Michael Scheuer: Obama Doesn’t Care ‘About Protecting This Country’
Michael Scheuer: Obama Doesn’t Care ‘About Protecting This Country’
Earlier this week, former CIA operative and torture apologist Michael Scheuer appeared on Fox News, where he told Glenn Beck (who nodded in agreement), “The only chance we have” to repair our national security apparatus “is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.” Yesterday, on Alan Colmes’ radio show, Scheuer made similar comments about the national security stance of the U.S., saying that he doesn’t believe that President Obama wants to protect the country “if it costs him votes”:
COLMES: You don’t think the President of the United States, Barack Obama, cares about protecting this country.
SCHEUER: No, I don’t. Because I don’t think he realizes what the world is like outside the United States. [...]
COLMES: You don’t think he wants to protect the country?
SCHEUER: I don’t think he can, sir. [...]
COLMES: He doesn’t want to protect the country?
SCHEUER: Not if it costs votes.
Listen here:
A number of progressive bloggers castigated Scheuer for his remarks on Beck’s show. The Washington Independent’s Spencer Ackerman, however, expressed disappointment in Scheuer’s comments and hoped that he was “being taken out of context,” citing his respect for Scheuer’s previous national security work. Unfortunately, it appears that Scheuer meant what he said.
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Beck Falsely States The U.S. Bought Alaska In The ‘1950s’ So We Could Drill
Beck Falsely States The U.S. Bought Alaska In The ‘1950s’ So We Could Drill
While appearing on Fox & Friends this morning, Glenn Beck managed to make a trio of mistakes when he attacked the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill passed by the House last week. The Fox News pundit falsely asserted the legislation’s effect on our oil dependency would be “none.” Beck then pointed out, incorrectly, that the U.S. purchased Alaska in the “1950s” and that we did so because of our interest in its “resources,” a subtle way of advocating for more drilling in Alaska:
CARLSON: But nowhere in that bill is anything about reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
BECK: None. […]
You know Donald Trump, I want to talk to this guy. When he was on the show just a few minutes ago I was thinking how can you not be laughing at us? How can the world not be laughing at us? We have all these resources. Why did we buy Alaska in the 1950s? We bought Alaska for the resources. And now we say no!
Watch it:
During his weekly address on Saturday, President Obama specifically focused on how the legislation would help lift “our dependence on foreign oil.” Obama said the bill would “spur the development of low carbon sources of energy,” which includes wind, solar, and geothermal power. He added the bill would result in “new energy savings like the efficient windows,” thereby reducing “heating costs in the winter and cooling costs in the summer.”
Beck’s attempt to rewrite history to fit his talking point is also troubling. For clarification, Alaska was purchased in 1867 for $7.2 million and soon became known as “Seward’s Folly,” named for Secretary of State William H. Seward, because at the time it was widely regarded as foolish to spend so much money on remote tundra. (Perhaps Beck was thinking of Alaska becoming the 49th state in 1959.) The resources the U.S. was after in 1867 weren’t oil, but fish, furs, and the prospect of closer proximity to Russia from the North American continent.
Déjà Vu: Fox News Rallies Viewers To Participate In Radical Anti-Obama Tea Party Protests On July 4
Déjà Vu: Fox News Rallies Viewers To Participate In Radical Anti-Obama Tea Party Protests On July 4
This morning on Fox News, Glenn Beck joined the Fox and Friends hosts to promote new anti-Obama, anti-tax tea party protests on July 4. Steve Doocy introduced the segment, “This weekend, of course the 4th of July, Americans are gearing up for a second round of tea parties to protest massive government spending.”
