The Left Wants Segregated Best Seller Book Lists

[GrumpyOldLady]

News Busters (http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/11/10/huffpo-ponders-separate-ny-times-bestsellers-list-conservative-blockbuste)


According to The Huffington Post, Michelle Malkin, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck and other right-of-center stars that regularly dominate the New York Times Hardcover Non-Fiction Bestsellers List are - or should be - in a league of their own

No, that isn't Arianna Huffington's blog heaping praise on conservative authors. It's a literal suggestion. With right-leaning books and authors holding so many spots on the list, and more to come - former Sarah Palin, former Dick Cheney and President George W. Bush all have books due out -Huffington Post suggests conservatives should have their own category to differentiate from other works of non-fiction.

In a Nov. 9 entry on The Huffington Post that laments Fox News host Glenn Beck pulling a feat not done before - holding the number one spot on The New York Times' four lists: hardcover fiction, hardcover non-fiction, paperback non-fiction and children's - they suggest a separate category altogether, not for political non-fiction, but conservative non-fiction.

HuffPo isn't the only liberal source bothered by right-wing literary success. Pundits like MSNBC's Chris Matthews have openly expressed aggravation over conservatives dominating the list. However, the Huffington Post novel solution of "if you can't beat them, put them on their own list," seems to be a sign the left has given up on its own ability to sell hardcover non-fiction.

What's more, conservatives are selling books without the usual push best selling authors get from other media. A recent study by the Media Research Center's Culture & Media Institute found that most of the conservative books that appeared on the list often went unnoticed or unmentioned by the networks, while liberal authors and books enjoyed plenty of coverage.

whaaaaaaaaaaaaa whaaaaaaaaaaa whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Crybabies can't get their books in the top ten spot.
So they want to bump those who can off the list.
Typical left wing thoughts .. take away from those who are successful and
force the unsuccessful upon America.

[PoliCon]

They're mad because they can't do it themselves. Once again the left is unable to compete on equal footing - they want a publishing fairness doctrine.

[bijou]

I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn't 1st April. How pitiful can you get, they can't sell books in big enough quantities to top the best seller lists so they want to create a 'special' list so that lefty's don't feel bad about their relative lack of success.

[Gingersnap]

I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn't 1st April. How pitiful can you get, they can't sell books in big enough quantities to top the best seller lists so they want to create a 'special' list so that lefty's don't feel bad about their relative lack of success.

What amazing is that the conservatives are enjoying so much success with zero help from the media or the booksellers. At my local Borders store the conservative bestsellers are shelved in with "Political Commentary" while any Lefty book gets a prime spot in the window and on a table in the center of the store. They are also sometimes stacked up by the registers.

When I bought Beck's "Common Sense" (after a tedious search), the clerk kind of shook her head in bewilderment and remarked that they had to constantly reorder it due to the demand. :rolleyes:

[NJCardFan]

I had the chance to buy Common Sense when it was 40% off at a Borders that was closing. Damn! Anyhoo, yes, typical liberal whining about it not being fair. What their problem is that they just can't fathom anyone having differing views than they. It just doesn't register. And when something doesn't go their way it's always some kind of conspiracy. Oh, and the reason why the HuffPo wants a separate list is because they want to marginalize. This way if a conservative author's book is #1, "Oh, that's just #1 in it's own circle of nuts."

[FlaGator]

That already have two categories. Fiction for libs and non-fiction for conservatives. What more do that want? Maybe lib books could be further classified as Children's fiction?

[noonwitch]

There are plenty of liberal writers who have had best sellers in the past-Al Franken, Micheal Eric Dyson and Michael Moore, among others. Plus, even though he writes fiction, Stephen King is a liberal, and appears to be pretty proud about it. Al's kind of busy these days to be writing books.

When the left is in power, conservative book sales go up. When the right is in power, liberal book sales probably go up. You don't generally have much to bitch in print about when your own guys are in power.

I don't read many political commentary types of books-I read fiction, history and religion/theology, for the most part. I like to read Shakespeare commentary when I have the time to invest in it.

[Speedy]

I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn't 1st April. How pitiful can you get, they can't sell books in big enough quantities to top the best seller lists so they want to create a 'special' list so that lefty's don't feel bad about their relative lack of success.

Kind of like how if you have enough listeners, you can compete with the likes of Rush and Hannity.