Posted on 07/07/2003 7:46:59 PM PDT by Matchett-PI
After 15 years of saying they needed to find a liberal answer to me, the left has decided that they don't need talk radio because they "own" the Internet. Ronald Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times picks up this latest Democrat talking point in a piece headlined: "With Click of a Mouse, Liberals Find Answer to Limbaugh." Whenever one of these ideas germinates in the liberal wing of the party, it's all over the press. Liberals pass on whatever absurd talking point they hear without analyzing whether it's true or not; they don't think for themselves.
Brownstein distorts the tiny Howard Dean showing in the MoveOn.org primary into evidence that most everyone who boots up a computer is a liberal. In the audio links below, you can hear me debunk this absurdity. Remember: last November, Tom Daschle took a shot at me. Years ago, aboard Air Force One, Bill Clinton called KMOX to scream I lacked a "truth detector." Now, liberals are once again trying to create news out of something that's not news. They neglect to mention this very website, or to point out that no matter what the left has, it can't compare with Free Republic [hot link]. MoveOn has already seen their page views fall like a rock.
Howard Dean has raised $3.6 million on the Internet over the last three months from not quite 45,000 donors. Last Monday, Dean collected "a breathtaking" $820,000 online. These people are having orgasms over this! Brownstein quotes Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network: "This was an historic week where you had for the first time an unbelievably profound use of the Internet to mobilize regular people to participate in politics again." Historic? It's as if McCain 2000 never happened.
Brownstein gushes over MoveOn generating 200,000 e-mails earlier this year. Do you know how many e-mails Matt Drudge could generate if he chose to? I recounted the kind of crowd we drew for Dan's Bake Sale - [hot link] - at a time when we certainly didn't have the news media talking it up 24 hours a day as they did with this online primary. J.P. Gownder's Washington Post column, "An Online Revolution? I Don't See It," sort of shines the light of reality on this latest leftist fantasy. He cites that more than half of the $7.5 million in campaign cash Dean raised in the second quarter of 2003, came from the Internet, but...
"Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi boasted to a Post reporter, 'We have the largest grassroots organization in America right now and we are going to utilize it.' Sounding a bit like a 1999 vintage dot-com business promoter, Trippi said, 'If television took the grassroots out of politics, the Internet will put it back in.'" Not to put down the Internet - certainly not here - but these people are living in a dream world. Gownder exposes the idea of Dean's online support translating into actual voters by citing the over 55,000 "members" of Dean's MeetUp.com group. The meetings the group has held drew only a few dozen supporters on average. And these guys are throwing a party over this? Dream on!
Let me sum it up for you this way: Brownstein doesn't appear to know that I have one of the most-widely visited websites available dealing with politics and current events. We don't run from technology here, we embrace it. Second, there will always be a large audience for the spoken word, assuming those in positions to speak are cutting-edge, entertaining and, above all, informative. Third, unlike reading a newspaper or a website, talk radio can be heard in cars, in the shower, and places where computer access is difficult. And finally, whether talk radio or websites, the left will never dominate either. The problem for liberals runs deeper than the form of communication. It is the NATURE of their communication. Not only are they humorless, their message is negative and their view of the public is condescending. Liberalism is the ideology of elitists, which, by definition, limits the size of the audience.
Listen to Rush...
(...read the Ron Brownstein reprinting of the Democrats fantasy: owning the Internet) (...discuss why the Dean online performance is a fan dance in 'net pants) (...cite the numbers on MoveOn's failure to continue drawing online users)
Those Who Join Mass Movements Are Failures in Their Individual Lives... (Don't Miss Thomas Sowell On Eric Hoffer - 7.03.03) [hot link]
Visit the Limbaugh Archives… (Leader of the Free World Obsessed with Limbaugh - 11.21.02) [hot link]
Read the Articles...
(LA Times: With Click of a Mouse, Liberals Find Answer to Limbaugh - Brownstein) [hot link]
(TIME: How Dean Is Winning The Web) [hot link]
(Washington Post: An Online Revolution? I Don't See It - J.P. Gownder) [hot link]
(Excerpt) Read more at rushlimbaugh.com ...
One of the things I have always liked about FR over Drudge is that I not only get to read the articles but I love the comments. Concerning the WashPost/LATimes thing, I never could understand that. I compared what FreeRepublic was doing to if I bought the paper, and then showed an article I liked to 25 people who did not buy the paper. Isn't that the same thing?
I'm so glad I wasn't eating or drinking anything when I read that! LOL!
I'm guessing this is a way to get around campaign finance laws. Someone puts up the cash and then they farm names and numbers. These names should be made public immediately.
No, it doesn't. MoveOn.org does most of it's stuff through email lists, not web hits. Now, you may want to whinnie, giggle and snort about what they're up to but I would say that it is unwise. Using their list, Dean raised over $800,000 in just over 24 hours. To put that in context, it will take nearly 2 weeks for the FReepathon to garner just $60,000. See, it's no joke.
J
Free yourself from the burden of English Teacher tyranny....consider spelling optional.
FReeper Ditto's to the MaHa Rush!
Jim:Posted by conservatism_IS_compassion to AngrySpud On News/Activism 07/07/2003 11:25 PM EDT #10 of 41Given that the whole point of FR is to publicize conservative opinion and patriotism, how much consideration has been given to having a fundraising thread for the purpose of raising an advertising budget for college newspapers (some time when we are not in the midst of raising the quarterly expense goal)?Shouldn't take big bucks to at least put
FreeRepublic.com Adult (not adolescent) Entertainment before a few college students.
If it attracted a good response that could become a significant part of the FR publicity thrust. If not . . . (shrug)
I love the link on Rush; I remember that I found FR by the link it had on Drudge. It pays to advertise--I suspect that FR could do well to make an advertising budget for itself. Probably ought to advertise on Fox News, if we could. Obviously just a one-shot or something . . .Posted by Cicero to conservatism_IS_compassion On News/Activism 07/07/2003 11:50 PM EDT #20 of 41
I also found FR through Drudge. At that time this site was called Whitewater.Posted by Bob J to conservatism_IS_compassion On News/Activism 07/07/2003 11:31 PM EDT #13 of 41And I found Drudge from an article in the New York Times Magazine, a hit piece attempting to discredit "A Citizen's Independent Report" and several web sites for their investigative writing on the Vincent Foster murder. The Times's hatchet man stupidly mentioned a couple of the URLs in his article--or maybe it was on purpose, now that I think of it, because the writer may have been Michael Kelley. My memory's a bit dim on that point.
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Television advertising may be out of reach for the forseable future, but print, outdoor, radio and the internet are all in play. Jim may not want to do this, but enough people convince him of the benefits, he may change his mind!Posted by rwfromkansas to conservatism_IS_compassion; All On News/Activism 07/08/2003 2:36 AM EDT #34 of 41 (Reply To 10)
You could advertise in my college newspaper and it wouldn't cost very much.I will have to look at our rates, but I am co-editor and needless to say, I got enough stuff to worry about on such an extremely small publication and so the more ads I can get before school starts, the more I will feel relieved.....lol.
And hey, it would be helping FR out.
BTW, the college paper is printed in the local town paper, so you will reach a bunch of rural Kansans with it, not just the campus . . .
If Lance Armstrong is looking good to win the Tour de France, my wife and I are thinking of going to some of the last few stages to cheer him on. If we do, I'll be sure and hold up sign with "FreeRepublic.com" on it as the riders pass ;-) If I do that on the Champs Elysees, we'll get loads of exposure.
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