The Problem Is Bigger Than Glenn Beck

Posted by on February 26, 2011 at 11:05 am. NO Comments :

Glenn BeckI have been writing about the cerebral rot virus that is Glenn Beck for quite a while. And in all of that time I have striven to note that, as bad as Beck is, he is but a parasitic wart on the butt of the rightist media. Almost two years ago I wrote an article that showed how “Fox News Is Killing The Republican Party.”

You simply cannot grouse about Beck in a vacuum. He has a media machine that makes his brand of lunatic harangue possible. It starts with Fox News and Premiere Radio Networks and extends to the web of deluded defenders he has attracted – from conservative media moles like Andrew Breitbart to political unreality stars like Sarah Palin.

Lately some on the right have had the cobwebs brushed from their eyes. Reliable conservatives like Bill Kristol have found the courage to step away from Beck and the mental short circuit that defines his world view, but they continue to see him in isolation.

This week in the Washington Post, conservative Jennifer Rubin came a little bit closer to the source of the rhetorical shock doctrine that is electrifying the gray matter of America’s right wingers by saying…

“Conservative groups and candidates should be forewarned: If they host, appear with or defend him they should be prepared to have his extremist views affixed to them.”

That’s true, but what she just barely missed is that it isn’t just conservative groups and candidates who are infected by exposure to Beck. It is also his so-called “news” associates attached to Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Roger Ailes and Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and Murdoch himself are covered in Beck’s detritus.

Conor Friedersdorf has realized these broader truths and articulated them nicely in his article at the FrumForum observing the necessity to confront…

“…the fact that Fox News under Roger Ailes knowingly broadcasts factually inaccurate and egregiously misleading nonsense every day.”

And…

“It’s going to be very difficult, however, to persuade conservatives to start regularly evaluating Fox News and talk radio on the substance of the rhetoric offered, and policing its absurdities.”

And…

“Those writing as if Beck is an extreme outlier in the conservative world should use their newly opened eyes to survey the rhetorical landscape. Yes, his style is singular, and his conspiracy theories are particularly colorful. But is his brand of conspiratorial nonsense really any more blinkered than some of what’s uttered by other conservatives in good standing?”

Exactly. The diversion from reality is not limited to rodeo clowns like Beck. It has spread throughout the Rightosphere and threatens to make a mockery of everyone it touches. And Fox News in particular must be held to account for the “factually inaccurate and egregiously misleading nonsense” it feeds its gullible audience.

For our part, the left should make a point of connecting the dots between the crazies and the conservative mainstream who think they can profit from the controversy to which they contribute without bearing responsibility for degrading the discourse. And, as Rubin said, everything that the Beckoids say must be affixed to his enablers, particularly Murdoch and Ailes, until they take explicit steps to inoculate themselves.

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Why The Anti-Union Message Doesn’t Sell

Posted by on February 25, 2011 at 2:24 pm. 15 Comments :

Fox Nation is featuring a new video from Minnesota Majority, a Tea Party group that is radical even by Tea Party standards. The video plays ominous music behind a series of claims that they must think will dampen the growing movement for labor and working families in America.

However, like many of the attacks on the Wisconsin protests that sparked this uprising, the anti-union crowd may be hurting their own cause. The video (below) begins by noting the massive protests in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Indiana, and it asks why these union workers are protesting. Then it answers its own question and, in doing so, makes an outstanding argument in favor of unions. The video notes that union workers:

  • Make more money
  • Have better benefits
  • Enjoy greater job security
  • Retire earlier

What a travesty! Unions are succeeding in doing what they promise to do. This cheesy attack ad is actually an advertisement for union membership.

I’m sure the Fox Nationalists hope that viewers will come away resentful that union members are better off than non-union members. But the problem with that is that it’s true. Union members are better off. So the question is whether people who are not presently in unions will want to drag their unionized friends and family down to their level, or will they be motivated to form and join unions themselves so they can reap the obvious benefits of collective bargaining? It seems to me that most people would rather advance their own interest than to hurt others. Particularly when those others may be their spouses, their parents, their children, and others who are close to them.

Of course, the ad goes on to lie about the use of tax dollars to advance the union agenda, and implies that union workers are living in the lap of undeserved luxury. But it fails to acknowledge that unions have recognized the difficult economic times and agreed to make responsible concessions that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker refuses to accept.

