A $1,761 Postage Stamp: How The Glenn Beck Machine Constructed An Attack On Clean Energy Reform
A $1,761 Postage Stamp: How The Glenn Beck Machine Constructed An Attack On Clean Energy Reform
Fox News host Glenn Beck, the new darling of the radical right, is part of a well-coordinated machine to block progressive reform. Yesterday, Beck fanned himself with a giant $1,761 postage stamp, claiming he had uncovered “outright lies” by a “spooky” White House. According to Beck, “buried” Treasury documents reveal that President Obama’s clean energy agenda “is going to cost a lot of money.” He thanked “our friend Chris Horner at CEI” for revealing the “facts” about the “cap and trade energy bill”:
The Department of Treasury issues a report and says, “Here, Mr. President, boy, that looks like it is going to suck. It is going to cost $1,761.” Got it?
Watch it:
How did Glenn Beck come to be waving a giant postage stamp, accusing the president of a “cover-up”? By following the same process that has been used to create other popular Glenn Beck conspiracy theories: that Carol Browner is a socialist, that millions of people marched in the Glenn Beck 9/12 rally, that the EPA suppressed global warming skeptics:
STEP ONE: “News” generated by right-wing think tank. On September 15, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Chris Horner begins shopping around two internal Treasury Department memos about cap-and-trade proposals, one written by the Bush administration in November 2008, one written in March 2009. CEI is a corporate-funded think tank that has opposed regulation of dioxin, cigarette smoking, global warming, prescription drugs, alcohol, and bovine growth hormone.
STEP TWO: Right-wing print journalists write “breaking news” story. Chris Horner feeds the documents to Amanda Carpenter at the right-wing Washington Times and libertarian blogger Declan McCullagh at CBSNews.com. McCullagh’s blog post, “Obama Admin: Cap And Trade Could Cost Families $1,761 A Year,” has a better headline than Carpenter’s “Hot Button” story.
STEP THREE: Promoted by Drudge, story repeated endlessly on right-wing blogs, Twitter, and talk radio. On Wednesday, the Drudge Report promotes McCullagh’s story. The “$1,761″ figure is picked up by Politico’s Ben Smith, Hot Air, Townhall.com, RedState, and hordes of right-wing Tweeters.
STEP FOUR: Republican politicians, right-wing think tanks, and polluter front groups release statements of shock and outrage. Despite the rapid response of the Treasury Department calling the stories “flat out wrong” and “misrepresentations of the facts,” the House Republican Conference, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), the American Petroleum Institute, and the Heritage Foundation promote the figures.
STEP FIVE: On Fox News, Glenn Beck calls President Obama a liar/socialist/Marxist/communist/fascist/racist. On Thursday afternoon, after discussing the story on his radio show in the afternoon, Beck rails for nearly ten minutes about President Obama’s “cover-up” and “outright lies.”
Unreported by Beck, the Congressional Budget Office on Thursday estimated that the average household cost of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act would be 44 cents per day.
(It should be noted that Ben Smith quickly posted a correction for his blog post when Declan McCullagh’s story was called into question. CBS officials, however, have only made McCullagh stop inflating his job title.)
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New York Times March 29, 2009:
When it was suggested in an interview that he sometimes sounds like a preacher, he responded, “No. You’ve never met a more flawed guy than me.”
He added later: “I say on the air all time, ‘if you take what I say as gospel, you’re an idiot.’ ”
Please pass it on
September 19th, 2009 at 1:57 pmGlenn Beck: “I hate to call anybody a liar.”
Wow.
Beck is a great Lie Czar.
September 19th, 2009 at 1:58 pmAlso, too, Salon has a very interesting article on the man who influenced Becky:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/09/16/beck_skousen/
September 19th, 2009 at 2:01 pmBut I thought Righties didn’t care how much anything cost,
because they’re all self-made millionaires, with nothing but cash and indifference to spare.
Is Glenn Beck selling out his audience of self-made millionaires, by insinuating they can’t afford seventeen hundred dollar stamps!?
September 19th, 2009 at 2:02 pmThat’s interesting, particularly the trail that the disinformation takes. How much spin did Horner send along with the memos to Carpenter and McCullagh? Not that it would have taken much, and once it’s been flushed into the blogosphere by Drudge, it doesn’t much matter.
And nothing in this post is much of a surprise, is it? Neither Beck, nor the congressional idiots promoting the core ‘cap & trade’ “story” are likely to fact check it. If they have something they think is damaging to the administration in general or President Obama in particular, they want it out there, true or not, and if it turns out not to be true, they’d rather leave the lie out there than retract it. If it gets too hot, they’ll just blame it on someone else, as per Grassley dumping his ‘pulling the plug on Grandma’ statment on Sarahcuda.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:11 pmIsn’t it about time people including Thinkprogress start ignoring the content of Beckkk and just focus on shaming his advertisers? He represents a very small very noisy miniority and produces NOTHING that could be considered real facts/real news. It’s like talking about Drudge and Stormfront. Who cares what they are spewing.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:12 pmThis explains a lot.
