Pride Goeth Before A Fall

Patrick McIlheran, echoed by the other half of McSykes (version 2.0), are busy slapping Charlie Sykes, Mark Belling and Jay Weber (what, no love for Jeff Wagner or James T. Harris?) for Walker's victory in Tuesday's primary victory.

xoff had already addressed that silliness here, as did The Chief at his site.

But I just needed to add my two cents to the matter, since I already debunked that drivel two years ago.

Jessica McBride was complaining about the budget that had just been recently passed and how so many Republicans had voted for it. She had put the blame on the fact that these upstate Republicans just didn't have talk radio to tell them how to vote.

The problem with her argument, and with that of McSykes, is that there is talk radio all over the state:

Too bad that she is lying, or at the very least mistaken. A quick Google of radio stations in Wisconsin, and Whallah!, there is a list of radio stations in Wisconsin, at least 20 of which are identified as talk or news/talk stations in the northern and central parts of the state. Now, if one looks at the map again, a good third of the legislatures are within easy range of WTMJ. Some of the other talk radio stations are located in Wausau, Green Bay, Superior, Wisconsin Rapids, Marshfield and Eau Claire. That pretty much covers all of the other Republicans as well.

The fact that there are so many talk radio shows all over the state eliminates the argument presented by McBride, or two years later, by McSykes.

The other issue with McSykes self-congratulations is the simple fact that Paddy Mac was lying about another part (emphasis mine):

The real difference between La Crosse, Eau Claire, Green Bay and Appleton on the one hand and the places around Milwaukee is explained, rather, by the fact that an AM signal travels only so far. The major talk-radio players in Milwaukee -- Charlie Sykes, Mark Belling and Jay Weber -- all covered the contest exhaustively. I think they did so fairly: Notably, both Walker and Neumann got on the air repeatedly with these hosts and were allowed to explain their views. The hosts, of course, formed opinions and expressed them, but given that both candidates were conservatives, the commentary was heavy on analysis and light on excoriation. This analysis and opinion, it seems, made a huge difference in turnout and result.

And that result was this: If a county was within the sound of Milwaukee talk radio’s voice, it voted Walker overwhelmingly. This is the power of ideas, well expressed.

I don't listen to Weber, but I distinctly recall both Sykes and Belling criticizing Mark Neumann at every turn, for grievances real or perceived, in order to help the establishment candidate.

But one shouldn't be shocked at this misrepresentation of reality by McIlheran and company. If it wasn't for their misconstructions and confabulations, they wouldn't really have any way to promote their candidates or themselves.