Agree in a way, but it seems that there should be more to it…

There is a marketplace for everything, including ideas. Wouldn’t say Rush’s program is specifically a “response to a disease”, any more than the emergence of rock and roll on radio was (as many thought similarly at the time).

It is true Rush occupied/pioneered a niche that was massively underserved (conservative oriented discussion). Not much different than how FOX News Channel found their niche on cable news. The audience existed.

Rush’s “formula” has been to build anger, rather similar to “fire and brimstone” televangelists, such as Swaggert, etc. who built a huge following using a similar “formula”.

With a number of copy cats out there (now on radio, TV, and internet) doing the same/similar thing, it has the effect of building a much broader base of anger (having become something of an echo chamber).

Part of that anger is built around the lens of a “we vs they”, conspiracy oriented (e.g. “Establishment”, “Donor Class”), ad hominem laden (e.g. “GOPe”, “RINO”) victimhood message / meme. All rather divisive, which has nearly destroyed any credibility and trust with the political organization representing “conservative” ideas.

Add the fact that many of these media heads bent the facts to fit their narrative (neo wrote some great posts on this re: Rush), and we have an audience becoming “blind”.

Then once Trump announces his candidacy, and these same media heads (out of fear of losing their angry audience) don’t immediately ask fundamental questions, or worse, feign “neutrality” if not “apologizing / Trumpsplaining”, and we have an audience becoming completely unmoored from core principles, and uncritically open to a candidate like Trump.

These media heads have shown their true faces. Most of them would rather keep feeding the “beast” they created rather than potentially lose some of their audience.

That is not to say that there are some good reasons to be disappointed with the GOP and its leadership, how far Obama has gotten by manipulating the system, how the larger media has a “built in” bias, etc.

There is the seed of legitimacy in almost every complaint.

However, it is profoundly sad to realize that what one assumed was a more “politically thoughtful” group could so easily be led astray (in 2008 we all recall how these media heads explained that the left had a virtual monopoly on “low info voters”).

It was shocking to learn just how much many of the “thought leaders” in the conservative media are cynically more interested in the bottom line than the ideas they claimed they were representing.

If they spoke out, doubt they would have lost any significant audience share, but it is another tragedy of the commons problem that played out, similar to how the other 16 candidates largely ignored Trump before it was too late.

So, yes, “blind anger”, but that was built by these media heads with an audience that were / are too willing to be manipulated.

With the 2012 election, IMHO they were one of the factors that Romney lost. Realized the “poison” they inject and have since quit listening to any media type that speak in a similar tone / rely heavily on emotion, ad hominem, etc.

The world they present is not the real one, any more than “The House Wives of… ” are representative of a typical wife. They distort the world for their own economic benefit. Time we all realize that and act accordingly – seek multiple alternative sources.

I think a better example of irresponsible conservative media self-hype click-bait is the Hillary dog-pile. If she exits, and it could happen in the win at all costs/protect Barry’s precious legacy DNC, the other options-Sanders or Warren/Biden-will be much more palatable to the electorate. I’m not talking about thinking people I’m talking about the electorate at large. I know Fauxcahontas is so faux, Biden is a grinning error factory, and Sanders is a nasty old commie; they don’t. Plus, Obama will push them across the finish line with enthusiasm; Hillary not so much. Disaster! Stop dog piling! Lord KNOWS there are other things to talk about politically, like these fascists beating people over political speech.

Two links, posted to Book’s post about the Leftist attacks on American voters at Trump Rallies.

Call 911 and ask for help? Nope. Beg your Political masters for protection and help? Nope.

None of that works. I think Americans, especially patriots, are fond of the Rule of Law and all that jazz about obedience to some bullsh authoritarian police unions and Leftist bs about equality.

In the end, the only thing that can save you, is yourself. People can start there. Trump’s supporters are a good example of how helpless and powerless they are. They think giving Trump the Throne of Power is going to save them. It won’t.

You write: “When will you spend time on ‘fisking’ the New York Times, the Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS etc. for THEIR distortions and lies.” You also write that you’ve read this blog for a while.

The two statements don’t compute. I have spent so much time criticizing the MSM that I could excerpt several longish books from this blog alone on the subject.

See the answer to “Did Bush lie his way to war with Iraq?”.

First, it was the Merry Pranksters in the 1960’s. The Hippies, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, et cetera. They were outrageous. They were, in modern terminology, trolls.

Next, you had Limbaugh. IIRC, the phrase he used to use was “exposing outrage by being outrageous”. Trolling. He’d talk about The Magic Negro knowing that people would accuse him of racism and be wrong. It makes for good radio, but it does harm the national discussion.

Next: Jon Stewart. The criticism of him has always been “clown nose on / clown nose off”, that he gave himself license to be political while claiming that he was only a comedian. He had a giant rally in Washington DC about nothing: that doesn’t make sense unless you think in terms of trolling.

So far, so good. (Not that good at all, really.) The internet comes along, and we’re rewarded for getting the most responses, good or bad. Trolling becomes a sport for the masses. And I don’t feel like going back and changing this comment of mine, but I just realized I left out Michael Moore, who made “documentaries” that were misleading, with full knowledge that they were misleading, with the viewers having full knowledge that they were misleading. Another troll.

There’s a change in kind, not simply degree, when Barack Obama runs for President. Now we have a political figure who deliberately overstates things because he knows they’ll get a rise out of his opponents and make them look bad. (His people have admitted that he does this.) He says things like, “Apparently they [the Republicans] are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America”. In other words, we have our first troll President.

You do this long enough, the other side gets angry. They nominate a guy who has no experience, no understanding of the office, and no demonstrable skills other than insulting people on Twitter.

First, be nice to neo. She’s awesome.

Secondly, and I don’t claim to speak for her, but sometimes we tend to criticize those in our own “house”, so to speak, because they are ours. Spending time pointing out the abuses of the liberal msm (which neo has done, just not to your liking evidently) would be a full time job.

I’m a conservative and I quit listening to Rush years ago. There’s some good there, but too repetitive, too much about him, too many commercials, and too focused on keeping the rabble roused. Yeah, I partially blame him and his ilk for the situation we’re in and the candidate we’ve got. My wife still likes him though.

When will you spend time on ‘fisking’ the New York Times, the Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS etc. for THEIR distortions and lies.

Having lurked, and occasionally commented on, this website for a while it seems to me that while you have a quite mild distaste for the Left you have and extreme and virulent dislike for the right.

It’s OK to be a moderate. But why aren’t you honest enough, at least with yourself if no one else, to explain that you are one?

neoneocon is a catchy name. More accurate might be neoNeverCon.