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Talk:Essay:Conservatives of the Decade (view source)
Revision as of 17:42, December 30, 2009
, 17:42, December 30, 2009→Antonin Scalia: Good point!
::I have an open mind about this, and obviously there will be disagreements. But Limbaugh seems best at promoting ... Limbaugh. Some observe that he tends to "dumb down" what has traditionally been an intellectual conservative movement. Relatively few young people, particularly college-educated ones, listen to Limbaugh; he rarely appears at genuine conservative conferences; and his personal life does not seem as conservative as others on the list. It is difficult to identify a single insight or initiative Limbaugh has had in 20 years that has made a significant difference. Can you think of any?--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 11:38, 30 December 2009 (EST)
::I have an open mind about this, and obviously there will be disagreements. But Limbaugh seems best at promoting ... Limbaugh. Some observe that he tends to "dumb down" what has traditionally been an intellectual conservative movement. Relatively few young people, particularly college-educated ones, listen to Limbaugh; he rarely appears at genuine conservative conferences; and his personal life does not seem as conservative as others on the list. It is difficult to identify a single insight or initiative Limbaugh has had in 20 years that has made a significant difference. Can you think of any?--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 11:38, 30 December 2009 (EST)
:::You certainly have a valid point, Andy, but I believe you could make the same argument for some of the other commentators on the list. I can't, for instance, think of any specific conservative insights that Ann Coulter has provided. Nor am I sure that's the role of a figure like Limbaugh or Coulter. I would suggest that their role is more in letting individual conservatives know that they have a voice, that they're not alone, and that they're not the only ones who see the hypocrisy and censorship practiced by liberals. At the same time, they infuriate liberals, and goad them into making mistakes.
:::Is that a valuable enough role to merit inclusion on the top-ten list? Perhaps not. If so, we might want to consider paring down the lists on that basis...as you yourself have pointed out, we have a lot of names to eliminate and not a lot of time in which to do it.
:::I'm not totally comfortable using personal life as a standard, just because so much of what we hear about conservatives' personal lives is distorted by the liberal media. Consider Rush's struggle with addiction to painkillers, and how much mean-spirited mockery it generated from the left--or how many crude and vulgar attacks have been directed at Coulter simply because she's not married and has dated a variety of men. On the other hand, conservative sources tend not to focus on gossip about one's personal life. --[[User:Benp|Benp]] 12:42, 30 December 2009 (EST)