For whatever twisted, demented reason, I have been torturing myself by listening to Glenn Beck. His show always happens to be on when I'm in the car and, like staring at the proverbial car crash, I just have to listen.
I honestly feel sorry for conservatives in this country that he is one of their major spokes people. His show is nothing but tin-hatted rants laced with shameless religious rhetoric. I really find it hard to believe that GB actually even believes what he's saying. I can't believe that he's stupid, because he's just not. The guy made it into Yale. And I would believe he's just bat-shit insane, but I can't believe Fox and CNN would let a complete loon have a prime-time show. So I have no choice but to believe he's just being paid to stir up the most ignorant of the right (which unfortunately there seems to be a lot of), and scare people, who wouldn't otherwise care about politics, into thinking Obama is trying to create a fascist dictatorship. Which is sad.
Conservatism in this country is becoming synonymous with nut-jobs and morons. Granted, the left has their nuts, but they're not hosting prime time news shows. Rather than simply trying to present better ideas conservatives are putting forth absurdities like: Obama is forming a secret police with the Peace Corps and Americorps; Obama is going to brainwash the country's children on the first day of school; Obama's creating a shadow government of Czar's; and Obama's gonna pull the plug on grandma.
What's that? This nutjobery is part of the right-wing fringe you say? Witness the resignation of Van Jones, and schools not carrying the president's address because of angry parents. Conservatives have gone to crazytown, and good ones like Joe Scarborough, George Will, David Brooks and Andrew Sullivan need to call this idiocy what it is and elevate the discourse before something tragic occurs.
10 comments:
lots of agreement. one significant disagreement.
keith olbermann.
This made me laugh a little...couldn't help it.
i knew somebody'd mention olbermann. but i gotta totally disagree with you. don't get me wrong, i'm not a fan of the guy. but while he's dramatic, pompous and self-righteous, at least he's not crazy. just really, really biased.
loud, obnoxious, slanted-- i can handle that. ignorant and crazy-- not so much.
now, i'm waiting for someone to say van jones is a conspiracy nut and was part of the administration.
Ignorant, crazy liberals, in no particular order:
Rossie O'Donnell
Joy Behardt (sp?)
Sheela Jackson Lee
Dennis Kucinich
Both sides have their fill of crazies.
As far as "i'm waiting for someone to say van jones is a conspiracy nut," I'm your huckleberry.
Good riddance to Van Jones. He signed a petition that said "that people within the current (Bush) administration may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war." And the language was not confusing. His excuse that he should have read it "more carefully" is laughable. It is a short, straightforward and simple statement.
If he didn't read what he signed, then he is stupid. Worse, if he did read it, then he is a liar. I think he did read it. And that makes him both a liar AND a nut.
I guess if I sign a petition hat said "that people within the current (Obama) administration may indeed have deliberately falsified Obamas birth record, perhaps as a pretext for Kenya's takeover of the US," then I am as equally mainstream as Van Jones. All I have to say is, I shoul have read it more carefully. Nevermind the fact that what he signed was titled "We Want Real Answers About 9/11." What did he think he was signing?!?
Give me a break. The guy needed to go. He was a Truther.
(For the record, I am not a "Birther." I believe Obama is a natural born citizen.)
ok doc,
i'm unfamiliar with shiela jackson lee other than the name so i can't comment on her. i don't see why kucinich is a nut. and the other two fall under the loud, obnoxious category. my point is that none of them have ever argued that the bush admin. were plotting to turn the u.s. into a fascist dictatorship. even though the republicans, under delay, were pretty intent on creating a "permanent majority" which one might argue has fascist, dictatorial undertones, but i digress.
and the same goes for jones. so he signed a petition saying the bush admin. may have had something to do with 911? i don't think that's true, but it doesn't mean he thought they plotted it out like some truthers do, he may have just believed they purposely didn't do enough to prevent it. many people think the gov't killed kennedy. i don't think all of those people are nuts. do you think all the birthers should be ousted as well? i don't necessarily think they should.
my issue is with those, like beck, who are too ignorant, or just dumb, to understand the differences between a liberal democracy, the many levels of socialism, communism, fascism and REAL tyranny which NODBODY in this country knows crap about. the comparisons of obama to hitler aren't just absurd, they're repulsive and evil. and anyone on the right who has any sense of decency or intelligence should call it that.
"my point is that none of them have ever argued that the bush admin. were plotting to turn the u.s. into a fascist dictatorship."
For rizzle? That has got to be a misprint on your part. No way you are serious about that!
For someone who likes to label others as "ignorant" and claims to be informed, you repeatedly demonstrate otherwise.
Olberman did indeed call Bush a fascist. It was a pretty big deal at the time. I am surprised you don't remember, being as informed as you are. I went ahead and dug up the video for you which can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u19KHbTJEOk
Also, Dennis Kucinich presented 35 articles of impeachment against Bush in 2007. I am surprised you don't remember. The 65 page document that outlines Bush's "plot" to turn our country into a fascist dictatorship can be found here:
http://kucinich.us/impeachment/articles.pdf
Sheila Jackson Lee joined in on the impeachment process and videos of her hearings can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKadaVzcpRE&feature=PlayList&p=62005FB2A5B1EECC&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=19
and here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlZPMql8FbM&feature=PlayList&p=62005FB2A5B1EECC&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=20
For eight years the drumbeat of "Bush is a Nazi," came from those on The View, particularly O'Donnell and Behar. Sort through the many you tube videos of the show if you have the patience.
The left is the king of pointing the "Nazi" finger at others. For eight years that was a regular occurrence and accusation. And now you have the audacity to claim that to do so is, "repulsive and evil." Please. Your guy fits the bill every bit as much as Bush did. The all want absolute power and none of them should be trusted.
On a side note, Delay's "permanent majority" had nothing to do with ruling by force and everything to do with encouraging Republicans to govern conservatively to ensure that their constituents would re-elect them, something they failed to do and which led to the Democratic takeover of the House in 2006. The fact that you would mischaracterize it as a comment aimed towards fascist rule only proves the point that the left is short on facts and long on accusations.
Just ridiculous, Chris.
lol, drama, drama, drama.
you're right, i am ignorant and uninformed, i don't watch the view. you got me. and i've never heard, first hand, repeated "bush is a nazi" rhetoric from rosie or joy. but if you say so, then i believe you, and i would say they're wrong for those statements. yet, i can't help but think those comments are a little more warranted for someone who is actually responsible for the deaths of thousands of people rather than someone who wants healthcare reform and green jobs.
did i know kucinich made efforts to get bush impeached? yup. did i see anything about conspiracies to turn the u.s. into a dictatorship? nope. and if all you have on shiela jackson lee is that she joined in on bush impeachment hearings, to that i say whooptee do. the republicans impeached clinton for lying about getting a blowjob. bush "misinformed" us into a war.
and yes, knowing how conservatively the republicans governed, i would have absolutely no reason to believe that tom "the hammer" delay met anything except what it would seem on its face, by becoming a "permanent majority."
once again, to reiterate my point. glenn beck, his audience, some people in congress who have been on beck's show, and lots of the tea party-9/12 people think obama and anyone who remotely agrees with liberals want to turn the country into a soviet-style communist dictatorship. that, i maintain, is ignorant, paranoid and delusional.
this made me smile. all of it.
I like it all (the post, the comments) so much more than snarky facebook status remarks.
Passionate political rants exhaust me these days.
But this discussion is just right :)
ang,
thanks for the comment, but i thought my snarky facebook message was funny :).
ang,
thanks for the comment, but i thought my snarky facebook message was funny :).
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