# Why do Limbaugh, Hannity, et al dislike McCain so much? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 6, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543 "2008-02-06T17:27:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/61 "2008-02-07T00:45:01Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites] Really, just what is he solidly conservative about? And I mean standing alone, not compared to anyone else. I also am not voting for Romney nor Huckabee. [/QUOTE] I knew all this already, but you seem to want some referencing: (from Wiki) * * * McCain has received a lifetime **American Conservative Union rating of 82 percent** In the 2000 elections, many thought of Bush as the more conservative candidate and McCain as the more moderate candidate. In fact, according to [Voteview.com](http://Voteview.com), **McCain’s voting record in the 109th Congress was the second most conservative among senators**. ## McCain has many traditionally Republican views. He has a **strong conservative voting record on pro-life** and \*\*free trade \*\* issues, favors **private social security accounts** , and **opposes an expanded government role in health care**. McCain also **supports school vouchers** , **capital punishment** , **mandatory sentencing** , and **welfare reform**. He is generally regarded as a **hawk in foreign policy**. When a questioner said, “President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years.” McCain responded, “Make it a hundred. We’ve been in Japan for 60 years, we’ve been in South Korea for 50 years or so.” (me again) I agree strongly with the bolded items. I am pro-Surge and not willing to abandon Iraq. I am a war vet. Sure, McCain goes off on a tangent every once in a while (aside from McCain Feingold, I disagree with his position on ANWR and maybe a couple of others). He’s had my vote ever since he declared. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/62 "2008-02-07T00:46:39Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] That mitigates against any opinion that may offend a biased editor, publisher, corporate management, etc. [/QUOTE] And how did all the conservatives get weeded out of that group? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/63 "2008-02-07T00:54:58Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] I don’t think that there is a political test _per se_, but there surely is a Darwinian process within the profession, whereupon you only get printed if you can get approval for your article.That mitigates against any opinion that may offend a biased editor, publisher, corporate management, etc. [/quote] This is false. All the editors care about is if your story is vetted and accurate. Pollitical bias never plays into it. I’m not guessing. I know this. People who think newspaper editors are looking to put a liberal slant on the new are imagining things, and the suggestion that a reporter would not get a story printed because an editor didn’t like the political implications is laughable. The stuff of conservative fantasy. > [@](#): > > That said, the newspapers also have to sell copies in order to attract advertisers, and they have to appeal to a broad range of people, from the “elites” to the lowest common denominator. Since the “elites” don’t particularly care whether they are hated, newspapers pander to the low and middle-class (which is why they write at a 6th-grade level). Do that long enough and everything you say will be skewed toward your readers, and since they look upon businesses with suspicion, as gougers and chiselers always looking to make a buck at their expense, you will naturally adjust to the so-called “liberal” mindset. Multiply that by thousands (sometimes millions) of readers in thousands of towns and you have the overall perception of bias. The middle class looks at big business with suspicion? Cite? I think the middle class is reflexively pro-corporate, capitalistic, hawkish and religionistic. The lower class even more so. Dumbing things down would mean making things things more conservative, not liberal. > [@](#): > > It’s a chicken-egg thing. Do newspapers make people liberal, or do people make newspapers liberal? I don’t know where it started, but there is undoubtedly a considerable feedback loop that perpetuates the current state of affairs. No there isn’t. I’m correct about his. The voting tendencies among news reporters are artifacts of being well informed. They don’t fall for bullshit. And there is no “current state of affairs.” There is no liberal bias in hard news. What does exist is a pro-corporate bias. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/64 "2008-02-07T00:56:59Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] [Quote=pkbites] A John McCain Presidency will mark the end of the conservative movement for a very long time. [/quote] Hmmmmmmmm . . . [/QUOTE] **BrainGlutton** , this is the point where you give yourself a shake and say, _Retro me, Satanas!_ 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/65 "2008-02-07T01:08:02Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] No there isn’t. I’m correct about his. The voting tendencies among news reporters are artifacts of being well informed. They don’t fall for bullshit. And there is no “current state of affairs.” There is no liberal bias in hard news. What does exist is a pro-corporate bias. [/QUOTE] I forgot, You’re always correct. About everything. Every time. My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/66 "2008-02-07T01:10:26Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] I don’t think that there is a political test _per se_, but there surely is a Darwinian process within the profession, whereupon you only get printed if you can get approval for your article. That mitigates against any opinion that may offend a biased editor, publisher, corporate management, etc. [/quote] If the modern breed of conservative reporter, nurtured on Fox News, insists on putting his opinion into factual articles, that would indeed explain it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/67 "2008-02-07T01:13:24Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] If the modern breed of conservative reporter, nurtured on Fox News, insists on putting his opinion into factual articles, that would indeed explain it. [/QUOTE] Thats right, it only happens on Fox. