Ed. Ed. Ed, and some more Ed. Broom the vanity and ego aside to get to a vignette from MSNBC’s The Ed Show. There, the former right-wing talker but a left-wing talker for the past 16 years, Ed (of course) Schultz did his usual short segment Ask Ed (of course) Live.
That evening, his tweeted query was why didn’t more conservatives appear there. He answered simply and disdainfully that he asked them and would welcome them, but they didn’t want to. He figured they figured doing so would not help them get elected.
While I nod to Occam’s razor, I don’t worship the idea that the simplest explanation according to the known facts settles everything. I muse on why so few Republicans and other self-identified conservatives will talk with me at the weekly Left Ahead show.
It’s been running for seven years. From the beginning, some weeks the founders — Lynne Lupien, Ryan Adams and I (Mike Ball) — sometimes like to cover topics ourselves. We’ll all highly opinionated. About every other week, there’s a guest.
Lynne long ago dropped out, pleading business busyness. I generally arrange and book most guests. A few contact me, but typically I call, email or meet potential guests. Often it’s a deal to dicker on a day and time, even though we long ago picked a default that works for many, Tuesday at 2:30 PM. Few pols in particularly are solidly committed then.
We also make it pretty painless. We use BlogTalkRadio, so guests don’t have to travel or give us an office space to record the show. For what used to be an hour and is now a half hour, they just call in and I manage the connections by computer and the tubes.
Moreover, we’re probably too nice. We don’t book multiple guests, don’t bring on tit-for-tat adversaries to sensationalize or conflict. We don’t try to trick anyone or spring accusations. We like to get to the big ideas and help the guest develop them on air. A few listeners used to on-line bullies on winger radio, or the Bill O’Reilly and Chris Matthews shouters are disappointed that we don’t badger guests.
Are Wingers Gutless?
Scan the Left Ahead archives to notice a few things. First, the topics and guests are mostly politics and politicians. Second, many big ideas are subjects. Third, many of the guests are hotshots and big shots — a current or former governor, a state or U.S. Senator, and many office seekers. Fourth, there are damned few conservatives.
That latter is not from my want of effort. Some smart, fun and provocative ones included the very conservative MA pol Karyn Polito and the now late economics and transit guru William Lind. My politics differed markedly from those two’s. Yet I think we brought out good stuff. Lind in particular could not have been farther from my political views, all except for transit-oriented development and mass transit. We had met at the Rail-Volution 2009 conference in Boston and bonded over our overlaps.
In many ways, Polito was the outlier for me. She spoke with me, took my card, checked the site and said, sure, she’d talk with us in her run for MA Treasurer/Receiver General. That was not at all hard, but she is quite the exception.
Virtually all the other right-leaning potential guests I meet or contact seem terrified or at least disinterested. So, I ask myself, are they cowards or is it like Schultz said, that they don’t see the upside?
This has been happening again in this election cycle, which includes MA Governor. Scan the archives again and see every gubernatorial candidate, except the presumptive GOP nominee, Charlie Baker. That includes all five Dems, the several independents or political affiliation candidates and and the other Republican, self-defined full-MA-GOP platform, Tea Party candidate Mark Fisher.
I can’t quite figure out whether :
- Baker has no guts
- His campaign staff has no guts
- His staff’s cost/benefit analysis doesn’t see the ROI on an internet radio show
- He or his staff thinks he’s too important to be bothered
Bad Manners
Having spent much of my childhood in more genteel parts of the country, I can still be surprised by the poor breeding of Bostonians and New Englanders. For example, when they do not return phone calls or emails, I have to wonder, who are their people? Were they raised by wolverines?
Baker’s camp has been the worst, in both of his staggers toward the governorship. I have gotten fewer than one response to multiple voice and email requests to Baker and his campaign manager,
You can amuse yourself by calling the Baker campaign number, (617) 254-2014.There’s no human and no option to speak to one…ever. You can dump your request into a voice box or punch in by last name. The communications director, Tim Buckley, does not communicate and is not even in the directory. The campaign manager, Jim Conroy, does not communicate but is in the directory. There’s a slush email box, info@charliebaker2014.com and the other’s is conroy@charliebaker2014.com.