The republicans have spent all their energy building a sustainable propaganda machine rather than take care of the business of the American people.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:14 pm@ 1. laprofesora says:
New York Times March 29, 2009: When it was suggested in an interview that he sometimes sounds like a preacher, he responded, “No. You’ve never met a more flawed guy than me.”
He added later: “I say on the air all time, ‘if you take what I say as gospel, you’re an idiot.’ ”
Please pass it on. September 19th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Ah, there’s nothing like the truth masquerading as false humility.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:14 pmlaprofesora says:
“I say on the air all time, ‘if you take what I say as gospel, you’re an idiot.’ ”
____________
Nice to know the level of contempt Beck actually feels for his faithful audience.
Some one page b-cup… he can come and claim his booby prize now.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:16 pm“Buried Treasury documents?” That’s so cute. It’s like a FOIA version of buried treasure!
Hey TP, nice information trace. I had long suspected they’ve got an assembly-line conspiracy set up to create fake news, but I was despairing of anybody being able to trace it back through each set of hands. Applause for you!
Forgot one, though:
STEP SIX: Individual right-wingers troll left wing sites repeating the lie in comments even on posts where the lie has been explicitly debunked. They’ll be along any moment…
September 19th, 2009 at 2:17 pmFred says:
The republicans have spent all their energy building a sustainable propaganda machine rather than take care of the business of the American people.
___________
Hell, Fred… it’s easier to do and pays better.
Did you actually expect that crowd to “produce meaningful results”???
September 19th, 2009 at 2:18 pmBeck lies with impunity. The more the MSM shrugs and aww shucks about him, the more they undermine their own integrity. Yes –Time Magazine — I’m talking about you. At some point somebody brave enough needs to stand up and call a liar a liar. CNN’s Rick Sanchez started that trend yesterday and good for him. We need more of it.
Just saying . . .
September 19th, 2009 at 2:19 pm@ 10. elBruce…
Not just “repeating the lie”, but “doggedly, excitedly repeating the lie”…
September 19th, 2009 at 2:20 pmElBruce says:
STEP SIX: Individual right-wingers troll left wing sites repeating the lie in comments even on posts where the lie has been explicitly debunked. They’ll be along any moment…
All part of the Right Wing echo chamber. The troll can says “I read it on 30 different blogs!” because they just reprint or barely rewrite what other blogs have “reported.” It’s one of the great perils of the lost independent media.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:20 pmA $1,761 Postage Stamp: How The Glenn Beck Machine Constructed An Attack On Clean Energy Reform
– - Yeah, but let’s be fair Glenn, after all it IS a forever stamp.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:21 pmThe republicans are basically lazy slugs aren’t they? They don’t want to work and they want to live well off of other people’s money.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:22 pmWould this be considered contagious insanity?
September 19th, 2009 at 2:24 pmThis is still pretty pathetic. It is really hard to see how anyone could possibly take Beck seriously. I just wish more sensible people were embarrased by him.
Again, this sort of ridiculous hyperbole just shows that they have absolutely nothing. If they had real criticisms of Obama’s policies, they wouldn’t have to resort to wild statements and stupid theatrics.
Beck is the intellectual power of the Republican party and the Conservative movement.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:24 pmAccording to beck everything about America is either in the toilet or headed that way. His outlook on life is negative.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:26 pmWhy doesnt he leave America or just kill himself.
That way he will have no more worries and he could stop crying all the time.
If we had a real free press, someone would be constantly asking Republican leaders what they thought of Beck’s hyperbolic idiocy.
However, the conservatives have always avoided objective reporters in favor of their lacky media.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:27 pm@ 6. eyeswideopen1 says: Isn’t it about time people including Thinkprogress start ignoring the content of Beckkk and just focus on shaming his advertisers? He represents a very small very noisy miniority and produces NOTHING that could be considered real facts/real news. It’s like talking about Drudge and Stormfront. Who cares what they are spewing.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Eyes, I would refer you to Fred’s comment @ #7. We ought to care because this is a propaganda war and the other side has a very effective propaganda machine. No one ‘cares’ what they’re spewing, but as long as they’re spewing lies and putting garbage out to obstruct what is necessary for progress in this great nation, we’ll have an uphill battle.
If they’ve already filled the heads of people, citizens and voters, whose only concern is that they not be run over by government, with the notion that all the current administration wants to do is suck them dry, financially, then the task of progressive improvement becomes very difficult, if not impossible. That is why we all ought to care about what beck and the rightwing noise machine is doing.