Reprising their role in orchestrating the first tea parties, the lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks are again helping to organize the July 4 protests. FreedomWorks is working alongside other right-wing groups on a new website to publicize the events, and Americans for Prosperity is hosting several rallies on the 4th, including one with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
But while these lobbyist-run groups played a pivotal role in financing the logistics and coordination of the tea parties, Fox News was certainly the megaphone for the movement. Just as Fox News became a full-fledged sponsor of the April protests, running back-to-back segments and broadcasting live from protests across the country, the network is attempting to motivate another round of radical, anti-Obama protests on July 4th. In recent weeks and this morning, Fox News has run several segments, including one featuring disgraced Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC), to promote tea parties. Watch it:
Already, Fox News contributor and former News Corp. lobbyist Angela McGlowan is scheduled to appear at the Memphis tea party later this week.
Last year, in the final year of Bush’s presidency, Beck penned an op-ed about how Americans should celebrate July 4 by talking not about “our problems,” but by celebrating “what’s right about America.” Beck also downplayed the “much maligned economy” under Bush, and told readers that the media should use Independence Day to take a break from reporting on “crooked politicians” or “high gas prices.”
Though he demanded that the media depoliticize July 4 last year, Beck and his colleagues at Fox News now seem preoccupied with rallying radical opposition to President Obama.
DeMint refuses to vouch for Sanford’s character: ‘Who knows?’
DeMint refuses to vouch for Sanford’s character: ‘Who knows?’
This afternoon, Fox News’ Glenn Beck suggested that Gov. Mark Sanford’s (R-SC) apparent disappearance is simply a media ploy to “discredit” the governor, and that his wife and others knew his whereabouts. (They did not.) When Beck asked Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) whether he could “vouch for [Sanford's] character,” DeMint refused:
BECK: Can you vouch for his character, that he is what he seems to be?
DEMINT: He always has been up front with me, but, you know, who knows? I don’t know if we can vouch for each other’s character, but he is a good friend of mine and obviously I hope he is okay.
Watch it:
This morning, Sanford’s office declared that the governor was “hiking” on the Appalachian Trail, and would be back in the office tomorrow. However, NBC’s Greenville, SC affiliate is reporting that “a federal agent spotted Sanford in the [Atlanta] airport boarding a plane,” and that a missing state vehicle — presumably the car Sanford took — was found at the Atlanta airport as well.
Beck: ‘[W]e’re in the same situation here’ as in Iran.
Beck: ‘[W]e’re in the same situation here’ as in Iran.
Today, the Washington Post hosted Fox News’ Glenn Beck, who is currently promoting his latest book, for a brief online chat. The first question asked whether Beck believed that “we’re facing the destruction of our country.” “Yeah,” Beck replied, and compared the United States to the current political upheaval in Iran:
CHICAGO: Glenn, On June 6 you said”(I)f we don’t have some common sense, we’re facing the destruction of our country… it’s coming” Do you really believe that the USA is facing destruction?
GLENN BECK: Yeah, I said on Sept. 11 that we should fear no outside force, the only that would destroy America is us, from the inside. I look at what’s happening in Iran, and they are arquing [sic] on who is going to be a better leader in their theocracy. Both candidates were picked buy [sic] the mullahs, neither candidate can do anything without the mullahs telling them it’s okay.
I think we’re in the same situation here. Bill Mahr said this weekend that Barack Obama was George Bush Lite. What are we fighting over? What is the difference between these two parties? There are reasons to speak out, but tearing ourselves apart over these scraps of freedom is odd. We’ve stopped melting together. Our strength was that we were a melting pot.
Beyond the comparison to Iran, it’s odd that Beck purports to lament the disappearance of the “melting pot,” considering how frequently he rails against minorities.
On comedy tour, Beck is seeking audience of people who ‘get it’ and will ’slap America across the face.’
On comedy tour, Beck is seeking audience of people who ‘get it’ and will ’slap America across the face.’
