From: kellmeye@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (kellmeyer steven l)
Subject: Re: A Note on Book Sales
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 04:54:01 GMT

daq@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Doug Quarnstrom) writes:

>In alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, kellmeye@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (kellmeyer steven l) writes:

>> ed@cwis.unomaha.edu (Ed Stastny) writes:
>> 
>> Publicity for a product only works if people have any propensity at all
>> for desiring the product.  If they couldn't care less about the product
>> you could hype it from now til Doomsday on every available media channel
>> and still not sell one bit of it.  The sale of Clinton/Gore books, given
>> the incredibly wide media coverage those two dipper-heads have been 
>> getting, may be a very good indication that the polls are not polling
>> what the pollsters think they are.  


>What a crock.  Just because people do not want to read their books does
>not mean that they will not vote for them.  Your conclusion is
>totally unsupported by your premise.

I realized liberals weren't intellectually capable by definition, but 
please try not to perpetuate the stereotype so blatantly.  My statement
above was a CONJECTURE not a conclusion.  For those of you in Rio Linda,
the word "may" means "this could be true, we will have to wait and see
whether or not events bear this out". "May" is a conditional, it does not
describe a state of being.  If I had said "..., _is_ a very good indication
that the polls (etc.)" THEN I would have been drawing a conclusion.  

You are, of course, inadvertantly describing Clinton/Gore supporters when
you point out that people who do not want to read their book may still 
vote for them.  I find liberals generally stay as far away from nasty
evidence of their stupidity as possible - thus, I would suspect the
great majority of Clinton/Gore supporters will stay away from Clinton/Gore's
books/ideas/etc.

>> It certainly demonstrates that Rush's
>> conservative audience is a lot more interested in educating themselves
>> about the people they hear on media channels than are the liberals who
>> follow a deFlowered Clinton and the Gour(d) Head.

>Don't fool yourself.  A lot of the people that bought this book are
>probably what Rush would call liberal.  Many people read Mein Kampf
>and the Communist Manifesto without adopting or agreeing with the
>ideas therein.  Rush's huge book sales are most likely a function
>of his controversy and highly visible entertainment posture.
>The fact that his books are selling does not necessarily indicate
>agreement with or validity in his ideas.

Certainly true.  But it does mean people are more interested in reading his
ideas than the Gourd Head's.  That is why Rush's book is number 1.
If Rush's ideas were not interesting, he would not be controversial, he
would have no entertainment value, he would, in other words, be Clinton/Gore.
A horrible thought, but nonetheless true.  Thank God his ideas ARE 
interesting.  Can you imagine a Clinton/Gore talk show?
  Talk about dead air.

>As I said, I may read the book, and I think the man is a buffoon.

Well, I hope you do manage to read his book one day.  Of course, you
still have a lot of "Hooked on Phonics" tapes to get through, but with
hard work and dedication you'll eventually graduate from basal readers
and Gore's fairy tales.  We're all rooting for you, Doug. 

>doug

Steve Kellmeyer
-- 

Steve Kellmeyer 
kellmeye@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu