(Via Alex Massie). Today, at 5 pm, Glenn Beck will uncover his plan to save the Republic. Here’s how he plugged it yesterday:
The Oligarh! The missing letter is Y, of course. Ask Y!
Stay tuned! Are you also tired of being a vitim? Join the 9/12 Projet. And fight soialism, and the Ommunists.
This is too good for satire. Is Glenn Bek a lunati? Or a omic genius?
Josh E. says: 5pm on a Friday? Must not be much of a plan.
Matt in Wyoming says: What’s an Oligarhy? A mental condition of attempting to make a case out of rambling monologues and misspellings?
no name says: Shouldn’t criticism make sense, red?
You go, Mr. Gray! Glenn Beck is an embarrassment. If we can’t lampoon this clown,
Calling Pres. Obama a racist, than denying it seconds later, was laugh out loud funny. Now he’s mystified by both the spelling and meaning of oligarchy. I’m not buying any elixirs this Fox News poseur is selling. What are this guy’s “movement conservative” bona fides anyway?
Jack Tracey says: Funniest comment from Alex Massie’s commenters: “the Y is for Yeti.” Beck is a crackpot, but I do enjoy a good conspiracy now and then. Hell, what if it’s true?
Thomas O. Meehan says: Maybe the Beck, O’Reilly, Hannity phenomenon can be understood as a species of evangelism. All self professed Conservatives of whatever level of understanding think they know what sin is. and their agin’ it. This being the case, it’s comforting to here a preacher hammer the Devil week in and week out. It’s cathartic.
Red Phillips does have a point. The mass of people we need to vote in a government that we can abide, will never be sophisticates. So it’s a destructive luxury to keep attacking their heroes.
Thomas O. Meehan says: Ooops! That’s HEAR of course.
JihadLizard says: Ditto, Red. I too adore making fun of the pop-cons, but Beck is trending our way to the realist truth, we should cut him some slack.
I’m with Red, Jack and the Lizard guy. Glenn’s a goofball, but right now he’s our goofball, and he’s reaching more people than we ever did.
I’ve watched a little bit of Beck this week. It was definitely far removed from a typical partisan hack like Hannity.
JihadLizard says: Did anyone else see the Will of the American People montage at the end of Beck’s show today? It really is difficult not to snipe at that one. How do you tie King George, Hitler, and the 9/11 Terrorists together with the undertow that Obama/Congress is the next enemy the Will of the American People will triumph over? It closed with pictures of our gloriously successful overseas contingency operations as the most recent challenge we’ve triumphed, as if the terrorists couldn’t have asked for anything more than what we’ve handed them in Af/Pak. Eight years ago the Taliban controlled Afghanistan, but didn’t have a summer snowball’s chance in the Hindu Kush of destablizing Pakistan and seizing their nuclear weapons. Glenn understands the domestic challenges of the fight for our Republic, but he totally misses the boat on the foreign ones, kind of like Obama in reverse at times. That said, at least Glenn gave a national platform to Ron Paul during the primaries and warned of the meltdown, so I can never completely dismiss him or forget his contribution to our cause of restoring our Republic.
Jack, I had one of your videos in mind when I made this comment. Perhaps he deserves credit for not forcing the acronym. If he didn’t have something to go with the Y, then good for him for not forcing it.
On the other hand, I cannot forgive him for wearing sneakers with his suit. Certain sneakers you can get away with, but not ones with white soles.
Doug says: Did anyone notice that he spelled it wrong? “oligarhy” is spelled oligarchy. With a C. Dont just take my word for it, look at dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/oligarchy
BTW Glenn Beck is a nut.
James says: Apparently, Merriam-Webster has also pulled its sponsorship from Glenn Beck’s show.
Hey, I’m a lefty so I have no dog in this fight. If you all want to circle the wagons around Beck, live it up.
All I’ll say is that the man is, at best, a clown. You do yourself no favors getting his back.
Bush “presided” under the same oligarchy that Beck alludes to, but I doubt Beck knows the real nature of it, and Beck wasn’t saying this when Bush was in office, nor would I expect him to for partisan reasons. I’ll grant that he is perhaps truly coming around to greater insights, but I also equally grant that once a Republican is elected into office, he will drop this whole line, much in the way that Krugman will complain (again) about deficits once a Republican is in office. He isn’t doing so now, but rather saying, of course, that deficits are good under Obama. And it could very well be that Beck is thoroughly insincere purveying weak parody of the “conspiracy crowd.”
“Beck wasn’t saying this when Bush was in office,”
Correct. But this is a potentially limitless critique of anyone who wasn’t complaining about Bush at the time.or part of the Ron Paul Revolution. Of course they should have complained about Bush, but people have to change at some point. This changed should be encouraged. Not ridiculed. Better late than never as they say. I highly suspect that the vast majority of those who now consider themselves part of the alt right were at one time part of the not so alt right. (Some life long libertarians and lefty decentralist types might be an exception.)
The response should be “welcome aboard,” not “where were you when.” The latter is no way to “win friends and influence people.” It is a way to alienate potential friends.
