Inspire Political Discourse

Trailer for Glenn Beck's New Book

Ye "Gods of the copybook headings", is Beck having us all on, or is he just certifiable [as most of us have long thought]?  

Political Cartoon of the Week: Beck Followers Are Morons

Via LAProgressive

Cesca: Beck Uses Classic Televangelist Techniques

Fascinating. But…..I could only listen to the audio of Beck for a couple of minutes. blech.

During yesterday's Glenn Beck radio show, Beck delivered a 10-minute monologue in which he hit all of his phony-baloney touchstones -- some of them, as I've been writing for the last several weeks, are dangerous and some are simply ridiculous. But primarily, Beck was in full televangelist mode about God and something about a "plan" and, in the process, he dovetailed into a little McCarthyism and, as usual, a little historical revisionism. He even shrunk into a defensive bit refuting the accusations that he's a faker who's conning his audience. [……]

Palin and the Separation of Church and State

The silly twit never seems to get the history. Has she ever even read any American history? Or European? Is she even aware of that thing called The Enlightenment? You know, that period that the Founding Fathers were a part of, and that strongly influenced the founding of this country, as well as the principles contained in our Constitution. We are, in fact, blessed with a "Godless" constitution.

A certain former half-term governor appears to be drifting even further away from the American mainstream. Over the weekend, appearing at an evangelical Christian women's conference in Louisville, Sarah Palin rejected the very idea of separation of church and state, a bedrock principle of American democracy.

She asked for the women -- who greeted her with an enthusiastic standing ovation -- to provide a "prayer

Palin Lies About Obama's Nuke Comments

Palin, the biggest liar in the GOP, intentionally distorts Obama’s comments on nukes to paint him as someone who hates America. Really ugly.  Via The Plum Line:

In a new Facebook missive, Palin butchered Obama’s quotes at the nuke summit in a strikingly dishonest (even for her) way, tearing them out of context to suggest he’s uncomfortable wielding American power and is hostile towards American exceptionalism: 

“Mr. President, is a strong America a problem? Asked this week about his faltering efforts to advance the Middle East peace process, President Obama did something remarkable. In front of some 47 foreign leaders and hundreds of reporters from all over the world, President Obama said that “whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower.”
Whether we like it or not? Most Americans do like it.”

A Hero in the Making: Bob Cesca Takes on Glenn Beck

This past week, liberal blogger, Huffington Post columnist, and book author, Bob Cesca, in his column on The Huffington Post, proclaimed his intent to expose the right wing Fox News Channel maniac, Glenn Beck for what he is: a FRAUD.

Beginning with this post, I intend to expose Glenn Beck as a fraud. A dangerous faker who deliberately manipulates his audience by appealing to their basest instincts. As a man who only embraces conservatism and the tea party movement as a means to furthering his significant personal wealth and career as a successful TV goon.

My theory is as follows. Glenn Beck is engaged in a carefully orchestrated performance that, if taken to its logical end, can only end up in tragedy -- a tragedy, not in the name of some great political or social or religious cause, as too many of his viewers might believe, but rather in the name of pure careerism and greed. A tragedy in the name of Glenn Beck's personal drive for fame and fortune, not to mention the similar motivations of Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch.

It only took Glenn Beck 36 hours to respond, and it was a response that was unexpected considering that Beck, who earned $32 million last year, has a much larger following than Cesca, and one would not expect such a response.

Will the Republicans Attempt to Impeach President Obama? Yes.

From Bob Cesca, on the Huffington Post:

If the Republicans ever manage to retake Congress, they will absolutely try to impeach President Obama. And it'll be based upon a supremely ridiculous charge such as, say, the president refusing to nourish our crops with a sports drink instead of water.

Okay, so maybe the Idiocracy example is over-the-top, but if we follow the current trajectory of far-right attacks to their logical yet insane conclusion, it makes sense in a very eerie way. Have you seen the television commercials solemnly defending our right to poison our kids with "juice drinks and soda?" There you go.

I've been following the Republican descent into the realms of the bizarre for some time now, and it wasn't until the "czars" thing broke that I became convinced that if they retook Congress the Republicans might try to impeach the president. The grounds for both the impeachment and the language used to sell it will likely be fabricated by either Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh.

I mean, 100 Republican members of Congress have signed onto Rep. Jack Kingston's cartoonish czar bill. 100 House Republicans out of 177 have attached their names to a bill that was essentially invented as a television bit by Glenn Beck without any regard for the fact that "czar" is a nickname invented by the press, and that every president -- all of them! -- has employed policy and political advisers within their administrations. But it functions as an effective Beck attack because he knows his audience isn't bright enough to distinguish "czars" from "communists." By the way, not to be out-crazied by his House colleagues, Senator Ensign introduced an amendment to the Finance Committee health care reform bill called "Transparency in Czars." This might as well be "Transparency in Hobbits" because it's just that ludicrous.

Nevertheless, there's a growing conventional wisdom in the press alleging that both sides of the political spectrum are equally guilty of wackaloon attacks and conspiracy theories.

Granted there might be one or two very fringe exceptions but this is otherwise a false equivalency written by the establishment media as part of their self-conscious effort to seem balanced. The distinction is that any "fringe" attacks from the left during the Bush years weren't mainstreamed and legitimized the way the wingnut attacks are today, even though the fringe attacks from the left turned out to be mostly accurate.

Continue reading http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/the-impeachment-of-presid_b_297330.html

Keith Olbermann to Sarah Palin on Her Imaginary "Death Panels"

I just listened to this episode of Countdown, with Keith Olbermann. Two of the people Olbermann focuses on here are Sarah Palin and her inspired claims of "death panels", and Glenn Beck. Both are, in my view, among the most disgusting human beings I can imagine, and Olbermann speaks out for those of us who are bloody damn TIRED of the right wing's racist, fear mongering, violent, ignorant and un-American rhetoric.

 

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Reference: Media Incompetence/Negligence as Chronicled by Media Matters, April 6 - April 12, 2009

Sunday, April 12, 2009

• After smearing Obama, media figures call him polarizing

Friday, April 10, 2009

• Conservative media unleash violent, revolutionary rhetoric
• Conservative media smear Obama for purported overseas "apology tour"
• Pandemic: Limbaugh's Obama Derangement Syndrome spreads through conservative media
• Media Matters: Fox News is throwing a party!
• Foser: The military-media-industrial complex
• Black helicopter alert! Conservative media suggest Obama supporting one-world government
• Hannity rewrites economic history to bash Obama
• Fox News' Tantaros overstates support for "tea parties"
• Wash. Times misrepresented Obama's position on Iraq war funding bills
• Frisch: Warning: This tea may cause severe damage to journalistic integrity

Political News Summary - Tuesday, January 13, 2009

:: Roland Burris to be sworn in to the senate on Thursday.

“Roland Burris will take his seat in the Senate Thursday – a day later than planned so that his family can be on hand for his swearing in, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday.”Source: POLITICO

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:: Pelosi's Cat Cam.

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:: Breaking News: Timothy Geithner, Obama's nominee for SOTT, under some scrutiny re his personal taxes and his housekeeper's immigration status.
From everything I have read up till now, it seems that this will not cause Democrats to withdraw their support. But, we'll see.