Month: August 2009

Fox News Is On Board The Tea Bagger Express – Again

Posted by on August 31, 2009 at 2:58 pm. 13 Comments :

In a reprise of last April’s Tea Party propaganda campaign, Fox News is once again heavily promoting the latest Astroturf movement by rightist opponents of the administration. This episode of tea baggery is focusing specifically on health care reform.

Recall last April, when Fox News not only aired millions of dollars worth of free publicity for the Tea Baggers, they also assigned their anchors to host the events. Neil Cavuto in Sacramento. Greta Van Susteren in DC. Sean Hannity in Atlanta. Glenn Beck in San Antonio.

The latest promotional effort is already underway. One of the first assignments is Griff Jenkins (Bill O’Reilly’s ambush specialist) who is actually tagging along with the Tea Party Express bus tour. His reports consist of unabashed cheerleading for what he falsely identifies as a grassroots movement (It’s more like grassROTS. After all, these people don’t care much for nature). The Express is winding its way across America. paid for by the Our Country Deserves Better PAC, an organization headed by far-right talk radio host Mark Williams.

But the “fair and balanced” network is demonstrating its bias by ignoring another bus tour that is generating as much or more popular appeal as the Tea Baggers. This project, sponsored by Organizing for America and Health Care Reform Now, is taking a similar path across the country, stopping along the way for rallies, and is scheduled to wrap up in Washington, D.C. on September 13, one day after the Tea Baggers. OFA has reported brisk attendence of their events so far:

“…hundreds of health insurance reformers [in Milwaukee] […] Earlier today, more than 3,000 reformers gathered in New York City with the same message of hope. One thousand came out in Portland. Another 1,800 are finishing up a reform event in Austin, Texas. And, nearly 800 rallied for health insurance reform in Fargo, North Dakota today.

“These crowds come on the heels of last night’s 1,500-plus reformers gathering in Denver, Thursday’s 1,000 plus rally in Albuquerque and another 1,100 on Wednesday night in Phoenix”

With turnout like that, these events are at least as newsworthy as those by the tea bag/insurance lobby. Yet Fox News has invoked a virtual blackout on any news of reform activists. Not only do they not have someone like Griff Jenkins riding along with the reform bus, they haven’t even reported that the effort exists (except for a couple of tangential and backhanded references). What might the media landscape look like if there were an alternative to the overtly partisan Fox News that published something like this:

I harbor no illusions that anything like that will happen. It isn’t an accident that Fox News is ignoring these events – it’s deliberate. They have a vested interest in keeping this information from their viewers. In addition, they surely don’t want to raise the profile of these events for fear that it might enhance turnout. So Fox has committed to suppressing coverage as part of their political agenda.

What would it take to get Fox News to assign a reporter to the Reform Now bus tour? Could any amount of phone calls or emails turn the trick? Could a sustained campaign of exposing and/or ridiculing Fox for their journalistic dishonesty result in a reporter (even a biased one) embedded with the reformists? Probably not. But here’s another question: What would it take for the rest of the media to cover the reform bus tour? Because they aren’t in the game either.

There are going to be two events on the weekend of September 12 and 13. One of them is getting premium promotional services from a major television network and its extended media platforms in print, radio, and online. The other is not. It’s impossible to predict the attendance for either of these rallies, but if progressives could draw more reform advocates in spite of the media imbalance, it would go a long way toward educating our representatives, and the press, as to where the people really stand on this issue.

Your assignment, if you chose to accept it, is to get to D.C., if you possibly can, on September 13. If that’s not possible, get to a local reform event. And by all means contact every media outlet, not just Fox, and ask them why they are not covering this truly grassroots movement.

The Organizing for America Action Center:
Where you can find local events and send letters to your local and national newspapers.

Contact these National TV news networks and ask them to cover the Health Reform Now bus tour.
Fox News / CBS News / NBC News / ABC News / CNN News

The Man Behind The Defend Glenn Beck Web Site

Posted by on August 29, 2009 at 1:57 pm. 36 Comments :

Shortly after Glenn Beck said that President Obama is a racist who has “a deep seated hatred for white people,” the activist group Color of Change launched a campaign aimed at Beck’s advertisers. The campaign has enjoyed unparalleled success, persuading over forty companies to withhold their advertising dollars from Beck’s program.

