THE EVOLUTION OF CONSERVATIVE MEDIA HILLBILLY LOGIC, THE BLACKSPHERE AND THE GREYFALCON
For many years conservatives have complained about how the mainstream media does not cover the movement’s events well enough, if at all. We often hear, “you won’t see that in the newspapers or the network programs.” Well almost all of those mediums are losing money and credibility. Fox News is the best source for conservatives but even that has its limitations. Conservative talk radio has been helpful in getting information out, as well as providing inspiration and energy. But those programs are still business models that are based on the hosts personal and financial relationship to their host station. We believe that there is a new source that is rising to become the vanguard in conservative media.
The Greyfalcon refers to this new source as The Network.
The Network is simply the informal combinations of conservative Facebook pages, twitter chains, and internet video and radio shows that have made the movement so effective on the web. The various conventional sites, such as Reagan to Palin.com, Bookerrising.net, and The Missouri Political New Service.com, have all served as wonderful alternatives to the lagging and left biased print industry.
On March 1, we did an hour-long call in with Kevin Jackson on The Blacksphere.com, a political show that uses a high energy humour oriented format to address important political issues. We discussed the viability of “purist” conservative candidates such as Debra Medina and J.D. Hayworth. On this new medium, challenging the Birther/Truther positions of these two was able to be done in a more honest way than some of the more high-profile national programs. Also, Hayworth’s liberal spending record was also addressed. We find it interesting that those who are so quick to call John McCain, Rick Perry, and Roy Blount “Progressives”, are willing to over look Hayworth’s record on this matter just because he said he knows he made a mistake.
If you recall, McCain said that he made a mistake on voting against the tax cuts and on the border. Hayworth says that McCain decides he wants to be a conservative during election time, but what about Hayworth. Is his adjustment a “timely” change as well?
The Greyfalcon has been part of the grassroots movement for some time, but we also believe that conservatives of all kinds should be able to debate for whichever candidate they like without being “bullied” into accepting candidates they find to be uninspiring, unconvincing, and unelectable just to make a cosmetic statement about how bad the Republicans have been.
We have been through this already, we get the point!
The question now is, what do we want these candidates to do, and are they capable of doing it. It is natural for people in the movement to disagree on this, that is what the primaries are for. As show producer Lee Presser asks “to what end” is the push for a conservative resurgence. How do we want the nation to look? The Blacksphere was a great avenue for this conversation.
On Tuesday, March 2, we will be on Hillbilly Logic at http://riverfrontradio.com/. We will continue the examination of the movement embracing a diversity of ideas and still maintaining its core principles. Hillbilly Logic is a program that simply cuts to the core of the guests intentions and beliefs. This show is fluid and candid, just good clean fun for people who want to learn something and laugh at the same time. This program is for the heavy metal and rock and roll fans as well. We have a good time, but we also get down to business, as we have a lot of work to do in terms of fixing our nation.
Our last subject was accountability for conservative commentators, as well as whether the use of the “Progressive” stigma was getting out of hand. Jamie Allmon earlier last month voiced his concern “that there are some who are looking for heretics and carrying the touch”.
This is a little background on where we are going to be taking these next few segments.
We understand the benefits of having high standards for conservative candidates, but we are also leery of those who use the notion that they are more conservative than thou. Independence does not mean giving in the peer pressure on the other side. The unexamined declaration of ideological devotion is what turned a once diverse Democratic Party into what it is now; a front for the REAL Progressive movement the (Democratic Progressive Caucus).
The Greyfalcon does not accept that Rick Perry is the same as Diane Watson, or that Roy Blount is the same as Barney Frank. That actually puts the people who really want redistribution of income in the clear. The power of the term “Progressive” has been diminished by over use.
But it is making some people very wealthy, and others are choosing to follow these people blindly and attack fellow citizens who disagree with these people. This is exactly what Moveon.org and the Daily Kos did to real moderate and conservative voters in te Democratic Party. There used to be a center right Democratic base, but they drove those people out or into silence.
This is why Hillbilly Logic is so valuable to this movement. They are doing this out of love for this nation, and because they really believe in their program. Hillbilly Shane said “We don’t care what side you are on, we want accountability”. One Hillbilly listener said “I do not like listening to talking heads, but I will listen to you on Hillbilly. I feel like I am hanging with people I know, not someone telling me what I should think.”
When you use use the word Progressive nine times in a two minute segment, The Greyfalcon sees this as basically trying to tell someone how to think. The constatnt repetition without thoroughly explaining the term burned it into the unconscious of the listeners, and they forgot where they got it from. Then they applied it indiscriminately, making the person who started the process the center of the collective
We have seen this before.
What candidates will bring the focus and respect back to making things, and who will have the backs of young people who achieve? We need people who have the acumen to handle the reigns of leadership, not Constitutional “purists” who constantly quote Thomas Jefferson.
Nothing against good ole Tom, but their were other Founding Fathers. Hamilton, Wilson, and Pickney’s are among our “favorite”.
Mark Rubio is an exceptional candidate, but he is possibly being hurt by these unrealistic standards. By calling people like Perry, Blount, and even Palin “Progressive” for one or two policy “deviations from the Jeffersonian rule” (whatever that is), Rubio is now getting called out on the same basis. We certainly prefer Rubio to Christ, not because he is the “Tea Party Candidate” (he’s not really), but because he developed his own identity as a core conservative. But Christ and is supporters are hitting Rubio on his record spending increases, and he is being attacked as a contradiction to the image that is being purported by the grandstanders. But Rubio would still be fine on a record vs. record comparison vs Christ, but now he also battling the added foe of abstract dogma.
No candidate is perfect, especially if you compare them to the unified concept of the Founding Father ideal. The Founding Fathers did not even agree with each other and had to compromise to get the Constitution finished.
Of course, we will also get into the weaknesses of Team Obama, and their agenda. And we will have fun doing it. But Hillbilly Logic and the Blacksphere are going where few have gone before, and we are happy to be part of it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/14/AR2006041401450.html
The Greyfalcon 