Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

The Radio Republicans: Got Emotion?
(Cross-posted at firedoglake,
where the comment discussion is a
critically important part of this post.)

Via Glenn
Greenwald we get a fascinating flurry of traitorous tall tales. But let’s
focus on Ken doll Sean Hannity’s cabin
boy, Mark Levin, for a minute. If you’re not familiar with Mr. Levin,
he’s the guy who played Hannity’s boy in the Alec Baldwin radio
fracas. The likes of Levin and other radio Republicans are now taking out
after Mary McCarthy. It’s interesting to note that Levin is obviously
reading Jane Hamsher at firedoglake, calling Dana Priest “McCarthy’s
stenographer.” Sound familiar? It won’t stick like “Steno Sue.”
(*see update) After all, we are talking about Dana Priest, a reporter who is
committed to telling the story straight, the way reporters are supposed to work.
But for the likes of Hannity, Levin and the
radio Republicans, led by Rush,
if someone doesn’t back Bush, they are not only not telling the truth,
but a traitorous partisan, in other words, a Democrat.

As for Hannity’s cabin body, Levin only wants one thing and it’s
not to report the facts. That’s not what they do on right-wing radio,
where Levin now resides thanks, no doubt, to his Hannity hook up. Levin is now
just another cog in the Republican wheel meant to transport the right-wing radio
crowd to the polls. He’s responsible for revving up Bush’s base
regardless of how it’s done. Facts have nothing to do with it, truth a
niggling annoyance, as you’ll see in Levin’s meanderings. The right-wingers
on radio use only one tool to inspire their listeners: EMOTION. Facts only get
in their way.

If she leaked she must be charged. I wonder what Schieffer would say then? I suppose he would urge that she receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. After all, the Washington Post's Dana Priest, who apparently served as McCarthy's stenographer, was just awarded the Pulitzer Prize. I must say, however, that the media's sickening hypocrisy knows no bounds. They came to the defense of Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame, who worked behind-the-scenes to get her husband that “fact-finding” trip to Niger. They demanded an investigation into who “leaked” Plame’s identity to Bob Novak — which ensnared their own reporters. They hoped they would critically wound the president, and they failed. Clearly Plame was not undercover and the revelation of her identity was not a crime. Lewis Libby now stands accused of lying about a crime that never occurred and the media think that’s a good thing. Now comes Mary McCarthy, who apparently leaked real classified national-security secrets and the media largely dismiss it or defend it. They have no curiosity about McCarthy, the extent of her leaks, to whom she leaked (beyond Priest, did she leak to other reporters, members of Congress, other governments?), how she secured top security posts, and her ties to the Clinton administration. Surely there is every reason the government should pursue this investigation at least as vigorously as the Plame matter has been pursued. Dana Priest, among others, should have her day before a grand jury. Who is Mary McCarthy?

All this blog babbling would be bad enough, except for the last
line where Levin suggests there are traitors everywhere. The inference, coming
at the end of a long wail about Democrats, is that the traitors among us are
“over there,” in the Democratic Party. The only purpose of this kind
of rhetorical drive by is to get everyone pumped up, which will continue on
radio stations throughout this country. It will begin by using Clinton, because
whenever the Republicans are in deep trouble that’s where they run. Then,
after Clinton is intoned, the likes of Ken doll Sean Hannity and his cabin boy,
with a little help from the newly lobotomized Laura
Ingraham, will intone the tactic of fear.

Be afraid of Democrats, because they are traitors and undermining this country.
It will be utilized on radio to rev up the base, where Karl Rove has used right-wing
radio for years to pump up the EMOTION of right-wingers, because that’s
what gets voters to the polls and right-wing radio listeners vote. The same
tactics are continued on “Christian” broadcasting networks throughout
the country. It is quite simply the most formidably dangerous weapon the Republicans
have to wield against Democrats come election time.

Pat Buchanan, on “Face the Nation” today, outlined the strategy I
believe will be used going forward, especially on right-wing radio. The Republicans
will attempt to make the 2006 election a competition between conservatism and
liberalism, while using Mary McCarthy and the non-existent Democratic traitors
among the Administration as Bush boogeyman.

Whatever you do, don’t laugh. I know it sounds preposterous, because
conservatism has utterly failed, with one
of the right’s own testifying to that fact in a new book. But in mid-term
elections turn-out is notoriously weak. Right-wing radio listeners vote. So,
if Republicans on radio can pump up the emotion and make their listeners frightened
enough of the ghost of some phantom liberal villain, Karl Rove’s precinct
captains, which is the way Rove refers to his right-wing radio listeners, just
may come out in droves. It could make the difference. It has before.

NOTE: I’ve been studying radio since the mid-1990s,
having been interviewed across the country for over 10 years (including TV).
In 2002, I moved from L.A., after a certain conglomerate colossus told me they
wouldn’t put a Democratic female on the air, to launch my own show, with
the help of my co-executive producer. It lasted less than 6 months. Even though
it was right before the mid-term elections in 2002, I couldn’t get the
Democratic Party pr team in Nevada interested in aiding our cause by coming
on radio with me. I went to every Democratic party luncheon, dinner, made phone
calls, you name it, but they couldn’t have cared less. Today, the Democratic
Party remains clueless to the power of terrestrial radio across this country.
As long as they remain so, Republicans will have an advantage we simply can’t
overcome. Emotion is what gets voters to the polls. Right-wing radio reaches
tens of millions of people every day pumping up that emotion. Air America is
great, but it’s not enough. By the way, I’m still trying to get
back on the air. Believe
me, I’m not
alone.

UPDATE: FDL reader Pattern Recognizer informs me through comments
that Atrios coined “Steno Sue.”
My apologies to Atrios for the unintended
slight.