Loud and Clear (RW Radio Press Briefing) --Kurtz WaPo

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/10/25/BL2006102500256.html?referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email

Loud and Clear

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 25, 2006; 10:58 AM


It never occurred to me that I'd have any trouble covering the event. If the administration calls in a bunch of mostly conservative radio hosts and trots out some of its VIPs to argue that the Republicans are actually going to maintain control of Congress despite all the naysayers out there, you'd think these folks would want some coverage, right?...Nope...In fact, the event was closed to the press. That's right, all these interviews, which were broadcast on the public airwaves --we're not talking classified briefings here--was deemed off limits. Is there a message here for the MSM?

Moments after Bartlett moved down the rows of folding tables to the next interview, however, Boortz said during a break: "I've adopted the opinion that maybe I'd like to see the Republicans take it in the teeth in this election, lose the House and lick their wounds. They just haven't done enough to be rewarded with continued control in Washington."

For 15 years, the conservatives who dominate talk radio have served as shock troops for the GOP, bashing Democrats, hitting the hot buttons and rallying their listeners. Since the Republicans' 1994 takeover of Congress, in which Rush Limbaugh played a catalyzing role, through the disputed election of 2000 and President Bush's first term, the radio talkers have wielded a powerful megaphone for their ideological side. But as Karl Rove, Tony Snow, Michael Chertoff, Bartlett and other top administration officials worked the tent during yesterday's day-long event, it became apparent that there are serious cracks in this once-solid wall of support.

"The corps of Bush supporters are just seething, angry and disappointed," said Jan Mickelson, a fixture in Des Moines radio. Iraq, he said, has become "ungovernable," voters are upset about "perceived corruption in the Republican Party" and "social conservatives feel like they've been used again." But in a point echoed by several of the hosts, Mickelson said that "immigration is the number one issue" fostering disgruntlement with the Republicans, because his listeners are "seeing the effects of lack of border control every single day." Asked if he wants the Democrats to win the midterm elections, Mickelson said: "I don't really give a rip. The conservatives would say, 'What's the worst that can happen? We're not getting anything we want now. We're getting nothing but frustration and ulcers.' " Charlie Sykes, a Milwaukee host, told Bartlett during an interview: "If the Republicans lose control of the House, they won't have anybody but themselves to blame."

Still, most of the conservative broadcasters are not rooting for a Democratic victory next month. Some say they are just reflecting the unease of their listeners. Others say they cannot abide the thought of a Democratic House or Senate. "The Republicans certainly deserve to get spanked," said Steve Gill, a Nashville host. "The problem is, if you turn the Senate over to Hillary and Ted Kennedy, and Nancy Pelosi in the House, it's America that gets spanked."
Sykes said that "we've spent the last nine months being disappointed with the administration and being disillusioned." But now, he said, "people are getting more focused on the choice. . . . I don't think the Democrats have an alternative vision."
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AND IN ANOTHER SEGMENT:

No less an authority than the Washington Times says that POTUS is keeping a low profile on the trail:

"President Bush has become the Stealth Campaigner.

"Candidates across the country, especially those in tight races where the president's power to draw cash is most valuable, want him to drop by for a fundraiser. They just don't want their picture taken with the head of the party -- mainly because they know it will end up in their opponents' television commercials.

"So far this year, Mr. Bush has done 10 times as many closed-press fundraising events compared to 2002. He has also not appeared at a single major Republican rally, unlike four years ago, when he did 32."