Saturday, March 27, 2010

Too much talk

The Administration is engaged in a massive redistribution of wealth in the name of Change. They are able to do this for several reasons:
The previous administration didn’t do what it should have to correct many of the pre-existing conditions and abuses of the entitlements package (Social Security; Immigration, Health Care costs, Medicare). All the things that are wrong with them now were wrong with them when the Republicans were in office. They made only feeble attempts to correct anything, ran the other way when challenged and spent money on earmarks.
The (news and entertainment) media made a buffoon of GWB (His vocabulary, syntax and general dopey demeanor helped them) and Republicans decided to defend him because he was attacked by the obviously biased media - not because he was doing such a great job of being President. That just made the Dems dislike him even more.
The same media hooked on to Obama – who can blame them for not hooking onto McCain? (And what is with the Republican nominating process? Bush I, Dole, Bush II, McCain? Can’t we get someone who can string a couple of words together and not fall down in for the camera?) So a slick media darling wins against a dopey-grinning old war hero - again. In our television sound bite world, that should not be a surprise.

Now Obama has center stage, the media love him, the Kool-Aid drinkers oppose anything Republican, Republican alternatives make it into the discussion, and the biased media creates the party of No.

So we turn to talk radio for the other side. Finally, a real opportunity to discuss the issues, alternatives, the costs, the ideas for reform - a forum to convince the great undecided block of the great alternatives that exist. And what do we get:
For every minute that Hannity spends with Newt and his positive ideas, Hannity spends an hour talking with Ida from South Carolina calling each other “Great Americans”. (Note: George Washington was great American. Ida is presumably a nice lady.) He also has taken to calling Rahm Emanual “Deadfish” at every opportunity. That really helps the discussion. Any Undecided who tunes in would surely be immediately converted by such learned discussion.
So our Diogenes turn the dial He hears Monica Crowley calling the senior Senator from Pennsylvania Senator Sphincter. Also really helpful. The still unconvinced Undecided guy listens to Rush and his raving for a while and almost gives up. With some effort he tries to see if Mark Levin and Bob Grant will convince him that there is some sanity here. Unlikely.

These shows do provide some small level of help to the process of getting the country back on the right track – but no where near enough. These hosts have big audiences because this is a basically conservative country and lots of people are irate about the current direction. There are just as many that have consumed the Obama Kool-Aid and are buy his program. Elections are determined by that group in the middle that switches every once in a while because the last guy screwed up so bad. Those are the people they should be trying to reach – not throwing raw meat to the people who are already convinced. That does not mean deviating from principles. It means presenting meaningful, factual arguments in a rational way.


I’ve about had it with these guys. Time for a new set.

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