How the Conservative Alternative Media Helped Throw This Election
There should be no amazement on the part of Conservatives as to how this election came out. After all, they did their best to see to it that it did turn out this way. It was a truly astonishing thing to watch.
As a nationally syndicated writer, I have had to read many websites during the campaign. These have been news sites and blog sites and the like. What was almost funny about these sites was the obsession with writing about Obama. Article after article had Obama in the title and as the subject matter. Go review the “older posts” on some of the Conservative blog sites. Time after time it was a desperate preaching to the choir about Barack Obama. Almost nowhere was there to be seen articles on the virtues of the Republican candidate John McCain. Virtually absent were the glowing tomes about the rationale for supporting McCain for president.
No, it was a contest to see who could get in the wittiest digs against Obama. And the so-called editors of these sites let it happen. And just try to submit work to these sites that even dares to criticize Conservatives. Editors were more concerned about the choir preaching than the substance of their own ideology: cheerleaders refusing to exercise editorial discretion.
And look where it got them.
I listen with great amusement to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity as they talk about rebuilding the “Conservative movement”. It was worth a chuckle on its own when these two broadcasters opted to start referring to themselves as Conservatives early on, back pedaling from their Republican shill image. In lock step, the talk radio oligarchy followed suit, denying their nature. Then the lame talk about “Conservative core principles” started, as they gave up on the election, also opting to turn their diatribes into anti-Obama rhetoric instead of pro-McCain. It is as though they had gone ahead and painted the target on their proverbial foot and fired.
As an Independent I found this all amusing. But we must remember that the two-dimensional cartoons like Limbaugh and Hannity are determined to expel Moderates and Independents from “the Party” or “the Movement”. Everyone knows that a President is the president of all the people, not just the ones he agrees with. He must, by his nature, govern from the center.
Well, what is apparent to me is that there is no “Movement”. And it is obvious that nobody gives a damn about “Conservative core principles”. I would say the same thing about “Liberal core principles”, but Liberals don’t believe in anything, so it’s a moot point. They have no core principles. And, apparently, neither did the voters in this election.
Once people like Newt Gingrich begin to realize that there are no “two parties”, and that unless the so-called “Conservative movement” jettisons the Evangelicals and the Religious Right, this will be nothing more than an interesting abstract topic meant for a philosopher’s salon, and nothing more.
And it appears the voting public has rejected it anyway.
Andrew T.Durham is a graduate of State University at Albany, with a degree in Psychology/Philosophy. In the late 80's to mid 90's he was instrumental in creating ground-breaking outreach/prevention programs, as well as being a highly successful public speaker. A former acupuncturist and clinician (primarily to inner city adolescents), he has also been a consultant to the Massachusetts State Department of Public Health and several non-profit organizations. He is an accomplished musician - proficient in 7 instruments - ,actor and author of 10 plays, 5 of which have been produced. He is currently a consultant for small non-profit agencies and lives in Rochester, NY
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