Shock jocks pull for right with age old formula

Rush Limbaugh, doyen of the rightwing talk radio hosts, was on a roll. "Americans are addicted to physical perfection. We see everybody and their uncle in gyms. We see people starving themselves. We see people taking every miracle fad drug there is to lose weight. We see guys trying to get six-pack abs."

But Limbaugh was making a political point. After noting that John Kerry "botoxed his wrinkles out during the campaign", he asked: "Will this country want to actually watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?"

The spur for Limbaugh's foray into the politics of ageing was a photo of Hillary Clinton published beneath the headline "The Toll of a Campaign". But while Limbaugh's comments were centred on the American obsession with physical perfection, he made them with one thing in mind: to cause a stink.

Limbaugh did the same last spring, picking up a line from a Los Angeles Times article that described Obama as the "Magic Negro", "a figure of postmodern folk culture ... [who] simply appears one day to help the white protagonist". Limbaugh claimed the phrase as his own by repeating it ceaselessly on his programme, and even singing it to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon.

The provocation had its desired effect: Limbaugh taunted the liberals and made the headlines.

The influence of shock jocks has not been lost on the Bush administration. In October, the president invited half a dozen of the most prominent conservative talk radio hosts to the White House to discuss a range of issues of concern to the conservative faithful.

But the influence of conservative talk radio may be waning. New technology, in particular the internet, means that people can receive news and opinions in other ways."This campaign season isn't any more remarkable than any other time of the year," said Karl Frisch of the online watchdog Media Matters. "They have a tremendous megaphone."