In response to the action by Color of Change, a conservative activist created a web site to counter the growing opposition to Beck. DefendGlenn was created to instigate complaints directed at the companies who pulled their ads from Beck, and to thank his remaining advertisers. Instead, the site has become a repository of lies and disinformation, as well as a sycophantic center of blind adulation for Beck.

It is impossible to gauge whether the site has any measurable influence, except to note that none of the companies boycotting Beck have reversed their positions, nor cited DefendBeck as motivation for their actions. However, the press has taken notice and is beginning to treat the site as the legitimate counterbalance to Color of Change. Consequently, whenever there is a mention of Color of Change, the media, in its misguided pursuit of balance, will mention DefendGlenn as well. This is another example of media laziness. Balance is not achieved by juxtaposing truth with lies. Color of Change documents its impact with letters from the companies they have solicited, and their leaders and staff are identified on their web site. But DefendGlenn provides no such documentation, and their leadership is a mystery to anyone who visits their site.

So who is DefendGlenn? The only identifying information on the site is a disclaimer at the bottom of its donations page:

DISCLAIMER: DEFENDGLENN.com is a FAN SITE, and is not affiliated with Glenn Beck, the Glenn Beck Program, Fox New Channel, NewsCorp Inc., or Premiere Radio Networks. DEFENDGLENN.com is a project of United States Justice Foundation. The United States Justice Foundation (USJF) a non-profit organization, whose tax-exempt status under IRS section 501(c)(3) has been recognized by the Internal Revenue Service. Your contributions are tax deductible. Corporate contributions may be accepted.

The United States Justice Foundation describes itself as “a nonprofit public interest, legal action organization dedicated to instruct, inform and educate the public on, and to litigate, significant legal issues confronting America.” The issues they regard as significant span the conservative spectrum from reverse discrimination to taxation to term limits. They litigated on behalf of lobbyists who opposed the Clinton Health Care Task Force in 1994.

The executive director of the USJF is Gary Kreep. His biography reveals that he is the general counsel to the racist, anti-immigration group, The Minutemen. He has been affiliated with the radical and violent anti-choice group, Operation Rescue. He was a California delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1976 and 1980.

Most recently Kreep has been a leader of the “birther” movement that seeks to nullify last November’s election on the grounds that Obama is not a U.S. citizen. He has been one of the most vocal proponents of the birther myths going back to at least November 2008, when he tried to prevent California delegates to the Electoral College from casting their votes. He originally worked with birther queen, Orly Taitz, representing several clients, including Alan Keyes. He has since replaced Taitz as counsel to birther litigant “Rev.” Wiley Drake. Drake is notable for publicly praying for the death of Obama. When a man like Drake selects you to represent him, over Orly Taitz, that is quite an endorsement.

Obviously Kreep is a far-right extremist and an enabler of some of the most dangerous and radical people and organizations in the country. But none of this portion of his resume is disclosed by the press when they help to promote his activities. That oversight needs to be corrected immediately. The urgency for this rests on more than just the potential for mischief from the DefendGlenn project. As noted above, any funds collected from the donation page on DefendGlenn is actually going directly to the USJF. So on the pretense of supporting Glenn Beck, money is being diverted to causes like the Minutemen, Operation Rescue, and efforts to advance the birther myths and to defeat health care reform. Infact, it might actually be Kreep’s sole intention to exploit the popularity of Beck, and the loyalty of his disciples, to further his other political objectives. Beck certainly has a broader fan base than the birthers or the USJF, and consequently, greater revenue potential.

It is important, therefore to apprise the media of the truth with regard to DefendGlenn the USJF, and Gary Kreep. Whenever we see a press citation of DefendGlenn as the opposite side of the Beck boycott debate, we must take the initiative to inform them of the facts. We cannot allow this front group for wacko rightists to successfully deceive the media and public.

