Limbaugh Admits the Media is Conservative
Diarist JohnKWilson at DailyKos makes a great find: Rush Limbaugh making the admission that liberal voices in the news are hard to find. The transcript from Rush’s own website:
if it weren’t for MSNBC we wouldn’t have any liberal sound bites. I’ve told Cookie I’m sick of it, ban MSNBC, and we can’t, ’cause there’s no other place to get liberal sound bites. There isn’t any other place. I mean CNN is just insane over there. They emphasize their hosts, they have guests, but just roll tape on ’em and it’s so boring. It’s not worth putting anything from CNN on the air.
If it weren’t for MSNBC there wouldn’t be any liberal sound bites. Now, that has to mean something. That has to mean that they’re rare, that they’re not everywhere. They may be everywhere in print, but, you know, left-wingers on the radio, genuine cuckoo’s nest. You wouldn’t even want to go there. I wouldn’t play that stuff. MSNBC’s it, and it’s two shows or three shows. It’s it is morning thing with Scarborough, it’s the Larry O’Donnell show at night, and maybe occasionally something from Reverend Sharpton. (interruption) Well, yeah, sometimes Sergeant Schultz. Sergeant Schultz is out there walking amongst abandoned railroad cars looking for the future of America. I know there’s Algore’s channel, but that’s nothing worth highlighting. It really says something. MSNBC is the only place in the media to get these liberals.
When leading conservatives use the phrase “liberal media,” they know they’re lying. The politicians know it, the conservative media figures themselves know it, and everyone down the chain knows it as well except for the base voters that lap it all up.
To be fair, when the rubes hear the phrase “liberal media,” it’s more of a culture war thing they’re dealing with. When NPR hosts talk about ants and balanced viewpoints in that quiet, trademarked, slightly condescending tone NPR has become famous for, that in and of itself is seen as culturally liberal. By contrast, when Limbaugh and Hannity use that growling, all-American aggressive tone of voice to say anything, it comes across as less liberal, regardless of the actual content of their words. That’s why Ed Schultz sounds like a conservative and has appeal with more demographically conservative segments, even though what he actually says is very liberal. The New York Times style section alone is enough to give many conservatives shivers without even delving into the newspaper’s actual politics. Culture wars have been intrinsically grafted onto political wars–and in very many wars are legitimate parts of political wars–such that large numbers of people can view the media as “liberal” without there actually being any politically liberal viewpoints in it.
Still, when even Limbaugh admits that there aren’t any legitimately liberal voices on the air outside of MSNBC, that’s just the great Wizard of Oz peeking out behind his little curtain to reveal the reality of the situation.
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