Fox News personality Glenn Beck will kick off his Common Sense comedy tour “with a sold-out show at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House” in Denver, CO today, “followed by five shows in five nights around the country.” Asked why he was starting in Denver, Beck said, “The people in the mountain west get it, generally,” he said. “They’re going to be the ones that step to the plate and slap America across the face and say, ‘Sit down and shut up.” Beck recently said that “[t]he live shows give him the chance to see firsthand what sort of themes are resonating among his regular followers.” One of the jokes that apparently resonated so well that it ended up in his tour promotional materials began, “You know that foam when somebody vomits? I took that foam and made it into a diamond.” No telling where it went from there, as the clip cuts off before the punch line. Watch Beck’s promotional video:
Glenn Beck Exhales And States: ‘Look How Much Pollution I Just Put Out!’
Glenn Beck Exhales And States: ‘Look How Much Pollution I Just Put Out!’
On his Fox News show today, comedian Glenn Beck interviewed Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) to mock the danger of global warming. In what he billed as an “Inconvenient Segment,” Beck argued that a “smoking gun” memo proves that the proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finding on the threat of global warming pollution is based on politics instead of science.
“It turns out, the truth that’s inconvenient is that it’s not like any of this stuff is based on, you know, science. It’s all politics,” Beck said of the danger of carbon pollution. He concluded:
By the way, just so you know, this show has won so many science awards, sometimes we get talking about high-falutin science things like this, and people are like, “What are you talkin’ about?” So let me break it down. Carbon dioxide is basically this. (Exhales.) Look at how much pollution I just put out.
Watch it:
Unless you eat fossil fuels, spewing hot air from one’s mouth is not a major source for pollution…except for Glenn Beck.
Barrasso told Beck that the Obama administration is using the threat of EPA regulation of carbon dioxide “as a club to force cap-and-trade taxes,” but that he is using this memo to say, “Hey look, the science isn’t behind you.”
As Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Peter Orszag explained, however, the White House agreed that the “proposed finding is carefully rooted in both law and science,” and the “OMB simply collated and collected disparate comments from various agencies during the inter-agency review process of the proposed finding.” The author of the skeptical comments forwarded by the OMB was Joseph M. Johnson, a Bush administration holdover in the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. In 2005, Johnson joined the SBA from the Mercatus Center, an anti-regulatory think tank founded by right-wing pollution giant Koch Industries.
Beck: ‘What a surprise,’ Obama didn’t call on Fox News during his press conference.
Beck: ‘What a surprise,’ Obama didn’t call on Fox News during his press conference.
On his radio show today, conservative talker Glenn Beck recycled a year-old talking point to complain about President Obama not calling on anyone from Fox News during his press conference last night. “What a surprise” he said sarcastically before asking, “I mean how can the guy face Ahmadinejad but he can’t face Fox?” Listen here:
It’s hard to suggest that Obama doesn’t want to “face” Fox News, given that its White House correspondent, Major Garrett, was called on at the two previous prime-time news conferences. When Fox suggested that they were not being given enough access to Obama during last fall’s presidential campaign, Garrett actually defended Obama. “[M]ay I point out Obama has done 5 interviews with me and one with Chris Wallace, one with Brit Hume and one with Bill O’Reilly,” Garrett wrote in an e-mail obtained by Huffington Post.
Beck endorses Texas secession.
Beck endorses Texas secession.
While speaking at a “tea party” yesterday, Texas governor Rick Perry (R) suggested that his state might have to secede “if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people.” Last night on Fox News, Beck seemed to agree with Perry’s call, insisting that “Texas does America best“:
VAN SUSTEREN: You know, from here, Glenn, listening to Governor Perry last night and watching your crowd and listening to the things that are coming out of Texas — I don’t want to be too dramatic, but it almost seems like Texas is going to secede from the rest of the nation.
BECK: I mean, I don’t know– can we get this back here? [Points to a banner] This is on the jib back over here. This says “Texas independence.” … And the reason is — correct me if I’m wrong — these people love America. They just think Texas does America best!
Newshounds notes that Susteren’s mention of secession was met with “cheers, applause and banner-waving.” Watch it:
On his radio show yesterday, Beck declared, “You can’t convince me that the founding fathers wouldn’t allow you to secede. The constitution is not a suicide pact. … [States] have a right to back out.”
