Posts Tagged ‘clear channel communications’

the air-war over Iowa: Rush Limbaugh savages Gov. Huckabee; Romney gets eviscerated by Iowa’s Jan Mickelson

December 22, 2007 in 2008, analysis, argument, campaign management, conservatism, election 2008, GOP, Iowa, media, mitt romney, republicans, romney, triumph of unreason
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“After today, Rush Limbaugh is in reruns until January 3, the day of the Iowa caucuses,” writes sniveling, belly-crawling Romney sycophant Jim Geraghty for the formerly conservative NRO and proud Blog for Mitt in a Campaign Spot post titled The Rush Fallout for Huckabee: Fatal, or Missing the Target?

… Can a guy who’s been slammed as hard as Mike Huckabee has by Rush Limbaugh, the most popular conservative radio talk show host in the country, go on to win the Iowa caucuses? Anybody think Rush will have dropped this issue by the third of January?

My instinct is to say, “no way, a thumbs down from Rush is fatal,” but a guy on another campaign cautions me. “An Iowa pastor who has been talking up Huckabee isn’t going to change his mind because Rush Limbaugh doesn’t like him.” He points out that a pastors and religous leaders deal with people who fall short of their ideals all the time; hearing that Mike Huckabee was too merciful in dealing with Wayne Dumond is not going to be a dealbreaker for them. They’ll probably go, no pun intended, “there but for the grace of God go I” …

I hate to burst Boy Geraghty’s troubled bubble but Rush Limbaugh—a voice carried by Clear Channel, recently acquired by Romney’s own Bain Capital—is not the only voice on their airwaves of Iowa.

… “We’ve been holding this post for a couple days while we got our thoughts in order on it,” writes CC in a Caucus Cooler post titled WHO vs. Mitt Romney—What it means

One of the biggest buzz items around Iowa the past few days has been Jan Mickelson absolutely eviscerating Mitt Romney on the radio for the past 2 days. We’ve received more emails about this than every other issue combined. On top of that, Steve Deace has made obliterating Romney (and Rudy and McCain) his personal mission for the past umpteen weeks. In this post we’ll discuss what does this mean as it relates to the Iowa caucuses? In the next one, we’ll look at whether or not it is fair.

The fact is this hurts Mitt in a major way. Jan Mickelson has the biggest microphone in the state. His show can be heard in most of Iowa’s 99 counties and the listeners in large part are the same people who attend the caucuses. So 2 weeks from caucus night for him to use that platform to take on Romney has major implications. Unlike Deace (who is a Huckabeeite), Mickelson hasn’t endorsed a Romney opponent. At times he’s been critical of all the major contenders for the nomination. That is about the only positive spin Camp Romney can put on this situation. Looking back at 2006, you can see the damage Steve Deace did in splintering the GOP base, with his attacks on Jim Nussle. Mickelsons audience is exponentially larger than Deace’s, so you cannot understate the impact it will have on the Romney campaign … etc.

Our prediction—base on no other data than our reading of trends in the various reportage—Romney loses both Iowa and New Hampshire.

The market correction that we predicted is hot upon us. Besides: Romney, as we predicted, has been forced to go heatedly negative in 2 states on 2 fronts. Romney’s icy-cold personality and ultra-high negatives will not support a single negative message campaign, let alone 2. Note how both Sen. McCain and Gov. Huckabee delight in Romney’s baleful attentions and laugh off his every angry shriek and misleading screed.

yours &c.
dr. g.d.

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forget that limp and useless NRO endorsement that no one cares about anyway, because Romney is about to buy Clear Channel

December 14, 2007 in 2008, campaign communications, campaign communiques, campaign finance, campaign literature, campaign management, conservatism, election 2008, GOP, media, mitt romney, republicans, romney, strategy, the dark soul of Mitt Romney, triumph of unreason
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“What would it cost to buy the support of just about every nationally-syndicated neocon talk show host in America?”—asks Chris Brunner of  Alex Jone’s TruthNews.us in a post titled Mitt Romney to Buy Clear Channel Communications

About $19.5 Billion, which is what Mitt Romney’s private equity firm, Bain Capital, and Thomas H. Lee Partners have agreed to pay in a leveraged buyout agreement with Clear Channel Communications, the largest radio station owner in the country.

Clear Channel owns over 1,100 full-power AM, FM, and shortwave radio stations, twelve radio channels on XM Satellite Radio, and more than 30 television stations in the United States. Premiere Radio Networks, which is the largest syndication company in the United States, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Clear Channel and is home to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and many others. Sean Hannity recently signed a large multi-market contract with Clear Channel, as well … etc.

In a NolanChart.com post titled Implications of Mitt Romney’s Purchase of Clear Channel Communications; Mitt Romney’s firm Bain Capital is in the process of trying to buy Clear Channel Communications, the sort-of kind-of off-again on-again libertarian CT Johnson opines:

This deal, even though not closed yet, could be significant. No candidate running for President of the United States at this time could boast such direct influence with the media. One has to wonder if the Romney campaign would make it publicly known that their candidate was tied to the above mentioned 1,100 radio stations 12 XM stations and 30 plus TV stations. Would these stations in the tradition of honest journalism mention their ties to Romney whenever a story about the 2008 Presidential race was discussed? This writer sure hopes so. The American electorate deserves to have the whole truth so that any bias, accidental or not, can be considered …

Our comment: Holy bloody crap!

yours &c.
dr. g.d.