John Nichols: The Republican 1 Percent Strategy

[marmar]

from the Nation:



But How Does the GOP Win With 1 Percent of the Vote?
posted by John Nichols on 10/07/2009 @ 12:31pm


Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann maintains one of the largest press operations in Congress. Her staff goes out of its way to "place" the Republican firebrand on television and radio talk shows.

So Bachmann should "get" a thing or two about the realities of right-wing talk radio and conservative cable television.

For instance, while right's radio and cable hosts have loyal audiences, they speak to highly-partisan audiences that like living in an echo chamber. That's the nature of the game. Most liberal talk-radio and cable television programs focus on their side's faithful -- although, it is notable that some progressive hosts, such as Ed Schultz (a prairie populist who made his name in Fargo) and Stephanie Miller (the daughter of Barry Goldwater's vice presidential running-mate) bust out of the echo chamber to take unscreened calls and actually debate conservative listeners.

But whether we're talking about talk-radio and cable on the right or the left, it's important to remember that the vast majority of Americans are getting their information from other sources.

In other words, even the most popular hosts are not necessarily the definitional players in our national conversation -- let alone our politics.

This is something Bachmann should recognize. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/481768/but_how_do_republicans_win_with_1_percent_of_the_vote