Scott Wheeler peddles conspiracy theories and hate which Glenn Beck buys into and pushes on his TV program.
...Today, the term "McCarthyism" is synonymous with baseless malicious slander, unscrupulous fearmongering, vilifying the innocent, accusing them of disloyalty, and calling them terrorists, Islamofascists, illegal immigrants, and unpatriotic for supporting progressive change and ideas to the left of right wing views.
Nightly on Fox News, Glenn Beck delivers some of the worst of it to his estimated 2.3 million faithful and millions more on The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show aired by Premiere Radio Networks (a Clear Channel Communications subsidiary) throughout the country on over 300 stations, according to a Premiere Speakers Bureau promo about him stating that his program "is presently the third highest-rated national radio talk show among adults ages 25 - 54."
From article by Stephen Lendman: Glenn Beck's Demagoguery, Right Wing Extremism & Racism" by Stephen Lendman at Mostlywater.org on Sept. 16, 2009
First a few words from Glenn Beck's "Svengali Like Friend" Scott Wheeler
Beck's more recent attacks on Obama and his Czars is linked to Scott Wheeler who has recently published a book on Obama
Here’s a video clip of Scott Wheeler speaking at – Guess What? a Tea Party! in Philadelphia this past April. Just so you can get the measure of the man . . .
Glenn Beck: 9/12 March "Between 2 Million Or Tens Of Thousands"
FOX's Delusional Glenn Beck: 9/12 March "Between 2 Million Or Tens Of Thousands" Of People - 09/14/09
GLENN BECK the man behind the 9/12 Tea party project & McCarthyism Reborn
Not surprising since Uber Conservatives such as Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Hannity , Dobbs , O'Reilly see McCarthy as an unfairly maligned "True American Hero".
Czar Mark LLoyd Makes The Evening News - Glenn Beck's Newest Casualty
Anyway it appears Glenn Beck and others are to a great extent running the show in Washington. President Obama and the Democrats who still don't realize they won the election last year seem to be scurrying about afraid of any criticism by most noble of all The Republicans and the Media which is in the tank for the Republicans who are willing to air or publish the most outrageous attacks on Obama or members of his administration.
During the Bush years the Media seemed to be in a love-fest with President Bush and Darth Vader himself the lord of darkness Dick Cheney they hung on every word. In part it was because America's security had been shattered by 9/11. And Americans in their simplistic view of the world saw just bad guys versus good guys and there was no room for those who hesitated about taking action. Bush and Cheney were the New Law Men or Sheriffs or Texas Rangers sent in to defeat the bad guys. So any criticism of Bush or Cheney and their administration was seen as disloyalty, treasonous and giving comfort and aid to the Enemy.
Now that Bush is gone many Americans and the media are looking for another hero to replace him. Many have done so by putting their trust in Obama. For whatever reason ideology or growing mistrust of government or racism there are those who fear Obama or see him as too weak or as just another slick politician and so turn to others to follow and to canonize. And so enters Rush Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Coulter , Malkin but it is in the end that they turn to Glenn Beck or as Keith Olbermann refers to him as "The Beck"
The irony is that to these Folks Former President Bush was a hero , a man's man, an average Joe who was not well educated and therefore one of the Folk. But Bush was far from sincere he lied over and over again and cared only for self-promotion and promoting the Neo-Conservative /Dick Cheney agenda. He also managed to ruin the American economy while racking up record setting debts and pursuing two terribly mismanaged unnecessary wars.
So a large sector of Americans no longer trusted not just Bush but the Republican party and turned to the Democrats. Others having been lied to became skeptical of both parties and all politicians. So enter Glenn Beck who appeals to those who feel abandoned , disenfranchised who see the America they knew slipping away and America's power and ability to win a war fading away. They wonder if the mess in America was the result of the greedy Wall Street bankers or those liberals and secular humanist who want to transform America into a very different country and society.
Faced with a changing society combined with the near collapse of the American economy followed by government bailouts of corporations and Wall Street investors while average Americans are losing their homes ,their jobs their health insurance etc.While America is involved in two wars whose outcomes are uncertain.This becomes the fertile ground for the Professional Agitator the demagogue the one who acts the part of "The Drummer" who sounds the alarm and proposes solutions. But first he must be able to diagnose the disease afflicting the nation and the Body Politic. The Demagogue seeks followers and power in one form or another though not necessarily political unless the Folk insist on him taking political power though he appears reluctant to do so. Glenn Beck argues the reasons things haven't gone well is because of a hidden elite who are pursuing their own agenda.It is the liberals, Gays , feminists, the intellectual elite and illegal-immigrants and those immigrants who refuse to completely assimilate to America's values and Christian culture etc. who are destroying the social fabric of the nation.
At the moment that Folk Hero is Glenn Beck who did mange to create the 9/12 Project and follow though on it with the March on Washington -no matter the number of participants 70,000 or 2,000,000 in the end it is whether or not the March was successful on a more symbolic level and if it fulfilled some inner psychological need of the participants and those who are supporters or have some sympathy for the goals of this movement .
