It might seem to some that Frank Luntz works for the History Channel. On their home page right now they have a
misleadingly worded survey on Social Security privatization which is unsurprisingly running 66% on the wrong side of the issuse. (So by all means go fight the power...)
Survey says: "Should Americans be allowed to invest their Social Security taxes?" Casting us as the mean mommies again--we make them stand up straight and eat their vegetables, Republicans play catch with them but also administer the spankings. Etc. and so on.
There is a whole swath of cable networks that would seemingly have nothing to do with politics that nonetheless amplify Republican messages. My own contention is that it has nothing to do with corporate interests or swallowing marching orders but everything to do with their market research. The Outdoor Living Network to Country Music Television to the History Channel target exurban men; to a lesser extent, HGTV and the home shopping networks target exurban women. (The religious networks are increasingly politicized, especially EWTN, which has I think been officially taken over by Opus Dei...a shame too, as they used to have some interesting programming but now it's all woman-loathing, all the time...)
Democrats need to find ways of injecting themselves in this cultural space. It's not wholly inhospitable--CMT has certainly chronicled the ferment about Iraq and the war on terror that exists in the country music world as much as the country as a whole. The how I leave to sager heads--any idears?
And do freep the History Channel's dishonest poll.