Before becoming a bankable Hollywood star, Perry was a bankable star on the “chitlin circuit,” raking in millions of dollars from loyal, exclusively black audiences. Perry became a celebrity before ever trespassing the mainstream, taking his characters directly to his core audience. Beck took his audience from the mainstream and disappeared into the conservative circuit.
As Weekly Standard writer Jonathan Last noted on his personal blog, “While everyone else is writing about what Buzzfeed and Huffington Post are doing (which are also both interesting) it’s like The Blaze is tearing up the world and making money hand over fist in some alternate universe which is invisible to media reporters in the mainstream.”
That said, the left isn't much better. I think that MSNBC would have been ecstatic if Romney won. My guess is their ratings would jump significantly. I have to imagine that there could be nothing better for the Becks/FOX of the world than an Obama presidency. It's hard to sell survival kits when your guy is in office.But one can hardly imagine ur-conservative media star William F. Buckley hawking gold or “gourmet quality” survivalist food kits, or showing up on the set of Dancing With the Stars. We live, after all, in the era of the “conservative entertainment complex.”
This is so true. Not to sound like an old geezer but there really was a time when the parties prominent media representatives were substantive. When the GOP proudly wore the moniker of the elite, well educated, monocle wearing fiscal conservatives. Now we are stuck with bible thumping, end of days snake oil salesman.
Everyone always hearkens back to Buckley, and I can understand why - he was an even-tempered and easily digested thinker who, even if you didn't agree with, you could empathize with. Thing is, "conservative media" also includes wingnuts like Father Coughlin, who I can easily see selling survivalist food kits. Remember back when we had "conservative democrats?" Yeah, me neither.
It has always been theatre, it's just a different type now. Buckley played a role, more Downton Abbey professor to Becks Nutty conspiratorial Professor. The audience has changed but the show must go on. I'm interested to see how the GOP rebuilds in the wake of this loss. It seems evident that the Grover Norquist -Tea Party momentum has subsided and wasn't grand enough to carry the day. Where to now?