ThinkProgress Home
ThinkProgress
ThinkProgress Logo

Stories tagged with “Glenn Beck”

NEWS FLASH

Glenn Beck Thinks He Has The Same Position On Same-Sex Marriage As President Obama | Today Glenn Beck today railed against “bigots” who oppose the point of view of people who oppose marriage rights for same-sex couples. Defending Rick Santorum’s comparisons between same-sex marriage and polygamy, Beck claimed that he has the same position on same-sex marriage as President Obama. He went on to compare the “moral certitude” of LGBT rights activists to Adolf Hitler’s “moral certitude” about the Holocaust. He also suggested that bisexuals all want polygamy. Watch it:

Politics

Glenn Beck Suggests Tea Party Is Racist

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Dec 12, 2011 at 1:00 pm

In a startling admission from a major Tea Party champion, former Fox News host Glenn Beck said Friday that race may be a motivating factor in the Tea Party’s opposition to President Obama. In an interview with Fox Business host Andrew Napolitano, Beck said Obama and GOP front-runner Newt Gingrich are both “big government progressive[s],” so he doesn’t understand why Tea Party members are supporting Gingrich. “If you’re against [Obama] but you’re for [Gingrich], it must be about race,” Beck said:

BECK: And I issued a challenge to Tea Party members. … [Gingrich] is a progressive. … If you have a big government progressive, or a big government progressive in Obama, one in Newt Gingrich, one in Obama, ask yourself this, Tea Party: is it about Obama’s race? Because that’s what it appears to be to me. If you’re against him but you’re for this guy, it must be about race.

Watch it:

The comment is striking coming from Beck, who organized major Tea Party events and strongly defended the movement against charges of racism. “The NAACP adopted a resolution condemning the racist elements of the Tea Party. Well, I’d do that, too, if I knew where they were,” Beck said in July 2010. Now, it seems he finally knows there are. And he’s being disowned by conservative blogs for expressing this. Conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart responded by calling Beck a “coward,” a liar, and a “huckster,” saying the race comments “jumped the gun, and in essence jumped the shark.”

Indeed, just this weekend, a Tea Party group in Kansas drew condemnations from the local NAACP for depicting President Obama as a skunk. “It is half black, half white, and almost everything it does, stinks,” reads the website of the Patriot Freedom Alliance, a Tea Party of Hutchinson, under a picture suggesting “the skunk has replaced the eagle as the symbol for the president.” Darrell Pope, president of the Hutchinson NAACP, called it “a blatant statement of racism.”

Health

Glenn Beck Confronts Gingrich With His 2011 Quote Supporting The Individual Mandate

By Igor Volsky on Dec 6, 2011 at 10:54 am

Former Fox News host Glenn Beck invited Republican presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich on his radio program this morning and then bludgeoned the former Speaker of the House with this quote from 2011, in which Gingrich proclaimed his support for a federal requirement for people to purchase health insurance coverage — a mandate that is similar to the one included in President Obama’s Affordable Care Act:

GLENN: All right. Well, and I think this is where we fundamentally differ is it seems to me ‑‑ and let me just play the audio here ‑‑ that you are for the individual mandate for healthcare and you have been for quite some time. Let’s play the audio.

GINGRICH: I am for people, individuals, exactly like automobile insurance, individuals having health insurance and being required to have health insurance, and I am prepared to vote for a voucher system which will give individuals on a sliding scale a government subsidy so it will ensure that everyone as individuals have health insurance.

GLENN: Okay. That’s 1993. Here is May 2011.

GINGRICH: All of a sudden responsibility to help pay for healthcare. And I think that there are ways to do it that make most libertarians relatively happy. I’ve said consistently we ought to have some requirement to either have health insurance or you post a bond or in some way you indicate you are going to be held accountable.

VOICE: That is the individual mandate, is it not?

GINGRICH: It’s a variation on it.