Sure, going after beck’s advertisers, and that sort of thing is one good method, but if you don’t get a cork in him, and Drudge, and Stormfront, and anyone else who’d rather put a titllating lie in play than discuss the truth of (fracking boring) policy, then every time an election comes around, we’ll have to fight the same damn battles again.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:31 pmGood grief. More and more, Glenn Beck reminds me of the Trashcan Man in Stephen King’s “The Stand.”
And he’s just that dangerous, too.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:33 pmWe need to start by insisting that broadcasters fulfill their responsibilities as stewards of the public airways.
We need to promote the idea that wild lies are irresponsible and counter to public interest.
Then, when we can show that a station is fostering this poisonous crap, we need to rescind their license.
The government awards a station a monopoly to a broadcast frequency. This monopoly should come with strings attached. Without strings, these licenses are just gigantic give-aways to wealthy individuals.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:39 pmIgnoring them won’t make them go away. the so called legitimate media needs to call them out like Rick Sanchez did. Good find krazeeinjun.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:43 pmPeter C says:
We need to start by insisting that broadcasters fulfill their responsibilities as stewards of the public airways.
I’m completely against doing anything that would effectively establish a new Sedition Act, as your proposal would.
However, I would support a “truth in advertising” approach that forced them to stop calling what they do “news” or any related term.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:43 pmThese conspirators have passed the point of free speech and have moved on to treason and sedition. Is anybody going to do anything about them? Congress, how about doing your job.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:44 pmPeter C @ 2:24
I assume most of these gullible beck followers have
September 19th, 2009 at 2:47 pma closet full of worthless crap they’ve bought on infomercials.
“Here, Mr. President, boy,…”
um.
i can’t watch it.
did he say it like i read it, as above?
September 19th, 2009 at 2:48 pmElBruce @ 25 – I’m with you – how about a ‘warning’ announcement at the top of the show, something like this:
The program you are about to see contains atatements, conjecture and opinion not based in facts. Reality-based viewers may find this disturbing, so viewer discretion is advised.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:48 pmI have come to realize that this theatricality is aimed entirely at DC Lawmakers; it isn’t there to influence actual public opinion, but to scare DC denizens into doing the bidding of the right…
A real, true tempest in a tea party pot.
I think people should certainly ignore Beck more and discuss real statistics, such as the number of people dying each year for lack of insurance, say, or the fact that all their street theatre and town hall criers have failed to stop health care reform from becoming actually more and more popular.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:50 pmHi ElB,
I don’t mean to call Beck’s activities ’sedition’. I have no interest in calling him out as a ‘traitor’. I just don’t think wild lies serves the public interest. His behaviour should jeopardize the station’s license.
I have no problem with Beck talking. I just don’t think he should be talking into a microphone made possible by the public’s license.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:51 pmI don’t understand why blatant lies aren’t slander or libel under the law. I thought in the old days people were held accountable for telling lies. Dan Rather was forced out of CBS for telling the truth without proper back up. One of the guys on Bill Moyers last night said that this insanity is getting close to the tipping point where this country could really be in danger.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:59 pmFox News is responsible for Beck. They have not taken the steps to remove him and advertisers are leaving. But, not advertising on Beck has little significance of the companies just switch to other Fox programs. Murdoch will just find other people to advertise on Beck’s program. When companies stop advertising on Fox then Beck will be taken off the air. So long as he generates viewership, he will stay on the air until advertisers pull all ads from Fox. Minority groups should be pressuring all advertisers about ads on any Fox News program.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:01 pmjjm,
it also advances the cause of playing the press for fools,
because the press can’t resist breathlessly reporting on “whether beck’s lunacy means the D’s and the Pres. are “in trouble” with voters”.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:04 pmBy definition what beck and the tea party financing PAC’s are doing is an act of sedition.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:09 pmFor the most part I’m sure we think the wingnuts are so far removed from reality that we wonder if their brain is wired wrong. Do you think that they realize that, or do you think that they view us as the strange ones?
How the heck can you listen to Limpball or Beck and think these guys are representative of the majority of Americans?
September 19th, 2009 at 3:09 pmWatched “A face in the crowd” yesterday after reading some comparisons to what people like Beckkk are doing. It’s b&w 1950’s era but still worth a watch if you haven’t seen it before.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:11 pmhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050371/
It’s not just the advertisers who should feel the heat, though. That’s the wrong paradigm.
Advertizers want eyes. This benefits the clowns since they can attract eyes. Heated arguments and shouting gets attention. Advertizers like this. This is why the combative ‘point/counter-point’ format has proliferated.
However, as attention-getting as this is, it is not in the public’s interst. We should draw the line at willful disinformation. Collectively, we as the public, own the airways. We dole out broadcast frequencies through our democratic government. It is time we again insisted on responsible behaviour by broadcasters. Beck doesn’t fit that description.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:11 pmIgnoring these clowns at Fox News and wingnut media is not going to make them go away. If anything, it encourages them to continue with more and more B$.
