Nate Silver, in a typically thoughtful and provocative post, suggests that the outsized influence of talk radio on conservative leaders may be restricting their capacity for empathy and hence persuasion:
Moreover, almost uniquely to radio, most of the audience is not even paying attention to you,
because most people listen to radio when they're in the process of
doing something else. (If they weren't doing something else, they'd be
watching TV). They are driving, mowing the lawn, washing the dishes --
and you have to work really hard to sustain their attention. Hence what Wallace refers to as the importance of "stimulating" the listener...
... Stimulation,
however, is somewhat the opposite of persuasion. You're not going to
persuade someone of something when you're (literally, in Ziegler's
case) yelling in their ear...
... The McCain campaign was all about stimulation.
The Britney Spears ads weren't persuasive, but they sure were
stimulating! "Drill, baby, drill" wasn't persuasive, but it sure was
stimulating! Sarah Palin wasn't persuasive, but she sure was
stimulating!
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