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« Go Read Kaus | Main | Tame Inflation Deflates Kerry Camp »
June 15, 2004

What's the Deal With Drudge?

I've been wondering. Are we sure that Drudge is actually any kind of conservative? We all assume he is; but is he? How do we know he just doesn't cater a bit to the only audience who admits to reading him, i.e., us?

Or is he maybe just against the war? Maybe a Pat Buchanan conservative?

I ask because he seems less-than-eager to promote genuinely huge stories that cut in favor of Bush, like the fact that UNMOVIC says that Saddam smuggled WMD's out of the country before and during the war. He gave that a small little blurb and only for 24 hours.

Meanwhile, he gives this useless NYT liberal-puff-piece (the only thing I like about the piece is that it's so ineffective at achieving its goal of promoting Kerry) a big banner headline for two days.

This isn't the first time I've wondered about this. All the stuff we complain about in the mainstream media -- constantly screaming over the set-backs in Iraq while never reporting the progress -- is something Drudge is equally guilty of.

Not that that necessarily diminished Drudge. I think he's got a good thing going there, and liberal or conservative, he makes the news kinda fun. But I'm just wondering about his actual politics.

Don't bother mentioning the aborted-fetus pics he wanted to run on his Fox show. That doesn't prove he's a conservative. That just proves he wanted ratings and/or to get sprung from his Fox contract.

And yeah, I know he's buds with Ann Coulter. But friendship doesn't require harmonious political views.


posted by Ace at 03:48 AM
Comments



A recent study rated Drudge as "Centrist". Middle O' the Road.

Posted by: nathan on June 15, 2004 04:12 AM

Also, calling him "conservative" is mainly a left/liberal method of pre-emptively ignoring any news from him that puts lefts/liberals in a bad light, since he is willing to push some stories that the mainstream leftist/liberal news media tries to bury, like Monica.

Posted by: nathan on June 15, 2004 04:14 AM

He's just balancing coverage. He has mentioned this before, about all the shit he's taken from Liberals whenever he links to something negative about their politicans and figures. But when he links to negative stories about Republicans, he never gets credit for that or praise for balancing his coverage. All he gets is perplexed Liberals who wonder why he's willing to run bad press about Republicans if he's conservative. They're so partisan they can't imagine anyone doing something like bad-mouthing the team in the name of objectivity, integrity, fairness or principle. Not that Drudge is a paragon of those things. It's just that he's more fair-minded than, say, the NY Times.

If you go on democraticunderground.com you see those idiots screaming one minute about how much they hate Drudge, then scratching their heads over negative stories about the Bush administration.

As for Drudge's personal politics, I don't like them. He's really prudish, sneering and sanctimonious towards pop culture.

Posted by: Moonbat_One on June 15, 2004 04:44 AM

Drudge is really a chick. A liberal one at that.

That's as logical as any other theory about anyone on the Internet.

Posted by: Da Goddess on June 15, 2004 05:11 AM

What's with the fedora? What is he, Sam Spade? Anyway, I think he's a puppet blog along the same vein as Rance edited by none other than..."Who's the Boss's?" Danny Pintauro.

Posted by: sentinel on June 15, 2004 07:55 AM

Ace, Moonbat_One comes closest to answering your questions - in the part of his comment not intended to be an answer, but just an afterthought.

Like any of us, Drudge posts about what interests him and what he has insight into - though in his case, he can get real news from his contacts. He's primarily a social conservative, so he's not going to dwell on fiscal or foreign policy issues much. What he's best at is gossip about people in the beltway, which really just lets the rest of us hear the yammering that's been humming around that swamp for two centuries now. And since pop culture and the beltway have intertwined so much, you're going to get lots of gossip from the tar pits of the left coast, too.

And for the record, pop culture needs more people sneering sanctimonious prudism at it.

Posted by: The Black Republican on June 15, 2004 08:27 AM

Great blog, Ace!

Do you have an RSS feed? Or is that a no-go for mu-nu?

Posted by: The Commissar on June 15, 2004 09:02 AM

I remember when Drudge first came out in the 90's, I dismissed him entirely because all he seemed concerned about was outlandish conspiracy theories (Vince Foster, etc). He came across as a National Enquirer for the internet. I still don't take him seriously, and he's primarily useful for being good at getting breaking stories before anyone else.

Posted by: Beck on June 15, 2004 09:27 AM

Here's an example of what I mean. The Fox News movie reviewer gave Fahrenheit 9/11 a good review. Result ? Massive cognitive dissonance among DU, where they think Roger Ailes takes direction from the White House and the RNC to brainwash the masses.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1791948&mesg_id=1791948

Never mind the publishing arm of NewsCorps published one or two of Michael Moore's books.

Posted by: Moonbat_One on June 15, 2004 10:05 AM

Drudge's coverage isn't ruled so much by his political ideology as it is by his desire for sensationalism and traffic. That's the short answer to your question.

Posted by: Bill from INDC Journal on June 15, 2004 10:48 AM

I've noticed the same thing, Ace. When I first found Drudge Report, it wasn't long after that I heard liberals screaming that he's a partisan hack, a mere tool of the Republican party. That's part of what kept me reading. But I kept noticing that he never shied away from stories that hurt Bush or the administration. And when I realized that, I had even more reason to keep coming back. If the only news I ever got was from conservative outlets, I'd be no better than a liberal, as far as educating myself about politics.

Posted by: Aaron on June 15, 2004 11:31 AM

"But friendship doesn't require harmonious political views."


Doesn't it? Then why did all the liberals I knew get out their flaming torches when I revealed myself as a conservative?

Posted by: Sailor Kenshin on June 15, 2004 12:49 PM

Thanks for the input.

Responding here and there...

recent study rated Drudge as "Centrist". Middle O' the Road.

I didn't see that, but he does strike me as approximately centrist. But I do think that he skews a little to the left. Less so than the general media, because he's always willing to pounce on a big, juicy story that hurts Democrats.

Which the media, of course, are not so willing to do.

Also, calling him "conservative" is mainly a left/liberal method of pre-emptively ignoring any news from him that puts lefts/liberals in a bad light, since he is willing to push some stories that the mainstream leftist/liberal news media tries to bury, like Monica.

Hey! I just sort of said that. Except you said it first.

He's just balancing coverage. He has mentioned this before, about all the shit he's taken from Liberals whenever he links to something negative about their politicans and figures. But when he links to negative stories about Republicans, he never gets credit for that or praise for balancing his coverage.

I agree. And he does seem a little prudish.

Drudge's coverage isn't ruled so much by his political ideology as it is by his desire for sensationalism and traffic. That's the short answer to your question.

Um, well, Yeah. That's a given. Still, one can have a slant in one's sensationalism. See Wonkette.

I'm asking about the slant.

I've noticed the same thing, Ace. When I first found Drudge Report, it wasn't long after that I heard liberals screaming that he's a partisan hack, a mere tool of the Republican party. That's part of what kept me reading. But I kept noticing that he never shied away from stories that hurt Bush or the administration.

Sometimes he seems almost to relish such stories.

Posted by: ace on June 15, 2004 02:52 PM

He's also just a bit plain nuts. That transcends political alignment. This became clear to me when he spent a good chunk of his radio show once ranting about the evil influence of Harry Potter on our recious children. In the process it became clear that he had only the vaguest concept of what the seroes was about. He just knew that some characters who practiced magic were depicted as the good guys and that was surely part of indoctrinating our children and surely J.K. Rowling was the daughter of Anton LeVey.

Posted by: Eric Pobirs on June 15, 2004 09:28 PM
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