LA talk host's career is hurt by defense of iraq war

We've been harping about how we think the downfall of President Bush has helped to negatively impact talk radio- a medium dominated by the right.

But conservative LA talker, John Ziegler of KFI writes in the new Talker's Magazine that more specifically it's support of the Iraq War by talk hosts accounts for at least some of the softening of the numbers- including his own.

Ziegler, who was the subject of "Host," David Foster Wallace's epic 2005 Atlantic Monthly piece on talk radio, writes that he talked to a name brand national host who'd done some research on the subject and had come to that conclusion.

"There is perhaps," Ziegler writes, "no greater indication of the dramatic free fall of the support for this once highly popular war than the reality that we were even discussing the possibility that hosts who back President Bush on this issue may be losing audience shares because of it."

He says there's also evidence- galling to the hard-assed libertariocon- "that talk hosts who have turned against the war have actually benefited in the ratings from their flip-flop."

Ziegler is shocked that listeners would be so forgiving of a "host for dramatically switching his or her position on a major issue of profound imporatnace, even when that flip-flop could easily be interpreted as nothing but a transparent attempt to pander  to the popular will and ride the new direction of the wind."

(If true, this doesn't surprise us- because the American people flip-flopped over the war, too. For that reason, we doubt that politicians who were for the war before they were against it like Hillary, Edwards, et al, will suffer that much politically in 2008. Hell, huge numbers of us bought Bush's sexed-up "intelligence." We'll probably forgive the politicians and talk hosts who made the same mistake. It sure wasn't much of a speed bump for Sen. Maria Cantwell).

Ziegler, a simple man high on his horse, is amazingly idealistic (especially for an entertainer and a Los Angeleno). "I have always thought that if we were inconsistent then we would lose our credibility and there would be no longer any reason to listen to us (or our live-reads)."

(That doesn't allow, of course, for facts or hearts to change; for mistakes in judgment; for lies believed- you know- that humans might be involved? Ziegler and his kind of dogged, Manichean, robotic idealism account for some of what's killing conservatism.) 

Ziegler admits that while "my ratings are still very solid, there is plenty of evidence (which is not in my self-interest to discuss in this forum) that my career may have been at least temporarily harmed directly because of my strong defense of this war."

He regurgitates the talk radio boilerplate that because "mainstream news sources are clearly biased in a liberal direction (and seemingly getting more so every day), talk radio is mostly libertarian/conservative."

He concludes that that's one of the reasons why liberal talk "very rarely ever works."

Zeigler's wrong about that- the handwriting is on the wall even if he doesn't want to see it.

Here's to program directors and radio suits who can see it:

• Politics do matter in talk radio
• Conservative talk momentum has turned to talk inertia
• Rush is just another fat guy.

Comments

[joanie]

Wrong, Duff. In the end, you go with what has been substantiated and is reasonable. You don't go with gut . . . unless, of course, you're in Vegas or betting on the lottery.

That isn't a smart thing to ever say if you want to sound like a man I would want to have an intellectual conversation with. Might as well talk to a kindergartner if your gut is informing your brain. Sorry.

[Duffman]

ha...good as is said 'everything I ever needed to know I learned in kidergarten' anyway so hope you know 'going with my gut' simply means 'concluding' (and not based on diet...ha) and I will continue to conclude as I have during my life...and in the long run, as I've said it hasn't steered me wrong yet...and it w/be too coincidential to think that there's not a coorelation.
asi es la vida (Que: Sparky for translation)

[joanie]

Sorry, I learned a whole lot after K. What I learned in K helped me be a nice person. Not an educated one.

You must be accountable for your beliefs so you must support them. "gut instincts" do not support beliefs. Knowledge does. You can believe Galileo . . . he had proof. The church - based on its gut instincts - chose not to believe. Surely you can do better.

If you don't believe, take those scientists who disagree and use their scientific arguments to argue. Do resort to K tactics. It doesn't serve you and it does suit you.

[joanie]

s/b "Don't resort to K tactics." Also, "It doesn't serve you and it doesn't suit you." Sorry.

[Duffman]

I will take your comments in stride, and will continue to follow what seems to work for me. ...always subject to improvement/modification... thank you.

[joanie]

Well, Duff, what works for you doesn't work for most of us. That is why you get so much grief.

So be it.

[duffman]

...never grief, young lady; I've found 'peace of mind'...so never grief...I think I'm beyond that in my life. Grief could only come from something that 'really' matters... Thanks for your kind and wise words.

[joanie]

Merci . . . turn off the italics! I'll try here . . .