In the end, if you inform people who have common sense and compassion that union membership will provide them with better pay and working conditions, as this ad does inadvertently, they will almost always be more likely to choose the path that would improve their lives than one that would harm others.

That’s what makes the argument of the anti-union crowd so difficult to sell. They have to persuade people to set aside their hopes and aspirations and force their friends and family to do so as well. Sharing sacrifice during tough times is something Americans have faced before, but it never works to ask them to abandon their dreams and settle for a diminished future for their children.

Please Note: Tomorrow is the Rally to Save the American Dream. Use this link to find the one nearest you. Stand up with your neighbors for workers and families. The way out of this economic valley is to join together for progress. Don’t let the pessimists divide us.


Murdoch Media Ignores Charges Against Fox News Boss Roger Ailes

Posted by on February 25, 2011 at 3:23 am. 3 Comments :


Yesterday the New York Times published a bombshell story revealing allegations that Fox News chairman Roger Ailes asked an employee to lie to federal investigators to protect a close friend and political comrade.

The article said that Ailes had asked Judith Regan, then head of a publishing unit at News Corp’s HarperCollins, to conceal her affair with Bernard Kerik, whom President Bush had nominated to be Secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik was an associate of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani who was mounting a presidential campaign. Giuliani was a friend of Ailes.

Giuliani’s nascent campaign might have been grounded before takeoff if news of Kerik’s affair had gotten out. Plus, there were concerns that Regan had information about Giuliani that would also have been embarrassing for the candidate.

Fragments of this story were revealed in a lawsuit that Regan had filed after Ailes fired her, but no names were disclosed. The new story in the Times fingers Ailes as the executive who had told Regan to lie to investigators.

This revelation could have harsh consequences for Ailes. His actions may constitute a federal crime. Short of that, it could impact his status at Fox News. Having a chairman who is potentially a criminal, and whose alleged criminal activity was aimed at protecting a political ally, is not the sort of thing a news network ought to condone. Lucky for Ailes, the only thing his network has to do with news is that they put it on their logo.

In keeping with their aversion to reporting the news, Fox News has blacked out any coverage of the story about Ailes. This story has been picked up by dozens of news enterprises including the New York Daily News, Forbes, USA Today, Politico, and the Hollywood Reporter, since having been reported first by the Times. But in the Murdoch empire it doesn’t exist. It is unquestionably newsworthy subject matter involving the head of one of the nation’s biggest media companies. It contains all the elements of compelling reading, including crime, sex, and political and corporate intrigue. Yet there has been no sign of it on Fox News, or in the Wall Street Journal, or in the New York Post, or on Fox Business Network. Neither has it been covered by notable conservative news outfits like the Washington Times, or Andrew Breitbart’s “Big” sites, or WorldNetDaily, or Human Events, or National Review, or NewsMax, or the Weekly Standard.

Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that there has yet to be any mention of this by the big broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC. These networks in the past have taken pains to cover for Fox News when it has been under attack for shoddy and biased reporting. There seems to be a mutual defense treaty in the television news community that calls for members to support one another, even though Fox isn’t actually a news network by objective standards. But what other explanation is there for the broadcast nets to ignore this story while their colleagues in print are all over it?

This is our so-called “liberal” media at work. The chairman of the top cable news network is accused of a federal crime that involves political shenanigans, and much of the press averts their eyes and waves it off. And while the media at large deserve criticism for not honestly informing the public, the Murdoch empire earns extra condemnation for hypocrisy. After all, they have unrestricted access to the subject of this scandal, yet they choose to shield him.

[Update:] The industry trade paper AdWeek confirms that News Corp has failed to report on the allegations against Ailes.