You don’t ignore the wingnut cockroaches. At times it may seem like an endless and thankless task, but one needs to shine the light on them, beat them, and clean their droppings. Otherwise they will continue polluting and feeding other pests.
I know others can offer plenty of examples aside of the sht flinging Baboon Beck, so I will offer only one example.
Sanscrotum, appearing in Hannity and Colmes at the time, still claiming the existence of WMDs EVEN AFTER Fox News had admitted and reported that NO WMDs were found in Iraq.
Same situation with the Baboon. Allow him to run rampant and soon the imbecile Fox viewers will be throwing the same turds they received from the Baboon.
Oh, wait. They are already doing that.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:15 pmI’m not sure Murdoch is worried about advertiser dollars as much as getting his mission accomplished. I think he is on a mission to destroy what this country was. What I don’t understand is why the country has let a man who isn’t even from this country have so run so many of the news outlets. They changed laws to allow his to. Why? And why can’t they rectify the situation.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:15 pmIs Limpballs getting a bit jealous of the Beck-mouth?
September 19th, 2009 at 3:18 pmShayne #32
Right on target. I’m am so tired of hearing the President say “ABC” and hear Bohner 5 minutes later saying that the President said “XYZ”.
If someone would create a news program completely dedicated to exposing the lies and distortions, I’m sure it would be a smash hit.
In order to be fair they need to be honest to both sides and be totally independent.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:19 pmAgain, I don’t see Beck or the Teabaggers as ’seditious’. The teabaggers are ignorant and misinformed. They’ve been frightened.
When the fear is generated by lies, those who broadcast the lies are not being responsible and not acting as good stewards to the public resources they’ve been granted. We own the airways; we don’t have to put up with that sort of irresponsible behaviour. We should pull the licenses.
We don’t need to ‘criminalize’ Beck’s idiocy; he’s entitled by the Bill of Rights to be a worthless idiot. However, we should not give him a publically enabled bullhorn when he’s not shown himself to be able to use it responsibly.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:21 pmtexasrick says:
Do you think that they realize that, or do you think that they view us as the strange ones?
Oh, whenever we lay out simple logical propositions based on public facts, they act completely bewildered by it. They just can’t accept the proposition that an idea that makes them feel good could be false, or that an idea that makes them fearful could be true.
I’m starting to think that America is experiencing an evolutionary deviation on par with the split between Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals.
Wingnuts simply don’t understand the concept of words having definitions, and only parse language by the emotive connotations of the terms they use. To a wingnut “Obama is a fascist” makes sense because both Obama and fascism are “bad” words to them. “Bush is intelligent” also makes sense to them because both Bush and intelligence sound like “good” words to them. That’s the entire extent of their ability to process information.
The rest of us view definitions of words as being more far important than emotive connotation, and are therefore capable of making decisions based on formal/definitive logic, rather than as mere reactions to animalistic emotions.
I think a neurological study on these differences would yield interesting results. Some are already starting to:
http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_10503487
September 19th, 2009 at 3:21 pmhttp://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-sci-politics10sep10,0,2687256.story
Leftside Annie says:
ElBruce @ 25 – I’m with you – how about a ‘warning’ announcement at the top of the show, something like this:
The program you are about to see contains atatements, conjecture and opinion not based in facts. Reality-based viewers may find this disturbing, so viewer discretion is advised.
Even that might be a bit much. I’m all for making them change their name from “FOX News” to “FOX News Entertainment,” much the same way that pro-wrestling stopped calling itself a sport and started calling itself “Sports entertainment.” The comparison is apt. They do something that looks like news, but which completely rigs the “facts” to manipulate the emotions of the audience. They’d also have to get rid of overall catchphrases like “fair and balanced,” and “we report; you decide.” But other than that, they’d be wide open to go completely nuts.
This approach has worked out very well for pro-wrestling. I remember back when they used to call themselves a sport a lot of people didn’t want to watch it because they knew it was rigged. They spent a lot of time having to defend themselves from that accusation. But with the rebranding as “sports entertainment,” they became free to focus on what they do, which is to entertain the audience, without having to worry too much about keeping up a pretense of fair competition.
With a similar rebranding, FAUX Noise could get even better ratings. Others would leave them alone, and they’d be free to take it to the next level – conspiracy theories about lizard aliens infiltrating congress, etc. It would be a lot more fun to watch if fewer people actually took it seriously.
They could also exaggerate their pundits as one-dimensional cartoon-characters even more than they do. Go ahead and let Buchanan grow a Hitler moustache (you know he wants to). Carry guns on set when you talk about the 2nd Amendment. Put a guy in a KKK hood on your roundtable panel on whether Obama is a racist. It could actually be pretty awesome!
September 19th, 2009 at 3:30 pmpssst…
that’s not really beef,
it’s squirrel.
i’m sorry.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:30 pmlaprofesora @ 3, nice find and very a interesting article concerning Beck’s inspiration.
