Saturday, April 19, 2014

This is why Right Wing talk radio is not going anywhere any time soon.

Courtesy of Politico:  

A POLITICO review of filings with the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Election Commission, as well as interviews and reviews of radio shows, found that conservative groups spent nearly $22 million to broker and pay for involved advertising relationships known as sponsorships with a handful of influential talkers including Beck, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh between the first talk radio deals in 2008 and the end of 2012. Since then, the sponsorship deals have grown more lucrative and tea party-oriented, with legacy groups like The Heritage Foundation ending their sponsorships and groups like the Tea Party Patriots placing big ad buys. 

The power of the tea party-talk radio nexus will be tested headed into the pivotal 2014 midterm elections. It has already played a key role in boosting tea party heroes like Matt Bevin and Chris McDaniel — both of whom attended FreedomWorks’ Louisville rally and have made multiple appearances on Beck’s shows — in their increasingly bitter long-shot primary challenges to powerful incumbents Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Thad Cochran of Mississippi, respectively. 

The hosts’ stances on candidates and issues usually align naturally with those of the groups. While their positioning occasionally seems to evolve with their sponsors, there is no evidence of hosts revising their views for paid advertising. 

Critics, though, say the deals mislead grass-roots conservative activists, while undermining the credibility of the hosts and the groups. 

“People like Beck and Hannity and Rush are nothing without the people who faithfully hang on their every word — I consider that a constituency trust that should be respected,” said former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. He was ousted from FreedomWorks in a bitter feud, but had been chairman when the group signed its contracts with Beck and Limbaugh. “For them to basically sell their influence and say whatever the contract asks of them, it compromises the integrity of the pundit-guru, as it were, and it’s an undignified expenditure on the part of the outfit that’s mining the attention.” 

In other words these idiots do not even really need to worry about losing advertisers so long as they have their conservative sugar daddies footing the bill. 

So long as they attack climate scientists over global warming, promote school vouchers, argue against increased taxes, and go after the Democrats at every opportunity there is no way to the money dries up anytime soon.

And the sad thing is that ordinary people do not realize that these are performance artists essentially spouting talking points from a script provided to them by their corporate overlords.

16 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:37 AM

    Driving along the road the other day, I turned on the radio only to hear Glen Beck's hideous voice. He started off sane enough, and I waited a few minutes before changing the station. Within a couple of minutes, there it was.....he was attacking the EPA, basically saying that the new EPA rules on emissions that will close coal-fired power plants will create blackouts for the East Coast. Then he said that people on the East Coast DESERVE the blackouts. And he got his information from a guy (i.e. lobbyist) who knows about the power grid. What an a-hole.

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  2. Anonymous4:42 AM

    If the christian's god is all powerful, then he'll just have to deal with gay marriage like he's dealt with everything in the past... No action whatsoever. And they call Obama weak.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:17 AM

    I don't understand why this is okay but Payola is illegal on the radio. Ridiculous!

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  4. I think Bundy got right to the heart of this this week. They want the government disarmed , and citizens armed to the teeth. They want chaos. They gin up hatred of taxes, schools, anyone not white, police, federal agencies. What's left? Their fear-promoting radio hacks. Their churches who promote white power. Their uneducated kids. This is a turning point for this nation. We either vote this crap out for good, or we will turn into a lawless, useless bunch of lowlifes who look to Sarah Palin for leadership.

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  5. Anonymous6:09 AM

    Once upon a time, oh so many years ago, the mightiest realm on the planet faced bleak economic times. The wise new ruler of the realm, King O, was blamed by some for not being fast enough fixing problems that had been created during the 8 (long) year reign of his predecessor, King DoubleWho. Citizens of the realm who didn't pay much attention to politics were in a mood to throw the bums out. By the time of the next election, both houses of the mightiest Congress in the realm were considered within reach of the Dark Forces, represented by the likes of She Who is Not a Witch, and She Who Shall Not be Named. Indeed, the lesser of the houses fell to the Dark Side. Against all odds, the Dark Forces failed in their quest to capture the higher house, as citizens of the realm, frustrated as they might be, in the end could not bring themselves to pull the lever for the likes of She Who is Not a Witch. In the years that followed the Dark Forces found themselves in increasing disarray, the more reasonable DF faction powerless to rein in the darkest of the Dark Lords and Ladies, so skilled were they in their appeals to the most base citizenry. The DF solidified their control of the echo chamber known as talk radio and cable teevee as King O and his wise successors continued to move the realm towards a more promising future.
    THE END