Rupert Murdoch Says 9/11 Is Bullshit And Should Be Forgotten

Posted by on August 28, 2009 at 11:58 am. 1 Comments :

The faux patriots at Fox Nation are making a habit of exploiting the image of 9/11 and contriving false and negative associations with Democrats. Last week the Fox Nationalists published an article accusing President Obama of desecrating the memory of 9/11 because he supported a National Day of Service to be held in conjunction with other memorials. The view at Fox is that Americans coming together to make a better country is a horrible insult to the anniversary of the terrorist act. So Fox Nation posted this image juxtaposing the burning World Trade Center towers with the President:

Their undisguised intent was to visually associate Obama with a horrific event that he had nothing to do with. Well, today Fox is at it again with an even more repulsive and dishonest defamation:

Just three days after the death of Sen. Kennedy, Fox Nation found a way to denigrate his memory in the same fashion as they did with Obama. In this case, however, they really had to test their capacity for lying because the headline attached to the image is 100% false. The Fox Nationalist’s editors title the item “Huffington Post Compares Kennedy Death to 9/11.” But the Huffington Post did no such thing. There was no article about Kennedy and 9/11 at all, much less one comparing them. The headline is a blatant, brazen, bald-faced lie.

The article that Fox Nation links to is from Newsbusters, the uber-conservative media watch/lap dog of Brent Bozell’s propaganda tank, the Media Research Center. Newsbusters reported that Matt Cooper, editor of Conde Nast Portfolio, tweeted:

“It feels a bit like 9/11 on Martha’s Vineyard. End-of-summer weather is achingly beautiful but the mood is melancholy because of Teddy.”

For the record: After receiving some replies on Twitter that questioned whether the simile was appropriate, Cooper tweeted that he had clumsily stated his observation and only meant that both were otherwise pleasant summer days that were marred by sadness, and that is was not a comparison of Kennedy’s death to the 3,000 murders on 9/11.

So, what does Cooper’s tweet have to do with the Huffington Post? Absolutely nothing. There was no article on HuffPo that was remotely associated with this. However, Cooper has written articles in the past that appeared on HuffPo. The last one was in December 2008. So according to Fox Nation, if you are the editor of Portfolio, but you wrote something for HuffPo nine months ago, and then you tweet something on your personal Twitter account not affiliated with either publication, then obviously you are speaking for the Huffington Post and even your misstatements are attributable to them.

And best of all, for the Fox Nationalists, is that you get to post a disgusting image that conflates the recently deceased senator with a national catastrophe, and place it all above a headline that is a lie.

So did Rupert Murdoch actually say that 9/11 is bullshit? Well he is certainly exploiting it for crass political purposes which could be construed as regarding it as excrement that is not worthy of respect. So by that measure, my headline is just as accurate as the one on Fox Nation.

Glenn Beck Is (Still) A Dirtbag

Posted by on August 27, 2009 at 8:55 pm. 7 Comments :

This is day four of Glenn Beck’s special, “The New Republic.” In today’s sermon, Pastor Beck sought to inspire his flock with tales of his own decrepitude. He started with a reminder of his past as an alcoholic:

“After I sobered up I admitted that I was a dirtbag, man, I was DIRTBAG!

I have tried my hardest to not be a dirtbag anymore.”

He’s going to have to try harder, because the latest raving installment of his Acute Paranoia Revue is a downhill skid into utter dementia. The premise is that President Obama is recruiting a force of civilian troops that Beck speculates will be aimed at his parishioners, Sarah Palin, Tea Baggers, and most frighteningly, himself. However, A quick glance at the non-partisan Factcheck.org tells us that the “civilian national security force” Obama referenced is not the dark conspiracy imagined by Beck. In fact, Beck appears to have deliberately misrepresented Obama’s remarks on the subject. In the following quote from Obama, note the highlighted snippet in the middle, which is the only part that Beck cited:

“We will enlist our veterans to find jobs and support for other vets, and to be there for our military families. And we’re going to grow our Foreign Service, open consulates that have been shuttered and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy. We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set.

“We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. We need to use technology to connect people to service. We’ll expand USA Freedom Corps to create online networks where American can browse opportunities to volunteer.”

Obviously Obama was not talking about a military force. He was talking about AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, the USA Freedom Corps (a Bush initiative), and the Foreign Service. Just as obviously, Beck knew the complete quote but chose to play only the bit of it that he could frame as scary. This could not be more dishonest if Beck just declared that Obama was the Queen of England. And this was not an incidental segment, Beck devoted the whole hour to this fabrication even though he knew it was a lie.

At one point Beck asks why no one in the administration is answering his questions. It’s probably the same reason that they wouldn’t answer questions posed by Charles Manson or Fred Phelps. Paranoid schizophrenics are not entitled to have presidents respond to their delusional queries.