Fox News guest offers Glenn Beck ‘congratulations’ for tea party.
Fox News guest offers Glenn Beck ‘congratulations’ for tea party.
Yesterday on his Fox News show, Glenn Beck hosted supply-side Reagan economist Arthur Laffer to discuss government spending. As he loves to do, Beck brought up the tea party events tomorrow, which oddly prompted Laffer to congratulate him:
BECK: When these people are going to the tax tea parties, and I’ve said –
LAFFER: Congratulations, by the way.
BECK: Well, um, I’m just attending.
Why would Laffer offer his congratulations to Beck for the tea parties if Beck supposedly has no role in promoting them? Watch it:
Fox News has been attempting to assert that it is not promoting the tea parties, but simply reporting on them. Last week, Beck backed out as a keynote speaker at the San Antonio tea party event, thereby removing himself from an overt advocacy role. He will be broadcasting from the event for Fox News. But, while there, he is also attending a fundraising lunch for the tea party activists.
Beck to attend $500 a plate fundraiser for ‘tea party’ protests.
Beck to attend $500 a plate fundraiser for ‘tea party’ protests.
As ThinkProgress and others have pointed out, the Fox News Channel has staked out its position as the “voice of opposition” to the Obama administration by aggressively promoting the radical anti-Obama “tea party” protests set for April 15. Fox News hosts like Neil Cavuto claim that they are only broadcasting live from the events in order to “cover” them. But as Media Matters’ Karl Frisch pointed out in his column yesterday, Cavuto’s colleague, Glenn Beck, announced on his radio show this week that he is raising money for the protests as well:
Beck isn’t just helping with turnout. Discussing his participation in the upcoming protest at the Alamo in San Antonio on his syndicated radio program, Beck announced, “I’m going to do a fundraiser for them” to help defray costs. “So you can come and you can have lunch with me. … I don’t know any of the details, but I’ve heard it’s like $500 a plate or something like that.”
Watch a ThinkProgress video demonstrating Fox News’ tea party advocacy:
O’Reilly Claims That NBC News And ‘Internet Haters’ Have Hired ‘Guys’ To ‘Hurt’ Him Personally
O’Reilly Claims That NBC News And ‘Internet Haters’ Have Hired ‘Guys’ To ‘Hurt’ Him Personally
Yesterday on the O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly brought on fellow Fox News personality Glenn Beck to celebrate the two shows’ “huge ratings.” They then talked about the downside to their fame — criticism being leveled at them from “Internet fanatics” who are allegedly blaming them for the recent mass murders. “It’s absurd,” said O’Reilly. “It is hateful, obviously.”
O’Reilly and Beck then became upset that at times, they feel personally threatened. Beck said that he has had to have two police cars outside of his house, and O’Reilly said that NBC News — driven by GE and “Internet haters” — have “hired guys” to personally “hurt” him and Beck:
BECK: [W]hen the ratings first started, you pulled me aside and said, “Buckle up, they’re going to come after you.” And they have. [...]
O’REILLY: Because Immelt and Zucker, the two villains at NBC, have directly ordered this. They’ve hired the guys to do this. And they’ve done it because they have no other way to compete.
Now, both of those men are in trouble. They could be fired at any time, because the performance of General Electric and NBC is so abysmal. But they did it, so then, “Let’s see if we can drive Beck and O’Reilly to do something crazy. Let’s see if we can do — hurt them personally. Terrorize their families.”
BECK: Can I tell you something? When you have to explain to your 5- year-old why you have two police cars in front of your house for days. [...]
O’REILLY: That’s driven by two elements. Internet haters, all right, and the General Electric Corporation.