    --mathgeek

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  6. Randall6:41 AM

    All that is true - and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it
    because this is the United States of America
    and they're doing nothing illegal.

    It's legal to be an idiot and espouse your idiot agenda
    and if you can convince enough other idiots to support your cause, then you win.

    What one CAN (and must) do - is VOTE against their interests, against stupidity...
    Because that TOO - is legal in the USA. (So far...)

    So the answer is: don't bitch, don't whine
    VOTE!

    Get off your ass and GO VOTE!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Get off your ass and GO VOTE!"

      Well, Randall, you do seem have to distilled it all down to the barest essential message.

      It just needs to be repeated several million times between now and Election Day.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous6:59 AM

    So…these groups raise money from people to air ads to support tv shows where the same views are expressed in order to reach an audience of people that already agree with them, presumably so they can raise more money to buy more ads? Seems like a sound business plan to me...

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  8. Anonymous7:59 AM

    There is a minister in Anchorage, AK - Baptist church - won't give him advertisement by naming him. But, watched his TV show, of his most recent service, and it was majority talk about politics! Totally disagree w/them doing that from the pulpit, but their church is known for it and rallying the troops (congregation) when needed at demonstrations, etc. They have even all worn the same colored t-shirts!

    His tax free status should be taken away from him!

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    Replies
    1. I really wish the IRS would crack down on churches that meddle in politics. I think Mexico has the right idea on that.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous8:06 AM

    GOP in Freakout Mode as Dems Surge in Three Critical Senate Races (Video)

    http://aattp.org/gop-in-freakout-mode-as-dems-surge-in-three-critical-senate-races-video/

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  10. Anonymous8:11 AM

    Good News for Obamacare Is Bad News for Conservative Pundits

    The warnings that insurance premiums will skyrocket next year look increasingly hyperbolic.



    Conservatives were sure at every turn that Obamacare would fail, but as the numbers roll in, those convictions are looking increasingly ideological.

    First they said nobody would enroll. Then they said first-year premiums would be through the roof. And later, they warned of a "death spiral," wherein premiums would go up uncontrollably. My colleague Sam Baker has written an excellent analysis of the situation, the upshot of which is that Obamacare is on a winning streak.

    The next great frontier of conservative hyperbole concerns premiums for 2015, with critics warning that costs will double or even triple next year.

    http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/good-news-for-obamacare-is-bad-news-for-conservative-pundits-20140418

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous8:56 AM

    Obamacare Is On a Winning Streak

    The headlines about the Affordable Care Act have turned positive lately, and they're starting to pile up. The most dire predictions from the law's critics simply haven't panned out, and now Democrats are headed into another big health care fight—the confirmation of a new Health and Human Services secretary—with stronger real-world evidence than they've had before.

    There's important information we still don't have about enrollment, and big risks loom on the horizon. Things could change. But right now, the tide seems to be turning in the White House's favor.

    Narratives feed on themselves, and there was a time when Obamacare just kept losing. HealthCare.gov didn't work. That made the uproar over canceled plans worse. And that spurred policy "solutions" from the White House that made it seem even more like the law didn't work. Enrollment was embarrassingly low. The bad news snowballed, and the White House seemed to have dropped the ball on its most important domestic priority.

    But over the past few weeks, the news has started to roll in the other direction. Enrollment has surged beyond expectations. Costs are coming in lower than predicted. Various reports say the number of uninsured Americans is falling. Now it's good news snowballing, and it's critics who increasingly seem to have missed the mark with their warnings of inevitable collapse.

