For those who live in the Philadelphia region, Michael Smerconish, who inhabits the “drive time” radio slot on Philly’s 1210 am “Big Talker,” finally came out this morning in support of the Obamessiah. (link)
The G.I.N. has long since abandoned his show, and we’ve been predicting this for over a year- Smerconish himself seems to be the only one surprised by this. This is a guy who’s way too wrapped up in himself and wanting to be liked by the “in-crowd” to be a true believer. He’s embraced the Huffington Post and other left-of-center sources for some time, and seemingly ignores all voices on the right (for example, when a caller a few months ago brought up Obama’s “arrugulance,” Smercommie had no idea what he was talking about).
He says he’ll explain it in his Sunday column, but I’ve got a better explanation for it.
“Take a look at idealogues who dominate the [talk] industry today,” he told me. “Nobody who straddles [the local and national scene] like I do has success at a national level unless they work at the ends of the political spectrum. I’m never going to be Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann.” He agreed that making his decision public was “not in my professional best interest, but it’s how I see it. Mine is an opinion, purely based on a lot of circumspection. I’m fortunate that I’ve chatted with both, been in their presence, so this is not uninformed decision.”
Oh sure, it’s not an ideological decision, but it is in his professional best interest. When the rest of talk radio is shut down by the Fairness Doctrine, Michael Smerconish will still be there talking about all the things that matter to him:
- He can talk about how Mumia Abu Jamal finally got his appeal by the Supreme Court and was released from prison by order of the Obama appointees.
- Maybe he’ll be able to explain why more than 5% of the workforce got a tax-increase when him and his people elected Obama to sign bills sent forth by the Pelosi Congress.
- He can get CAIR-appointed DOJ officials on to talk about how they’re not profiling terrorists based on nationality or faith.
- He can have “Uncle Ted” Nugent on, who’ll discuss the old days when he used to be able to hunt.
- He can have former members of academia and the press who were “Muzzled” for not agreeing with the Obama administration but who are approved by the “fairness apparatus” for consumption.
I’ve said it before, the guy’s radio show is really vapid right now. It’s like he’s too busy to read anything but the dailykos or huffingtonpost stuff his producers put in front of him. When he says it’s an informed decision, it’s informed by the media “in crowd”.
More than anything, this is just more confirmation that we in the G.I.N. lost a friend. He used to like guns, trucks, hate terrorists and cop-killers. That’s our kind of guy. But this transformation has just been a little uncomfortable, like if you had a friend who was really cool and then started wearing a beret and eating tofu. You’d try to help him, maybe call or write his show and see what’s up, but then when you’re dismissed as “crayon letters” you find other people to hang out with.
I kinda think Smerconish was a lawyer who thought being conservative was the “in thing” for a while, but since it was based on trend not principle, it couldn’t last.