Governor Huckabee abandoned his effort at becoming president of the United States after his very successful weekend FoxNews program established itself as one of the most watched weekend shows on cable news. Huckabee is about to become another pundit on conservative radio. He has lined up 180 stations and is about to extend his influence using that medium. As it turns out, his show will air at the same time Limbaugh's show plays out. Politico wants its readership to see this as Huckabee challenging Limbaugh's place as "king of talk radio" on a personal level.
I would be surprised if the Governor would agree with this appraisal. Does Huckabee believe that "kinder, gentler" radio talk is appropriate? Yes. Does that mean that he disagrees with the purpose and place of such conservative giants as Limbaugh, Hannity and Mark Levin ? I can tell you with confidence, that Huckabee will never admit to such.
Conservative conversation must include all spectrums of political talk strategies. If not, only the Lefties will use accusatory rhetoric as it works to tear down this great nation. People listen to strongly stated opinions, whether from the Right or the Left. You want compromising talk? So do the Leftist. That is their wish for conservative radio. Look where "being nice" took John McCain. And what of the great conservative retreat in the years before Rush Limbaugh? We forget that Limbaugh's first slogan was "I am equal time." Nothing was more accurate in 1988.
Politico, itself, is a perfect example of a Leftist concern willing to use whatever means to trash its patriotic counterparts. Being "nice" over the years has proven to be a huge mistake. If the Lefties are the only ones driving the debate and accusing its opposition, they win. And, before Limbaugh, that was the case.
At any rate, we like Huckabee and wish him well. He will succeed, but not if he feels the need to measure his success against Rush Limbaugh. Bill O'Reilly failed to dethrone Rush and gave up that pursuit after 7 years of effort. Politico put O'Reilly's radio show at "number two" in the nation, but that was never true. O'Reilly was never able to over-take Sean Hannity and had difficulty with The Great One's (Mark Levin) third place performance.
It is common knowledge among those who pay attention, that O'Reilly, in fact, nearly hates Sean Hannity. He never refers to Hannity's show, in spite of the fact that Sean's FoxNews program has [immediately] followed O'Reilly's for more than a decade. While his television show runs mush stronger than Hannity's, he was never able to overtake Sean's popular radio program . . . . the #2 political talk show on the airwaves for 12 years.
Again, we wish Huckabee the best, but we will be listening to Limbaugh, at least for the first hour of his show. As an editor, I care about facts and statistics much more than I do about personality interviews. I expect that such will be the big difference between the two shows.
4 more years ... no doubt
ReplyDeleteGive it up. Every thing you stand for and write here is totally a waste.