President Bush, Talk Radio, White House

WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?

In Bush Visit With Hosts, Lefties See Controversy







Proving that absolutely anything President Bush does can become a justification for lefty anger, a White House visit by several radio talk show hosts has sparked the kind of rage we've come to expect from the party opposite.

The meeting came to light after the New York Times covered it, with a particular emphasis on the "shoring up the base" angle:

On an overcast Friday morning last month, White House aides ushered an influential group of conservative radio hosts into the Oval Office for a private audience with the president.

News, updates and insights on the midterm elections, the race for 2008 and everything in-between.

For an hour and a half, Mr. Bush discussed his case for the war in Iraq, his immigration proposals and even the personality of his Scottish terrier Barney, who scratched on the door during the session until the president relented and let him into the office, according to several hosts who attended.

The meeting, which was not announced on the president’s public schedule, was part of an intensive Republican Party campaign to reclaim and re-energize a crucial army of supporters that is not as likely to walk in lockstep with the White House as it has in the past.

Conservative radio hosts are breaking with the Republican leadership in ways not seen in at least a decade, and certainly not since Rush Limbaugh’s forceful advocacy of the party in 1994 spawned a new generation of stars, said Michael Harrison, publisher of the industry’s lead trade publication, Talkers.

Disgruntlement can now be found not only among the more flamboyant radio voices, like Michael Savage, who raged against Mr. Bush’s proposals on immigration and other issues, but also among more mainstream hosts, like Laura Ingraham, who told her listeners in the wake of the scandal involving former Representative Mark Foley and under-age Congressional pages, “You have to ask yourself, the people who are in positions of power now in the Republican Party, are they able to credibly articulate the conservative agenda to the American people — to rally the base, to rally the country?”

Such questions, coming from such quarters, have created yet another challenge for the White House and the central party leadership as they work to steer Republicans to victory next month in the face of low approval ratings and dissatisfaction among the party faithful.

Strategists on both sides agree that the party’s greatest hope for holding control of Congress now rests with its ability to get core Republicans to vote, and that talk radio, which reaches millions of them, is crucial to the task.

Democratic strategists say talk radio remains a fearsome Republican advocacy force for which they have little direct answer. (Air America, which features liberal hosts, including Al Franken, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week.)

The top two rated conservative hosts, Mr. Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, have done more than their part to rally their listeners this year, especially during the Foley scandal, to the great relief of Republican Party officials. And even those critical of Mr. Bush or the party on specific issues still consider themselves major supporters in general, with perhaps the exception of Mr. Savage.

But Mr. Savage is the third most popular host in the nation, with at least eight million listeners weekly, according to Talkers. And the Democrats have watched happily as he and others have at times sent reverberations of conservative frustration into what they often call the “Republican echo chamber.”

For two days, your Radio Equalizer has been receiving delightful emails demanding to know why we haven't covered this massive scandal. Why weren't any liberal hosts invited? Where were Al Franken and Randi Rhodes? Didn't he have better things to do? Why was the visit kept off of his official schedule? Isn't this a sign the GOP faithful are wavering before the election? Excuse us for a moment while we get some Advil.

As a result, on this one, we'll go ahead and take their bait. Here's your Radio Equalizer's take on the gathering:


First of all, this really wasn't a reason to become unhinged. One would expect the President to meet with various groups of people during the course of his day and there's no reason why radio talk show hosts shouldn't be included. How about key bloggers, don't they deserve a similar event?


On that note, if anything, this effort is too little, too late. The GOP has largely taken talk radio's support for granted in recent years and a last minute, pre- election pep talk with just five hosts will accomplish little.


Why should Bush invite liberal talk hosts to this kind of event? They are his political opponents and some would probably set off the alarms coming through the front door anyway. They aren't going to be open to what he has to say and even if they were, their audience sizes are too small to justify Bush's time and energy.


Why does the Times make such a point of Michael Savage's supposed disloyalty? Savage has never been a Republican (that we are aware of) and even a casual listener can make the reasonable determination that his ideology is all over the place. It's a non- issue.


Where are the big dogs? Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly should have been there, why didn't this happen?


Why was this particular group selected? It's a peculiar assortment of successful and not- so- successful syndicated hosts. Sadly, it looks as though somebody at the White House accepted Talkers Magazine's moronic version of who is popular in talk radio.


Why only five hosts? The combined reach of this group isn't big enough to make a serious impact on the election. Your Radio Equalizer would have suggested adding several of the biggest local talkers to this mix from cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. Next time, skip the Talkers clique and check with us, guys.


That's it! Nothing more to see here, folks...

Next "controversy", please, we're in a sparring mood.


NYT in bed: David A Lunde


FOR THE LATEST on key Massachusetts races, visit Bay State Showdown, our other site.

ELSEWHERE: Rush has praise for bloggers.

Your Amazon orders that begin with clicks here, regardless of what you ultimately purchase, greatly help to support this site's efforts. Thanks again!

Technorati tags: air america radio progressive liberal talk talk radio conservative talk al franken air america Bush michael savage rush limbaugh white house new york times mainstream media 2006 election