Just as visitor traffic is the currency of the Internet, listeners are the currency of talk radio.  The more listeners, the more advertising spots that can be sold and the more those spots can be sold for.

Talk radio is show business, pure and simple.  The talk has to generate enough “interest” to attract and hold listeners.  The talk has to generate enough “interest” to attract and hold the right listeners, too – - the right demographics, so as to attract and hold the right advertisers.

It’s about making money.

One doesn’t have to run for public office to be a radio talk show host.  One doesn’t have to face up to voters, shake hands, kiss babies, pass out leaflets, manage a team of advisors, mix it up with others to debate issues or reach compromises.  One doesn’t have to raise money to finance a campaign, or eat rubber chicken dinners, wear funny hats or play musical instruments.

A radio talk show host need only drum up an audience.  Controversy drums up audiences.  Rash and heated proclamations and verbal bombs create that controversy, and audiences are found.  Pick a subject, go to an extreme on it, and you’ll find an audience.

Criticize drug users, complain about a lax judiciary who does not send convicted drug dealers or users to jail, make fun of police and news reporters who qualify their statements with the word “alleged” if the story or statement is pre-conviction, and then clam up when you become that drug user yourself and get caught.

Take a little hiatus, let some time pass, play the old “back injury” and “trouble walking,” pick up with verbal bombs where you left off before your hiatus, and suddenly all is forgiven.  Good for the goose not always good for the gander?  No problem.  Keep the listenership numbers high and you’ll be welcomed back mightily.

And so we come to Rush Limbaugh, the hero of CPAC’s conference over the weekend, receiver of standing ovations and adulation.  The man who has not been elected to anything, never run for office, the fellow who wants President Obama to fail.

Now, to be fair, he’s certainly entitled to express his opinions on today’s political issues.  We all are.  He’s entitled to hope the President’s policies fail if he disagrees with those policies. He’s entitled to rail again Mr. Obama’s politics, too.

He’s also entitled to sit at his microphone, shout out that railing, toss his verbal bombs, and incite his followers into a froth.  And when he’s done, he gets to go home, have dinner, get a good night’s sleep, and return the next day to do it all over again.

He doesn’t have to answer to the voters – -  only to his listenership numbers.  Keep them high, bring in the advertising dollars, and he keeps his job.  It’s all about making money.

It’s not a bully pulpit he shouts from.  It’s simply a microphone in a radio station studio, in a golf shirt and with a cigar and carefully screened telephone call-ins for conversations he controls.  When you control the conversation, and you can shout over or simply eliminate opposing views, you are always “right.”

No one elected Rush Limbaugh to any public office.  He’s a showman, not a politician.  For him, it’s all about making money.  Keep the listenership high enough to attract the right advertisers, and he keeps his job.  It has nothing to do with being “right.”

When people spoke against the Bush war in Iraq, they were accused of not supporting the troops, and Limbaugh went after them for it.  Today, Limbaugh speaks against the President, wanting him to fail, rather than speaking against his policies and politics.

When you don’t have to answer to the voters, it’s easy to be two-faced like that, again the old being good for the goose and gander thing.  You only have to worry about the advertisers and making money. “Right” and fair have nothing to do with anything.