I Think of Myself as More of a Salt Pork Conservative

The Ankle-Biters land an exclusive interview with the author of "South Park Conservatives":

As you point out in your book the snobbish and dismissive responses of the MSM and other elite liberals to the "alternative media" led to the rise of the "South Park Conservatives". Are there any signs that liberals have figured out why Rush, Fox News, and right-wing blogs became so popular and have changed their approach to dealing with and responding to the ideas coming out of these mediums?

The revolt against the liberal media—against liberal elites—that I chronicle in South Park Conservatives has left some on the Left befuddled and angry. Fox News is a “fifth column,” blusters Al Gore, or “crazy people exchanging views,” according to the chairman of Time Warner. Liberal commentator Thom Hartmann likens the rise of conservative talk radio to a harbinger of fascism. The Washington Post’s David Broder blamed the lousy journalistic ethics of the mainstream media on the bloggers! “When the Internet opened the door to scores of ‘journalists’ who had no allegiance at all to the skeptical and self-disciplined ethic of professional news gathering,” he complained, “old pros” like Howell Raines and Dan Rather “got caught up in this fevered atmosphere and let their standards slip.” If only we could back to the good old days, when liberal elites handed news down to the peasants, who’d take what was healthy for them—that has been a common liberal response to the new world I describe in this book.

Some—even John Kerry a few weeks ago—would even like to see the Fairness Doctrine restored, which would wipe out political talk radio. Ronald Reagan phased out that regulation back in the late eighties. It required broadcasters airing political opinions to provide equal time to opposing viewpoints. So if you had Rush Limbaugh on, and he was getting 15 million listeners a week, you’d also have to have Mario Cuomo on, even if he was getting 20,000 a week. Radio stations generally concluded it would be best not to air any political opinions. The end of the Fairness Doctrine liberated political talk radio.

It’s no surprise some on the Left would like to see the Fairness Doctrine restored, since liberals have done so poorly on the airwaves. The Right completely dominates political talk radio, and liberals have never found a successful formula to compete on the dial. Air America, the latest effort, is drawing a 1.2 Arbitron rating in New York City, a smaller audience share than the all-Caribbean format it replaced in New York a year ago. So far, with a few exceptions, it is struggling everywhere it is on the air. I found it illuminating that Al Gore has been telling people that his Gore-TV won’t be anything like Air America goes cable—a sign, I think, that liberal radio is going nowhere fast.

Needles to say, Bulldog Pundit asks more thoughtful and probing questions of an ideological fellow traveler than Tim Russert ever will when Sonorous John sits across from him clutching his Magic Hat.

"South Park Conservatives" are an interesting phenomenon, the inevitable backlash to the Oprahfication of America.