Abu Wabu

Jeffrey Lord makes the case in the American Spectator that John McCain and his surrogates need to stop attacking the messenger that is conservative talk radio, and start listening to the message:

Anyone who spent time at CPAC this past week, as I did, could not possibly miss the energy, passion, and intellectual volcano that is the American conservative movement. While media attention was understandably focused on McCain's Thursday appearance, the real story of the next stage of American conservatism was with the attendees themselves. They were the physical embodiment of Hannity's point, the real leaders of the conservative future.

Stopping to chat with both exhibitors and attendees I found filmmakers, Internet activists, policy wonks, software experts, educators, book publishers, attorneys, journalists, authors, diplomats, advertising marketers, fundraisers, clergy, students and seniors, to name but a few. Enthusiastically promoting conservative projects reflecting their specific interests, they were the very definition of intellectual vitality and political awareness. In one corner of the hall there were tables groaning under the weight of hundreds of books written by, for, or about conservatives, many of them -- don't you love it? -- New York Times bestsellers.

Most of these people are not as well known as Sean Hannity or his talk radio colleagues. But make no mistake, in terms of their passion and commitment to conservative principles they are one and the same. To understand the potential represented by all of these people as they enthusiastically walked me through their projects is to know with assurance that conservatism in America is moving forward yet again, on the edge of a vibrant transformation into a serious 21st century political and cultural force.

AFTER SEEING ALL OF THIS ACTIVITY and spending considerable time over two days talking with many of these people, people who came from all over the country, it is passing curious that there seems to be some sort of effort under way by some McCain supporters to lash out at Hannity and others, unaware that precisely the kind of people I spoke with at CPAC both listen to talk radio and consider themselves more than capable of making their own decisions about both McCain and the conservative movement.

With Newsweak magazine's overwrought "There Will Be Blood" cover splash, it's already clear the MSM is hoping their dream of a battle on the right will come true. It may. But if it does, it won't be McCain vs. conservative talk radio; it will be McCain having to earn conservative votes.

If he doesn't, everybody cries. The conservative message to McCain et al is simple: slip me some principles, baby.

Read it all.

Thomas Sowell touches on the subject from a different angle over at NRO:

Even before Mitt Romney bowed out — with class, by the way — supporters of John McCain, and Republican party pooh-bahs in general, were chastising those conservatives in the media who had criticized Senator McCain.

Those who leveled their attacks at Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and other conservatives who had criticized McCain’s record completely misconceived the role of the media.

Journalists do not exist to get one party’s candidates elected or otherwise serve one party’s political interests. The public are the journalists’ clientele.

And in USA Today, Jonah Goldberg says part of McCain's problem is buyer's remorse felt by conservatives about George W. Bush: 'Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.'