From Steve and Cokie Roberts at The Mercury:
Steve recently took part in a lunchtime panel sponsored by a local radio station. A beefy young man in the audience grabbed the microphone and challenged the speakers, in a sneering and confrontational tone, to name one good thing about President Obama’s healthcare proposal.
Steve’s answer: People without insurance flood hospital emergency rooms and push up medical bills for everyone. So it would be in the “national interest” to expand insurance and hold down costs. “The national interest?” retorted the questioner in an even louder voice. “That sounds like fascism!”
…snip…
We don’t know what the beefy guy reads or to whom he listens, but we would bet he’s a disciple of Glenn Beck. The popular author and broadcaster who has turned nonstop name-calling into an art form is a big fan of the “f-word.”
On a recent show, Beck went after Christian churches that preach “social justice” (which includes just about all of them). “I beg you,” he told his followers, “look for the words ‘social justice’ and ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words.”
Then he explained what the “code words” mean: “Social justice was the rallying cry — economic justice and social justice — the rallying cry on both the communist front and the fascist front.” In case anyone missed the point, he held up a swastika and a hammer and sickle as he ranted.
Beck has made millions spewing such incendiary language, but in the process he is corrupting the very essence of democracy.
…snip…
But if you think your rivals are “fascists,” if you consider politics a form of holy war, then you place yourself outside basic American traditions. Moreover, you tell your followers that verbal car bombs are an appropriate form of political discourse (which is why we think that guy had to be a resident of Glennbeckistan).
Beck is clearly a growth industry: a daily show on Fox News, a slew of best-selling books, a national speaking tour, headliner slots at conservative rallies and fundraisers. But even his friends are starting to get uneasy, and they should.
After Beck denounced Obama last year as a “racist” with “a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture,” major advertisers quit supporting him. After Beck derided the Republican Party at a meeting of Tea Party activists, conservative talk-show host Mark Levin urged Beck “to stop acting like a clown” and added, “Decide what you are, a circus clown, self-identified, or a thoughtful and wise person. It’s hard to be both.”
Executives at Fox News, where Beck’s 5 p.m. show is a huge hit, back their star in public, but Howard Kurtz reports in the Washington Post that there is a “deep split within Fox” over his impact on the network’s reputation.
…snip…
We defended Fox News when the White House attacked the network last year, partly because it employs many fine journalists, including several of Steve’s former students. But news folks at Fox are right to be worried. At some point, Beck’s fanaticism taints them all.
“They’re right on the cusp of losing their image as a news organization,” says Andrew Tyndall, a respected television analyst.
…snip…
We are not denying Glenn Beck or anyone else their First Amendment rights. He can say anything he wants. But advertisers don’t have to support his brand of hate mongering, and audiences don’t have to take Fox News seriously if one of its top names has turned himself into a “circus clown.”
Actually, Beck is worse than a clown. He’s more like a terrorist who believes he has discovered the One True Faith, and condemns everyone else as a heretic. And that makes him something else as well — a traitor to the American values he professes so loudly to defend.
HYSTERICAL RAISINS 
‘…his impact on the network’s reputation.‘
Isn’t that some merry chuckle-making fodder – Like a old streetwalker crossing their legs primly and saying ‘Not ’til the wedding night’.
News flash, FOX – you have to have a good reputation before you can fret over it’s diminishment.
;>)
notice the tv analyst said they might lose “their image as a news organization.” their image. that’s all it is. it’s not really a news organization.
They’re quite handy with the fearmongering sensationalist propaganda, though…Never has the Big Lie be so glitteringly ginormous.
Tyndall must be working the hookah overtime to even consider that FOX has an image of being a ‘news organization’ – CNN’s barely holding their rep being the FOX farm team and the other networks are racing to the bottom as quick as they can so they can get all those ad dollars sticking out of the muck. Don’t forget the galoshes, boys!