Conroy has ignored 11 voice or email requests. Because Buckley hides from ordinary mortals, the closest I could get was Facebook and requests through that info box, where he ignored an FB friend request and two direct messages.
Again,who are their people? Didn’t they have mothers or someone to act like a mother?
The gormless Baker-camp non-reactions are particularly noteworthy and amusing in light of Fisher’s prompt and warm response. He and I could hardly differ more politically, but we had a good chat. Moreover, he clearly was raised well.
Fear of Lefties
A previous failure of booking seems to blend all the possible causes. I had Jennifer Nassour in hand, only to lose her. She chaired the MA GOP from Jan. 2009 through Sep. 2011.
I spoke with her at two political Rappaport presentations at Suffolk Law, in early 2009 and early 2011. At both, she pressed her card into my hand and told me how much she wanted to be a Left Ahead guest. She punked on both.
Most telling here is her mortal sin, in GOP eyes. She was candid.
In the April 1 (yes, that day), 2009 issue of Bay Windows, she spoke about the new Republican party here, particularly how they wouldn’t be guilt tripping on marriage equality, gay rights and abortion. Honk. Wrong.
She got months of pitchfork poking from the most conservative party members and the nasty MassResistance guy, Brian Camenker pretending to be a real movement. The gist seems to be not only should she not have said the party would stop its hateful rhetoric to bring in unenrolled and socially liberal GOP voters, but she should never have even spoken with LGBT-friendly media.
Since her time, the newest MA GOP chair, Kirsten Hughes, won’t respond to repeated contacts.
Well,our show hides nothing. It’s there in the Left Ahead name. We’re reasonable and nice but we don’t pretend to be anything else.
I’ve lost count of the potential guests who have heard the name on a phone line or seen my card and stopped dead. “Left…Ahead…are you left wing?” is the typical shocked question.
Nothing that progressives and liberals speak with anyone, and that we are antithetical to right-wing talk radio’s bullying tactics doesn’t cut it. Far too many conservatives seem terrified at speaking with “left” anything. Pathetic.
Lefty Anomaly
To smooth the edges and risk being simple-mindedly even handed, I’ll admit that there’s one left winger’s crew who is afraid of me.
Following the initial show with Elizabeth Warren, her handlers seem winger gutless. They won’t return my calls or emails either. Once burned, 1000 times shy.
I was blessed or cursed with being early to the Warren extravaganza, in Oct. 2011, right after she announced for US Senate, she spoke with us. It was genial, particularly as she and I are the same age, and both born in OK.
We had a jolly time, including an exchange in which I noted that with my OK/WV background, I have heard repeatedlyfrom the provincials in Boston that I am a hick. Moreover, the local wingers had railed against her as a 17-year Harvard professor, a.k.a an elitist. She laughed, saying she was new class, an elite hick. She said something about going for the hick vote. We laughed.
Well, the plug nasties were loaded for her, just waiting. Our show was just the first Warren-hunting expedition.
The next morning, I got a call and email from her communications guy, asking if I knew of the s**t storm. Turns out, the forces of evil had tried to run with that innocuous bit of humor. Suddenly everyone from FoxNews to winger talk radio and even the likes of ABC TV and the NYTimes portrayed her as ridiculing rural America.
Of course, she didn’t say anything like that. However, the imps had been lying in wait for something they could use.
In our show, she said maybe there should be a group hicks for Elizabeth. Again we laughed. I actually made some buttons (reproduced here). My wife and I, from hick backgrounds, wore them. People asked for them and I produced more. I showed her one at Boston Mayor Tom Menino’s block party the next July She alleged to love it. I sent her one, but given the crap she got for moments of humor, she most assuredly tossed it.
At that party, one of her staffers, a ziftig woman actually pushed me. She muttered something about how I’d better not try to pull any tricks and insinuated that I and not the forces of right-wing evil has caused the early dust-up.