Is it any wonder that more and more major American corporations want nothing to do with this nutcase? Today, Color of Change announced ten more companies pulling out of Beck’s show. Here is a the complete list. And for a good laugh, check out the list of advertisers remaining with Beck.

Fox News is pretending that the boycott has no had effect on their business. They’ve said that any advertisers that pulled out of Beck’s show just shifted their ads to other programs on Fox. Even if that’s so, it doesn’t erase the fact that the telemarketing ventures that now make up Beck’s ad clientele are certainly not paying the same rates that Procter & Gamble or GEICO did. And the best evidence that the boycott has drawn blood is Beck himself. He is too cowardly to directly address the matter, but today he made a thinly disguised reference to “powers” that are trying to “drum him out.” And, dagnabbit, he’s not backing down…

“I will use American ingenuity and my ingenuity and I will will pull myself up. And I will find another way to get this message out on a platform that will be a thousand times more powerful. Because of my faith, I know how this story ends. The truth shall set you free. America, you prepare to witness mighty and powerful miracles in your lifetime.”

What I’d like to know is, what is this platform, to which he refers, that is a thousand times more powerful than what he’s currently using? And if he can use it to get his message out, why isn’t he doing so now? And just what is he alluding to when he talks about the “mighty and powerful miracles” we’re about to witness? If I didn’t know better, I’d think he is prophesying the Apocalypse. Nah…He’s no messianic cult leader. Is he?

The Pentagon Approved Press Corps

Posted by on August 27, 2009 at 11:27 am. 1 Comments :

Stars and Stripes is reporting a disturbing initiative emanating from the Pentagon’s communications office:

“As more journalists seek permission to accompany U.S. forces engaged in escalating military operations in Afghanistan, many of them could be screened by a controversial Washington-based public relations firm contracted by the Pentagon to determine whether their past coverage has portrayed the U.S. military in a positive light.”

This is another example of the government attempting to color the coverage of military affairs in favorable terms. It is nothing short of propaganda, which is illegal when conducted by government agencies and aimed at the American public:

“No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by the Congress.” [Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-447, div. G, title II, 624, 118 Stat. 2809, 3278 (Dec. 8, 2004). (The language of the prohibition has remained virtually unchanged since 1951.)]

What makes this story something of a surprise is that this isn’t the Bush Defense Department implementing this policy – it’s the Obama administration. And to add further to the offense, the contractor hired by the Pentagon to perform these screenings is The Rendon Group, a PR firm that was used by the Bush administration to justify the phony war in Iraq by producing false reports that asserted the presence of weapons of mass destruction. Rendon was also responsible for the Iraqi National Congress, a front group formed to oust Saddam Hussein. Ahmed Chalabi, a criminal, liar, and, not surprisingly a favorite of American neo-cons, was installed as the head of the INC.

There is no justification for the sort of manipulative practices revealed by Stars and Stripes. The press should not permit themselves to be controlled by government and/or military bureaucrats. And there is no excuse for the current White House to affiliate itself in any way with the disreputable likes of the Rendon Group. If this President expects to be taken seriously as a reformer, and an advocate of transparency and honest governance, this relationship with Rendon must be discontinued immediately.

Update 8/30/09: Good news. The Pentagon has canceled the Rendon contract. That was fast.

Chris Wallace Contemplates The End Of Life

Posted by on August 26, 2009 at 3:29 pm. 1 Comments :

From the Department of Prize Winning Stupidity…

Chris Wallace of Fox News was interviewing Jim Towey, former director of faith-based initiatives in the Bush administration, about the trumped up “death book” controversy. This is a pamphlet distributed by the Veteran’s Administration that assists people in making end-of-life decisions, like preparing a living will. Wallace has twisted this into another ludicrous myth that accuses the VA of promoting suicide. And then he let’s this whopper loose:

WALLACE: I guess one of the questions I have about it is why would those even be in a document about end of life? Usually people don’t even contemplate end of life until they’re in an irreversible coma.

Yep. That’s when I plan to contemplate end-of-life. The next time I’m in an irreversible coma it’ll be the first thing I do.