After reading the article, I kept thinking of the role fear plays in the conservative dialog, and the poor minds that are susceptible. The art of critical thinking and presenting the facts truthfully appears to be lost with this group. The number of loyal following is the scary part thought it does explain the drive behind the rhetoric.
The performance of Cheney/Bush the last 8 years had no effect on this group.
We may well in for some dark times and disturbing times.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:32 pmbeefeater
September 19th, 2009 at 3:32 pmWhy would anyone soothe hurt emotions with money? Are you a shallow person? Moeny is pointless and useless unless you value stuff more than self. Which do you value more?
At the very lest somebody should file a lawsuit against Beck. If Orly Taitz can constantly get air time for accusing President Obama of being a Kenyan why can’t we do the same to Beck. Somebody with a relative who has gone over the edge from believing Beck’s lies should sue him. Perhaps if suits were filed against him the idiots who believe every word he says may start to wonder about his integrity. When you hear those low information folks reciting his propaganda it’s frightening. They have no idea. Perhaps the families of the shooters who have watched him should sue.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:32 pmYou’re right, ElB.
The wingnuts are only reacting viscerally to what they hear. They only process the emotional meaning of the words. They are only paying attention to the posturing of Beck and Hannity.
This is one of the reasons that the Hannity & Colmes format is so poisonous. They set up Colmes as the weak pansy opponent. Then, when Hannity spews his bile and shuts Colmes up, they have emotionally ‘validated’ Hannity’s crap by letting him seem to be the ’strong’ one.
We all know that Rachel Maddow would take him to the cleaners, if a debate were set up where both were forced to use facts. With his neutered ‘opponent’, he controls the emotional message without ever having to support his preposterous positions.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:32 pm46 bseater
Yes. Just like Tammy Glenn Becker.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:33 pmSurely he cries himself to sleep every night worried about the nation, as he snorts another gram through a rolled Ben.
#45 ElBruce
Thanks,
I read the attached links…wow.
In essence we ARE wired a little different. If you add the fact that the wingnuts view Faux news as Gospel than it will be damned near impossible to have any discourse with them because the rhetoric feeds their fears!!!
September 19th, 2009 at 3:33 pmdon’t be fussy, beefeater,
we’ll go ahead and pretend that squirrel you dragged in is a big’ol holstein, m’K?
i’m sorry.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:40 pmFrom Bill Moyers last night – two labor guys talking about how we need to push President Obama to counteract the corporations pushing from the other side. At the end is where the guy says that the right is getting close to barbarism and being truly dangerous. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09182009/watch2.html If you can’t watch the whole think watch from :17 on.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:43 pmIf my masters moved on to speculating up the cost of postage stamps, as always I’m more than willing to pay price. Supply-and-demand = money-and-manipulation. Glen beck told me so.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:44 pmAnd here’s his commentary on the march last weekend and his expose on Dick Armey. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09182009/watch3.html
September 19th, 2009 at 3:47 pmBut Fox is doing more than just whipping up the wingnuts with fear. They (and our resident fictional trolls) are shutting off public debate by increasing the vitriol around political divisions. They are increasing the ‘danger’ factor in discussing issues of governance by highlighting the irrational crazy people and making them seem more prevalant than they actually are. Most of our neighbors are nowhere near as irrational or threatening as Beck and his teabaggers, but the more he shouts and the more the teabaggers are hyped, the less we feel like engaging with our neighbors and participating in our democracy.
When public discussion of public policy becomes unreasonably heated, more and more citizens pull back and disengage, allowing special interests to craft laws in their own interest. This turns out to be greatly to the benefit of people like Rupert Murdoch.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:49 pmbeefeater
September 19th, 2009 at 3:50 pmThere is no such thing as the democrat party but I think we both know that you know that. Do you have an agenda and if so would you like to discuss it?
If the government would just get out of the way maybe the sun wouldn’t be so mean to earth.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:50 pmAbsolutely!! Happiness can’t buy money, just ask the 10 wealthiest politicians in D.C., 8 of whom are from the democrat party. I’ll bet Kerry wipes Terrazzaa’s azz with $100 bills!
Too bad John McCain wasn’t happy enough with all those government benefits he’s receiving …
September 19th, 2009 at 3:52 pmI am sort of confused. First beefeater felt that making a bunch of money was the cure-all for being a jackass, then later beefeater seemed to wanna disparage those with a lot of money. I think beefeater is perhaps insincere and just looking to get a rise out of folks. How weak and tiresome is that?
September 19th, 2009 at 3:53 pmi thought righties like millionaires more than everybody else?
w/up with that, beefy?
good little righties are supposed to shut up and do what the millionaires say, aren’t they?
stamps could cost a million dollars if we don’t drill, baby drill, is what i heard.
i’m sorry.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:55 pm64 – very?