Meh.
The sad aspect is that Warren’s people have not responded to several show requests since. I’ll try again, likely by being at one of her public events and squirreling up with her. After all, she adores my yellow glasses.
Of course the hick-vote fad disappeared months later, to be replaced by the Native-American one. Those gunning for Warren picked up her listing herself in a faculty directory as having Cherokee roots. They manufactured a fantasy that she had only gotten jobs at Pennsylvania and Harvard as a result. They morphed that with calls for her to release every academic job application she has ever made, much in the mode of birthers demanding President Barack Obama’s short-form, then long-form birth certificate, and subsequently his college applications and transcripts. Pathetic. As with the President, the crazies won’t let go of their silly slanders.
Common Senselessness
So there it is, kiddies. There are many variations on guest-interview shows. You might:
- Be typical right-wing radio, badgering lefty guests and licking the hands of your own type
- Play grade-school magazine, bringing on a balance of left and right wingers for mush
- Let the guest shine, like Dave Leno or, dare I write, Left Ahead
There are others, but we are definitely in the latter category. So I still have to wonder why so many conservative sorts fear us.
Over the years, many right wingers have passed on coming on Left Ahead. Granted, we do not have prime-time TV or even cable reach. A small show for us gets hundreds of listeners and a big one 10,000. Those are far more than a pol talks to in a typical stump speech, plus anyone who listens live or clicks the archive play is committing to half an hour of dedicated ear time. If I were a candidate for any office, I’d chat with as many shows as would have me.
I note that the progressive and liberal pols have no problem going on hostile right-wing shows. Yet it seems rare that Republicans and self-described conservative types mirror that. Maybe I shouldn’t advise them, but righties would be smart to go on pinko shows.
Cross-post note: I’ll likely put this at Left Ahead and Marry in Massachusetts too.
~Mike
Have you reached out to her this time?
With all the Gov. candidates, I didn’t go for the Lt. Gov. ones this time.
I do know and like Mike Lake, a pleasant guy. She’s the most interesting, and by far most outspoken, one in the mix.
I just got a suggestion to ask Rob Eno. It must be my blinders, but I don’t see him as pol or policy maker, or even academician.
It would have been useful had any of the state GOP chairs had responded and worked with Left Ahead on any level. I think John Walsh spoiled us; he also came on as a guest a few times.
Am I making this harder than it is? Are there other reasons for running from interviews?
Do any of you who have worked on campaigns have insights into why a candidate or campaign doesn’t accept an invitation, doesn’t respond to a request, or decides not to do one?
Inquiring minds…
Even if you are really nice to your Republican guests they might calculate that your audience is mostly Democrats who won’t even see their name on a primary ballot and not likely to be persuaded to vote for them in the general.
It would be like coming on BMG. You’re not going to persuade anyone so why spend the time?
As to the general rudeness it’s just a time management calculation. You’ve got to get low information unenrolleds to hear your message and get to the polls. You’ve got to make sure your base thinks you have a chance and shows up as well. You’ve got to raise as much money as possible. 30 minutes on a lefty internet radio show is not going to move your campaign towards any of those goals.
There’s a downside as you noted with the Warren interview. Every candidate fears being misquoted or quoted out of context. If the people listening to the show are in general opposed to your views, someone may be connected to your opponent and pick it up and use it.
I can see that (and merrimackguy’s points) as being part of the calculus by campaign folk…cynical, yes, but what they are likely to call common sense.
On the other hand, Dems talk to anyone — public gatherings, TV, radio, internet radio, papers and so forth. From many of them, I hear that they area always aware that just over half of MA voters are unenrolled, they swing elections, and they can make primaries. Looking at their record of finding and grooming candidates, and then getting them elected, my common sense tells me talking to anyone is likely the winning strategy.
that’s your view because the Dems are the dominant party in this state.
All things being equal the voter registrations are on your side.
People/PACs are more likely to give you money
A lot of you have a stake in the political system
You’ve already got the incumbent, or if for some reason it’s open, there’s a clear next in line (or three).
