British Villager Wanker of the Day
Toby Harnden compiled a list of the top 100 Most Influential, both conservatives and liberals. By leaving out 100 Moderates, he kills the value of his lists immediately.
Need proof? Among the top 20 conservatives, he offers, in order, Giuliani, Petraeus, Drudge, Gingrich, Limbaugh, Cheney, Gates, John Roberts, McCain, Romney, Huckabee, Rice, Bolton, Paul Gigot, Ingraham, Barbour, Luntz, Beck, Pence and Gillespie. At #21 is Bush, Dobson is #26, Delay is #35, Abramoff #38, just before Drew Carey #39.
Drew Carey? Yup, he must be more influential than Rove #42, Lieberman #47, abNorman Podhoretz #57, Scalia #62, O’Reilly #82, and Larry Craig #89. Rupert Murdoch? Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell? House Minority head Boehner? Nope, none made the top 100.
The so-called liberals are worse. The top 10: Bill Clinton, Gore, Penn, Hillary, Pelosi, Obama, Michael Moore, Governor Schwarzenegger, Oprah and Evan Bayh. Seriously.
Then there’s Kos #12, Elizabeth Edwards #19, Warren Buffett #21, Colin Powell #23, John Edwards #24. Joe Lieberman’s #47, just in front of Michelle Obama and Al Franken.
That’s right, Joe’s the 47th most influential liberal and the 47th most inflential conservative. Scaife Mellon? Bozell? Not on the list.
Only Gore, Pelosi, and Moore qualify as real liberals in the top 10, which shows how worthless the term ‘liberal’ has become to out of touch journalists. Jon Stewart’s not in the top 100.
Scan through the lists. Then name one or more lists of your top 10 most influential liberals, conservatives and moderates. I’ll give you mine, in terms of sphere of influence over the American mind, here’s my top 10 conservatives:
1) Limbaugh
2) O’Reilly
3) Murdoch
4) Hannity
5) Ailes
6) Cheney
7) Rove
8) Giuliani
9) Gigot
10) George Will/George Bush (tie)
Top 10 moderates:
1) Bill Clinton
2) Hillary
3) Rahm Emmanuel
4) Mike Wallace
5) Ed Schultz
6) Jim Webb
7) Barack Obama
8) David Broder
9) Harry Reid
10) Kos
Top 10 Liberals:
1) Keith Olbermann
2) Jon Stewart
3) Paul Krugman
4) Seymour Hersh
5) Henry Waxman
6) Russ Feingold
7) Ted Kennedy
8) Barbara Boxer
9) Nancy Pelosi
10) John Edwards/Ellen Goodman (tie)
I know there’ll be quibbles about who belongs where, which is fine. Just remember, ratings count. So does national name recognition. How ’bout you? You have any lists?
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:35 am
It is a far better list than the Guardian. Offf the top of my head I like it. The conservatives are rational and sane. The liberals are neither, When your most infuencial liberal is a raving moonbat like Olbermann, the liberals are in trouble.
On the other hand, I’d never all Mrs. William “Take all profits” Clinton a moderate.
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:58 am
[…] Kevin Hayden, American Street, proves the advantage of posting while sober(PWS). The British rag, Guardian, has been publishing her list the the top one hundred most influencial conservatives and liberals all week. The Guardian is trolling for American hits and I refuse to give the rag any more. […]
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:59 am
Sorry — the Kos is not a Moderate. Along with George Soros, he’s actually the one driving the Liberal crazy train.
Moderate? I don’t think that word means what you think it means…
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:18 am
Should I say Kos is a ’self-described moderate’?
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:40 am
[…] Nov 2nd, 2007 by Michael van der Galiën Whatever I wanted to say about this list has already been said by Kevin Hayden and James Joyner. […]
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:47 am
What’s missing is a list of phony centrists who actually hate liberals. You know: Maureen Dowd, Chris Matthews, David Broder, etc., etc.
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:12 am
Just like Andres Sullivan is a self-described “conservative” — just saying it doesn’t make it so.
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Exactly, Steve. And you know where I think the problem lies? When former moderates start making more money than 90% of the country. They lose touch of where the middle is when they get their maids to phone in their work.
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Robbie, just because you say anyone left of Joe Lieberman is a communist does not make it so, either. At least 1/4 of Congressional Dems are quite conservative and half are moderates. Among the Republicans in Congress, there might be a dozen moderates, with the rest conservatives. I’m still uncertain, however, what they conserve.