Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
Since election day, one word has been pounding my brain: culture, culture, culture.
Glenn Reynolds wrote something today that every conservative needs to pay attention to:
Mitt Romney and the GOP lost, but it wasn’t for lack of money. They spent a lot; they just didn’t get enough bang for the buck.
Billionaire Sheldon Adelson alone donated $150 million. But Romney lost anyway, especially among unmarried women.
Which is why I think that rich people wanting to support the Republican Party might want to direct their money somewhere besides TV ads that copy, poorly, what Lee Atwater did decades ago.
My suggestion: Buy some women’s magazines. No, really. Or at least some women’s Web sites.
One of the groups with whom Romney did worst was female “low-information voters.” Those are women who don’t really follow politics, and vote based on a vague sense of who’s mean and who’s nice, who’s cool and who’s uncool.
Since, by definition, they don’t pay much attention to political news, they get this sense from what they do read. And for many, that’s traditional women’s magazines — Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, the Ladies Home Journal, etc. — and the newer women’s sites like YourTango, The Frisky, Yahoo! Shine, and the like.
The thing is, those magazines and Web sites see themselves, pretty consciously, as a propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. So while nine out of 10 articles may be the usual stuff on sex, diet and shopping, the 10th will always be either soft p.r. for the Democrats or soft — or sometimes not-so-soft — hits on Republicans.
When a flier about getting away with rape was found in a college men’s bathroom, the women’s site YourTango (“Your Best Love Life”) led with the fact that the college was Paul Ryan’s alma mater in a transparent effort to advance the Democrats’ War on Women claim that Republicans are somehow pro-rape. A companion article was “12 Hot Older Men Who Endorse President Obama.”
...For $150 million, you could buy or start a lot of women’s Web sites. And I’d hardly change a thing in the formula. The nine articles on sex, shopping and exercise could stay the same. The 10th would just be the reverse of what’s there now.
For the pro-Republican stuff, well, just visit the “Real Mitt Romney” page at snopes.com, or look up the time Mitt Romney rescued a 14-year-old kidnap victim, to see the kind of feel-good stories that could have been running. For the others, well, it would run articles on whether Bill Clinton should get a pass on his affairs, whether it’s right that the Obama White House pays women less than men, and reports on how the tax system punishes women.
Actually, you can make a similar argument for more conservative engagement in numerous areas of entertainment and media.
This is the all-important question: What's the best way to reach the masses of non-politically engaged people with the truth--another Karl Rove Super PAC, or a Conservative Cosmo?
Liberals figured out the answer a long time ago.
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Aug '11
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
I keep wondering why some Conservatives with business sense haven't snapped up Newsweek. There's name brand recognition there. Why not buy it and rebuild it with actual journalism?
Someone loan me a dollar. I'll do it. I've got my mostly unused J-school degree.
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
Love the point. It's funny, though ... I've long thought my health and balance as a female was made possible simply by steadfastly avoiding women's magazines and all the damage that comes with them.
Jul '11
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
This is a great point, Nathan, and I wholeheartedly support it.
Popular culture as a whole has been hijacked by the left along with education, and the only hope is through reaching an audience that does not already watch Fox news.
Nov '11
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
DrewInWisconsin: I keep wondering why some Conservatives with business sense haven't snapped up Newsweek. There's name brand recognition there. Why not buy it and rebuild it with actual journalism?
Someone loan me a dollar. I'll do it. I've got my mostly unused J-school degree. · 4 minutes ago
They tried Drew! If you recall, I think the company that owns NewsMax made an offer for Newsweek based on their evaluation of assets and the then-owner turned them down and sold it for $1 to keep it out of the hands of conservatives. Hard to buy something if they won't sell it to you.
Jun '12
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
Austin Murrey
DrewInWisconsin: I keep wondering why some Conservatives with business sense haven't snapped up Newsweek. There's name brand recognition there. Why not buy it and rebuild it with actual journalism?
Someone loan me a dollar. I'll do it. I've got my mostly unused J-school degree. · 4 minutes ago
They tried Drew! If you recall, I think the company that owns NewsMax made an offer for Newsweek based on their evaluation of assets and the then-owner turned them down and sold it for $1 to keep it out of the hands of conservatives. Hard to buy something if they won't sell it to you. · 0 minutes ago
Exactly.
They won't sell to anyone they think is not a lock-step leftist.
Sep '10
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
"Low Information Voters" are Obama supporters? Why does that not surprise me?
Mar '11
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
I can't speak to the women's magazine issue--though I would ask if a conservative weekly, no matter how sheik, can compete with the "5 positions he'll love" or "10 ways to role play in the bedroom" type stuff from these magazines.
But you're right about one thing, Nathan: we cannot surrender pop culture. If we didn't know it by simple observation of human nature, the Kennedy-Nixon debates (yes, that far back) should have taught us that style tends to overwhelm substance in the minds of the many.
Mike Murphy, despite being wrong about several things on the recent podcast, was right about this: we can't be the party of AM radio.
Perhaps surprising to some, and putting aside meggings and hipster-wear, is that some of the fashion trends among 20 and 30 somethings at the hipper bars and clubs tends to be self-consciously retro and a bit conservative--at least for men. Thin, well cut suits a la the 60s and blazers are back in style. People are getting a bit dressed up to go out. Gotta start somewhere.....
