Liberal Magazines Suffer Under Obama
Last week, Seth Masket posted about the disincentives toward winning majority power that some political actors might face. I thought it was a cute argument, but mostly bunk. However, some figures from Vanity Fair make me reconsider (via Political Wire). In the past year, liberal magazines are doing poorly but sales and subscriptions to conservative magazines are up – even in the down economy.
If (relative) political extremists are willing to purchase media as a way to compensate for their favored party’s minority status, doesn’t that potentially speak to the Tea Party movement? In this light, the Tea Party movement is just a group of vendors selling t-shirts and conventions, profiting off of angst like the magazine publishers. Maybe they’re just monetizing the hate. Real parties need elites, maybe the Tea Partiers are just angry consumers with political roots who need more than magazines.