Watch it:
If O’Reilly and Beck — and their families — are legitimately receiving personal threats, that is worrisome. But O’Reilly once again offered no proof for his conspiracy theory that NBC News is behind these deeds. O’Reilly’s rival, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, has actually come out and denounced liberals who have gone to O’Reilly’s home.
Of course, it would be nice if O’Reilly offered similar concern for people who disagree with him — people he has had no problem lying about, making ad hominem attacks against, and tracking down without warning.
Additionally, when a person who called into his radio show had the gall to mention Olbermann’s name on air in March 2006, O’Reilly threatened to turn his personal information over to “Fox security”:
CALLER: I like to listen to you during the day, I think Keith Olbermann’s show –
O’REILLY: There ya go, Mike is — he’s a gone guy. You know, we have his — we have your phone numbers, by the way. So, if you’re listening, Mike, we have your phone number, and we’re going to turn it over to Fox security, and you’ll be getting a little visit. … Maybe Mike is going to get into big trouble, because we’re not going to play around. When you call us, ladies and gentleman, just so you know, we do have your phone number, and if you say anything untoward, obscene, or anything like that, Fox security then will contact your local authorities, and you will be held accountable.
So is O’Reilly also doing all this because he has “no other way to compete”?
Transcript: More »
Glenn Beck’s latest conspiracy: Foreign nationals have ‘penetrated’ U.S., staging Marxist revolution.
Glenn Beck’s latest conspiracy: Foreign nationals have ‘penetrated’ U.S., staging Marxist revolution.
Today on his radio program, radical right-wing conspiracist Glenn Beck declared that “the second wave” of “the Perfect Storm” had arrived. Discussing a story about spies infiltrating the electricity grid, Beck quickly veered into conspiracy theory mode, declaring that foreign nationals “have been dropped into position” to foment revolution in the United States, apparently using the all-powerful weapons of college courses and unions:
If you don’t think that foreign nationals that wish our country harm, that would like to see us collapse, are not here right now, the Tom Cruise of Russia, of China, of Iran, of any country, Chavez – if you don’t think that some of these Marxist revolutionary courses that are being taught out in California, the Marxist revolutionary influences in our own unions, in our own businesses, in our own uh, you know, protests out in the streets — if you think those are spontaneously happening by Americans, you’re an idiot.
Listen here:
Insisting that “those people that do Mission Impossible missions…are real,” Beck said that such people “read the newspaper right now and cry” because “they know what to look for in other countries.” “And they know these are the conditions that they would have been sent into” to topple the government.
Transcript: More »
Glenn Beck: I was wrong. We’re not marching to socialism, we’re marching toward fascism.
Glenn Beck: I was wrong. We’re not marching to socialism, we’re marching toward fascism.
For almost a year, Glenn Beck has been warning with increasing panic that America is headed toward socialism. Tonight, he issued a correction: “They” are not marching the United States toward socialism, Beck explained, but actually fascism:
It all adds up to me, having to admit that I was wrong. Our government is not marching down the road towards communism or socialism. … But now I have to tell you that they’re not marching us that direction. They’re marching us to a non-violent fascism. Or to put it another way, they’re marching us to 1984. Big Brother. … Like it or not, fascism is on the rise.
Though Beck claimed he didn’t mean “Adolf Hitler kind of fascism” and that he was talking about “fascism with a happy face,” he illustrated his point with more than a minute’s worth of Nazi footage, played dramatically on the full screen behind him. Watch it:
Beck: ‘If you take what I say as gospel, you’re an idiot.’
Beck: ‘If you take what I say as gospel, you’re an idiot.’
Today, the New York Times has a front-page article on the success of Glenn Beck’s Fox News show. According to the Times, Beck has become “one of the most powerful media voices for the nation’s conservative populist anger.” Although he says he believes every word he says, he doesn’t think smart people should actually listen to him:
Mr. Beck says he believes every word he says on his TV show, and the radio show that he still hosts from 9 a.m. to noon each weekday. [...]
