It’s not Rush, Hannity, or Beck. It’s either Dave Ramsey or Dr. Laura. Of course this is just my subjective opinion, but my definition of “effective” has to do with changing minds. I know Rush, Hannity, and Beck change minds, but I don’t think they reach as many non-conservatives as Ramsey or Dr. Laura do. Now, you might say “Well yeah, but Dave Ramsey and Dr. Laura aren’t conservative talk show hosts!” Really, they aren’t? Sure, they rarely talk about politics, but the values and principles they teach are 100% conservative. Dr. Laura’s show is all about personal responsibility, morals, and values. Dave Ramsey’s show is all about personal responsibility with an emphasis on fiscal responsibility. They both focus on dealing with reality, something that both Democrats and Republicans could learn to do much better.
The Rush-Hannity-Beck listeners were primarily already conservatives before they started listening. The effectiveness of Rush-Hannity-Beck is to mobilize and motivate conservatives, the effectiveness of Ramsey-Laura is to create conservatives where they didn’t exist before, and that’s what we really need if we’re going to create the type of society our founders envisioned.
Dave Ramsey and Dr. Laura may be conservative, but their shows are not about politics. As for Rush, I think he could convince anyone to be conservative if they would simply listen to him. I have to vote for Rush. Hannity is annoying and hard to listen to. Beck is good, but not as likely to change minds as Rush.
The one thing that I notice that all of them have in common is: They do not believe in true freedom.