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/68 "2008-02-07T01:23:20Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites] Yes, I can. Some national, a few local (yet prominent). While nobody is 100%, there are those far more to the right of J.M.. But why get into that? This thread is about why we dislike McCain, not lets compare him to others. John McCain has enjoyed his “maverick” status for years. But his positions will bite him in his old wrinkled ass. Conservatives are not going to shut up and go along just to get along, and he is going to fail trying to make any bridges with conservatives. On election day he will not have our vote. [/quote] I looked at the comments for an ABC News story about why Republicans weren’t thrilled by the candidates, and they certainly agreed with you. You’d think that McCain was the reincarnation of Lenin. There was a bit more support for Romney, but a lot for Paul. Can you convince Paul to run as a third party candidate? Pretty please? > [@](#): > > Once he’s nominated the media will turn on him and either Hillary or Obama will beat McCain like a drum. And while I detest most of their stances on issues, we will be no worse off having one of them as President than we would with J.M. > > A John McCain Presidency will mark the end of the conservative movement for a very long time. McCain losing big may actually save it! It’s odd. Romney, running in MA and as governor of MA did and said far more liberal things than McCain ever said. McCain’s position on immigration is about the same as that of Bush. Yeah, he did have the nerve to be against the deficit. If McCain veers right to satisfy the conservatives, he’s dead meat. But the conservative movement is already in trouble, based on the lack of appeal for Thompson, and Romney’s meltdown. What new ideas are out there? The conservative principles that have been implemented have been a disaster, and it is politically impossible for pure conservative principles to actually pass. Perhaps McCain is unintentionally rubbing conservatives faces in this fact, and that’s why they hate him? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/69 "2008-02-07T01:27:10Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] Thats right, it only happens on Fox. [/QUOTE] And where did I say that? Any increase in partiality in other news channels can be attributed to the success of Fox with its slanted coverage. I don’t read the WSJ all that often, but when I do I don’t see any right wing bias in its reporting. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/70 "2008-02-07T01:49:20Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] And how did all the conservatives get weeded out of that group? [/QUOTE] I believe the editors, managers and publishers actually tend to skew _conservative_. I wish I had a cite for that, though. Maybe somebody else does? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/71 "2008-02-07T03:01:57Z")
Shouldn’t overlook the nativist streak in talk/hate radio, the ferocious anti-immigration emotion (which sure looks a lot like bigotry to _this_ little black duck…) McCain’s sensible approach to the issue gave them the napalm diarrhea. Worse, what looked like a huge wedge issue piddled out right before their eyes, their ace in the hole was a blank. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/72 "2008-02-07T03:21:44Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] McCain’s position on immigration is about the same as that of Bush. [/QUOTE] No argument there, but both are far left of mainstream conservatives. > [@](#): > > The conservative principles that have been implemented have been a disaster For the most part due to being scuttled and watered down by the likes of McCain, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/73 "2008-02-07T03:30:08Z")
Cheeze Louise, **flickster** , your conservative mainstream is just to the left of Otto Von Bismarck! ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/74 "2008-02-07T05:15:51Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] The voting tendencies among news reporters are artifacts of being well informed. They don’t fall for bullshit. [/QUOTE] Wow. You said something like this upthread and I guess I thought I misread. Didn’t you get the memo that said ridiculing mainstream conservative believers as stupid or ill-informed was to be limited to faculty lounge discussions and big city cocktail parties? Liberals aren’t usual this overtly arrogant in publicly positing a mathematical equivalance between their political preferences and “being well informed,” nor implying that all non-liberal beliefs correspond one-to-one with “bullshit.” You’ve said a lot more about yourself than you may have intended to with those comments. I have read a book or two, taken a science class or three, and I don’t find either of the propositions that: (a) a fetus is a human being at some point, or something like a human being; or (b) a fetus is not really anything like a human being, to be foolish, false beyond dispute, elementary to anyone who is well informed. If I did reach a conclusion that (a) was more or less likely to be true than (b), then I would likewise have to give serious consideration to how the rights of this person-like entity should (or should not) be privileged over the rights of other actors involved. So: a pro-life viewpoint is not (_pace_ your breathtakingly self-contented equating of “being informed” with necessarily holding liberal policy preferences) inconsistent with “being informed.” Nor is a pro-choice viewpoint. Doctors, scientists, ethicists, can be found, all “well informed” and not “bullshit”-merchants, who hold each of these respective views. Find me an editorial board of a major-market newspaper, though, who would ever champion the pro-life viewpoint. Find me the major print or television journalist who belongs to National Right to Life, or has volunteered in a pro-life crisis pregnancy center, or who doesn’t personally support Roe. Not so easy. So maybe there’s something more at work than “being informed.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/75 "2008-02-07T06:03:22Z")