It’s just a completely different calculus for a Republican. Little money, few volunteers, etc etc.
I agree “talking to anyone” is better than talking to less people, but it’s hardly strategy. It seems like you wrote a very long post and if you want to draw the conclusion that Republicans are rude or short sighted for not going on your show, then I guess you could do that.
Echoing merrimackguy here: Campaigns often end up trying to keep the candidate from doing stuff that doesn’t help much. The job of a campaign manager seems to be to get the candidate to make fundraising calls and to squelch nice-sounding ideas that win too few votes or too few dollars. If merrimackguy had a Right Ahead radio show and I were running for state-wide office, I would have to have a pretty passive or dim-witted campaign manager who’d agree to have me appear.
Given that calculus, there may even be no way for me to say “no” to Right Ahead without sounding calculating (which it is my campaign manager’s job to be) and so not returning calls may be the best route.
Well, nice remains free and without penalty. Honest is much easier, less complex than calculating.
Already when people ask why we haven’t had Charlie Baker on. They are not surprised when I say his lackeys don’t return calls and emails. Invariably, left- and right-leaning folk figure he (not his minions) is afraid. Meh.
I keep touch of some other places I’ve lived, like South Carolina, where Dems are wee minorities. Even there, they talk with the generally or extremely right-wing media. In those places, as here, conservative hosts are prone to shouting guests down and otherwise badgering them, often with fallacious questions and comments.
I have always demurred when a pol says I should run for office. I remain fundamentally shy. Yet, were I to run, I certainly would not avoid any media interview. If someone was just too hostile and irrational, say a Limbaugh, I would say or have my staff say that I would not see the benefit of it. That’s a baseline for people dealing with each other.
Still, I appreciate the comments here. I continue to think that going on shows, even different-winged ones makes sense. Independents do listen to these, even if they are not the core audience. Plus, standing up to the hosts is great practice for debates and public meetings. Moreover, in any given race, not everyone registered in a party votes for the candidate of that party.
My co-host, Ryan Adams, who has been on staff at several MA campaigns, agrees with you guys that sticking with like-minded audiences and hosts is the safest route.
Running for office I was asked a question by a newspaper you would know.
Reporter:
“Give me two lines on how you would reduce health care costs in MA”
Me:
“That’s ridiculous. How can you answer that question in two lines”
R:
“I’m going to write that you refused to answer”
M:
“Okay if I have to answer one way to reduce costs would be to reduce the 40 plus health insurances mandates in MA. These add a lot to the cost of each policy” (please don’t argue this, I was just giving the most succinct answer I could).
R:
“What are those? ” (you think she might know)
M:
“Well for example your paper (at the time) just had an article about new legislation mandating autism treatment being covered health insurance policies. That’s an example of these types of mandates”
What gets printed?
Candidate wants to reducing funding for autism.
So until you are actually on the firing line yourself, it’s easy to speculate on what you might do. You get burned answering questionnaires from interest groups. You get burned by media (I made one small misstep in a multi-offices debate and it was the only thing mentioned about me in the paper). You are misrepresented in opposition mailings. You can see why people don’t want to go on radio shows listened to primarily by people who are not going to vote for you. It’s not about courage or being safe, it’s about being smart.
You seem to be thinking about being interviewed by the differently winged as an expression of virtue, i.e., it shows courage; it shows a willingness to talk with people unlike you. However, when running for office, one is short of everything: time, money, volunteers, and votes. A terrible urgency invades everything.
As all politics are, to an extent, moral, we might also say that your close supporters feel there is a moral imperative for you to win. They want you to play the game as hard as you can, to leave “nothing on the field”. If you wander off to do what they’ll perceive as risky or feel-good stuff, they’ll object.
When Deval Patrick was running for governor, we wanted him to win — and not just a little bit — we really wanted him to win. A loss of focus in the campaign would have struck us as squandering an important progressive opportunity.
So yes, there’s calculation involved.
Yes, some people are not going to like that.
But some of us are going to demand it.