John Hawkins Explains Why He Didn’t Make a Place for David Frum on the Conservative Hive

[Disclosures: 1) I’m a member of John Hawkins’ Blogad Conservative Hive; 2) Once I realized that the group runs its headlines on family-friendly sites, I voluntarily stopped cussing in my headlines, which causes me deep physical pain. 3) I like John, and have guest-blogged/weekend-blogged for him from time to time; he’s always been a straight shooter with me.]

Hawkins is saying something that has needed saying for a long time—and not just to David Frum. I’m hoping that agreement with his critique makes a difference coming from someone like me, since I’m clearly not a GOP party girl. Depending on where you draw your RINO lines, in fact, I may have a big fat horn on my own forehead—I’m in the Republican Party, not of the Republican Party.

What matters, ultimately, is truth. When you place either party interest or your own checkbook above that, you do so at your peril.

Guys like Frum want to have it both ways. Being a “Republican / conservative” who tells liberals what they want to hear about the Right is a career niche — and it can pay big dividends. Note all the places that Frum said he appears in that AEI related article,

His weekly columns for CNN.com, The Week, and the National Post of Canada; his biweekly offerings for TIME and American Public Media’s “Marketplace”; and his three TV and three radio appearances in a typical week.

Yet, according to Alexa, even I have not just one, but TWO websites that get more traffic than FrumForum.

Right Wing News: Alexa Traffic Rank: 48,922
Linkiest: Alexa Traffic Rank: 57,054
FrumForum: Alexa Traffic Rank: 69,535

So despite all the tongue baths from the mainstream media, Frum still can’t attract and hold an audience even as big as mine — and honestly, I’m small potatoes compared to some of the bigger bloggers out there.

That begs a question: why is David Frum getting a column at CNN? How is it that Time has a guy like this writing for them? What’s the purpose of putting a guy like Frum on TV as opposed to all the genuine conservatives who dwarf his traffic and can obviously draw a bigger crowd?

Let’s say you don’t like my material — well, I’m a peon compared to Ed Morrissey & Allah at Hot Air. Ace from Ace of Spades HQ has proven he can draw and hold a big audience. Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit does phenomenal work and probably draws and holds 4 readers a day for every one Frum has. How come those guys aren’t writing for CNN? Where’s their column at Time? Where’s their blog on the Washington Post explaining the conservative movement?

There’s an easy answer to that question: the mainstream media loves “conservatives” and “Republicans” who will trash whomever the Left hates most. So, if you’re willing to talk about how Sarah Palin is a hick, Glenn Beck is a crank, Rush Limbaugh is bad for the country, and the Tea Party is bad for democracy, the mainstream media will reward you — and because conservatives pride themselves on being open minded, they’ll all too often give you a pass for your atrocious behavior — especially since the MSM doesn’t insist you play their game all the time. As long as you’re willing to say what they want about the people they hate the most, they’ll reward you with a cover story at Newsweek and then in your off time, you can churn out a few articles to point gullible conservatives towards while you’re trying to guilt them into taking you seriously by crying “epistemic closure!”

This is what David Frum does for a living — and don’t think he doesn’t know it. Even the people who write for him know it. I ran into someone who writes for his blog at an event once. He was extremely defensive about writing for them. I must have heard him tell at least three people, myself included, something akin to, “I write for FrumForum, but please don’t hold that against me.”

Long story short, everybody has to make a living. But, I’m not interested in helping people like Frum play this little game where they try to cripple conservatives publicly while coming around on the back end to milk us for money.

My emphasis.

(Note: “epistemic closure” is a term that gained a lot of currency when liberal bloggers were using it to accuse conservatives of pushing specific narratives. They have been saying that a bit less lately, since Dave Weigel’s antics on JournoList have put the spotlight on leftwing journalistic collusion.)