September 19th, 2009 at 3:56 pmPeter C says:
Again, I don’t see Beck or the Teabaggers as ’seditious’. The teabaggers are ignorant and misinformed. They’ve been frightened.
I caught part of Thom Hartmann’s show the other day when he was discussing this very subject. Hartmann’s opinion (which is apparently the subject of his book, Screwed) is that a lot of people in the country are justifiably angry, because they have come to realize that they are never going to have the security and comfort of previous generations of Americans (when a single person could easily support a family on a single income), that over the last decades US policy has systematically destroyed the middle class and the manufacturing core of the country.
And, predictably, the anger is misdirected–at “liberals”, when it was really a result of policies begun in earnest with Reagan, and through the intervening administrations (including Clinton’s “free trade” agreements).
September 19th, 2009 at 3:58 pmHere’s who we have to support. “Billionairs for Wealthcare” Their motto is, “If we ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We can all be “billionaires” at their site. This page is great.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Peter C
Your idealist naivety is very pleasant.
Have you had much direct contact with the “likeminded” teaparty types?
September 19th, 2009 at 4:00 pmbs.eater?!
Where did you go?
I have your 9/12ths 2 million moron freak show right heeeere!
September 19th, 2009 at 4:04 pmHi O-D,
I sat at the Tea-bagger rally in Morristown, NJ on Labor Day. At 46, I left feeling relatively young and refreshingly sane.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:08 pmThis post is missing the final step.
STEP SIX: Send Eric Odom’s trolls to spam Progressive blogs.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:10 pm.
This reminds me of how D!ck Cheney leaked info to a major news publication about Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie. The day the story broke, Cheney could be found on T.V. Sunday talk shows quoting the article…
… THAT HE LEAKED!
.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:13 pmI attended and spoke at a reform vigil afew weeks back, myself. The teabag protesters showed up with misspelled signs and flags, in larger numbers. And they looked and sounded exactly like the ones I’ve seen on the news.
But, I was referring to people that you may have known for years, that you knew were politically conservative.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:16 pmF uck. I gave that liberal shithead beefeater a Vote Up. *GAG*
September 19th, 2009 at 4:17 pmThat Billionaires for Wealthcare shindoogle would make the perfect Broadway show of truthiness.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:18 pm73 Reggie
Hey, Reggie!
I left a small post here:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/16/beck-carter-suicide/
# 361.
Not sure if you saw it before, but I hope it helps.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:19 pm10 El Bruce added a step (trolls repeating the lie at multiple websites).
I was gonna add a Step 6 – once the lie is proven wrong, Deny you said it (or simply ignore it) and move to new lie.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:29 pmPeter @ 60,
I couldn’t agree with you more. There are people I won’t engage in a political exchange. Beck’s rhetoric comes spilling out in a rage. Reasonable Republicans are quick to point out that Beck in no way represents their views or principles and they feel their party has been hi jacked. I think this is a problem the Republicans need to sort out in a hurry.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:30 pmFact checking with the internet is eroding their credibility, and this may marginalize their party more than anything else.
I guess I haven’t had much contact with old-school rational conservatives in a while. An old conservative uncle (actually a distant cousin once removed) came to me spouting Fox-inspired crap, but I didn’t engage. He’d bought into the tea-baggers; he was worried about Saul Alinski and ’secret’ sensorship by the White House.
At the rally, I turned to an older fellow and remarked, “that sign says Obama is the Anti-Christ”. He said, “yeah, that’s not helpful”. I though that was one heck of an understatement. I don’t know what ‘help’ he expected.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:30 pmI don’t know if anyone has raised this point in a prior post, Beck is comparing 44 cents per day to 1761 dollars a year. In spite of the fact that his basic argument is false, he should at least have the common decency to hold up a $4.83 stamp.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:35 pmjohnny dol1ar:
Thank you, every contribution helps.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:36 pmThe Fox News Channel (FNC) (Faux Noise) needs to be taken off the air, off of cable television and off satellite television. For almost thirteen years FNC has been spreading lies and smears about Democrats, President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama. FNC is promoting violence, hatred, racism and extremism. As consevative folks used to say after the nine-eleven attacks, “our Constitution is not a suicide pact.”
September 19th, 2009 at 4:41 pmFNC is fear-mongering, war-mongering, and trying to frighten and terrorize the American people. FNC uses lies, distortions, smears and omission of facts to propagandize the American people. Now, eight months into the Obama Administration, FNC is actively trying to forment violence against liberals, Democrats, gays, and Democratic leaders. FNC needs to be removed from our American airwaves. FNC does not add anything positive to our national political conversations.
