Why McCain's victories are losses for Talk Radio
Ann Coulter chanting "VOTE ROMNEY" on FOX News yesterday.
Rush Limbaugh detailing for his entire three hours exactly why a McCain nomination will destroy the Republican Party.
Sean Hannity repeating the same four talking points over and over and over... oh wait, that's normal. But those talking points are about how horrible a senator and president McCain has been and will be, respectively.
Well, just another Super Tuesday has come and gone. And the conservative punditry is ablaze, fueled by the figure of John McCain burning in effigy. These talk-show hosts blast his voting record, the bills he's sponsored, the somewhat shady alliances he's forged with Democrats like Russ Feingold, (gasp!) John Kerry, (even gaspier) Teddy Kennedy, and (gaspiest) Hillary Clinton.
Yet for all their bluster and umbrage, people are voting for John McCain in droves. Outside the political bellwether states like North Dakota and Utah, nobody seems to prefer the pundits' choice, Mitt Romney.
Why not? Is talk radio not as influential as it likes to think it is? Or are people listening but not following? The Talkies want people to see McCain as he really is, but could he possibly be that bad?
Talk radio does have McCain pegged on some fronts. John McCain is certainly a Washington insider, which people naturally (and rightly) distrust. And he has voted against the Bush tax cuts, vowed to close Gitmo, and bought into global warming hook, line, and sinker. But there must be something to McCain toward which people are gravitating, or else he wouldn't be winning.
So how is it that talk radio can't sway the masses? Are the masses swayable? And if they are, is it Rush, Sean, Ann, and the minor-league pundits who will shape the rest of the parade toward the Republican nomination? Considering more than half the states voting yesterday went with John McCain, obviously not everyone sees McCain as the threat Rush Limbaugh says he is. Apparently this message is being transmitted but not received. So are the voters of America sheep for following the McCain bandwagon? Or are they sheep if they vote with the pundits?