Fellow GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the conservative Heritage Foundation have also advocated the idea that individuals who did not purchase coverage should be required to spend some pre-determined amount — $10,000 in Romney’s case — in the form of a bond that could be used to pay for hospital care down the road. Before Obama embraced the mandate, conservatives argued that this policy would ensure that funds are directed back into health care rather to government revenue. But charging a flat fee regardless of income means different things to different economic demographics and would significantly disadvantaged middle class families — who would have to set aside a huge amount of money for a rainy day. The mandate penalty in the Affordable Care Act takes some of these affordability concerns into account and requires those without coverage to pay a tax penalty of the greater of $695 per year or 2.5 percent of household income.

But these policy specifics aside, Gingrich has previously advocated for many of the provisions that are now part of Obama’s health care law and even praised the president for increasing Medicaid funding and investing in health information technology.

NEWS FLASH

Occupy Tallahassee Mic Checks Glenn Beck At Book Signing | The 99 Percent paid conspiracy profiteer Glenn Beck a visit recently during a book signing in Florida. As Beck stood signing books, protesters from Occupy Tallahassee began, “Mic Check! Glenn Beck, you are a vulgar propagandist!” Watch it:

By Zaid Jilani on Dec 5, 2011 at 4:05 pm

Security

Despite Glenn Beck’s Slanders Of Israelis, Netanyahu Says He Is ‘Fearless In Defending Israel Against Slanders’

By Ali Gharib on Nov 21, 2011 at 4:42 pm

Glenn Beck’s conspiracy theories have made the right-wing commentator the darling of the Israeli right, even garnering him an invitation from Israeli parliamentarian Danny Danon to speak before the Knesset. That love-fest between Beck and the Israeli right reached new heights last night when, at a gala for an American Zionist group, right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Beck for “defending” Israel.

Netanyahu delivered taped comments to the crowd at the Zionist Organization of America’s (ZOA) gala after Beck received the Miriam & Sheldon Adelson Defender of Israel Award from right-wing billionaire (and Netanyahu supporter) Sheldon Adelson. Netanyahu said:

I also want to congratulate Glenn Beck for winning the Miriam and Sheldon Adelson award, the Defender of Israel award. Glenn, you can be sure that if Sheldon and Miri Adelson put their name to something, it must stand for a lot. You stand for a lot. You’ve been fearless in defending Israel against the slanders that are hurled against it. You’ve done that with considerable personal cost but you’ve never backed off, you’ve never flinched, you’ve walked away. And I want to tell you how deeply we appreciate this stand of courage and integrity.

Watch the video:

All Israelis might not view Beck the way Netanyahu does. This summer, when Israel saw its largest protests ever in the name of social justice, Beck denounced the gathering. Despite 88 percent approval for the protests among Israelis, Beck, in a typically conspiracy-laced tirade, derided the prostesters a leftist-Islamist-Nazi plot to bring Israel down.

Beck also launched an attack last year on liberal billionaire George Soros. Michelle Goldberg of the Daily Beast called the episode of Beck’s now-defunct Fox News Show “a symphony of anti-Semitic dog-whistles.” The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) chided Beck’s remarks as “horrific.” Later, the ADL also criticized Beck for comparing Reform Judaism to radical Islam, this time eliciting an apology from the radio host.

The Los Angeles Times also rounded up some of Beck’s contrversial statements about Jews:

He has several times had to fend off allegations of anti-Semitism. Last year he appeared to endorse the notion that Jews killed Jesus Christ; his list of the world’s nine most “dangerous” people includes eight Jews…

An official from the liberal Israeli organization Peace Now told the paper: “If this is the only kind of friend Israel’s government can find around the world, that’s a very poor sign.”

NEWS FLASH

Mitt Romney Goes Glenn Beck: ‘I Exhale Carbon Dioxide’ | Two years ago, the Tea Party shock jock Glenn Beck mocked the idea of carbon dioxide pollution, exhaling and pronouncing, “Look at how much pollution I just put out.” Last Friday, former Massachusetts governor and Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney joined Beck’s anti-science crusade, confusing the burning of fossil fuels with human respiration. “Now I know there is also a movement to say that carbon dioxide should be guided or should be managed by the Environmental Protection Agency. I disagree with that,” he said at a Manchester, New Hampshire event, furthering his descent into denial. “I exhale carbon dioxide,” he continued. “I don’t want those guys following me around with a meter to see if I’m breathing too hard.”

