As Talk Radio Wavers, Bush Moves to Firm Up Support

AS TALK RADIO WAVERS, BUSH MOVES TO FIRM UP SUPPORT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jim Ruttenberg]
Conservative radio hosts are breaking with the Republican leadership in ways not seen in at least a decade, and certainly not since Rush Limbaugh’s forceful advocacy of the party in 1994 spawned a new generation of stars, said Michael Harrison, publisher of the industry’s lead trade publication, Talkers. Disgruntlement can now be found not only among the more flamboyant radio voices, like Michael Savage, who raged against President Bush’s proposals on immigration and other issues, but also among more mainstream hosts, like Laura Ingraham, who told her listeners in the wake of the scandal involving former Rep Mark Foley and under-age Congressional pages, “You have to ask yourself, the people who are in positions of power now in the Republican Party, are they able to credibly articulate the conservative agenda to the American people -- to rally the base, to rally the country?” Such questions, coming from such quarters, have created yet another challenge for the White House and the central party leadership as they work to steer Republicans to victory next month in the face of low approval ratings and dissatisfaction among the party faithful. Strategists on both sides agree that the party’s greatest hope for holding control of Congress now rests with its ability to get core Republicans to vote, and that talk radio, which reaches millions of them, is crucial to the task.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/us/politics/17radio.html
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See also --
* Air America Radio Files for Chapter 11
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/13/ap/entertainment/mainD8KNVO680.shtml