The Folk admire and trust Glenn Beck while they characterize Obama as a slick all talk no action politician or worse a politician with a "hidden Agenda". Glenn Beck is seen as being authentic as he shows real concern for America. He gets emotional just like anyone else. He gets angry;he gets solemn; he appears sad or anxious; he cries real tears; he gets pissed off; he expresses his feelings of helplessness and reaches out to his audience in what appears to be a time of a great crisis a crossroads for America; it is now or never ; he says he loves his country and fears it may already be too late. He points to America's external enemies the Islamic Extremist : the Jihadist but then as if his audience is sharing his journey he awakens to the fact that there are even more dangerous enemies of traditional Christian America : that is "the Enemy Within" and so he channels Sen. Joseph McCarthy or Father Coughlin or the anti-semitic Henry Ford or the fanatical John Birchers , Barry Goldwater and George Wallace , Jesse Helms etc.
And who is this "enemy within" it is chameleon like changing all the time though its goals are always the same though the means may change or be adapted. The"Enemy Within" according to Glenn Beck are the liberals, socialists, communists, fascists, collectivists,pacifists, those agents working to create the New World Order. Glenn Beck works his way through one conspiracy theory after the other : is he seeking the one which will most resonate with his audience?. He talks about Obama setting up Fema Camps where those dissidents will be kept after being rounded up by Obama's private army which is only loyal to Obama. He talks about hte evil liberals, the Gay agenda the feminist , the artist and intellectuals who have a deep seated hatred for traditional America. and all those he believes have distorted and twisted the words of the Founding Fathers.
The founding Fathers he argues were all good Christians who set up a Christian Nation which was blessed by God and therefore due to Divine Providence its people and its laws were a reflection of God's Law and superior to the laws or systems of governments of all other nations. Glenn Beck offers these Folk some hope that if they are willing to engage in a full-fledged struggle against the "Enemy Without" and the "Enemy Within" they can recreate America and restore it to its rightful place among nations while making it a true Christian Nation of "Real Americans".
Anyway as for Obama hoping that Americans could develop some empathy for others well good luck with that.
Glenn Beck claiming to be the voice of the average American in the clip below says he is sick of all the whining by the Katrina Victims and 9/11 families whom he believes were just basking in their victim-hood???
Of course Beck and others on the right who were and still are in love with George Bush ,Dick Cheney and the gang don't like any criticism then or now of the Bush Regime. He doesn't want to deal with the fact that Bush et al used 9/11 to further their own agenda to go on a deregulation spree and to enter into an unnecessary war in Iraq .
The Bush Cheney Regime and its supporters used 9/11 families and the The Twin Towers sites for photo ops and then just moved on. They denied the health risk to first responders or to New Yorkers while dragging their feet on erecting a suitable memorial or rebuilding the Towers. Katrina was another obvious failure of the Bush Regime to respond effectively and in a timely fashion to a crisis. Its bureaucracy and contracting out ideology was a grand failure. But to Beck each time the subject arises he gets angry because it might make him rethink his belief or undermine his faith in Bush and that even those"scumbags" in New Orleans are American citizens as he is.
The other bit of irony is that Glenn Beck has not stopped complaining and whining since the election of Obama.
Does Glenn Beck represent the typical American Christian???
Glenn Beck Hates 9/11 Victims Families and Calls Katrina Victims, SCUMBAGS!
GLENN BECK is now using the air waves as if he were channeling the infamous self-aggrandizing bully, blowhard and liar Joseph McCarthy reborn.
Blood in the Water: Hannity & Beck Go After More Obama Officials
The young Turks
And Stephen Lendman in his article discusses Beck's extremism which is in the case of immigration really just racism and nativism and xenophobia.
Glenn Beck's Demagoguery, Right Wing Extremism & Racism"
by Stephen Lendman at Mostlywater.org on Sept. 16, 2009
...At a time of 24-hour news and a proliferation of television and radio talk shows featuring hatemongers and demagogues like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck may stand out as the most unhinged and extremist of all as evidenced by his jihad against anyone to the left of his views, disadvantaged minorities, Muslims, Latino immigrants, and progressive change in some of his most outlandish comments, including:
-- calling Barack Obama a "racist (who) has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture; I don't know what it is....This guy is, I believe, a racist;"
-- calling Van Jones "an avowed, radical, revolutionary communist," then saying "Jones is the tip of the iceberg" as part of his over-the-top campaign against anyone less extremist than himself;
-- stating "The most used phrase in my administration if I were to be President would be 'What the hell do you mean we're out of missiles;' "
-- saying "We need to be the first ones in the recruitment office lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head....In 10 years, Muslims and Arabs will be looking through a razor wire fence at the West;"
-- telling Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison to "prove to me that you are not working with our enemies;"
-- advocating disposing of Guantanamo detainees by shooting them in the head;
-- accusing Al Gore of creating a new "Hitler youth" by promoting environmental awareness, and called for kicking California out of the union;
-- in 2003, telling listeners he was praying for a gruesome death for Democrat presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, and in 2005 saying he fantasized about strangling filmmaker Michael Moore;
-- characterizing Obama's new regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein, as a crazed animal rights activist who believes that rats matter more than people;
...Joe McCarthy's Earlier Jihad Against the Left
In the 1950s, Joe McCarthy's witch-hunts against alleged communists, those on the left, and Democrat administration and other "subversives" included Secretary of State Dean Acheson whom he called "a pompous diplomat in striped pants," General George Marshall when he was Secretary of State for being "soft on communism" and being "a man steeped in falsehood," and many others on his so-called "blacklist."
