Brooks: Rise of Radio, TV Stars Correlates With Decline Of GOP

Radio hosts talk a big game, but in the end, don't produce results at the polls, says the New York Times' David Brooks. Yet politicians still run screaming when they're attacked by the hosts. And that's to the detriment of the GOP.

Over the years, I have asked many politicians what happens when Limbaugh and his colleagues attack. The story is always the same. Hundreds of calls come in. The receptionists are miserable. But the numbers back home do not move. There is no effect on the favorability rating or the re-election prospects. In the media world, he is a giant. In the real world, he’s not.

But this is not merely a story of weakness. It is a story of resilience. For no matter how often their hollowness is exposed, the jocks still reweave the myth of their own power....

The party is leaderless right now because nobody has the guts to step outside the rigid parameters enforced by the radio jocks and create a new party identity.