All the cars honking in front of the State Capitol on Monday became a symbol, in the media, of the angry opposition to gun-safety legislation.
I'm not the first to report this, but the idea for the honk-athon came from Michael "Brownie" Brown, who was doing a "heck've a job" during Hurricane Katrina, in George W. Bush's humble opinion.
Last Thursday on his KHOW radio show and on his blog, Brownie first started encouraging listeners to drive by the State Capitol and lean on their horns:
We can spend all day Monday driving by…laying on that horn until it's driving you crazy. I want to hear horns honking all day long at Colfax and Broadway…So are you in or not? I have no clue if this will work or not…but i think if all of you think about this, it's a pretty easy thing to do….All i am suggesting is you drive around, you lay on your horn, you make as much noise as possible.
Brown then took his horn campaign deeper into the conservative echo chamber, apeearing on other talk shows and promoting it to his friends.
And his idea took off, as Brownie reported on his blog Monday:
Little did I realize how impactful that suggestion [of honking horns] would be for decent, ordinary citizens around the nation. First, the Daily Caller picked up the story. Then, Erick Erickson at Red State picked up the story. You can read those here and here. Both are great stories and I’m grateful for their coverage.
Some people write off radio, but Brownie's stunt shows how conservative talk shows can launch an idea or an action, using the media connectons and pseudo "celebrity" qualities of the hosts, as well as the networks of their fringe audiences.
as long as they promote "an easy thing to do"
I thought honking was illegal in Denver? cuz, you know, it's bad.
http://coloradopols.com/diary/16765/honk-and-waves-to-be-banned-for-november-2012
Only if you honk in support of Occupy, obviously, if you're El Presidente Chickenshit Hancock.
Only for Occupiers. Remember the fine links to the Mayor's 'honk and wave' crime spree?
Point made, Club.
Good for one, good for all, and all that!
That's a perfect metaphor for Michael Brown. Loud, obnoxious and ineffective.
Gosh there Jason,
Read this blog much? My comment on 3.1.13
Posted: 2013-03-01 07:22:46 in Open Line Friday!
The question is: Was Brownie effective? We won't know until all the gun bills have been voted on. I think that the withdrawal of two of the bills were for legitimate reasons, and not in response to presure.
The last clear cut victory for talk radio in Colorado was the election of the Republican Board of Education in Douglas County, championed on his radio show by Mikey Rosen.
That election may ultimately see the institution of vouchers in Colorado for religious schools when all the court appeals are done.
I'm guessing that, while very noisy and attention getting, the numbers must have been on the ide of calls and e-mails supporting the legisalation that has passed up to this point. I know I got tons of e-mails with easy links to tell my state Rep and Sen in support of amny of the gun measures and I obliged most of the time. If our legislators had been getting an earful of anti via calls and e-mails they probably wouldn't have voted the way they did.
So it seems talk radio can get some people out and honking but doesn't have the influence it had years ago in its prime to actually get things to happen or to block them. Rightie radio's influence seems to decline faster everyday, annoying honking not withstanding.
Apologize for all the errors. I was in a hurry and I really miss easy editing. It would be "side" , "legislation" and "many" if that helps make my comment more intelligible
Your snark is pointless. It wasn't news until the honking began.
So the business I work for is across the street from the Capitol and we complained to the police several times on Monday for that annoying honking. The police told us that they actualy made a change after the occupy honker got a ticket not to ticket for honking if its a "first-amendment expression." So I guess there is no recourse for those neaby residents and businesses of the Capitol who are annoyed by the excessive noice of "honking protests."
Although for some reason I doubt DPD will not enforce the honking ban for things like Cinco de Mayo crusing since obviously minorities don't express "first-amendment" rights.