Talk Radio Piñatas

By going after these talk radio personas, they are merely raising their profiles as the embattled defenders of “authentic” conservatism. Having Rush’s face on the cover of Newsweek, especially for a very negative article, only increases his reputation among his supporters and his legend among media types. It does much, much less to help the Republican Party, conservatism, or anyone else other than David Frum, who can build a reputation as the anti-Rush.  If Frum and Friedersdorf do want a conservatism that can win again, I think they would be well-advised to find enemies who do not have everything to gain by being attacked.

If Rush and Levin (et al) didn’t already have extremely high profiles then I might agree with this analysis.  As it stands, the much less well known figures like Conor, Frum, and Dreher are hardly likely to raise their profiles as “the embattled defenders of ‘authentic’ conservatism.”  Indeed, such dust-ups are more likely to raise the profiles of Conor, Frum and Dreher. Either way, it can’t hurt to try.