Michael Smerconish, the REAL deal on his status and endorsement

[DainBramaged]

Philadelphia radio talker Michael Smerconish, a life-long Republican, swears he's not using his Obama endorsement today to land a fulltime spot on increasingly liberal MSNBC.

Smerconish, an MSNBC regular, shares the lineup at WPHT-AM with staunch conservatives Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

Though Smerconish denies he's in their category, his Barack Obama announcement immediately triggered more than 400 vitriolic emails from listeners — a personal record.

"Some were awfully nasty," says the best-selling author of Muzzled: From T-Ball to Terrorism. "Many said they would never listen to me again. The passion in this election is unlike anything I've ever seen, and I've been around for a while."

Smerconish's radio contract expires Dec. 31. Buzz says he won't re-sign unless the station takes him national. His exclusive deal with MSNBC is up in the spring. He appears three times a week, on Chris Matthews' "Hardball" and on David Gregory's "Race to the White House."

Backing Obama will not win him points with either employer, Smerconish insists.

As a precaution, however, he gave a heads-up to his radio boss about the endorsement and he responded with a supportive email, Smerconish says.

Still, in the radio industry "listeners are surrounded by people who work them into a lather all day. I'm in a business where ideologues get rewarded. You tow the party line, and in talk radio the party line is very conservative."

By the same token, he says he didn't do himself any favors at MSNBC, either. (Not that there are any prime-time openings there.)

"I'll never be Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann. Those aren't my politics. In the cable world, those who succeed are very doctrinaire in their views, with some exceptions."

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/politics/why_conservative_talker_michael_smerconish_endorsed_obama_97889.asp#more

[SoCalDem]

1. um..smerc.. it's "toe the line"...not tow the line:)

and that tells me that David Gregory will the be the new MTP person :grr:...maybe Smerc will get the slot that DG had:(

[DainBramaged]

2. I think at Reich-wing radio, it IS tow the line (to carry the weaklings)

[riverdeep]

3. MSNBC is actually probably the most balanced of the cable news networks, overall.

They have a schizophrenia about them. In the first half of the day, they're conservative, Joe Scarborough in particular. Matthews is just a centrist, but from the POV of the modern Himmlers, he probably appears liberal. Gregory is a tool, and not even an interesting one. Finally, for two hours, MSNBC is actually liberal. As opposed to FAUX, which hires a human punching bag Allan 'Weak Sauce' Colmes and calls itself balanced.

I also wouldn't consider Maddow 'doctrinaire' at all. She has a POV, argues her points with facts, but has on opposing views, and lets the other guests speak. She just generally winds up looking better because she's smart as hell.

[DainBramaged]

4. Agreed, I would watch MSNBC mornings if Morning Schmo was gone.

[RamboLiberal]

5. Tweety's contract is up in the spring

I wonder if MSNBC really wants to pay him the contract Tweety probably wants. His ratings are ok but not great for the money they probably pay him. He used to be the big gun at MSNBC, but now KO and Rachel outshine him. His star and political acumen are old-school and rapidly fading. The Obama style has somewhat left him in the dust.

Smerconish gets it more IMHO and may be angling for a slot on MSNBC.

Smerconish also senses the political winds are changing. While a political victory probably assures the Limbaughs, Hannity's, etc. a few more years of their hate-mongering I'm betting their audience is slowly dwindling and many Americans are turned off by this crap and would like to see this partisanship, especially the hateful crap put out of business.

Smerconish senses there's going to be a middle-ground for talkers and he wants to be on the ground floor nationally.

He's seeing talkers like Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, Ed Schultz, etc as the rising stars of a new era in talk politics.