Welcome to the first day of the first round of Right-wing Media Region matchups in the 2013 Daily Kos Republican March to Madness Tournament! The regional bracket is above and if you want to see the full tournament bracket, we posted a copy
earlier today in our initial set of matchups.
In this post, we're featuring the first four matchups from the Right-wing Media Region. Simply click on the links below to cast your votes for the person you think is the best poster child for what's wrong with the GOP and the conservative movement. Votes will be counted until at least 8:30 AM ET on Friday. Tomorrow we'll vote on the rest of the Right-wing Media Region matchups ahead of this weekend's second round action.
Here are the matchups in today's round of Right-wing Media Region action:
- #1 Rush Limbaugh vs. #16 Brent Bozell This is probably the most lopsided first round matchup of the entire tournament: the King of Republican Filth vs. a loser hack who does nothing but go on Fox to complain about "lamestream" media. Vote here!
- #8 Matt Continetti vs. #9 Dick Morris: It's possible that you've never heard of Matt Continetti but there's no question that you've heard of Dick Morris, and not just because he got his toes sucked by a hooker while talking on the phone with the president of the United States of America. If this tournament were purely about clownery, there's no question Morris would win, but his clownery was so transparently bad that even Fox News was forced to can him. Continetti, meanwhile, is editor of The Free Beacon, a right-wing rag that makes The Daily Caller look like real journalism. Were it not for the fact that he is Bill Kristol's son-in-law, Continetti would almost certainly be dismissed as a weirdo crank, but instead, his publication helped drive much of the right-wing outrage against Chuck Hagel. He's still young, but it's only a matter of time before Continetti makes his mark—or should I say leaves his stain—on American political discourse. Vote here!
- #5 Glenn Beck vs. #12 Michelle Malkin: This really is an all-star matchup of has beens. Beck was huge, but it was two or three years ago, so #5 is arguably too high for him, but he's still raking in the big bucks. Despite my prediction, he didn't go Morton Downey Jr.'s way, and he's still just about the craziest voice out there. Michelle Malkin is still the same old angry conservative, but these days she seems to be nearly as interested in going after Republicans for not being conservative enough as she is in going after kids without health insurance.Vote here!
- #4 Bill O'Reilly vs. #13 Joe Scarborough: If this tournament were a battle of egos, these two would be the number one and number two seeds and I don't know which would be which. They both adopt a "reasonable" schtick on their programs, but no matter how "open" they are to other ideas, they always side with the GOP. They try to project warmth and friendliness, but their fuses are short, and their voices rise at the slightest of provocations. Other than their networks and timeslots, the big difference between the two is that Bill O'Reilly has a much bigger audience than Joe Scarborough. And for that reason he gets the fatter seed. Vote here!
We'll announce the winners tomorrow, but you can check the latest numbers at any time just by visiting the polling page.
Don't forget, voting continues in today's first-round action in the GOP Establishment Region as well as the Teabagger Region!