The Perfect Storm: A Glenn Beck Delusion

Posted by on February 24, 2011 at 10:28 am. 7 Comments :


If the above picture frightens you…good! We are at a crucial time in not only our nation’s history, but also in the history of the entire Western world. There are powerful forces at work that, when looked at individually, are still quite serious but each seems somewhat manageable. However, when we examine these events and the possibility that they could happen collectively, well–then my friend, we’re facing something I like to call The Perfect Storm

[Note: I removed the link to Beck’s “Perfect Storm” site because it was generating a security warning. Visit at your own risk: http://archive.glennbeck.com/perfectstorm/index.shtml]

That is Glenn Beck’s introduction to the web site dedicated to his Apocalyptic prophesy of the End of Days for America and beyond. The page is a collection of unrelated links to news stories of crisis points in the world that add up to some imaginary and coordinated global catastrophe. Are you scared yet? Even though a couple of weeks ago Beck said that “I don’t ever want to frighten you,” he must not have meant it because that’s almost all he ever does. And, as he states above, he thinks it’s a good thing. So don’t get too comfortable when he attempts to pacify your fears, because the worst is still to come.

In recent weeks Beck has proffered his vision of an impending doom. It is, says he, being triggered by a series of foreboding occurrences that he describes alternately as an “Archduke Ferdinand moment” or “The Coming Insurrection” or, of course, The Perfect Storm (…orm…orm…orm…ormmm).

This terrifying event, in its most recent manifestation, consists of a wave of international unrest from Cairo, Egypt to Madison, WI. In Beck’s spaghetti-tangle of a brain, all of these uprisings are a part of the same global conspiracy to impose a worldwide Caliphate ruled by Sharia law under the tyrannical direction of the Puppet Master, George Soros. And if there is one thing of which Beck is certain it’s that The Perfect Storm that he has been warning about is upon us. He made that specific declaration this week:

“It’s called The Perfect Storm. And I can’t honestly believe that we’re finally here.”

Perhaps the reason that Beck is wallowing in some measure of disbelief is that he was equally certain that The Perfect Storm had arrived on a few prior occasions (h/t MMFA):

01/31/11: I’ve been talking about The Perfect Storm [and] an Archduke Ferdinand moment […] I believe that Tunisia or Egypt may be that moment.

11/30/10: The time that I told you would come of The Perfect Storm is here.

11/15/10: This is The Perfect Storm I told you about five years ago.

08/12/10: I told you five years ago, Perfect Storm. It’s here.

05/03/10: It is The Perfect Storm theory that I told you five years ago. I told you a year ago it is coming on shore. Here it is, gang.

03/25/10: I’ve talked about almost — gosh, probably eight years now. A Perfect Storm would come. It’s here.

04/28/09: [T]there is a Perfect Storm that has come onshore. I’ve been talking about it for years, and it just came onshore.

11/24/08: I’ve been talking about The Perfect Storm for five years. It has come to shore and everyone has said to me, “You’re right, it is crazy.”

11/21/08: We are headed for dangerous times and this is The Perfect Storm that I have been warning about.

07/15/08: We’re in The Perfect Storm that I’ve been warning coming, we’re in The Perfect Storm.

06/30/08: I’ve been predicting The Perfect Storm for months. But now with oil prices soaring and stocks plummeting, the storm is finally coming ashore.

So that’s a dozen declarations in two and half years of the advent of the Judgment Day that Beck has been prophesying for five years, or eight years, or a few months, depending on which declaration you choose to believe. It appears that his storm falls somewhere short of perfect. Beck is like the street preacher with the sign insisting that “The end is near,” who has been parading up and down 6th Avenue for thirty years. He’s like the evangelist who says that Jesus will return on Friday, and then spends Saturday scrambling to come up with a new date.

In February of 2009, Beck addressed his fixation in a letter to his congregation:

“The ‘Perfect Storm’ message has been tough for me to bring to you. It takes a toll on me and I know it takes a toll on you. Several of my closest friends and colleagues told me that if I didn’t shut-up with all the ‘gloom and doom’ talk my ratings and advertising would suffer—they were right—but I owed it to you to keep bringing you the message, and I did.”

Indeed, Beck did keep bringing the message…and bringing it, again and again. And his ratings and advertising did suffer. He’s lost about half his audience on Fox News and more than 300 advertisers have refused to permit their ads on his show. But did that stop him? Of course not. He is divinely inspired. He is also supported and protected by Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch who have made him the face of their so-called “news” network. On his Perfect Storm web site Beck promised that he would…

“…do my part by keeping this page updated and making sure you have access to the most current information.”