Related Posts

Economy

Glenn Beck-Approved Goldline Charged With 19 Criminal Counts Of Fraud And Theft

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Nov 2, 2011 at 10:30 am

Goldline International, the precious metal retailer that has capitalized on conservatives’ anxiety about the economy by forging synergistic relationships with right wing TV and radio hosts, is facing a new series of legal challenges after authorities filed criminal charges against the company and its executives yesterday. Several major conservative talkers — including two former GOP presidential candidates — have endorsed and recommended Goldine, which critics have long contended is little more than a scam.

After more than a year of investigating, the city attorney in Santa Monica, California, where the company is based, has filed 19 criminal charges of fraud and theft against the company, in addition to charges against top executives and salesmen, ABC News reports:

The complaint alleges that Goldline “runs a bait and switch operation in which customers, seeking to invest in gold bullion, are switched to highly overpriced coins by using false and misleading claims,” according to a statement released by the consumer affairs division of the Santa Monica City Attorney’s office.

The company has been charged in the court filing with misdemeanors that include theft by false pretenses, false advertising, and conspiracy, the City Attorney’s office said. In addition to the charges against the company, the complaint accuses former CEO Mark Albarian, executives Robert Fazio and Luis Beeli, and salespeople Charles Boratgis and Stephanie Howard of defrauding customers. Current CEO Scott Carter is accused of making false or misleading statements.

Each of the charges carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and maximum fines of between $1,000 and $10,000 per offense.

While former Fox News conspiracy-theorist Glenn Beck is most closely associated with Goldline, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Mark Levin, former GOP presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson, and several Fox News hosts, among others, have all endorsed the company.

Indeed, conservative talk radio is central to the company’s success, as Goldline employs a business model based not on mere advertising, but full integration with the content of conservative talk show hosts’ messages. The company’s website prominently features these endorsers, suggesting the talkers’ backing gives Goldline “credibility.” The company has said it will vigorously contest the charges.

Special Topic

VIDEO: Glenn Beck Mocks Marine Who Protested NYPD Police Brutality

By Zaid Jilani on Oct 27, 2011 at 1:05 pm

Two weeks ago, Sgt. Shamar Thomas, an Iraq war vet who spent 14 months in Iraq, was captured in a viral YouTube video chastising the New York Police Department for using excessive force against demonstrators. “There is no honor in this!” he told them. “This is not a warzone!”

Since the video was put on YouTube, it has netted almost 2.5 million views, and has become a rallying cry for those protesting police brutality. Watch it:

On his radio show yesterday, hate radio host Glenn Beck mocked Thomas, implying that there was no police brutality that had taken place for him to be angry about. One of his co-hosts called Thomas just “one panicked man screaming”:

BECK: The guy who was like there’s no honor in this, these people are unarmed, there’s no honor in this and I’m watching this [laughing] and I couldn’t take it anymore, because the video shows this Marine yelling [mocking crying voice] stop brutalizing, we’re unarmed! And the cops have their hands in their pockets. [...] They’re like, “We know, we’re standing here.”

CO-HOST: What, you want us to brutalize you, is that what you want? [...]

OTHER CO-HOST: That video taken from the right angle is just one panicked man screaming. As long as you take that picture from one side, it’s pretty dramatic.