We should also be a more vocally pro-technology party.
Edited on December 14, 2012 at 4:48pmJun '12
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
Get outta my head! I was just thinking that.
Can you imagine a conservative magazine running articles like that? Neither can I.
Will low-information women pick up a magazine without those? I doubt it. They run those stories for one reason: they sell magazines.
Oct '11
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
No offense but that attitude is a problem. I don't mean to single you out because I have had the same type of feeling. After the debates I was thinking to myself, "Who are these morons who are going to be swayed by talk of binders?" Well, turns out, the people who re-elected Obama. Now, I don't think people who vote for anyone who's not my candidate are stupid. And binders alone didn't re-elect Obama. I just think the point that Instapundit is making is that we want the low-information voters to support our candidate.
Apr '12
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
OK, somebody buy the magazine and I'll start working on content. My only exposure to women's mags was through school trips, when reading Cosmo aloud in silly voices or accents was a popular source of juvenile thrills. But from what I recall, the style would be easy to mimic. And I was always convinced that the writers were probably uber-nerds getting their revenge on their former tormenters.
Mar '11
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
To paraphrase Bill Whittle's keen little insight:
We're used to seeing the Founding Fathers in tri-corner hats and grey wigs, and too many people today seem to write their ideas off with the same dismissiveness with which they find their clothes anachronistic.
We forget to think about how George Washington looked to his contemporaries: riding a well-bred horse, standing at over 6 feet, dressed in a sharp blue and gold military coat and stylish hat, carrying a musket and defending the natural rights of men--these were all the cutting edge of the day.
As Bill says, what would this look like today? Try picturing a 6 foot plus athletic, well groomed gentlemen in a sharp cut Armani suit arriving in a Lamborgini, riffing about prosperity, freedom, natural law and the American way, with an scoped AR-15 strapped to his back and an iPhone in his hand.
You get the drift?
Edited on December 14, 2012 at 4:43pmJul '11
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
Rachel, if you are serious about it, I can help you start an online venture at the very least.
A good writer I am not :-D.
Oct '12
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
Once you understand how the Kardashians came out of nowhere to dominate pop culture, you can bring your toys to this playground.
The Breitbartians already have a head start on this with Big Hollywood.
What's needed, I suspect, is a spinoff with a new brand and a massive infusion of cash.
Apr '12
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
Barkha Herman
Rachel, if you are serious about it, I can help you start an online venture at the very least.
A good writer I am not :-D. · 40 minutes ago
Hey, don't sell yourself short! Seems to me you do pretty well.
I mostly wasn't that serious, although I do think the Cosmo style would be pretty easy to master. It's so ruthlessly conformist. Not much creativity required. But without the big name and magazine-rack availability, I doubt my private conservative-women's-magazine venture would attract a big following. I mean, for one thing, you need all the glossy photos! That's not something I do.
However, if I have a more workable idea for an online magazine-type venture, I'll definitely consult you. Thanks for the offer!
Apr '11
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
ConservativeWanderer
Get outta my head! I was just thinking that.
Can you imagine a conservative magazine running articles like that? Neither can I.
Will low-information women pick up a magazine without those? I doubt it. They run those stories for one reason: they sell magazines. · 1 hour ago
It's also worth recalling that the celebrities they feature trend left, too. Patricia Heaton is wonderful, but we really don't have a lot of young female conservative celebrities with the kinds of bodies that work well on covers.
I hate to say it, but royal watching might be as close as we get.
This isn't like FOX News. Investors looking for a market wouldn't be pushing on an open door. That said, it would be very good news if we could make it work.
Dec '10
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
It's a great idea ... are there enough Greg Gutfelds to take the lead?
Jan '11
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
I thought it was a brilliant idea when I read that yesterday. The AM Radio (resurgence) & Fox News on cable definately filled an untapped niche when they started. Look into romance novel or youth publishing companies. Textbook companies are another possibility.
Also true that the Left/Libs refuse to sell their defunct enterprises to conservatives - I recommend 'straw buyers' in these cases or hedge funds with conservative money behind them.
Jan '11
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
Go girl. I'll buy subscriptions for my wife. I'll event sale it door-to-door in my precinct. It would have to be better than the candidate handbills that I normally proffer.
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
Could these magazines be useful for finding out what women think I'm thinking?
Dec '10
Re: Wealthy GOP Donors Should Buy Women's Magazines
Albert Arthur
... "Who are these morons who are going to be swayed by talk of binders?" Well, turns out, the people who re-elected Obama. 4 hours ago
and
Crow's Nest: I can't speak to the women's magazine issue--though I would ask if a conservative weekly, no matter how sheik, can compete with the "5 positions he'll love" or "10 ways to role play in the bedroom" type stuff from these magazines.
Edited 4 hours ago
Excellent point, Crow's Nest: these rags traffic in the sorts of culture-coarsening antics that conservatives don't want to be party to. But these things have to do something to stay solvent. That implies, if the whole point is to create a means to deliver frothy blather designed to make conservatives appealing to low-informational voters during election years, then for the last year these house organs would have been churning out bilge like "How to dress like Ann Romney!" and "From Jennifer Rubin to Mollie Hemingway, to Ann Romney: Who do women look up to now?"; all interleaved with tips on toning your butt, etc.
But then (maybe) we might get have President Romney.
Edited on December 14, 2012 at 10:01pm