The page was last updated in May of 2008. I guess managing the fate of mankind has interfered with his promise to do his part.

Pope Glenn BeckYet his disciples continue to have faith in his vacant pronouncements. They follow blindly, convinced of his infallibility. How many times does he have to get it wrong before people will throw up their hands and stumble off to find another Snake Oil peddler? Is their faith in St. Beck so powerful that he could tell them that Obama is the Anti-Christ and they would buy it? To be fair, Beck hasn’t made that allegation yet. He merely hosted the author of “What Obama and the Antichrist have in common” on his program to explain the connection between Egypt and Wisconsin.

As Beck continues to sermonize on the evils of democratic uprisings in the Middle East, and the danger of the Madison Brotherhood and teachers’ unions in Wisconsin, remember that he is only seeking to protect the world from what he says is the single, unified goal of all the enemies of mankind: KAOS! (Where is Maxwell Smart when you need him?)

So beware, America, and stock up on water, guns and gold. Nail shut your bunkers and get down on your knees and repent harder than you’ve ever repented before. Because The Perfect Storm is here and it will wash away all the sinners and non-believers. And then it will brew a lovely pot of tea.


Zero Tolerance? Fox News Foxed Up Again

Posted by on February 23, 2011 at 10:25 am. 3 Comments :

Fox News Faux PasIs there a more incompetent news network on the air than Fox News? This is an operation that has screwed up so often that the management had to issue a memo warning employees to stop screwing up. Apparently it didn’t do much good because the “errors” are still rampant.

This morning on Fox and Friends, Brian Kilmeade sought to slam down a Democratic guest who asserted that the public was standing with the unions against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

In rebuttal Kilmeade referenced a poll in USA Today that showed that 61% of respondents favored legislation that would strip unions of their collective bargaining rights. He also presented the graphic to the left to illustrate his point.

There’s just one problem with that. The numbers are the reverse of what was shown and said. In reality, 61% oppose stripping unions of their collective bargaining rights. Forty-four minutes later, in the final minute of the program, Kilmeade apologized for the error and displayed a corrected version of the poll graphic. However, this was not a typo. During the debate Kilmeade was ready to rebut the Democrat with what he said were the poll results. So he had the same numbers as the botched graphic in his program notes. Kilmeade was able to falsely argue that the public was behind the governor during the debate segment, but the correction came at the end of the show with no further discussion.

Isn’t it odd how every time Fox News makes a mistake like this it favors their right-wing slant? Numbers are reversed; criminal Republicans are identified as Democrats; maps are mislabeled. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.

The brass at Fox News, however, is not amused. After a spate of embarrassing errors over the past couple of years, a memo was issued to all employees warning that there would be a “Zero Tolerance” policy for such shoddy performance:

“Mistakes by any member of the show team that end up on air may result in immediate disciplinary action against those who played significant roles in the ‘mistake chain,’ and those who supervise them. That may include warning letters to personnel files, suspensions, and other possible actions up to and including termination.”

So who is going to get the axe over this one? If I were a Fox News employee I wouldn’t be too nervous. There have been numerous foul ups like this since the memo went out and no known repercussions for any of them. Apparently the memo was just window dressing to make it appear as if Fox was taking steps to forestall these mistakes. But with no follow through it can only be assumed that they weren’t mistakes to begin with.

This is policy at Fox News. They deliberately disinform viewers during lengthy “news” segments, then issue brief corrections later in the day, far removed from the original discussion. And sadly, their peers at other networks continue to defend them as a news enterprise.


WTF: Glenn Beck Says Reform Jews Are Like Islamic Radicals

Posted by on February 22, 2011 at 2:55 pm. 2 Comments :


In yet another exhibition of clueless hate-spittle, Glenn Beck declared this morning on his radio show that Reform rabbis are just like Islamic radicals (i.e. terrorists):

“When you talk about rabbis, understand that most people who are not Jewish don’t understand that there are the Orthodox rabbis and then there are the Reformed (sic) rabbis. Reformed rabbis are generally political in nature. It’s almost like Islam – radicalized Islam – in a way to where radicalized Islam is less about religion than it is about politics.”

