Not Bush or McCain (not by a longshot), but Rush Limbaugh.
Recently, 235 right-leaning bloggers voted on the 25 most influential conservatives in US politics. The rankings are interesting:
#25) Mark Levin: 6 votes
#21) Hugh Hewitt: 7
#21) George Will: 7
#21) John Roberts: 7
#21) Ronald Reagan: 7
#20) Victor David Hanson: 8
#19) Antonin Scalia: 9
#18) John McCain: 10
#14) Glenn Beck: 11
#14) George W. Bush: 11
#14) Glenn Reynolds: 11
#14) Matt Drudge: 11
#13) Bill Kristol: 12
#10) Charles Krauthammer: 13
#10) Thomas Sowell: 13
#10) Laura Ingraham: 13
#9) Karl Rove: 14
#8) Jonah Goldberg: 15
#7) Bill O'Reilly: 17
#5) Newt Gingrich: 21
#5) Ann Coulter: 21
#3) Mark Steyn: 23
#3) Sean Hannity: 23
#2) Michelle Malkin: 24
#1) Rush Limbaugh: 49
A few interesting things stand out; I thought you might be interested too:
- President Bush is #14 and Republican Presidential frontrunner John McCain is #18. So, the supposed "most powerful man in the world" is the 14th-most influential person in his own party.
- Rush Limbaugh, who is widely considered to be a hardline right-winger whose opinions are often dismissed by policymakers, is considered by most right-leaning bloggers to be the most influential of their party.
- There are no well-known politicians in the top 4.
- Karl Rove, despite all of the controversy surrounding him, still comes in at #14.
- Ronald Reagan had only 4 less votes than President Bush… did people forget that he's dead?
I think that the most striking fact is that the President has less influence over these bloggers than 13 other conservatives. What does that say about the status of the Executive Branch today? Do we really place so much value on the opinions of a former President who hasn't been mentally healthy since the Cold War (before the information age)? And is there any respect left for the Presidency today?
I think this might tell us something about where the US is headed in the future… what do you think?
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