At the same time, though, he says he is an entertainer. “I’m a rodeo clown,” he said in an interview, adding with a coy smile, “It takes great skill.” [...]
He added later: “I say on the air all time, ‘if you take what I say as gospel, you’re an idiot.’“
Touting Her Currency Conspiracy, Bachmann Insists: ‘This Is Not Michele Bachmann Being A Kook’
Touting Her Currency Conspiracy, Bachmann Insists: ‘This Is Not Michele Bachmann Being A Kook’
Earlier this week, right-wing fanatic Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) started peddling false conspiracy theories that the world was moving toward a unified global currency — and that the U.S. might join in as early as next week’s G-20 conference. The myth was started when China’s central bank governor suggested replacing the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Though the suggestion has nothing to do with a unified global currency, Fox News’ Major Garrett decided to ask President Obama whether he supported the fictional prospect of such a move. (Obama, for the record, does not.)
Today on Glenn Beck’s radio show, Bachmann declared that the U.S. will soon be moving to “give up the dollar as our currency and we would just go with a One World currency.” Such action, she warned, would mean the U.S. as a country would be “no more”:
BACHMANN: As you know, Russia, China, Brazil, India, South Africa, many nations have lined up now and have called for an international global currency, a One World currency and they want to get off of the dollar as the reserve currency.
BECK: Most people don’t understand, Michele, what that means.
BACHMANN: What that means is all of the countries in the world would have a single currency. We would give up the dollar as our currency and we would just go with a One World currency. … If we give up the dollar as our standard, and co-mingle the value of the dollar with the value of coinage in Zimbabwe, that dilutes our money supply. We lose control over our economy. And economic liberty is inextricably entwined with political liberty. Once you lose your economic freedom, you lose your political freedom. And then we are no more, as an exceptional nation, as we always have been. So this is imperative.
Bachmann claimed that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he was “open” to the One World currency. (In reality, he only said he was open to changes in the IMF special drawing rights, and reaffirmed his commitment to the dollar.) Beck warned that speaking out about the global currency gets one labeled a “kook,” but Bachmann brushed off such concerns, saying she’s been called that “throughout [her] political career”:
BACHMANN: Well, Glenn, I have experienced that throughout my political career, being labeled a kook. It just happened again in a big story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. But all we have to do is point to the treasury secretary on tape, on camera. This is not Michele Bachmann being a kook. This is our treasury secretary on tape and on camera.
Listen to it:
Transcript: More »
Keep in mind that these aren’t just two weirdos hiding out in a cabin somewhere. Beck has a show on a major cable news network and Bachmann has a seat in Congress.
The Right-Wing Echo Chamber In Action: How A Conspiracy Travels From Drudge To Obama, Via Fox News
The Right-Wing Echo Chamber In Action: How A Conspiracy Travels From Drudge To Obama, Via Fox News
Earlier this week, China’s Central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan suggested the need for a “super-sovereign reserve currency,” a move most passed off as China trying to “flex some muscle.” And yet, within days, Fox News’ Major Garrett was demanding whether President Obama supported a “global currency.”
So how did a story that has effectively no basis in reality — and has nothing to do with a global currency — end up as one of the few questions posed to President Obama last night? It started with a blaring banner on the instigator of conservative and media memes, the Drudge Report:
Within hours, right-wing fanatic Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was demanding that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pledge to never adopt a “global currency.” Soon, Fox News’ resident conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck was ranting that a U.N.-imposed global currency was the first step toward world government:
– BACHMANN: I’m wondering, would you categorically renounce the United States moving away from the dollar and going to a global currency?
– BECK: And now the U.N. is saying, you know what, we should have a global currency. It’s also a movement to tie the entire globe together into one big government.
The circle was complete when, three hours after Beck’s show, Fox News’ White House Correspondent Major Garrett asked the president whether he supported a move to a “global currency.” Watch a compilation:
Of course, the relatively benign idea of a new reserve currency is very different than a “global currency.” Though some conservative outlets are hyperventilating over this morning’s comments from Geithner signaling that he was “open” to considering China’s comments, Geithner “add[ed] several forceful promises” that the U.S. would not move to any sort of “global currency,” and emphasized that he did not foresee a change in the dollar’s credibility.