The Fox Nation Makes (Up) The News

Posted by on August 26, 2009 at 12:59 pm. 5 Comments :

Over at Rupert Murdoch’s Internet propaganda outlet, The Fox Nation, they are stridently pushing forward on their mission to mis- and dis-inform their readers and the world. Here are some examples of this week’s outrageous departures from honesty, decency, and journalistic ethics:

1) The Fox Nationalists see fit to juxtapose an image of the burning World Trade Center towers with that of President Obama, as if he had something to do with it. Apparently they object to September 11 being designated a Day of National Service, because who would ever want our memory of that tragedy being tarnished by Americans coming together to make their country better?

Also note that Sen. Kennedy’s passing was the second most important story according to Fox Nation.

2) This one will piss off Ron Paul supporters. A survey conducted by US News and World Report asked a dozen GOP and conservative leaders to come up with a top 10 list of people who would be the leaders of the “town hallers” (or should that be howlers?). The image posted by the Fox Nationalists shows those who came in second through fifth. Ron Paul came in first, but somehow his photo got lost.

I want to go on record as casting my vote for Sarah Palin – A Howler leader if there ever was one.

3) Here is a revealing graphic that I thought should be noted for the blatant association of Obama with a famous fictional crime family. What provoked this visual editorializing? It was Obama saying that he liked the movie “The Godfather.” If everyone who likes that movie was alleged to be a Goodfellow, it would mean most of the free world are criminals.

4) Another story featured on Fox nation was titled, “Griff Jenkins Confronts Howard Dean at Town Hall.” But if you click on the link you will see a five minute video that contains a ten second exchange with Dr. Dean and four minutes and fifty seconds of tea baggers. Some confrontation.

5) In addition to the Fox Nationalists opposing Americans participating in a Day of Service, they are also opposed to Organizing for America offering internships to young Americans. I wonder if they would also object to these internships offered by Fox News.

6) And just to get that awful taste of patriotism and public service out of our mouths, Fox Nation celebrates Town Howlers who threaten to incite “An Uprising That’s Going to Make the Boston Tea Party Look Like a Picnic!” Now that’s the sort of wholesome activity that Fox can support for America’s youth.

That’s all for today. Stay tuned for more flagrant and asinine propaganda from the Fox Nationalists.

Cable News Remembers Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

Posted by on August 26, 2009 at 12:58 am. 4 Comments :

Statement from the Kennedy family:

“We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever,” the Kennedy family said in a statement. “He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it.”

At a time like this, our thoughts are with the Kennedy family and we wish them peace and the consolation of having known and loved one of the great statesmen of our time.

However, as a site that observes and documents the media, I cannot let it go unnoticed that both CNN and MSNBC broke into their regular programming with news of Sen. Kennedy’s passing, and continued broadcasting commentary and condolences uninterrupted. When Fox News eventually reported the news, they quickly returned to the reruns of Greta Van Susteren and Glenn Beck. Thereafter they would intersperse brief updates, always resuming their scheduled programs.

It is no secret that I am an ardent critic of Fox News, but even I would not have predicted this demonstration of disrespect and journalistic lack of judgment. Fox News gave more consideration to the passing of Michael Jackson than they are now giving to Sen. Kennedy. That is a sad way to live up to a reputation of political prejudice.

R.I.P. Edward M. Kennedy.

Glenn Beck: Arguing With An Idiot (Himself)

Posted by on August 25, 2009 at 6:59 pm. 5 Comments :

I know, the question of Glenn Beck’s sanity was settled long ago. But what is happening now is more than just a question of sanity. Beck seems to be losing what remains of his cognitive ability. On his radio program today, Beck staged a little play as a retort to a Jon Stewart segment that demonstrated Beck’s hypocrisy with regard to health care.

In this video Stewart plays clips of Beck repeatedly asserting that health care in the U.S. is the best in the world. Then he plays a clip wherein Beck trashes American health care as a nightmare. It’s pretty routine Stewart brilliance, but Beck takes exception on his radio show.

At the outset, Beck has his second banana, Pat, question Beck as to how he could both praise and disparage America’s health care system. Beck responds by saying…

“So to a 45 year old man with a wife, four kids, who have dealt with the medical system hundreds of times in their lives, your main argument to debunk the quality of our entire healthcare system is to bring up my one bad experience?”