I struggle to think of the last ‘Reasonable Republican’ I’ve heard on the national stage. They lost me with Ronald Reagan. Since then, they all seem wrong-thinking at best.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:44 pmBeck’s rhetoric comes spilling out in a rage. Reasonable Republicans are quick to point out that Beck in no way represents their views or principles and they feel their party has been hi jacked. I think this is a problem the Republicans need to sort out in a hurry.
Beck and Fox are tapping into that anger to demonize Obama and by extension the Dems. The few reasonable Republicans on the national level are gone because the radical right has taken over the national party. There are moderate Republicans on a state or local level in many places, but their focus is on their own issues rather than the national level. The national Republicans will not sort out the kook issue until they lose a couple more elections. You can be sure that the next Republican presidential candidate is going to be a hardcore conservative like Huckabee who can unite the economic and social conservatives who have been angry since Obama was elected. Whether he can peel away enough independent voters from Obama will depend on the economy.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:48 pmWingnut math: 44 cents/day * 365 days = $1761
Hey, it’s only wrong by one order of magnitude…of course most people don’t know what that means.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:52 pmHuckabee won the Values Summit by 28% for the next presidential election. The next closest was Romney with 12%.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:58 pmpags2 – That’s going to work out perfectly, because Huck likes squirrels, and righties are really good at finding and fetching squirrels.
Think how much that will reduce the WH catering budget!!!
September 19th, 2009 at 5:09 pmBeck, Limbaugh, other right-wing crazy pundits, & Repubs in general do NOT care about fellow Americans. They only care about how much money they can make by shafting the American public. They model lying & racism for young people. Their tactics go against everything their so-called idol, Jesus, tried to teach. Apparently Jesus has failed in his ability to teach Beck & the rest of them anything at all. Hatred, fear-mongering, lying, total lack of sympathy for other humans, & complete disregard for the earth– that is the Repub/GOP/Beck/Hannity/Limbaugh, etc. tactic. How anyone can believe & support their blatant dishonesty is astounding.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:10 pmWhat a big pile of bull dookey. Today, I volunteered at the Pennsylvania Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Festival in Kempton PA for the 5th straight year. The crowd has more than doubled from that of last year and the number of hybrids and electric cars that will be on the market next year surprised me. There was everything from sports cars (really nice ones)and motorcycles to pickup trucks. The crowd showed a real interest in the solar and wind powered displays. So I don’t know what planet Beck is operating from because there were many people interested in alternatives to oil and natural gas. Since I helped direct some of the parking, I noticed license plates from surrounding states. So people traveled quite a distance just to learn more about alternative fuels.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:13 pmAlmost all elections are about the economy with other issues taking a back seat. Obama needs to reduce unemployment and the deficit at the same time. That is going to be very difficult without cuts in spending or no increase in spending. But that could make reducing unemployment next to impossible. Obama is going to need some magic to do both.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:19 pmI ask, Peter C, because of your resistance to the term sedition when referring to teaparty campaign.
“The stirring up of rebellion against the government in power”,
September 19th, 2009 at 5:22 pmto me, pretty much describes what I’ve seen this summer.
It’s gone beyond football mentality partisan politics;
way too much money and legal risk-taking.
Blatent lying and deception in return for bribes, is not the accepted standards for our government office holders, either.
But apparently it’s not only legal, but mandatory to maintain elected office today.
I can only blame the corruption of corporate money for the state of things today.
And the cheerleading of beck and fox, only on this eight minute clip,is at the very least, sedition.
ElBruce @ 45: You are sooooo right on every point.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:22 pmThe sad part is that even when presented with the evidence, complete with glossy photographs with the circles and arrows, the poor Reichwhiners still refuse to believe their idols lie.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:26 pmI agree, ModSquad @5:22
I know some conservative gun-lovers that are afraid of the dark.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:36 pmGreat thoughts on this thread. Thanks.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:47 pmpags2 says:
Beck and Fox are tapping into that anger to demonize Obama and by extension the Dems. The few reasonable Republicans on the national level are gone because the radical right has taken over the national party.
As I’ve said before, the extremist kooks on the right aren’t shouting down the liberals in America. The only people being drowned out by them are the centrist conservatives. Their voice would be much more valuable in the public debate, if they weren’t being constantly kneecapped by the far right.
.
pete says:
The sad part is that even when presented with the evidence, complete with glossy photographs with the circles and arrows, the poor Reichwhiners still refuse to believe their idols lie.
There’s a study on that too. Providing evidence for a claim actually reduces the likelihood of wingnuts to believe it than if you just shouted it in their face.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:52 pmI prefer the kooks continue to dominate the Republican party because it makes it a lot easier on the Dems. However, the Dems need to capitalize on their dominance to make significant changes. They cannot afford to keep the country in a holding pattern with the status quo.
September 19th, 2009 at 6:10 pmMany people forget (and others don’t even know) that Beck is a Mormon. A great deal of his fanatical speech and behavior relates back to his religious beliefs.
He is promoting 9/28 as a day for fasting and prayer for *the republic*.