First of all, there is no such thing as “Reformed” rabbis. Perhaps he is confusing them with reformed drug and alcohol abusers like himself. There are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform rabbis, and all of them are practitioners of faith. They are all also permitted to participate in political affairs and there are as many Orthodox rabbis as Reform who do so.

Beck’s ignorance is both offensive and dangerous. He is deliberately misinforming his audience and fomenting hatred. What does he think the result will be when his disturbed congregation “learns” from him that most American Jews (because Reform Jews are a plurality (pdf) in the U.S.) are just like Islamic radicals? Does he think that will endear his followers to their Jewish neighbors?

This sort of anti-Semitic rhetoric is common amongst hate mongers who seek to demonize Jews and divide them from the community. It is how societies throughout history have advanced irrational prejudices and instigated Holocausts. And while many people recoil from Nazi analogies, the comparison here is just too close to ignore. You simply cannot associate a group of people with those who are your mortal enemies and expect to be excused.

Beck has a pattern of disparaging Jews and others he regards as different. He recently made a list of the nine people whom he said most contributed to the 20th century being the Era of the Big Lie. Eight of them were Jewish. His attacks on George Soros as a tyrannical “Puppet Master,” another common derogatory insult aimed at Jews, are infamous. And Beck has even perpetuated the intentionally incendiary allegation that Jews killed Jesus.

How is it that Beck doesn’t understand why people think he’s an anti-Semite? Even more perplexing, how is it that this repulsive, psychotic, purveyor of paranoid conspiracies and undisguised hatred manages to stay on the air despite dwindling ratings and scores of advertisers refusing to permit their ads to be aired during his hour of malevolent madness?

As disgusting as Beck is, we cannot let his protectors off the hook. Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch are just as culpable for providing the platform for Beck to disseminate his vile ravings. And so is Steve Lehman and the apologists at Premiere Radio Networks. They know full well what he is doing and have repeatedly expressed their support and agreement. On any other network, someone spewing the lies and hate that Beck does would have been fired long ago. Lucky for him he is employed by people who share his disdain for Jews, African-Americans, Muslims, Latinos, and anyone else they consider to be outside their exclusionary club.

Glenn Beck is a repugnant bigot with a diseased brain who needs to be, not just removed from the airwaves, but ostracized from society along with his Klan. Let him live in a mountainous compound with a militia of morons who believe he’s the Messiah, as he does himself. I am as strong an advocate of free speech as there ever was but, as we know, there are exceptions for incidents that incite imminent harm. Beck has already incited several cases of violence and we should not permit him to use the mass media to recruit more soldiers for his demented cause.

Now Beck has expanded his campaign of hate to tarnish a broad subsection of Judaism as akin to terrorists. A sane and compassionate culture ought not to tolerate this racist, Apocalyptic idiocy.

[Update:] After having his remarks denounced by the Anti-Defamation League as “bigoted ignorance,” and by the Union For Reform Judaism as “profoundly offensive,” Beck has issued an apology in which he concedes his ignorance and blames his repulsive comments on not having “done his homework.”

“To Abe [Foxman of the ADL] and everybody else, if I offended you it was not my intent. I see how I did that and I apologize for the action and the words. Nuff said.”

Nuff Said? Oh OK. Everything’s fine now and all of the other examples of bigotry, and the pattern of hate he has exhibited, is forgiven and forgotten. The attacks on George Soros, Francis Fox Piven, Cass Sunstein, Ezekiel Rahm, and his frequent use of Nazi and Holocaust analogies, none of which he has ever apologized for, are now wiped from the blackboard of accountability. Yeah sure. Beck’s apology wasn’t half bad until he got to the “nuff said” part. But it should be noted that he directed the apology to Abe Foxman and some vague “everybody else” rather than the real victims of his vitriol, Reform Jews. This shows that he is more intimidated by the ADL than he is remorseful toward those he offended.

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Tea Baggers Plotting To Sabotage Union Rallies

Posted by on February 21, 2011 at 10:50 am. 20 Comments :

Tea CrusadersAmerica is about to learn how the right-wing engages in community organizing. Rather than working to get the support of like-minded citizens to participate in public events on behalf of their agenda, Tea Partiers are planning a campaign of dirty tricks that fails to advance the debate, but succeeds in revealing their own contempt for the democratic process. For a crowd who professes to revere the Constitution, they are openly demonstrating their disrespect for the First Amendment’s guarantees of free assembly and the redressing of grievances.