Clearly Beck’s rebuttal is that the health care system is nearly perfect. He asserts that he’s had a lifetime of exposure to a system that has only failed him or his family on a single occasion. Then Pat, surprisingly, nails Beck with the “nightmare” quote that confirms that Beck was talking about the whole system, not a single, exceptional incident. Beck’s response to this was…

“The idea of being drugged and cut open to avoid dying of, you know, something else, then waking only to deal with paperwork and recovery is a nightmare, but like our legal system, or our political system, it’s the worst system in the world… except for all of the others.”

So in the course of a minute or two, Beck has asserted that our health care system is nearly perfect and rarely has any problems, and that it is riddled with problems but they aren’t as bad as every other country’s problems. He even explicitly says that our system is “far from perfect.” Which one is it, Glenn? Do we have a system that in 45 years made a single mistake? Or one that is far from perfect?

After this cognitive disconnect, Beck has the gall to say that Stewart “doesn’t bother trying to make sense of his arguments.” Well, that’s something Beck should know about. But it gets even curiouser. The subject changes to Beck’s upcoming book, “Arguing with Idiots” (something else Beck should know about). Beck declares that it is “the best book we’ve ever done.” Mighty high praise from a guy who seconds later can’t remember the name of the book and has to ask his radio sidekick. Shortly thereafter, Beck forgets the name of the 2nd Amendment expert that he quoted in the book. And then he can’t recall when the book is being released.

But what’s really funny is that Beck claims that he wrote this book for the youth, high school and college students who he says are riddled with ADD. Plus, he has an even larger purpose for the book:

“We’re trying to have we’re trying to make this interactive so when you’ve read the book and then you’re standing there and you’re at a town hall meeting and they’re like, yeah, well, healthcare… you just dial some digits and the arguments will come right to you because you’ll read it if you don’t take it with you all the time, you’ll read it and you’ll be like, oh, my gosh, I’ve got to remember that. So we’re trying to give you a way where you can just dial digits and they will be e mailed to you instantly to give you some of the arguments.”

You see? It is his way of funneling talking points to his town hall proxies. He even admits that his goal is to give his disciples a litany of arguments that they can deny came from him:

“Everything is footnoted in this thing so you can go to the original source and find out exactly, that way your kid doesn’t have to say, ‘I learned that from Glenn Beck” and immediately be discredited.’

At least he is self-aware enough to recognize that any data attributed to him lacks credibility. But there is still cause for concern when this guy can’t remember pertinent things about his brand new book or form a coherent argument detailing his own health care experience. And he apparently believes that his audience has the same cognitive deficiencies, which resulted in his writing this book for them. It’s pretty sad when you think about it.

I Have Here In My Hand A List Of Names…

Posted by on August 25, 2009 at 5:56 pm. 6 Comments :

On day two of Glenn Beck’s week long special “The New Republic,” Beck extends his diatribe against the Obama czars. On the first day he focused extensively on Van Jones, who was a co-founder of Color of Change, the group spearheading the Beck advertiser boycott (coincidence?). Today Beck sought to lengthen the list of Communist subversives that he imagines are squirreled away in the dark recesses of the government.

Just like old Joe McCarthy, Beck has in his hands a list of names. A list that he impugns as commie traitors. A list that he implies is evidence that President Obama himself is a commie traitor. The list: Cass Sunstein, Carol Browner, John Holdren, Ezekiel Emmanuel, Jeff Jones, are all respected professionals and public servants. Add to these persons the organizations at whom Beck is pointing his finger of righteousness: ACORN, SEIU, the Apollo Alliance, AFL-CIO, and any environmental group he can find. Yet Beck has no problem slandering these groups and people. At long last, Glenn, have you no decency?

Beck appears to have single-handedly reanimated the defunct red-baiting era of McCarthy with a new twist. He has no official power to investigate or punish his targets, but he has a bigger megaphone than McCarthy could have ever dreamed. And while McCarthy sought to remove the alleged fiends from government employment, Beck seeks to tie them to the President and whip up a holy fury against him that can only lead to a violent overthrow. Beck doesn’t even offer any other alternative to what he insists is a committed cabal intent on subverting our nation’s most sacred values. To the people who believe what Beck says, where is the line over which they would not cross to forestall the destruction of everything they hold dear?

It’s too bad that McCarthy didn’t have a funny mustache or some other distinctive characteristic that we could draw onto Beck to drive home the similarity. This week’s series of programs is establishing Beck as the foremost McCarthy impressionist since McCarthy himself.