I remember him sidling up to the media by falsely claiming George Bush didn’t level with the American people about how long the Iraq war could take. I remember him blaming dirty campaign tricks on Bush in South Carolina in 2000, when investigations revealed there was no evidence Bush was behind it. I remember him joining liberals in slandering the truth-telling Swift Boat veterans as “dishonest and dishonorable.” I remember his disingenuous derision of the across-the-board Bush tax cuts as being only for the rich. I witnessed him changing his position on immigration to shore up support in South Carolina, then after that primary arrogantly denying to Sean Hannity that he’d flip-flopped. People can assess for themselves whether McCain is always straight, but hopefully they’ll base their decision on the evidence and not his hero status.
“He crusades against Guantanamo, favors constitutional rights for terrorists but opposes tough interrogation techniques, was the ringleader of the Gang of 14, which legitimized the filibustering of judicial nominees, and is the godfather of political speech-suppressing and Democrat-favoring campaign-finance reform legislation.
“He has displayed contempt for conservative evangelicals, opposed Bush’s pro-growth tax cuts for reasons other than he says (spending), has engaged in other class-warfare rhetoric like demonizing oil and drug companies, co-sponsored the abominable McCain-Kennedy illegal immigrant-forgiveness/open-borders/Social Security zapping bill, and even voted for the Specter amendment, which could have conferred consulting rights on Mexico concerning the erection of a southern border fence.
“He sold out on global warming, opportunistically opposed drilling in ANWR, favors re-importation of drugs from Canada, and promoted the McCain-Kennedy-Edwards patients bill of rights. Even his pro-life credentials are not as pristine as we’re told: He opposes reversal of Roe vs. Wade and sided with anti-political speech zealots in filing an amicus brief against Wisconsin Right to Life.”
Please check:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XazpaYwFKd8&e
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUDBV6RhQho
I'm with you. I'm voting for our nominee, whoever he may be. But if it's Romney, I will suspect that I am not voting for a true conservative, but an opportunist who reinvented himself as one.
The bottom line is that ANY REPUBLICAN is better than ANY RAT.
FredHeads for Mitt? You couldn’t pay me enough to vote for Romney in the primary. Maybe some FredHeads can be “bought” by this ultra-liberal pretending to be a conservative (just for the primaries).
Unless you are a democrat or a liberal moderate, a simple look at his record, at the things he has supported and/or co-authored, will make you re-think your post. He is NOT a conservative and actual Republican McCain supporters should re-think their support. I don't care what office he's running for or who he's running against, I will NEVER vote for him again.
Its continued resistance to McCain will be ineffective and will hurt both the Republican Party and the radio industry, Medved said.
In other words, Medved doesn't like that they aren't carrying water for his guy.
Medved's show is terrible.
I appreciate it!
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