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Sunday, March 18, 2007
Regular People Using New Media
Posted by: Matt Lewis at 1:35 PM

Ankle Biting Pundit's Patrick Hynes has a good post today about how Sen. McCain is wisely using new media to get his message out.  In doing so, Patrick notes the importance of the conservative media:

"My friend Hugh Hewitt makes a point that candidates for high public office cannot reach their target audiences without the aid of conservative media. Hugh says this not because he is a member of the conservative media, but because it is true. No candidate, including my client John McCain, will successfully navigate the primary process without communicating with and through the talk radio/blog/Podcast/YouTube nexus."

But Patrick goes on to make the case that the conservative media is ... well ... I'll let him explain:

"... conservative media is really just a filter like the Old Media but with more honesty and more entertaining personalities. We can never discount the role of regular people in this process. It is here, in his direct interaction with the people, that I believe my client will have a leg up on the competition in the GOP primary."

Are conservative media the same as the MSM (only more truthful and interesting)?  By virtue of having a megaphone (or a keyboard), are conservative media out-of-touch with "regular people"?  After all, a lot of conservative bloggers and writers live in places like New York, Washington, DC, and California.  Could it be they don't have their fingers on the pulse of America?  Are they "filtering" the good stuff?

Or is this just spin being perpetrated by a campaign that has angered many conservative media-types? 

My suspicion is that if the conservative media are largely against you (as is the case with McCain), you make the argument that the conservative media doesn't matter -- that it's the "real" people out there who matter. 

I'm obviously a bit biased (based on the fact that I write here at Townhall.com). 

What are your thoughts?

 



View in ascending order View in descending order
blogagog writes: Sunday, March, 18, 2007 3:17 PM
Disagree
While it's true that "Conservative media" is a good way to get your message out, it only works if you are conservative on the things that conservative media viewers are conservative on. McCain's not.

This tactic will work well for Hunter, Thompson, possibly Romney, and maybe even Guliani, since, though he's not conservative, he's very tough on enemies. With McCain, it's different. His views onthe war on terror are like a slap in the face to most conservatives. It won't help him. Won't hurt either, but won't help.
SonnyJim writes: Sunday, March, 18, 2007 4:45 PM
Its wishful projection
McCain's Campaign has been living in hope that the MSM filter would be the one. They are arguing that convervative media is also a filter in the hopes that someone will be fooled into buying an equivalency between the two and the consequent implication that the "real McCain" hasn't been heard. In fact, the worst possible thing for the McCain campaign vis a vis conservatives is an unfiltered candidate who is heard speaking his true mind.

Its not the conservative media that doesn't like McCain, its conservatives in general.

I'll never vote for John McCain.
one hot minute writes: Sunday, March, 18, 2007 7:38 PM
Pretty website, lousy Republican.

Matt,

McCain is not raising very much money, and you & Patrick Hynes are living in a fantasy world if you think McCain is actually going to win the GOP nomination.

Your attempts to explain away McCain's lack of popularity among conservatives reminds me of a guy who just can't get a date with a particular girl he longs for, yet he continues to pursue the girl despite her numerous rejections of his overtures.

Matt, your candidate John McCain can hire the world's trickiest webmaster to add all the bells & whistles to his website and it still won't successfully masquerade his Senate record.
And McCain can't dress up the fact that he refuses to come on talk radio to answer tough questions about his record.

The McCain-Feingold Bill, Gang of 14, his vote against drilling in ANWAR, his support for the estate tax, et al, are some of the reasons why conservatives---and conservative media---oppose McCain as the party's nominee.

As Hugh Hewitt often says, "John McCain is a great patriotic American---but a lousy Republican."

We conservatives are just not interested in McCain as the party's nominee---no matter how "pretty" his website is.
And no matter how many times he asks us for a date, the answer remains, "NO."
Virginia Patriot writes: Sunday, March, 18, 2007 10:28 PM
McCain/Kennedy
When he decided he was more interested in representing the interests of illegal aliens than American citizens he lost my support. I voted for him in the 2000 primary, never again. He has compounded his problems with conservatives almost daily since he was denied the nomination in 2000. Bitterness is not an endearing quality, particularly as practiced by John McCain. He hasn't missed the opportunity to stick his thumb in their eye whenever it has presented itself. Please stop running John. PLEASE.
wrtr83 writes: Monday, March, 19, 2007 4:19 AM
McCain Doesn't Excite Conservatives
I attended a meeting recently with about 500 GOPers, mostly conservatives--but not necessarily so. Asked by Laura Ingraham who we would thought would be the next president, John McCain received ZERO votes. (It was a hand poll. Maybe he would have done better by secret ballot--but he clearly would not have "won" this straw vote.)

Who did win?

Rudy Guliani.

While Rudy doesn't excite conservatives due to his stand on some social issues and gun control, conservatives trust Rudy to a strong stand on the things conservatives care most about: a strong national defense, a free market economy, limited government, freedom of speech, and the rule of law. They also believe that he is "as good as his word." McCain isn't.
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