Here is the plot as laid out by Tea Bagging luminary Mark Williams: [Note: Williams’ website keeps appearing and disappearing so here is Google’s cache of the page]

Here is what I am doing in Sacramento, where they are holding a 5:30 PM event this coming Tuesday: (1) I signed up as an organizer (2) with any luck they will contact me and I will have an “in” (3) in or not I will be there and am asking as many other people as can get there to come with, all of us in SEIU shirts (those who don’t have them we can possibly buy some from vendors likely to be there) (4) we are going to target the many TV cameras and reporters looking for comments from the members there (5) we will approach the cameras to make good pictures… signs under our shirts that say things like “screw the taxpayer!” and “you OWE me!” to be pulled out for the camera (timing is important because the signs will be taken away from us) (6) we will echo those slogans in angry sounding tones to the cameras and the reporters. (7) if I do get the “in” I am going to do my darnedest to get podium access and take the mic to do that rant from there…with any luck and if I can manage the moments to build up to it, I can probably get a cheer out of the crowd for something extreme.

And Williams describes precisely what his goals are for this charade:

Our goal is to make the gathering look as greedy and goonish as we know that it is, ding their credibility with the media and exploit the lazy reporters who just want dramatic shots and outrageous quotes for headlines. Even if it becomes known that we are plants the quotes and pictures will linger as defacto truth.

It should come as no surprise that the Tea Party aspires to manufacture falsehoods that they hope will linger as “defacto truth.” They rarely show much regard for actual truth. And with this project they affirm that their movement is utterly devoid of principle.

Mark Williams is a veteran Tea Bagger with a dubious history. He was expelled as the head of Tea Party Express for composing some overtly racist screeds for his blog. Subsequently, the Tea Party Express was banished from the Tea Party Federation. But the affiliation between these people and groups continues without interruption. Williams’ scheme has been endorsed by the Patriot Action Network, another Tea Party adjunct, whose partners include Islamophobe Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugs and, of course, Tea Party Express.

In addition to this, Tea Party Express, which is known for funneling donations into the GOP lobbyist firm that created it, has been embraced by CNN. The network is co-hosting a Republican presidential primary debate with the disreputable organization. And CNN’s affiliation with the phony Tea Party movement also extends to their airing of Michele Bachmann’s Tea Party response to the State of the Union address, and to the hiring of Tea Party flack (and Breitbart’s editor-in-chief) Dana Loesch. CNN’s love affair with the Tea Party has been orchestrated by their new head, Ken Jautz, who will forever be marked as the man who gave Glenn Beck his first job in television.

The Tea Party’s response to the massive week-long demonstrations by labor and others in Wisconsin has been pitiful. Despite Tea Party star-power like Andrew Breitbart, Herman Cain, and Joe the Plumber, their big counter-demonstration last Saturday fizzled as a mere 2,500 Baggers showed up to confront an estimated 70,000 pro-worker demonstrators. And their little affair lasted less than an hour and a half, wrapping up at about 1:20pm although it had been scheduled to go until 3:00. This show of weakness may be why the Tea Baggers are resorting to dirty tricks.

The pro-American worker demonstrators should be on alert for Tea Party saboteurs. They should be prepared to expose them and inform the media of the desperate and unethical tactics. The media, for its part, should also be aware of the misrepresentation that they are being targeted with, and they should not hesitate to reveal it to their audience.

Whether or not this childish prank succeeds is still up in the air. One thing that Williams gets right is that the press can be astonishingly lazy. That means it’s up to citizens to make sure that the press do their jobs. So if you are attending any rallies, be aware, be vigilant, and be careful. These instigators have been primed by the rhetoric of Glenn Beck and other purveyors of hate. They have been deluded into thinking that the giant. multinational corporations who despise workers’ rights are actually representing their interests. And they are capable of anything in pursuit of their anti-union, anti-democracy mission.