Watch it:

If Beck and the co-host had bothered to actually watch the video to its completion, they could see that Thomas explained that he had witnessed police brutality earlier and that he wanted to tell the police to stop using those same tactics — not that the police who were standing there were directly responsible for the behavior. But it seemed like Beck was all too eager to mock this Iraq veteran to study the facts first. (HT: vinnys025 YouTube account)

Politics

Glenn Beck Sneers At Students Who Can’t Afford A College Education: ‘Go To The Free Public Library’

By Marie Diamond on Oct 12, 2011 at 2:40 pm

Conservative idol Glenn Beck spent much of his speech at the Values Voters Conference this weekend lambasting young Americans who are part of the 99 Percent Movement, and those who have the audacity to not be rich but want a college education. Beck all but declared that the 14 million jobless Americans are unemployed by choice — echoing similar sentiments by GOP candidate Herman Cain. “There are many in this country I call the fun-employed,” the former Fox News host told the crowd.

“The violent left is coming to our streets, all of our streets, to smash…to bankrupt…to destroy,” he said of Wall Street protesters who have spread across the country. Beck then turned his vitriol towards poor students who can’t afford a college education on their own:

BECK: We also have the responsibility to understand we are accountable for each of those choices. You go to school, you rack up a lot of school loans, that was your choice. We also have to understand that those choices have eternal consequences. And consequences that ripple throughout society…If you can’t afford to go to college, go to the free public library. I did it. It works.

Watch it:

Obviously, for most students who have to take out loans to pay for college, going into debt is not a choice. But according to Beck, students frustrated by rising tuition, shrinking financial aid and mounting debt should quit whining and just not go to college.

Meanwhile, Beck continues to rake in a fortune through his conspiracy theory-peddling “Glenn Beck university” program. You can learn about the secret history of America hidden by the liberals for just $9.95 per month or $74.95 for the year.

(HT: Washington Independent)

Alyssa

Glenn Beck’s Recession-Unfriendly Fashion Line Is Inspired By Paul Newman

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Oct 11, 2011 at 3:18 pm

Because I am an inveterate online shopper, and my colleagues do a bang-up job of monitoring Glenn Beck’s other pronouncements, I figured I would do my part by signing up for the email list for his 1791 clothing line. This made me privy not only to the roll-out of the line in my inbox yesterday, but to the announcement that the funds from the clothes will support a new relief organization that will be “self-funded and uniquely American. It will be a hand up, not a hand out,” and that the clothes, in keeping with Beck’s position as a huge Spider-Man fan will serve as a reminder that “we haven’t’ forgotten that with those rights enshrined in that historic year comes great responsibility”:

The clothes are basically J. Crew-meets-Ed Hardy-by-way-of-Etsy. There are lots of polo shirts and fleeces (interestingly, no women’s apparel) with radiant hearts, snakes, and skulls-and-crossbones declaring “Death to Tyranny.” As popping-your-collar-and-getting-annoyed-about-government gear goes, it’s fine, though unlikely to ignite a fashion revolution, particularly when the polos start at $65 and the fleeces at $85 (you can get a t-shirt for as little as $25). And I’m not wildly optimistic that 1791′s going to spark a revolution in American-made textiles, though the idea of Glenn Beck in period clothing hectoring Lowell Mill Girls seems strangely apt.

Beck is quite a marketer, and it remains to be seen if, particularly at those recession-unfriendly prices, the 1791 line will generate the kind of revenue that can support a nation-wide self-help movement. What, precisely, Beck wants for this new organization, is not wildly clear from the video announcement, which says it’ll:

Be a constant reminder that our solutions do not reside in Washington, bt they reside within you and me…this will be a grassroots effort that in reality will only be as big as our American imagination and ingenuity will still allow it to become. It will not be funded by taxpayer dollars, and will look for other ways besides charitable donations to survive…Capitalism is only a reflection of the values of those who use it. It’s neither good nor bad. It’s simply what you make of it.

I’m not in principal opposed to the idea that it would be great to simultaneously create jobs and raise funds for good causes. But I think Paul Newman, who Beck (surprisingly, without jabbing at Newman’s Hollywood liberalism) cites as a direct inspiration, was probably closer to a successful model with a product you can buy for $3, that is demonstrably superior to its competitors, and that’s easily available in grocery stores, than Beck is.

Older

Switch to Mobile