Bucks County Herald – October 15, 2009

Smerconish – Part Two

 

Dear Friends,

            Good morning. Last week, I introduced you to Michael Smerconish, a Central Bucks native, who’s become a major opinion maker via the airwaves. He’s a talk radio host on 1210 AM, which is known as “The Big Talker.” The Smerconish program airs twice daily in 54 markets across America. He also writes two columns each week for the Inquirer and Daily News.

            Two weeks ago, I spent several hours in his studio watching and listening to him work. Smerconish is a whirling dervish. During his three hour radio program (6 am to 9 am) and all by telephone, he interviewed a writer for the “New Yorker” magazine who argued that Texas probably executed an innocent man; a sociologist from Hunter College who claims that 25 percent of married women are stay-at-home moms; a Penn professor reacting to the Florida congressman who caused a stir in the Capital; a Harvard Law School professor making a prediction about a Second Amendment case before the U.S. Supreme Court; a “Wall Street Journal” reporter on the Dan Rather $70 million slander suit against CBS; an author who wrote a book about the parallels between the Vietnam and Afghanistan Wars; and a manufacturer of poles for dancing women.

            Friends, that was seven interviews in the space of three hours. And every one generated passionate reactions from Smerconish’s listeners.

            He polls his audience on timely topics. Smerconish asked his audience whether President Obama should send more troops to Afghanistan? The present tally was 65 “yes”; 35 “no.” While the polls are not scientific, they are entertaining. You have to remember that talk radio attracts conservative listeners. By the way, I can’t identify a single liberal talk show host.

But Smerconish is not an archconservative. When you look at the answers he gave to my own quiz about him, you see a man who is a fiscal conservative but moderate to liberal on social issues.

            Here were my questions and his answers:

            1. Michael, all of 1210’s talk show hosts are strident right-wingers except you, I began. Do the owners object to your moderate political views? “My syndicated radio shows are a partnership between me, CBS Radio and Dial Global,” Smerconish replied. “Never have I had an employer make ideological or issue recommendations about my content, nor would I permit them to.”

            2. Could you be called a “Libertarian,” I wondered? “On many issues, yes,” Smerconish answered, “pot, prostitution…maybe seat belts. I am an individualist at heart.”

            3. According to the book, “America’s Right Turn,” there are more than 4,000 right-wing talk show hosts. Are there liberal talk shows too…who are they?

            “I really don’t know,” Smerconish replied. “I don’t track the industry that way. I can tell you that talk radio continues to be dominated by conservative talk. I think that’s because talk radio was born in an era when conservatives thought they had nowhere to go, no place where they were welcomed. So talk radio evolved as a clubhouse of sorts for talkers, who were conservative. And those listeners continue to be the base of the medium.”

            4. The Philadelphia Archdiocese is being blamed for the Pennsylvania legislature’s refusal to vote on a bill to open the statute of limitations’ window for sex abuse plaintiffs to sue the Catholic Church. Do you agree with the criticism and if so, what should the legislature do, I asked?

            “I wish the legislature would expand the statute of limitations,” Smerconish said.

            5. Smerconish is a proponent of term limits. How long do you think it will take for the state legislature to create term limits, I wondered?

            “Never,” he snapped. “But that’s a shame. I believe we should have them [term limits]. I believe in a true citizen legislature on a state basis. I want representatives who have to go home and earn a living in addition to their duties.”

            6. Should the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy be abolished, I asked?

            “Certainly it should be for some positions…a linguist, for example,” Smerconish answered. “Sexuality should not be a preclusion.”

            7. Did President George W. Bush mislead congress when America declared war on Iraq, I asked?

            “I don’t believe the President lied to take us to war,” Smerconish replied, “but I do believe that the administration accentuated what evidence facilitated that objective.” Smerconish thinks that Bush began his Presidency with an angry, predisposed opinion about Saddam Hussein.

             8. Smerconish was just 24 when he lived in Central Bucks. In 1986, he lost in the Republican primary for state representative in the 143rd District. Were you for or against the Point Pleasant Pump, I asked?

            “I was for it,” he answered. “In 1986, I ran in a 4-way GOP primary for the state legislature in which that was the dominant issue. I was the sole candidate for it, and I lost by 419 votes. Today, I am often on the River Road in Point Pleasant, and I see the nice barn that houses the pump. And I find it hard to believe all that fight was over that.”

            9. Would you run for public office again, I asked?

            “I doubt it,” Smerconish replied. “I like to think I can better impact issues with a microphone. I was the beneficiary of terrific political experiences at a young age. I regret none of them, and I hope our four children will get involved politically. I often say that I would rather they get involved politically on issues with which I do not agree than not be involved at all.”

            I regret that I didn’t ask Smerconish if he agreed with my belief…that America would have solved its most thorny problems eons ago if all the legislatures were comprised of women. But that’s a subject for another day.

            Smerconish’s rapid rise from a Central Bucks schoolboy to a national opinion maker was not planned. After high school, it was on to Lehigh University, then Penn Law School, followed by ten years as a trial lawyer. While in college, Smerconish was an advance man for (then) Vice President George H. W. Bush. Smerconish later served him in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Those were the years where Smerconish became a commentator for various radio and TV programs.  That success morphed into his own radio program. It was absolutely a case of serendipity.

            Smerconish told me that his favorite interviews are about average people. “Interviews about real life are best,” he said.

            So, how does this whirling dervish stay healthy and alive? “Charlie, I’m in bed at nine PM,” he laughed. Michael, so am I.

            Sincerely,

            Charles Meredith