Also, does Bruce Bartlett, who was critical of Bush but is now sucking up to the left, get a pass while Beck doesn’t? Who is better for our cause now? Beck, who was wrong on Bush but is now coming our way, or Bartlett who was right about Bush, but is now trying to outdo Frum in the sickening moderation department?
Yes, who should we support. Beck who was wrong on Bush and is also certifiably batshit loony, or Bartlett, who despite his political leanings saw and spoke the truth about Bush and allows that center-left moderate positions he does not himself fully agree with are neither creeping socialism nor tyranny?
mrmetrowest says: Beck certainly has the ability to change his mind. You might want to hunt up John Stewart’s piece on Beck, where Beck bitterly criticizes healthcare in the US while he was at CNN, and then, just 16 months later at Fox, repeatedly states that US healthcare is the best in the world and should never be changed.
Perhaps Glenn knows how his bread is buttered. I’ve always wondered, is Beck laughing all the way to the bank, or is he a genuine loon? Cynically, I think it’s the former – those sneakers are just too over the top. Like Ann Coulter, Beck knows there’s plenty of genuine crazies out there, and they’ll buy books that feed their hallucinations.
Beck’s a goofball but he’s your goofball? Glad I don’t belong to that club.
Xian, Bartlett is now fully in suck-up to the left mode. What we have now IS tyranny because it is lawless. It acts with total disregard for constitutional limits. It is not technically socialism. It is welfare statism and social democracy. The GOP represents slightly less welfare statism and social democracy. Bartlett was right to point this out about the GOP, but the fix for that is not to then pander to the left-wing media as a new found conservative willing to take shots at the Republican Party. If the original criticism was sincere, then the fix is to either drag the RP right or join a rightward third party. I haven’t seen Bartlett join the Constitution Party or pump the candidacy of Rand Paul so until he does, he should shut up.
“certifiably batshit loony”
Give me a break. I can’t stand the tossing around of such childish epithets as if they represent intelligent political conversation. They are thought stoppers. Precisely intended to stop conversation, not enhance it. Are you suggesting Beck has a DSM-IV diagnosis? Which one? Is he schizophrenic? Manic? What? Is he delusional? Does he see or hear things that aren’t there? And in addition, what did the poor bat do to earn the distinction of having his excrement in preference to all others used to denote an advanced level of crazy. If you have a problem with Beck than make the case. Leave childish name-calling to the playground.
And the same goes for mrmetrowest whose post appeared after I had written the above.
mrmetrowest says: As I said, I’m not sure if Beck is a bit soft, or has just developed his own shtick for selling books and speaking engagements. A diagnosis of Loony does not require reference to the manual of psychiatric disorders. I once knew a man who had a well developed worldview emanating from his belief that Jesus was a Martian. In other ways he was like anyone else – he had a job, home etc. But his sincerely held views were loony – eccentric might be more polite, but the meaning is the same.
An example of Beck’s looniness/eccentricity is his claim about Obama harboring a deep seated hatred for white people and white culture (btw – white culture? What is that?). Presumably that includes his mother and the people who raised him. Loony.
Many thinking persons on the Right are having a great deal of difficulty dealing with Beck as well as the whole ‘Obama is a Nazi’ crowd. Politically, Loonies can be of tremendous value, just as long as their not aligned with your cause.
I don’t think Obama has a “deep seated hatred for white people,” so I wouldn’t have put it that way, but he if definitely a peddler of Cultural Marxism that treats as normal and encourages black identity and other minority identity but treats any white identity as the greatest of all sins. Someone needs to stand up to this mess. And for the record there is such as thing as white culture, it’s called the West or Christendom. And I assume you are living in it and enjoying its fruits.
I also think the terms Nazi and fascist, and references to Hitler are absurdly overused and almost never accurate or warranted, but the left is much guiltier of this than the right. In fact, the left invented it. See the above Cultural Marxism. And when it is used by the right except recently in relation to Obama, it is often used to demonize those further to the right.
But if I have a problem with Beck or anyone else using the mindless Nazi slur then I will criticize that specifically. (I have many times criticized the incredibly silly Islamofascism.) I would be embarrassed to stoop to the “Beck is a loony” thought stopper because it is beneath intelligent and rational conversation.
Part of the problem is that the term is not just used to describe people who subscribe to conspiracy theories for example, but to describe anyone whose politics are not tightly centrist. It is often used essentially to indicate “far right” or “far left.” So Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are “moon bats” and Frum is the paragon of rationality. So in 50 years when we have drifted ever farther to the left, today’s centrist will be tomorrow’s “loon.” I’m not playing that game.
mrmetrowest says: I would say that I’m an inheritor of a culture that grew up within a certain latitude and longitude that can be referred to as Europe. Most Europeans are white, but I don’t see that as having caused Western culture to evolve as it did, except, perhaps, for some negative aspects. As a 21st century American, my culture has also been influenced significantly by non Western and non-Christian groups, and hugely by secular movements.