Abortion had nothing to do with what I was talking about. What I meant by reporters being “better informed” was in reference to knowing the actual ins and outs of legislation and policies dealing with issues like health care, education, corporate lobbying, wars, corporate welfare, corporate pollution and a host of other issues completely unrelated to red meat social issues. Having said that, there aren’t any editorial boards championing the Pro Choice cause out there either. I have no idea how they break down on the abortion issue. Do you have a cite that journalists and editorial boards break down any differently on the abortion issue than the population at large? It certainly doesn’t show up in the news coverage. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/76 "2008-02-07T06:06:58Z")
Incidentally, **Huerta** , would you care to offer a theory as to why you think journalists are so liberal? Is it just a coincidence? The ownership and upper management tends to be pretty right wing, so it’s not an environment which engenders left wing activism. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/77 "2008-02-07T06:23:07Z")
Another issue which McCain has been disloyal towards the conservative base is torture. He has publicly spoken out against it numerous times. [QUOTE=scr4] I still don’t understand why Hillary can do the same thing (e.g. Kyle-Lieberman) and not be hated by the Left, but anyway… [/quote] She is hated by the Left. Not by Democrats, though. > [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > The voting tendencies among news reporters are artifacts of being well informed. They don’t fall for bullshit. Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/78 "2008-02-07T06:40:41Z")
[QUOTE=marshmallow] Another issue which McCain has been disloyal towards the conservative base is torture. He has publicly spoken out against it numerous times. She is hated by the Left. Not by Democrats, though. Iraq. [/QUOTE] The glaring exception, but that’s a case where the media’s lust for a giant story caused them to shut down their own critical processing. The media craves a big story above all else and there’s no bigger story than a war unless Britney Spears goes to the 7-11. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/79 "2008-02-07T06:56:29Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] The glaring exception, but that’s a case where the media’s lust for a giant story caused them to shut down their own critical processing. The media craves a big story above all else and there’s no bigger story than a war unless Britney Spears goes to the 7-11. [/QUOTE] Ritual/Satanic sex abuse rings. The 1980s epidemic of “missing children” which turned out to be 95% runaways and custody disputes. The “everyone’s getting rich with real estate and what could possibly go wrong?” story themes of the past five years (not unrelated to the “mean mortgage banks are engaged in discriminatory ‘redlining’ when they won’t make low-standards loans to dodgy buyers” theme of 10-15 years ago). The “new ice age” of the mid-'70s. Choosing to put Britney on the cover of any news publication (or, having so chosen, treating it as newsworthy when she engages in obviously non-newsworthy behavior such as going to 7-11, or obviously contrived and hence irrelevant behavior such as a staged “bisexual” smooch with Madonna). ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543/80 "2008-02-07T07:15:36Z")
[QUOTE=Huerta88] Ritual/Satanic sex abuse rings. [/quote] That was driven by tablid shows not by the news media. > [@](#): > > The 1980s epidemic of “missing children” which turned out to be 95% runaways and custody disputes. I don’t remember this one. Sounds like the news media did its job getting the facts out, though. > [@](#): > > The “everyone’s getting rich with real estate and what could possibly go wrong?” story themes of the past five years (not unrelated to the “mean mortgage banks are engaged in discriminatory ‘redlining’ when they won’t make low-standards loans to dodgy buyers” theme of 10-15 years ago). I haven’t seen this stuff in hard news reporting. Editorials maybe. Then again my eyes glaze over at economic news so maybe I missed something. In any case, I really don’t know enough about it to comment on it. > [@](#): > > The “new ice age” of the mid-'70s. This never really happened. It’s the result of a few sensational magazine stories but there was never any serious reporting that we were getting an ice age. This idea that there was an ice age scare in the 70’s is a recent fabrication by global warming deniers designed to fool morons into thinking that scientists have been wrong before (the ice age crap was never alleged by scientists in the 70’s). > [@](#): > > Choosing to put Britney on the cover of any news publication (or, having so chosen, treating it as newsworthy when she engages in obviously non-newsworthy behavior such as going to 7-11, or obviously contrived and hence irrelevant behavior such as a staged “bisexual” smooch with Madonna). Admittedly stupid, but it’s neither dishonest nor political. I think the suffocation coverage of celebrities is a result of 24 hour cable and the internet feeding niche audiences and needing a constant influx of content. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-limbaugh-hannity-et-al-dislike-mccain-so-much/436543.md?page=5)