    For all the partisan rancor over Obamacare, there's always been a lot of agreement about what the possibilities were—how the law could fail and how it could succeed.

    So when Republicans spent years predicting that Obamacare would fail and people would reject it, there were always distinctly possible events that could get us there. Maybe premiums for 2014 would be too high, and people wouldn't want to buy the coverage. Or the website would stay broken and people couldn't buy it even if they wanted to. Or people would be so turned off by the site that they wouldn't sign up even after it was fixed. Critics warned of a "death spiral," which is an insurance term—both sides knew what it meant and what might cause one.

    Critics still promise that the law cannot work as intended, but the evidence keeps piling up in the other direction. The opportunities for failure keep falling away, and worst-case predictions keep going bust.

    There was no death spiral, nor will there be one.

    http://www.nationaljournal.com/health-care/obamacare-is-on-a-winning-streak-20140416

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gryphen, you really chap my hide, ya know that?

    You have a right to your opinion, I suppose, no matter how wrong-headed you are.

    But, dammit all, can't you demonstrate the SLIGHTEST degree of common courtesy regarding Mark Levin? Yes, yes, I know! He's an insufferable douchebag! Everyone knows that! Hell, I'm pretty darn sure he makes a similar observation every morning when he stares admiringly at himself in the mirror.

    But, you, Gryphen - if that's even your real name, which just about everyone with half a brain already is starting to suspect it is not - seem to stubbornly lack the capacity to make the smallest gesture of respect towards this man of unfathomable hostility to that so-called President Obama that you seem so keen on.

    I don't ask for a lot, but I'm asking you now: PLEASE! PLEASE! If you find yourself preparing a blog post which mentions Mark Levin - and I pray to almighty Zeus that you never do - would it REALLY kill you to refer to him as he humbly encourages others to refer to him as: Mark "The Great One" Levin?

    Yes, I know, it seems tragically ironic to refer to someone so painfully not 'great' as THE Great One, but sometimes life is just ironic and there's nothing we can do about it.

    I'm counting on you, Gryphen. Again, if at all possible, please, find a way to fill your defunct blog posts without mentioning that wretched man, but if you simply cant avoid it, I'm begging you to refer to him as his dear sweet old grandmother - the one he affectionately called "Old Mrs Levin" - did: Mark "The Great One" Levin.

    Thank you.
    Beldar J. Conehead
    (FYI, the J is silent in months ending in 'er', plus February in leap years)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous10:12 AM

    The Politico article was very interesting.
    Last year , the founder of Freedom Works left FW because they were now paying Hannity, Beck, etc to shill for them.
    FW pays these talkers millions each year and the return via contributions ,
    is much , much less.
    IRC , FW paid Beck millions / year and he generated approximately 800k in contributions to FW.
    Limbaugh was paid 2 million / year and generated about 400k in contributions last year.
    FW has paid Limbaugh about 10 million since they started the payoffs.
    FW had to take out a million dollar line of credit in 2013 to pay their bills because fundraising was down.
    As Armey said in the article , he thinks support and publicity should be earned , not paid for.
    He thinks Beck and the others are idiots.
    Armey, like most Republicans with an ounce of common sense ( a shrinking demographic ) ,
    is despised by the Palin, Limbaugh tea party wing.
    They hate most everyone , including many elected Republicans.
    It doesn't seem that Freedom Works and the Senate Conservative Fund sent money Palin's way.
    At least not legally.
    And isn't this payola thing a version of crony capitalism that Palin is always whining about ?
    Perhaps her manic schedule this week is an attempt to get some payoffs from FW and the others.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anita Winecooler5:46 PM

    No matter what, there will always be a percentage of stupid people to pander to. But that won't stop me from boycotting their advertisers.

    OT GOP "Do you love your free drums" mayor sicks cops on satirist who makes fun of him. Twittergate? Whos zooming who about spying on citizens? IOLIARDI

    http://crooksandliars.com/2014/04/republican-mayor-sends-cops-home-twitter

    ReplyDelete

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