;>)
i think the elders in the media feel some compunction to be civil when it comes to other media people. i find it hilarious that so many are turning on faux news, using glenn blechhh as the reason for their agita. even mark levin, rushbo, and michael savage have all attacked little glennie recently.
i wrote to cnn last week, and i told them i finally started watching them again, because they got rid of lou dobbs. however, i stopped as soon as i saw them touting erick erickson as some kind of legitimate political commentator. i copied verbatim some of the ugly things he’s said (including encouraging assassination) on twitter and redstate and more or less told them they could take their ‘best political team on television’ and shove it up their asses. i remember when cnn was actually a news network.
Glenn Blech isn’t just your run of the mill Evil Clown. He’s The Joker!
Normally, I’d post “And I thought my jokes were bad,” but I have a better idea–let Senator Patrick Leahy have the last word.
No, Senator, we are not intimidated by thugs.
don’t be shy, neon vincent. you can post the youtubes here.
Q: Name one good thing about President Obama’s healthcare proposal.
A: Bitch slap the GOP?
Hey I saw a funny comment in an editorial piece today:
Rush Limbaugh recently stated that if health care reform legislation became law, he would leave the country. Any chance he will have room on his jet for Glenn Beck?
Since Glenno seems to like throwing around “ist” words, can we make some up about him–
“annoyist”
“a-hole-ist”
although it’s spelled a bit differently, i think the best ist word to describe glenn blechhhh is cyst.
It’s got to be the burnout effect of all that booze and cocaine that he merrily consumed for several decades. His ability to be a total spazdick is not to be challeged by anyone. He relishes all his goofball titles but, alas, he has to return one of them. In June Futurama is coming back on the TV. We’re going to need HYPNOTOAD back.
i bet little glennie wasn’t all that bright before the booze and drugs. he’s in so far over his head, and it’s just a matter of time before he implodes.
As entertaining in a ghastly way as a full technicolor meltdown of Beck would be, I’m more concerned about the puppetmasters than the puppet.
That ‘lone megaphone of truth in the wilderness with a fat Q share’ schtick is fine for the rubes, but he’s just the front of the machine, IMO.
;>)
very true. however, i think those living in glennbeckistan are, imho, the most likely to act out in a violent way. it seems like billO has calmed down since Dr. Tiller’s assassination, and it doesn’t seem like insanity hannity gets much attention these days, so i think little glennie is the immediate problem. billO will disagree with the crown princess sarah, but little glennie practically wets himself with excitement when she’s around. it seems as if little glennie is the canary they send into the coal mine. they allow him to say the most extreme crap, and then they check to see what the blowback is. with the violent acts and threats being front and center in the news, i suspect that roger ailes will tell his little puppy glennie to tone it down, at least for a little while. that doesn’t mean he won’t be continue full-throttle on his radio show. that allows the wingnuts to keep getting their daily dose of outrage while faux news can say they had nothing to do with it when one of the crazies does something really violent.
“The national interest?” retorted the questioner in an even louder voice. “That sounds like fascism!”
The best way to have disarmed this beefy buttinski would have been to say, “Define fascism.”
The sounds of crickets chirping would have been immediately followed by the sounds of hearty laughter.
bingo!!! remember the scene where the guy was doing all the fancy stuff with a whip, and indiana jones took out a gun and shot him? that’s what it would have been like if mr. cokie had followed your sage advice, zippy.
God, Nonnie–you are fabulous day after day.
Where do you get all those fonts?
thanks lulu! 🙂
i get a lot of fonts from dafont and from a couple of other free font sites. howevah, when it comes to titles, i usually wind up having to cut and paste what’s there and making the letters i need. in this one, i was lucky with the title and only had to fix up the C a bit.
Mark Levin told Blech to stop acting like a clown? Mark Freakin’ Levin? I can’t even get my head around that concept.
rushbo and even michael savage (i think) even picked on little glennie. i think he’s going to be the fall guy for all the rightwing radio haters. they’re just as bad as he is, but he’s the stupidest, so he’ll be the one that will get thrown under the bus. it’s like a bunch of turds hangin’ around and bitching that the puddle of diarrhea smells bad.
What do you mean, “like?”
well, i didn’t want to insult turds and diarrhea. 😉
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