[joanie]

I couldn't do it, Merci. I think you have to. :)

[robinz]

Limbaugh/Hannity/Savage consistently dominate talk radio ratings nationwide. All three of them steadfastly defend the war in Iraq. The only thing that hurts a radio talk show host's career is...lack of talent.

Yes, but the question is do their ratings hold up. For instance are they as good as they were 4 years ago or even 2 years ago. No one disputes that the conservatives still have the top of the pile. The question is are they sliding downward.

robinz

[Eric Dondero]

The Liberals misinterpret alleged non-support for the War in Iraq. They view it as opposition. When in fact, many of us are pissed off at Bush for not fighting the War hard enough, and not expanding the War to other Islamic hellholes that harbor terrorists, like Somalia, and Sudan.

But when you look at the polling data, they just lump in folks like me, who are against Bush cause he's not fighting hard enough, in with the liberal weenie girly men who want to retreat and surrender.

Thus, what we get from the MSM is a vastly skewed and wholly inaccurate polling data, just like the article above.

Eric Dondero, CEO
MainstreamLibertarian.com

[Duffman]

Eric: Actually agree with you about intensity. I don't agree with the Iraq war; I think it was a mistake - but if we as a Country commit to 'war' we should do it with an all-out intensity, sparingly only possibly nuclear force.

[Duffman]

Eric: what are your thoughts on the current situation with Iran and the captured British troops?

[Tommy008]

I guess Bill O'Reilly is one of the "weenie girly men" who basically believes in a deadline to get out of Iraq whether he's on the record for these latest bills or not. Despite my problems with O'Reilly, he's not a simplistic, sloganeering anti-intellectual and engages in critical thinking enough to realize that the U.S. can only carry the Iraqi army so far and that if they are not willing and capable of carrying their weight and fighting for their own democracy/freedom within the fairly near future, America will have to withdraw.

[joanie]

many of us are pissed off at Bush for not fighting the War hard enough, and not expanding the War to other Islamic hellholes that harbor terrorists, like Somalia, and Sudan.

I think that's probably true. I also think the Dems gained their slim majority more as a result of Publican corruption than Iraq. An opinion, can't support it.

We Americans sure seem to like war. We've been involved in enough of them.

But when you look at the polling data, they just lump in folks like me, who are against Bush cause he's not fighting hard enough, in with the liberal weenie girly men who want to retreat and surrender.

I'd like to see proof of that.

Thus, what we get from the MSM is a vastly skewed and wholly inaccurate polling data, just like the article above.

And proof of that.

Also, Eric, if you're a libertarian who wants all-out war, how you gonna pay for it and who you gonna send?

Let's talk meat and potatoes here. Enough wish lists for somebody else to figure out.

[Duffman]

Oh Eric (in case you didn't know) on this blog you have to cut and paste your sources to be reviewed by the head minion. [so they can be trashed]

[Tommy008]

Why was Dan Sytman even allowed out of his producer's booth, to be an onair "talent". UGH.

[cowpotpi3]

Duff, last I'll say on this (dead horse) topic: Sources should be questioned, especially if they are fringe ones and DEFINITELY if they are being quoted to back up your own point of view. I know you see yourself as open minded, however don't mistake people rejecting wingnutdaily.com for being simple blind partisans. Its like banging your head against the same wall for the 20th time in a row and expecting a different result. How do you think those guys got to be wingnuts? Telling the truth? Hehe.

[cowpotpi3]

Eric sounds like a LINO to me. Tell me again how a Libertarian would be for government lying to us to get us there in the first place? What about all of the other scandals that this government has produced that directly conflict with Libertarian values (i.e. consolidation of power in the executive, Patriot Act powers, NSA powers, circumventing the power of the other branches, etc, etc)?

Are you a real Libertarian or just somebody who is using it as cover to attack liberals without looking like a Bush loving neo-con? A lot of this going on these days.

[Duffman]

"Duff, last I'll say on this (dead horse) topic.."

Whew....thanks for acknowledgment that this is 'last' and that it is a 'dead horse' topic. Please inform head minion also.

I appreciate your point of view CP3.

[Pilgrim]

"The Liberals misinterpret alleged non-support for the War in Iraq. They view it as opposition. When in fact, many of us are pissed off at Bush for not fighting the War hard enough, and not expanding ...."

You are in a small minority - just like your "party".

Eric, when do you ship over to Iraq?

[shoreke]

Bush faces the same problem in Iraq that Nixon faced in Vietnam. Either commit to the annihilation of a gigantic segment of the Iraqi population or get the hell out.