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Monday, July 16, 2012

Howie Carr Evokes Ronald Reagan for GOPers Worried about Mitt

      Good old Howie Carr. The Right wing talk radio host from Massachusetts hasn't changed at all. I used to listen to him sometimes when I lived in Mass.

       However you can now actually hear him no matter where you live in the country though he's only on terrestrial radio in the New England area.

       What makes his show a little different than say Rush, Glen, or Sean Hannity is that he has a regional focus as well. Indeed, in a four hour show usually no more than maybe an hour and a half in on national politics-often considerably less.

        Howie has also hit mint recently after they finally caught Whitey Bulger-his new book is pretty good.

         Of course, I don't exactly see eye to eye with him on politics. Still, as Right wing shows go, I admit it's as least a little different. The time Howie got a vasectomy on the air no doubt will go down as one of the greatest moments in radio history. Even the other Howard-Howard Stern-hasn't ever quite topped that.

       I notice that Howie's been evoking Ronald Reagan a lot lately to make his Right wing audience feel a little better about Mitt Romney's flailing campaign. So last week he wrote this after the Wall Street Journal editorial page called Romney out on the weakness of his campaign:

         "You’re Mitt Romney, and you’re running ahead of where Ronald Reagan was at this point in the summer of 1980 (he was trailing Jimmy Carter by 9 points). But all of a sudden, you’re reading headlines like this one in the Weekly Standard yesterday:

       “Dukakis, Kerry ... Romney?” Is it that bad, or is it just a slow holiday week?"

        "Then you pick up the Wall Street Journal and it gets worse in the lead editorial, as they’re laying into “the Boston boys” and “the Boston coterie” and “the campaign’s insular staff and strategy.”

        http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1061143790

         On Friday, Michelle McPhee covered for Carr. McPhee, of course, is one of Right's big guns. She seemed to be buying into the idea floated around by Drudge that Condooleeza Rice is one of the top Veep candidates Romney is looking at.

         Michelle was oohing and aahing about what "gravitas" she would lend to the Romney ticket-she would be able to surgically cut the "weak" Obama-Biden foreign policy record to ribbons. Sure, taking about Bin Laden was one of the all time moments of weakness.

          She also went on to urge that her party's Right wing has to lighten up on the litmus test for abortion.

          Good luck with that. If she thinks there is any chance that Romney will pick a pro choice candidate she doesn't understand her own party very well. For the last 30 years it's been the litmus test, and no way does that change now.

          Even if it were possible, Mitt Romney doesn't have the Right wing street cred to do it. He still isn't actually trusted as a real conservative. You often hear how Romney's supporters are more enthusiastic than the President's. Nothing is farther from the truth. No one particularly likes Mitt Romney. Some people especially hate the President and Romney is his opponent. Support for Romney is really opposition to Obama.

         In addition, I think the other Right wing radio host, Mark Levin, got it right. It's not just that Condi is pro choice; she's also a Bushie, and a major one at that. What could be better if you're the Obama campaign than to get to run not only against Bain Capital until November but also the George W. Bush Administration again? Hey Condi, have you found those weapons of mass destruction yet?

        It's a good try by Howie to channel Ronald Reagan, but the comparison doesn't really work. Ronald Reagan paid his taxes.

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