What he neglects to tell you is that it is a religious holiday for Mormons – it is the date that Joseph Smith was annointed as the prophet for the Church of Latter Day Saints.
September 19th, 2009 at 6:32 pmI believe the Republicans are frightened and this may be causing some of their neurotic behavior. They own the present health care system, they own the collapse of the economy, they own the failed wars on two fronts and they own the massive deficits hanging over our heads. Their conservative principles are awash and the best in leadership they can serve the country is a Bush or a Palin.
The country has witnessed a dismal failure in the Republicans governance abilities and a moral decay in their leadership. Lies and obstructionism are all they have left, and all they ever had to offer, apparently.
I am convinced the present Republican Party can not be sustained in the present form.
The country needs and should demand more out of this party!
September 19th, 2009 at 6:45 pmElBruce,
I had seen that study referenced here. ANother nice short synopsis of the Reichwing mind.
http://gawker.com/5052329/scientists-explain-why-people-vote-for-republicans
September 19th, 2009 at 7:56 pmGreatGranny2B says:
Many people forget (and others don’t even know) that Beck is a Mormon.
That’s not what’s wrong with him. He’s crazy/bad as a person. You can’t put it all on the religion.
However, it’ll be interesting to see the Beck/Romney connections grow as we inch towards 2012.
September 19th, 2009 at 8:40 pmOne thing’s for sure.
Glen and Mitt will both have special underpants on tomorrow morning,
and where they’ll be,
the women can all “sit over there and shut up”.
And that’s why Glenn and Mitt like it.
Pat(twajie)? Do you have special underpants, too?
i’m sorry.
September 19th, 2009 at 8:48 pmAh, Glenda and Mittney. A dual testimony to Mormon honesty and integrity. Oh dear, did I forget trustworthiness?
(picosnark)
September 20th, 2009 at 1:30 amGreat analysis Thinkprogress… thank goodness for the great job you are doing!
September 20th, 2009 at 4:37 amdamn liberal media.
September 20th, 2009 at 10:22 ambeefeater
You ignorant punkass troll. You are too stupid to be taken seriously just STFU and let the adults talk
September 20th, 2009 at 11:36 amPat Pomery says:
I thought
>>>>>>>>>
See you lied with your first two words. You didnt think. You have never thought in your life. You are too stupid to think. Higher brain function is beyond your wildest dreams. You are the quintessential moron. You will never think. You will ALWAYS be a moron
September 20th, 2009 at 11:39 amI think it will cost a BILLION dollars per American household. How did I get that figure? I multiplied the number of American households, 333 million by 3 dollars. Doing the math, that’s a BILLION dollars per household. I found both the number of American households and the number 3 in a Congressional report one time.
That makes as much sense as the Republican number.
September 20th, 2009 at 12:22 pmIs there anyone left in the free world that doesnt know Beck is a MORON?
September 20th, 2009 at 2:57 pm@ 112. EugeneDebs says: Is there anyone left in the free world that doesnt know Beck is a MORON? September 20th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Well, apart from the cretins among his hard core viewers, who seem to think he’s bringing them the news of current events, probably not many. Hard to say though. Nielsen et al don’t seem to be clever enough to sort out who’s watching him for the train wreck and other godawful entertainment and those who are taking him seriously AND in agreement with him.
His followers are probably aware that he’s a moron, or at least aware that a lot of other people are pretty sure he’s a moron, but they’re in thrall – drank to kool-aid, so they can’t admit that they’re following a doofus around. It’s a self esteem issue, yanno…
September 20th, 2009 at 7:21 pm@ 113. Correction in 3rd paragraph; should be “…- drank too much koolaid, so…”
September 20th, 2009 at 7:23 pmToo much ‘info-tainment’ processing, may mean that a useful idea, becomes an archaic one:
1) the intellectual component of the idea, decreases, and becomes lifeless;
2) the idea is confirmed as obsolete, by an secondary expert;
3) the ‘heart of the matter’ ends!
4) this condition is affirmed by direct or indirect, examination and then it is pronounced as, ‘over-with’;
5) and last, all appropriate rites, or procedures are concluded, including a “burial” mas a mano, between two unrelated, stories?
September 20th, 2009 at 9:31 pmGlenn Beck is a pain in the ass. The simplest approach to shutting fools like him, Hannity, ORielly, up is to file a slander and libel suit. Drag their sorry asses to court and make them prove to a judge that what they are saying is true.
September 21st, 2009 at 12:43 pmGlenn Beck is a racist of the first order. He is associated with a church with a history of anti-black doctrine so he may come by his racism naturally. However, perhaps he is stuck in an era before his church has moved on and that does not now condone racism.
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:04 pmIt calls for inclusion of strong labor standards for publicly funded construction and manufacturing projects. vajina estetigi
September 24th, 2009 at 10:27 am