Schroeder: Conservatives Too Stupid to Write Books
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007Former Democrat Congresswoman Pat Schroeder recently announced the results of an Associated Press-Ipsos poll:
“The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: ‘No, don’t raise my taxes, no new taxes,’” Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers, said in a recent interview. “It’s pretty hard to write a book saying, ‘No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes’ on every page.”
Schroeder, who as a Colorado Democrat was once one of Congress’ most liberal House members, was responding to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that found people who consider themselves liberals are more prodigious book readers than conservatives.
She said liberals tend to be policy wonks who “can’t say anything in less than paragraphs. We really want the whole picture, want to peel the onion.”
At first glance, this is nothing more than a partisan swipe during the run-up to an election. However, for Ms. Schroeder it may well prove to be end of her current career. You see, currently Ms. Schroeder, formerly one of the most liberal members of Congress, is the head of the American Association of Publishers. Currently, book sales nationwide are flat, and publishing houses are trying to find ways to increase their sales. With the country split nearly 50-50 politically, is it really a smart idea to insult 50% of the public if you are trying to sell more books?
Rove, President Bush’s departing political adviser, is known as a prodigious reader. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Schroeder was “confusing volume with quality” with her remarks.
“Obfuscation usually requires a lot more words than if you simply focus on fundamental principles, so I’m not at all surprised by the loquaciousness of liberals,” he said.
“As head of a book publishing association, she probably shouldn’t malign any readers,” said Mary Matalin, a GOP strategist who oversees a line of books by conservative authors, Threshold, at Simon & Schuster. Matalin said conservatives and others aren’t necessarily reading less, but are getting more information online and from magazines.
Both Fratto and Matlin are correct; if Schroeder continues on this bent she will single-handedly bring down the publishing houses through vastly-reduced sales. Book sales are already suffering from competition from the Internet, television, and talk radio. When it comes to getting information on current events, the majority of Americans now go on-line or turn on the radio or television to get their information, while newspapers and other printed media can do little more than watch.
Finally, if you want the bottom line of the survey, read this:
Among those who had read at least one book, liberals typically read nine books in the year, with half reading more than that and half less. Conservatives typically read eight, moderates five.
You read that correctly — the difference is an average of one book a year. This is the information that Schroeder uses to justify her classification of Conservatives as too stupid to write books. Just think; people pay her to run this association.
Michelle Malkin and Hot Air have more coverage.
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August 23rd, 2007 at 7:10 am
Iz It Coz Repubelicanz Kan’t Rede?…
This story seems to have got a lot of play from a whole list of literate, bibliophile right wingers because the premise is so silly. To recap there was a survey of 1003 Americans with this result:…