Sunday, October 18, 2009

Acting All the Way to the Bank   [Mark Steyn]

Our old friend David Frum has been doing his best for moderate conservatism with a broader appeal — the so-called "big tent." If the tent seems bigger, that's because he's kicking so many people out of it. Each to his own. But his latest offering is unworthy of him — "Do Limbaugh And Beck Believe What They Say?"

Yes of course Limbaugh and Beck express the same views in private as in public. Consistent hypocrisy demands exorbitant levels of imagination, energy, and cynicism. Much less exhausting over time simply to bring your private views into alignment with what you are paid to say in public.

"What you are paid to say in public"? By whom? Rush and Glenn are both self-owned brands who license themselves to multiple clients in radio, TV, publishing, etc.

The assumption of bad faith is the first refuge of the lazy leftist: "Why, my position is so obviously the only rational one that yours can only be an act! You cannot possibly believe what you say about climate change/health care/Islamic terrorism! Clearly it can only be explained by the check from your puppetmaster!" Sad to see David Frum buying into this:

Suppose an agent arrived in the offices of Limbaugh/Beck/Hannity/O’Reilly etc. with an offer. “I can guarantee you a deal that will pay you twice as much - bring you twice as much fame - and extend your career twice as long - if you’d say the exact opposite of what you are saying now.” Which of them would sign?

My nominations: O’Reilly accepts for sure. Beck likewise almost certainly says yes...

Most of the big-time talkers have been entirely consistent in their political views since their first gig babbling away for 200 bucks a week on WZZZ-AM at two in the morning. By contrast, there would seem to be more discernible evolution in political outlook among, say, certain long-time writers for the conservative press who then find themselves offered a weekly column in the New York Times. Don't get me wrong, maybe that's also just the "much less exhausting" way to go. But since nobody's ever going to give Rush or Glenn a Pulitzer or Peabody, how about an Oscar for one helluva performance?

It is more probable to liberals that Rush Limbaugh is just pretending to mean what he says.

Even while stoned on oxycontin and waking up profoundly deaf one morning, Limbaugh managed to deliver amazingly convincing yet secretly insincere improvised monologues for three hours a day, five days a week, for the last 22 years, on live radio, fooling an astonishing 20 million people at a time.

He was Colbert before Colbert was cool?

10/18 12:08 PMShare