Is US Conservative Talk radio in trouble? Rush Limbaugh may be the lead talking head of the Republican Party but California lost conservative radio voices: Mark Larson, Larry Elder, John Ziegler, Melanie Morgan, Phil Cowen and Mark Williams as their stations replaced them with cheaper nationally syndicated programs. When the CA legislature sat in session for 48 straight hours, it became very un-cool to attack the term-limited and popular Republican Governor Schwartzenegger’s drift to the centre to forge a compromise with the Democrats and keep the state running. Could the same now may be happening at a national level as the GOP talking radiohead body count grows?

How bad is it?

Ann Coulter, one time darling of the right, has seen a 60% percent drop in sales of her latest tome. Pat Buchanan sounds flat and uninspired. Joe Scarborough (former GOP Congressman and host of Morning Joe) has become the ranting uncle the family only lets out on selected holidays. And perennial GOP loser Alan Keyes last week sounded like one of those guys talking to himself on the subway with his “Obama is a dangerous communist” rhetoric (this long after being soundly thrashed by Obama for the US Senate in ’02).

Not so bad you say?

The party has now re re-embraced Newt Gingrich who resigned in disgrace as its leading conservative voice and last week citizen George W. Bush wandered into an early morning Intro to Political Science lecture at SMU as the professor asked the sleepy students, “do you remember this man, he was the 43^rd President of the United States,” during the intro?

Bad enough yet?

On Meet the Press yesterday I almost did a movie “spit take” when this week’s GOP sacrificial lamb, errr, darling, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia talked about Republicans being fiscally responsibility (despite creating the $1.75 trillion dollar deficit which in less than two months has become all Obama’s fault!) and yet he still mentioned the non-existent train from Disneyland to Las Vegas as a Republican talking point against the stimulus.

To rub further salt into their own wounds, he said they “have a plan,” but no one has seen it. Well there is part of a plan… one wing-nut Repug filed a bill to ensure that every person running for national office has a verified birth certificate, keeping alive wing-nut claims that Obama is not legally president because they don’t like his Hawaii birth certificate.

Even John McCain stumbled back to the microphone with his “earmarks are the bane of our existence” mantra, looking even more disgruntled and grumpy than during the campaign. It’s almost as if he has lost both fight and heart. He wore the same expression on his face as the day he took the microphone backfrom the ranting “he’s an Arab” lady on the stump. You know it, the look that says, “this campaign is so over and… she’s now my base!”

Even when most on the right still sing from the historically revised Reagan song sheet, they are widely viewed as out of touch with where America is headed today. As Alan Colmes (former Hannity “liberal” sidekick) said: “Talk show hosts think they need an enemy, a target, to beat up upon, to drive the passions and the emotions of its audience. That worked very well during the Clinton years. During the Bush years, they went after anyone who didn’t support BushCo’s GWOT (Global War on Terror).” It gave them lots of material and as we look now upon the Bush years and see them for what they were, that slant on things has lost its luster and its credibility.

The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC does two segments nightly: Wash, Rinse Repeat, because it’s going to take awhile (to clean up this mess) and The GOP in Exile because neither she nor anyone else can figure out who the leader of the party is or what strategy they are following. Even after a drubbing at the polls in November, instead of taking some time to collect themselves, find their voice, lick their wounds and re-organise, they instead parade one ‘buffoon for a day’ after another before the microphones and show how deeply fractured their own party is. From creepy Mr. Rogers impersonator LA Gov. Jindal to John (”Oh My GOD”) Boehner, anyone to the left of Atilla the Hun is deemed a “liberal” whilst moderate Republican Party voices are chided and chastised for trying to find a middle ground…

When Senators Spectre, Snowe and Collins were the only three Republicans to put country ahead of party and vote for the stimulus bill, the right wing of the party went orbital. Indeed it has threatened all three with right wing primary opposition candidates (although Collins is safe for 6 years). Indeed the continued court battles to stymie seating the Democrats’ 59^th senator, Al Franken, seem about the only successful political strategy they’ve implemented in the last four months.

While Michael Steele is now the titular head of the Republican National Committee (today), he has made more on-camera gaffes than former VP Dan Quayle in front of a group of 5^th graders. From ‘hip-hop Steele’ to his assertion this weekend that a woman does have the right to choose abortion (one of many statements from which he has had to beat a hasty retreat), Mr. Steele’s common sense approach in this “old world order party” may be what kills his chances of remaining that party’s head.

I used to grudgingly admire the GOP’s discipline on message and organisation. Indeed I often thought what hurt the Democratic Party most was its need for EVERY voice to be heard. The Party was more a collective, whilst the Republicans were dictators, “Sit down! Shut up! Turn off his microphone!” A disciplined, take charge group of people who got things done and won elections, lots of them!

So the once mighty GOP is busy looking for meaning. Now if they could just shut up long enough for its various planks to come together and figure out where they are headed instead of being a group of opportunists trying to devour each other, we’d be in a position to fear their return to prominence.

Now all we fear are their old MSM media ties giving them equal time no matter how stupid they sound, big the lie they tell and allowing a message to gain traction.

At least that has not changed.

by Denis Campbell