Ignore Us At Your Peril

An item from the Culture and Media Institute discusses Michelle Malkin's latest, as well as Mark's. Read it all at link below for the data and facts. At least in part, why is there frustration? Why are there Tea Parties and large numbers of Americans feeling disconnected from media and politics? It's because a large portion of America feels ignored by the culture.

Trust me on this, the last time that happened it led to the Reagan Revolution when the usually quiet rubes decided that they wanted to be heard. How's that saying go in general terms, not only for Limbaugh? Oh yes, "if you strike him down he shall only become more powerful than you can imagine . . . ".

Read the whole piece below at CMI.

The most coveted real estate in the publishing industry is a space on The New York Times Best-Seller List. The list, compiled in a survey of thousands of book retailers, is a weekly reflection of what the American public is interested in reading. Since the 1940s, authors whose works make the list have been assured of even more books sales and a shower of publicity.

But not when those authors or their books are conservative. In such cases, the three broadcast networks greeted them with silence at worst and skepticism at best.

During the first six months of 2009, 25 books that can be described as “liberal” or “conservative” appeared on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Best-Seller List. More of those books (14) were liberal, but conservative authors enjoyed a combined total of 95 weeks on the List. Liberals had 80. At this writing Michelle Malkin’s “Culture of Corruption” had been on the list for four weeks, and was currently at No.1.

But no matter how commercially successful conservative books and authors have been, they were slighted by the three broadcast networks. The most glaring evidence of bias against conservative books was the networks’ complete neglect of the single most successful book on the list, radio host Mark Levin’s “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto.” Levin’s book spent 12 weeks at No.1, and as of this writing had yet to fall out of the top 10.

Comments

[Dennis D]

How did this happen? From media to education to school board and judgeships. They all seem to be heavily liberal and extreme left liberal who are a minority in America.

[man_in_tx]

Talk about ignoring... Why are you ignoring the Rifqa Bary story?

[Rich K]

To the man_in_tx:
Um isnt it glenn reynolds job to cover all the major blather every day in quik snippets between actually teachin law ?
I think our man Dan does a pretty good job with whatever catches his fancy.
If your willing to go on the RWV staff,(staff?),Im sure Dan could maybe cover so much more.
AS to this thread I cant see much to add as what Dan says is and has been true for ages. If it wasnt for hannity and FOX you would swear that conservative books didnt even exist.

[Barbara]

man,
As wonderful a job that Dan does in covering so many issues it is easy to forget
he is just an old guy in his underwear in basement not a full blown media service ;).
Note: the stucture of a blog such as this allows people who comment to bring
information "on topic" and "off topic" to the blogger and others. When you
see the "hat tip" or "H/T" that is because somene else chipped in and sent info.
In the case of your post re: Rifqa Bary you might have provided a link to eg:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/ or
http://www.jihadwatch.org/ both of whom are covering to help bring the issue
forward. enjoy your day Man and keep Praying for Rifqa

[Dan Riehl]

Thanks, guy. lol I actually did keep seeing it and thinking, got to post on that. Just never got the time. And I also considered making a comment about his ability to dump in a link. Must not have been feeling well. I was actually nice about it. ; )

[smitty]

What's different between now and 1979 is that there is a non-zero (avoiding the Chicken Little approach) economic threat that these crappy ideas could take down the whole g'dang country.

Beating my favorite drum, the systemic risk of the permanent political class is the chief enemy, right after the debt & deficit.

[Jeffersonian]

Unpersons Malkin and Levin double-plus ungood.

[KG2V]

The BIG problem I see is that we don't Have a RR waiting in the wings. If we did, that would be something, but

[Partisan]

"The BIG problem I see is that we don't Have a RR waiting in the wings. If we did, that would be something, but"

So let's fight with the leaders we have, don't the let media tell you that Palin and Jindal are ruined.

The media lies about everything.. so why trust them on OUR candidates?

[Judith]

I'm also concerned that we don't have an RR on the scene. The energy is clearly there in the Tea Parties, but not sure the leadership is. Jindal seems like a strong possibility to me, but he's ruled out 2012. And, we need someone soon. (Also could use some strong Congressional reps.)

[tsj017]

Sarah Palin. Perhaps you've heard of her.

[TME]

The people of this country aren't waiting for another Reagan, that's what the tea parties are about. Principles don't need spokesmen.

[mark l.]

"Principles don't need spokesmen."

they do need a political party. half of liberalism's recent success is the abject failure of the gop.
I see liberals failing now, badly, but they are doing it completely on their own.

I really wish the gop would get it's act together but delay was a disaster from 02-06. It wasn't even the fundraising misteps, that 75% of congress critters are likewise guily of committing. It was just that our govt grew faster than gdp, under the gop's watch.

It wasn't just after 9/11, it was 'every year' after 9/11.

[SenatorMark4]

"Principles don't need spokemen". Really? When you have a government devouring the fruits of our labors at this rate, driven by Republicans then Democrats, are you just going to keep standing back and watch? Been there. We've all done that. NOW we need to take back the Republican party with POLICY based on principle so that people can have something to vote FOR. Forget all the words about efficiency, reducing the deficit, or whatever poll tested tripe they fling at us, we know politicians will buy votes with goodies. They act like it is their money. Duh! All we have to do is pass the law that they have to report all "their" money just like we do using an IRS Form 1099-GOV. Then we'd see some clarity about where the money goes. Even Charlie Rangel could appreciate how much easier it would make to argue about government expenditures for supposed necessary expenditures.

[Robin]

People are looking for a political party, but I don't think it will be the GOP. We squandered our good will with compassionate conservatism. Talking to my neighbor the other day about politics (she voted for "hope and change", emphasis hope), she asked, "Who can we turn to? I don't trust Republicans to do better."

I think the mouthpieces like Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, Rush, Mark Steyn, Mark Levin, Hannity, will start to formulate in their own way how to use the tea parties to endorse political figures on both sides of the aisle who put country first. It will not be a clear, organized message, but the tea parties have proved that you don't need orchestrated messages and a single spokesperson. Principles do matter, and are easy to share amongst ourselves and encourage others to get active over. Think about the voting "machine" the GOP had in place for Bush's reelection - neighbors talking to neighbors and co-workers. Much more effective than advertising.

This is the most excited I've been about the political direction of this country in a long while.