Shep Smith Mocks ‘Glenn Beck Friday’: ‘I Don’t Even Know What The Heck The Thing Is’
Shep Smith Mocks ‘Glenn Beck Friday’: ‘I Don’t Even Know What The Heck The Thing Is’
Tonight, Glenn Beck is hosting a life special to assure his conservative followers, “You are not alone.” While purporting to promote the special, Fox’s Shep Smith repeatedly mocked Beck and the program, admitting that although he watches Beck’s show, he doesn’t listen to it. Smith also pointed to a giant satellite truck parked outside and wondered if it was for Beck’s “ego.” Chris Wallace told Smith he must be jealous:
SMITH: Do you even understand this Glenn Beck Friday? Because I really don’t.
WALLACE: Well, I do, and what pains me — and you know, Shep, how highly I respect you — is you seem upset by Glenn Beck Friday.
SMITH: Upset?!
WALLACE: I mean, Glenn is a meteor here at Fox News–
SMITH: He is the greatest star of all time!
WALLACE: And you should be happy for his success–
SMITH: I am here to worship him.
WALLACE: –and you seem to be begrudging — you’re begrudging him his success.
“We are here to celebrate, worship, and adore,” Smith told Wallace. Watch a compilation of Smith’s mockery:
Smith jokingly declared that Beck is “bigger than O’Reilly.” Wallace encouraged Smith to be more fawning of Beck: “I for one am on the Glenn Beck bandwagon and I advise you to join it as well.”
Beck: Stem-cell research will lead directly to the search for a new ‘master race.’
Beck: Stem-cell research will lead directly to the search for a new ‘master race.’
On his radio show today, conservative talker Glenn Beck commented on President Obama overturning the ban on federally funded stem-cell research. Beck argued that funding stem-cell research would lead directly to a search for a new “master race,” the revival of Eugenics, and the reincarnation of the Nazi’s “final solution.” Believing that Obama’s success as president would hasten the arrival of his conspiracy theory, Beck then declared, “I hope Barack Obama fails”:
BECK: So here you have Barack Obama going in and spending the money on embryonic stem cell research, and then some, fundamentally changing – remember, those great progressive doctors are the ones who brought us Eugenics. It was the progressive movement and it science. Let’s put science truly in her place. If evolution is right, why don’t we just help out evolution? That was the idea. And sane people agreed with it!
And it was from America. Progressive movement in America. Eugenics. In case you don’t know what Eugenics led us to: the Final Solution. A master race! A perfect person. …. The stuff that we are facing is absolutely frightening. So I guess I have to put my name on yes, I hope Barack Obama fails. But I just want his policies to fail; I want America to wake up.
Listen here:
In reality, of course, stem-cell research has nothing to do with the search for a “master race.” Rather, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) explained this morning, “Obama’s executive order is a huge win for the millions of people who suffer from spinal cord injuries, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis and many other illnesses.”
Right-wing TV hosts gain viewers since Obama victory.
Right-wing TV hosts gain viewers since Obama victory.
“Conservative talk hosts, or at least those who anchor Fox News Channel’s lineup, are enjoying a solid post-election bump,” Variety reports. Fox News saw its daily viewership increase by 24% last month, compared to Feb. 2008. Bill O’Reilly was up 33% (3.6 million viewers) in February compared to the previous year. Sean Hannity rose 38% (to nearly 2.8 million). And newly-minted right-wing talker Glenn Beck “has doubled his timeslot.” Liberal hosts Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow posted gains of 32% and 134%, respectively, in total viewers since one year ago. “But both programs experienced ratings erosion versus last month.” Olbermann was down 4% and Maddow was down 8%.
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