Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The road to punditry (Part 2 of 2)

>>Read The Road to Punditry (Part 1 of 2)

Well it looks like it holds true. Of the 10 conservative pundits in the APF, half have practiced law- Hugh Hewitt, Ann Coulter, Joe Scarborough, Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham. Of the 9 liberal pundits, we have 7 Comedians- Al Franken, Stephanie Miller, Marc Maron, Sam Seder, Janeane Garofalo, Bill Maher and Jon Stewart. It would actually be 8, if we were to break kayfabe. As Stephen Colbert representing the Red team is also a comedian. Its actually quite ironic as one of the knocks against liberal talk radio is that its not entertaining enough, despite being populated by seasoned entertainers.

Overall only 3 of the current APF roster of 20 started their careers in punditry. Michelle Malkin, Tucker Carlson and APF's only independent, Bill O'reilly.

Looking at the collective history of pundits on both sides. The 'Rep' brand has far more experience than the 'Dem' brand with Conservative pundits averaging roughly 11 years each. Whilst liberal pundits average about 6 (I've included Colbert on the liberal side in this instance). This is no surprise as conservatives have dominated the talk format for decades, evidenced by their dominance in Talker's Magazine annual list of Heavy Hitters.

The 'Dem' brand placed 2 pundits in the Top 50, with Ed Schultz at #5 and Randi Rhodes at #13. The Red team on the other hand placed 4 pundits in the Top 50 with Rush Limbaugh taking the #1 spot. Followed by Sean Hannity(#2), Laura Ingraham(#7) and Mark Levin(#20).

That list is well and good. But the true Pundit Champion isn't going to be decided by a committee on a magazine. Its going to be judged by the people. Its going to be judged head to head, issue by issue. Through showdowns across the airwaves and face to face. Its going to be judged in the 'Political Arena'.
It's going to be judged..... IN THE APF!


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