Tweet
This could actually make a difference. My advice to Kerry - get on the Stern show and start talking about going anal on Teresa, pronto!
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/03/...tern/index.html
(Exceprts - I suggest checking out the full article)
Howard Stern's schwing voters
The raunchy jockey is mobilizing his army of listeners against Bush -- and they could make a difference in November.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Eric Boehlert
March 12, 2004 | Declaring a "radio jihad" against President Bush, syndicated morning man Howard Stern and his burgeoning crusade to drive Republicans from the White House are shaping up as a colossal media headache for the GOP, and one they never saw coming.
The pioneering shock jock, "the man who launched the raunch," as the Los Angeles Times once put it, has emerged almost overnight as the most influential Bush critic in all of American broadcasting, as he rails against the president hour after hour, day after day to a weekly audience of 8 million listeners. Never before has a Republican president come under such withering attack from a radio talk-show host with the influence and national reach Stern has.
"The potential impact is huge," says Charles Goyette, talk-show host at KFYI in Phoenix. "And it's not just with the 8 million people who tune it, it's that he breaks the spell. Everybody's been enchanted by Bush, that he's a great wartime leader and to criticize him is unpatriotic. Now Stern pounds him every day and it shatters that illusion that the man is invincible and he shouldn't be criticized."
"He's got one of the biggest audiences in all of radio, and perhaps the most loyal," says Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, the nonpartisan monthly that covers radio's news/talk industry. "And that's why he's so dangerous for the White House."
Stern had strongly backed Bush's war on Iraq, but in the past two weeks, he has derided the president as a "Jesus freak," a "maniac" and "an arrogant bastard," while ranting against "the Christian right minority that has taken over the White House." Specifically, Stern has assailed Bush's use of 9/11 images in his campaign ads, questioned his National Guard service, condemned his decision to curb stem cell research and labeled him an enemy of civil liberties, abortion rights and gay rights.
In other words, it's the kind of free campaign rhetoric the Democratic National Committee couldn't have imagined just one month ago.
"Our research shows many, many people in the 30- to 40-year-old range who were Bush supporters are rethinking that position and turning away from Bush because of what Howard Stern has been saying," says Harrison.
Stern's sustained FM taunts come at a tough time for the White House, which has watched Bush's approval ratings fall to new lows. Even more disturbing for Republicans was the revelation in the latest USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll that Bush's traditionally strong support among male voters is down significantly, and that Bush actually trails Kerry among those voters.
"That's the demographic Howard Stern targets specifically," says Goyette. "If Bush's grip on men continues to soften, he could be in big trouble."
Anecdotally, those daily phone calls from listeners -- mostly men -- who tell Stern they usually don't vote, but this year they're definitely going to vote against Bush (and it's usually against, Bush not for Sen. John Kerry) cannot be comforting to the Bush/Cheney '04 strategists.
"Karl Rove and the White House would have to be brain-dead to not know they have a problem here," says Goyette.
There are early signs that Bush supporters are indeed nervous about Stern's crusade. This week Limbaugh wrote a newspaper Op-Ed column dismissing Stern's claims against Bush as coming from "the left-wing fringe." (Stern returned fire, labeling Limbaugh a Bush "lackey.")
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/03/...tern/index.html
(Exceprts - I suggest checking out the full article)
Howard Stern's schwing voters
The raunchy jockey is mobilizing his army of listeners against Bush -- and they could make a difference in November.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Eric Boehlert
March 12, 2004 | Declaring a "radio jihad" against President Bush, syndicated morning man Howard Stern and his burgeoning crusade to drive Republicans from the White House are shaping up as a colossal media headache for the GOP, and one they never saw coming.
The pioneering shock jock, "the man who launched the raunch," as the Los Angeles Times once put it, has emerged almost overnight as the most influential Bush critic in all of American broadcasting, as he rails against the president hour after hour, day after day to a weekly audience of 8 million listeners. Never before has a Republican president come under such withering attack from a radio talk-show host with the influence and national reach Stern has.
"The potential impact is huge," says Charles Goyette, talk-show host at KFYI in Phoenix. "And it's not just with the 8 million people who tune it, it's that he breaks the spell. Everybody's been enchanted by Bush, that he's a great wartime leader and to criticize him is unpatriotic. Now Stern pounds him every day and it shatters that illusion that the man is invincible and he shouldn't be criticized."
"He's got one of the biggest audiences in all of radio, and perhaps the most loyal," says Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, the nonpartisan monthly that covers radio's news/talk industry. "And that's why he's so dangerous for the White House."
Stern had strongly backed Bush's war on Iraq, but in the past two weeks, he has derided the president as a "Jesus freak," a "maniac" and "an arrogant bastard," while ranting against "the Christian right minority that has taken over the White House." Specifically, Stern has assailed Bush's use of 9/11 images in his campaign ads, questioned his National Guard service, condemned his decision to curb stem cell research and labeled him an enemy of civil liberties, abortion rights and gay rights.
In other words, it's the kind of free campaign rhetoric the Democratic National Committee couldn't have imagined just one month ago.
"Our research shows many, many people in the 30- to 40-year-old range who were Bush supporters are rethinking that position and turning away from Bush because of what Howard Stern has been saying," says Harrison.
Stern's sustained FM taunts come at a tough time for the White House, which has watched Bush's approval ratings fall to new lows. Even more disturbing for Republicans was the revelation in the latest USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll that Bush's traditionally strong support among male voters is down significantly, and that Bush actually trails Kerry among those voters.
"That's the demographic Howard Stern targets specifically," says Goyette. "If Bush's grip on men continues to soften, he could be in big trouble."
Anecdotally, those daily phone calls from listeners -- mostly men -- who tell Stern they usually don't vote, but this year they're definitely going to vote against Bush (and it's usually against, Bush not for Sen. John Kerry) cannot be comforting to the Bush/Cheney '04 strategists.
"Karl Rove and the White House would have to be brain-dead to not know they have a problem here," says Goyette.
There are early signs that Bush supporters are indeed nervous about Stern's crusade. This week Limbaugh wrote a newspaper Op-Ed column dismissing Stern's claims against Bush as coming from "the left-wing fringe." (Stern returned fire, labeling Limbaugh a Bush "lackey.")
Comment