This fall, a friend of mine in northern California reminded me of the Little Green Footballs blog, which had a reputation for covering Middle East issues [1].  Earlier this month, I remember seeing tweets on the author, Charles Johnson, renouncing his ties to the right, but I saw his post as part of a larger issue.  The decline in influence of “intellectual conservatives.”  Johnson’s list on “Why I Parted Ways with the Right” reads like a declaration of principles::

“1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)

2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)

3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)

4. Support for anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.)

5. Support for homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.)

6. Support for anti-government lunacy (see: tea parties, militias, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc.)

7. Support for conspiracy theories and hate speech (see: Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Birthers, creationists, climate deniers, etc.)

8. A right-wing blogosphere that is almost universally dominated by raging hate speech (see: Hot Air, Free Republic, Ace of Spades, etc.)

9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.)

10. Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source)  And much, much more. The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff.  I won’t be going over the cliff with them.”

This got me thinking of how the intellectual right, and perhaps intellectual discussions, period, are being eclipsed by the showiness of what some call “populist conservatives,” which is what I see as the target of much of Johnson’s criticism.  Naturally, much of the attention that populist conservatives received are from visible figures in the media, such as Glenn Beck.  Frontpagemag.com had two special editions in the fall on the topic of “bold talk radio hosts” and the conservative movement in America, providing a forum for two conservative intellectuals, David Frum and David Horowitz, who disagree on the issue.  Here’s Round One and Round Two.

Frum has a problem with the “in your face” politics of what I would call populist conservatism, which Horowitz embraces.  In round two of the Frontpage.com posting, he offers::

“The kind of ‘in your face’ conservatism that you laud makes all these problems worse.

You challenge me to notice that the ’embarrassments to our cause – the shrill, the enraged and the paranoid – who in your mind – seem to be Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and now Glenn Beck’ are also our ‘most powerful and feared and charismatic conservatives.’

I challenge you to notice that all three of these people repel and offend many millions more Americans than they inspire and attract.” [2]

Horowitz offers a different take on Beck and Roger Ailes’ Fox News::

“I will agree that it is a fair comment that Beck has something of a random walk in him – though not as random as you seem to be suggesting – and could wind up in places that would make me uncomfortable. Foreign policy is one such area. But by his own admission Beck is relatively new to politics and is learning. Cut him some slack. In any case – and to repeat — he’s not a politician; no one is being asked to vote for him and put power in his hands. If he veers into directions that you’re not happy with, it’s still just about ideas. Argue with him. Don’t ban him.

I couldn’t disagree with you more about the talk-and-Fox complex as you put it that Roger Ailes has created. Far from marginalizing Republicans it is the most energetic, dynamic and expansive part of the conservative movement.  Or is it your view that the decline of the leftwing network news operations has no positive impact on conservative prospects? In fact, the party identification poll numbers for Republicans are currently rising right alongside and in step with (and because of) the rising Fox ratings. Thank you Roger Ailes.” [ibid]

I tend to agree with Frum and pragmatically speaking, political power is garnered through winning over the moderates.  Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, and Obama all played that game.  Is the intellectual right dead?  No, it’s just not going to get coverage.

I know this will seem overly simplistic, but I truly believe that much of what is going on here is a manifestation of marketing and celebrity culture in the political realm in the era of the 24-hour news cycle.  Let’s face it, Glenn Beck is a savvy pitchman::

I’ve always stated that Fox News was a stroke of marketing genius.  Position a news network as far as possible away from the “liberal media bias” as possible, differentiating the network as distinct from the rest of the pack.  After the establishment of Fox News, MSNBC is doing the same type of positioning with the centre-left.  News?  Meh, the public really wants “stylized facts” and good theatre, and there need not be a smoking gun memo to make it so.  Marketing research is the holy grail.  Ask CNN where “news” is getting them in the ratings war.

While everyone is talking about having “debates,” what’s really going on is shouting at each other.  Rhetoric is dead, as few have the chops to fuse intellectual arguments {from conservatives or liberals} with dramaturgical flair that garners ratings.  At the risk of polluting the world with yet another neologism, it’s polititainment—hey, at least I didn’t coin it, but Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are perfecting it.  Will we get ever beyond the shouting, so that there are real debates on the issues that people {i.e., voters} actually pay attention to?  I’m not holding my breath.

Twitterversion:: Is intllctual consrvatsm dead?As Glenn Beck-like populsm rises,R #marketing & #polititainment real culprits? #ThickCulture @Prof_K

Song:: “Time for Heroes”-The Libertines