In 1950, with no proof, he said he had a list of 205 known communists in the State Department, later reduced the number to 57, but said they were passing secret information to the Soviets. He claimed:
"The reason why we find ourselves in a position of impotency is not because the enemy has sent men to invade our shores, but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who had all the benefits that the wealthiest nation on earth has had to offer - the finest homes, the finest college educations, and the finest jobs in Government (and the private sector) we can give."
He characterized enemies as "card-carrying communists." Others as "loyalty risks" or being "soft on communism." For political gain, he vilified patriotic Americans, created years of hysteria, targeted anti-American books in libraries and got them removed...
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Endnotes:
Other related articles :
The Unbearable Lightness of Beck by Frumpzilla at Frump Gazette August 30, 2009
"Why Are African-Americans So Frequently the Subject of Glenn Beck's Ridicule?" By Devona Walker, The Loop.September 16, 2009 via Alternet.org.
There are a lot of problems in America, but right-wingers and the GOP seem to be stuck on making controversy over issues involving black people.
" Ku Klux Klowns" by William Rivers Pitt
September 15, 2009 Truthout
"...To be fair, not everyone in the Republican Party was thrilled with the nauseating display of hatred and unabashed racism in DC this weekend. Several of the GOP's leading lights have raised deep concerns about the party being overtaken by these insane idiots. "Such insiders point to theories running rampant on the Internet," reported The Los Angeles Times on Monday, "such as the idea that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is thus ineligible to be president, or that he is a communist, or that his allies want to set up Nazi-like detention camps for political opponents. Those theories, the insiders say, have stoked the GOP base and have created a "purist" climate in which a figure such as Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) is lionized for his 'You lie!' outburst last week when Obama addressed Congress. They are 'wild accusations and the paranoid delusions coming from the fever swamps,' said David Frum, a conservative author and speechwriter for President George W. Bush who is among the more vocal critics of the party base and of the conservative talk show hosts helping to fan the unrest. 'Like all conservatives, I am concerned about this administration's accumulation of economic power,' Frum said. 'Still, you have to be aware that there's a line where legitimate concerns begin to collapse into paranoid fantasy.'"
Frum was being nice, actually, because he knows better than anyone what took place in Washington this weekend. It was a Klan rally minus the bedsheets and torches. These people don't even have enough shame to hide their faces anymore. If more Republicans like Frum don't come forward to denounce such activities from their right flank, that right flank is going to finish the job of taking over the GOP, and hard as it is to believe, this kind of obnoxious craziness is going to seem quaint by comparison to what will be coming next..."
"The Last Time Right-Wing Hatred Ran Wild Like This a President Was killed "by Eric Boehlert at Media Matters for America, September 18, 2009.
It's a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.via Alternet.org
and check out article by Ed Kilgore: "David Brooks and Anti-Anti-Racism at The New Republic" The Plank, September 18, 2009
His main contention is that the Tea Party movement reflects an authentic all-American populist tradition dating back to Jefferson that is "ill mannered, conspiratorial and over the top — since these movements always are, whether they were led by Huey Long, Father Coughlin or anybody else." So it's "not race," says Brooks. "It's another type of conflict, equally deep and old," and it's mainly about Obama's "elitism" and a "producerist" revolt against redistributionist policies. Nothing to see here, folks, it's just good old-fashioned American populism.
You'd think maybe his own reference to Father Coughlin as an example of right-wing populism would alert Brooks to the folly of his argument. Was Coughlin solely motivated by anti-semitism? No, almost certainly not. Does that mean the anti-semitism he stimulated wasn't real and dangerous, leading eventually to his suppression by his own bishop? Absolutely not.
Lord have mercy, David, think about it: the Ku Klux Klan wasn't just "about race;" it was about hostility to immigrants and to some extent to capitalism; early twentieth-century Kluxers, in alliance with William Jennings Bryan, thought of themselves as "progressives." That was rather cold comfort to the people they tormented and threatened.
"Sever the Link Between populism and Racism" by Scott Kurashige Huffington Post Sept. 18,2009
"Glenn Beck becomes damaged goods:The radio phenom takes over the morning zoo, makes fun of miscarriages and flames out.By Alexander Zaitchik Salon.com
Part 2 next post.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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