Weekly Team-Up: Dobbs & Fox A Match Made for Democrats?

Lou Dobbs has suddenly resigned from CNN effective immediately.? Given the recent?Biblical exodus of sorts of conservative journalists from all the major networks to Fox News in the last 12-18 months, will Dobbs be the next to make his arrival on Rupurt Murdoch’s ever growing conservative juggernaut?

MarketWatch seems to think he is headed to Fox Business Network, which would most likely be very fitting.? It would also allow for him to be a guest commentator on Fox News, and do drop in segments on Fox News from the Fox Business studios.

We have to ask once more: is?this a good thing? Sure, it’s great for Fox News Network and its profits, but is it good to be pulling all conservative influence from the other networks? Check out Dustin’s articles on this?here and here.

-nick

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Following up on Nick’s comments, a liberal friend made a point recently?that made a lot of sense- namely, that with Lou Dobbs on Fox, the Republican Party and conservatives will further be known as the “white party” and the “white movement.” If Dobbs is brought onto Fox News, conservatives and Republicans stand to lose a massive number of potential voters and supporters they are already struggling with- minorities in general, and Hispanics in particular. Dobbs is despised by many Hispanics, and if he comes to Fox, this will do great damage to the conservative movement and its ability to convince minority voters to support its candidates and policy viewpoints.

Before the accusations start, no- I am not saying we should be politically correct. I am saying, however, that good tactics are needed to spread a message, since many people associate a message with the messenger in both positive and negative ways. Example: my friend Rachel Sheffield, a researcher at The Heritage Foundation, is a much better representative for?social conservatives?than someone like Rhode Island Governor Carcieri, for many reasons. These include the fact that Sheffield comes across as sincere and constructive when supporting heterosexual marriage (full disclosure: she’s a friend of mine), whereas Carcieri is appears bigoted and hateful in his most recent defense of heterosexual marriage. Likewise, someone like Dobbs could cause major damage to the conservative movement’s attempts to show immigrants and minorities how conservative policies are better for both of those groups of people as well as the country as a whole.

Personally, I don’t pay attention to Dobbs, so?I don’t know the truth of the accusations against him regarding race and prejudice.?However, since Hispanics dislike him, my opinion doesn’t matter- theirs does. After all, a movement can have strong views without alienating a large number of American citizens, but Dobbs is not able to do that for the conservative immigration policy supporters. Thus, the question remains: is Dobbs an effective voice for conservative immigration policies, or is he a liability to the movement?

-dustin

Fox News vs. Everyone Else

A few weeks ago, after it was announced that John Stossel was going to Fox News, I wrote that conservative commentators are flocking to Fox News far too often at the detriment of the country. Now it appears that CNN?s Lou Dobbs is being eyed by Fox Business. I’ll repeat what I said then: conservative voices on Fox News are going to absolutely destroy all other TV stations in ratings, money and every other category?except for influence. Yes, Dobbs, Stossel and others will bring some of their fans and followers from the other stations over?but the majority non-conservative viewers won?t follow. For example, Stossel?s 20/20 had over six million viewers last year- almost twice as many as long-time cable kind Bill O?Reilly. Yet there is no speculation that O?Reilly would lose ground to Stossel in the four hours a week Stossel is anticipated to be on the tube.

Obviously, Fox holds the top ratings in cable slots, and does well in non-cable viewing. However, given that nearly every news and entertainment station besides Fox is more liberally-biased (such as GE’s NBC, ABC, Ted Turner’s CNN and Comedy Central), conservatives are going to lose out in the grand scheme of things. Influence, as opposed to power, is increasingly in the liberals’ favor on TV. To paraphrase an acquaintance, conservatives need to infiltrate everywhere, because flocking to Fox will not bring lasting electoral or cultural change to America.

There may, however, be hope yet for conservatives to influence moderates and liberals through the medium of television. Continuing the current Democratic habit of personally targeting those who displease them (see Rep. Waxman’s heavy-handed letters to insurance companies, President Obama’s comments in January about Rush Limbaugh, the White House’s targeting of Jim Cramer and Rick Santelli and the AIG tax attack this spring for just a few examples), President Obama?s White House has decided to essentially declare war on Fox News, and nothing breeds viewers in the USA like controversy. This may be the last best chance for conservatives on television to really draw in the non-conservatives so crucial to winning elections in America, as well as to influence the national mindset regarding the place and size of government, military action, social values etc. I fear, however, that aggressive, activist-engaging voices will continue to dominate Fox news, and few enough George Wills, Jonah Goldbergs and Charles Krauthammers (one quick note: the latter IS on Fox every weeknight) will be on hand to build the kind of coalition that can last for the next generation.