Loon is a colorful, useful term. It’s not stuffy. Like any term, it can be misapplied, and some who are called loons will be redeemed by history. Most won’t. Being far right or far left doesn’t make anyone a loon – having your own private reality does.
And Beck’s a Loon, or just a successful entrepreneur. Take your pick.
Bitter TAC makes fun of paleo-leaning manistream pundits who are more successful than they could ever hope to be. This is starting to become a recurring theme here. I’d advise just mocking pro-war, pro-torture neocon pundits but what do I know?
Jack Tracey says: “Most Europeans are white, but I don’t see that as having caused Western culture to evolve as it did, except, perhaps, for some negative aspects.”
You’re a riot, Mr Westwing! It’s like someone wanted to create a caricature of Gottfried’s aggressive and suicidal yuppie Leftists for our amusement. Keep up the good work!
mrmetrowest says: Sorry Jack, I don’t watch much TV, so your allusion is lost on me.
So, how did white skin get us where we are today?
Gus says: Beck’s a bomb-thrower and a clown. He’s for entertainment. Anyone who takes him seriously as a political thinker should look into other sources.
Fran Rossi says: ” I don’t think Obama has a “deep seated hatred for white people,” so I wouldn’t have put it that way, but he if definitely a peddler of Cultural Marxism that treats as normal and encourages black identity and other minority identity but treats any white identity as the greatest of all sins”
Red, you just contradicted yourself. I’m the whitest of whites but identify way more with BO than I ever did with GWB.
gus goodville says: I hear that Beck has some fantastic viewer numbers – but I wonder what percentage is tuning in simply for a ‘laugh out loud’ good time? I know several people who think he’s a complete crack-pot and only watch for entertainment purposes. He’s just the latest incarnation of Morton Downey Jr.
Fran, I didn’t contradict myself at all. If you as a white person identified with other white people on the basis of whiteness, as blacks identify with Obama on the basis of their shared blackness, you would be called a racist and a Nazi. But blacks are encouraged to do so and be proud of it. This is the blatant double standard of Cultural Marxism, that isn’t so much multicultural as it is anti-white.
I love Glen Beck’s show and think its very telling how ruthlessly his character is assassinated (come on, when did it suddenly become cool to become a spelling Nazi?) and yet the facts he gives are well attested to by a very diverse audience and not dealt with in any substantial manner by anyone much less the White House (which has remained strangely silent about almost every major issue).
I also find it funny the call for bi-partisanship and civility when there are concerted efforts to squelch GB’s freedom of speech merely because his opponents don’t like what he is saying. Gotta love that double standard and willingness to listen to other points of view.
I mean, it’s not like GB is shouting “God damn America” or anything…
Erik says: I agree with Red Phillips first comment…
Glenn Beck has a HUGE following and he is defininately coming around…
I heard him say the other day about how American “Imperialism” has to end…
And if Glenn Beck comes around hopefully he will bring along his legion of listeners….
L. Harrison says: With regard to:
“Thomas O. Meehan, on August 28th, 2009 at 2:39 pm Said:
Red Phillips does have a point. The mass of people we need to vote in a government that we can abide, will never be sophisticates. So it’s a destructive luxury to keep attacking their heroes.”
Look, I’m a “Nattering Nabob of Negativism” to you … but I was raised by old-fashioned Republicans … the kind only a Naval officer and a Naval officer’s wife who were both born in 1896 could be. I understand being a rational conservative … I do not accept this position of yours, and I think that the Republican party is now being destroyed by reaping what it sowed in this regard.
And I hasten to say that our nation NEEDS a competent, rational, well-educated conservative party.
If you come to power on the basis of yahoo know-nothingism, you will be forced to implement know-nothing policies, and pander increasingly to the folly that you preached. And because most of these people are indeed angry and you accept that the goal is to make them angrier and provide internal targets for their hatred, you will be forced to then carry out acts of that hatred.
The sad fact of the matter is that much of the Tea-Party (and a significant fraction of the Republican “base”) are desperate, not-very-well-educated lower middle class WHITE families, who have been watching their living standards erode and seeing the world change around them in ways they find increasingly threatening.
They are ripe for demagoguery, and Rush, Glenn, Sean etc supply it, backed by “real money” operating on exactly the belief you state.
Think about the rise of Hitler … you are heading that direction.
I’m no fan of Ronald Reagan … but he wasn’t a hater and he didn’t engage in this kind of yahoo baiting. GHWB served as a prudent conservative President, and he didn’t need this kind of thing either.
You’ve reduced yourself to bargains with the devil for the sake of power … and these never work out well for anybody.
I’m not sure that all this TAC above it all sniping at movement conservatives with equal or greater relish than you snipe at libs is helpful. Glenn Beck is making strides. He is coming around. He is trending our way. He should be encouraged, not sniped at because he isn’t all the way there yet or may at times be a bit over-the-top. It comes off as snobbish and makes it easier for those on the conventional “right” who don’t like us to brand us the enemy and part of the problem. Levin and Hannity are much more of a problem than Beck. Sometimes you gotta take what you can get.