Sarah Palin Refudiates Solidarity, Wisconsin Workers

Posted by on February 19, 2011 at 12:51 pm. 21 Comments :

Sarah PalinAmerica’s foremost Facebook pundit, Sarah Palin, has posted a new ghostwritten bulletin addressing the tumultuous situation in Wisconsin. In it she seeks to drum up opposition to unions and the working people of America who form their ranks. She advises her “union brothers and sisters” that they “don’t have to kowtow to the union bosses” whom she says are using them. In the process she offers her own definition of “solidarity:”

“Solidarity doesn’t mean making Wisconsin taxpayers pay for benefits that are not sustainable and affordable at a time when many of these taxpayers struggle to hold on to their own jobs and homes. Real solidarity means everyone being willing to sacrifice and carry our share of the burden. It does no one any favors to dismiss the sacrifices others have already had to make—in wage cuts, unpaid vacations, and even job losses—to weather our economic storm.”

Apparently Palin’s view of solidarity is disbanding organized efforts to advocate on behalf of workers. She thinks that by dissolving the collective bargaining clout that unions provide and foregoing representation so that every worker is an island without any capacity to negotiate with powerful government and corporate institutions, somehow their interests will magically manifest themselves overnight.

Palin also advances the falsehood that unions are demanding unsustainable and unaffordable benefits. The truth is that the unions have already stated their willingness to compromise on benefits, but they are steadfastly against Gov. Walker’s demand that they also give up their right to collective bargaining. So it’s the governor who is standing in the way of fiscal reform, and the only reason for doing so is to bust the unions. Keep that in mind the next time you hear him lie about wanting to reduce the state’s deficit.

Palin’s argument that everyone should be “willing to sacrifice” dishonestly ignores the fact that it was Gov. Walker who reduced taxes on corporations, causing the current budget crisis. Now, after easing the burden on the wealthy, he is asking only the middle-class to sacrifice. And Palin’s phony attempt to manufacture sympathy for those who have already taken pay cuts or lost work is bound to backfire. She thinks that she can portray union members as enjoying lavish lifestyles at the expense of everyone else. But what the working people of Wisconsin (and America) will see is the obvious value of union membership. They will see that not being in a union puts them at the mercy of well organized employers. They will see that strength in numbers and effective representation is the best way to protect the interests of working families. Those non-union workers who have suffered already are more likely to want to join unions than bash them.

The sad thing is that Palin’s ghostwritten Facebook post will likely receive more attention than the counter-arguments that make much more sense. The media is still fixated on the ramblings of this self-serving, inarticulate failure. But worse than that, the media has a pro-business bias that is inescapable. Almost every TV network and major newspaper has dedicated business coverage. There are three cable channels dedicated to business news. Where is the labor news channel? Where is the labor section in the Sunday Times?

It is due to this disparity that the Wisconsin protests are so important for the whole country. This is the only way to force labor issues into the mediasphere. And while the GOP/Tea Party faction has been duped into opposing policies that are in their own best interest, they are an insignificant slice of the populace whose views are not shared by the mainstream. It’s time that the press stop slobbering over these pathetic miscreants and pay attention to America’s working majority.


Fox News Spin Doctor Frank Luntz Insults Wisconsin (And American) Workers

Posted by on February 18, 2011 at 3:56 pm. 13 Comments :

Republican pollster and “Word Doctor,” Frank Luntz, was interviewed today on Fox News’ Your World to discuss the effect of the Wisconsin protests on America’s perception of unions. What transpired was one of the most vigorous attempts at spin I’ve seen since at least the last time I saw Frank Luntz.

The main point Luntz struggled to make was that unions were hurting themselves by engaging in the protests in Wisconsin. He argued that as people around the country saw teachers, nurses, firefighters, and other public employees fighting for benefits that they (the viewers) didn’t have, they would be resentful. He said that viewers would not sympathize with a union member in Madison who was trying to keep from losing his pension when the viewer didn’t have one to begin with. Luntz told guest host Chris Cotter that Americans wouldn’t support the protester’s efforts to retain their contractually agreed upon salaries while other Americans were taking pay cuts or losing their jobs.

What a crock! And an insult to the intelligence of the American people.

First of all, the protesters in Wisconsin are not refusing to make compromises on material matters including salary and pension benefits. This is not an issue of union greed as it is being portrayed on Fox News. The protest is entirely focused against an effort by Governor Scott Walker to strip public employees of the collective bargaining rights they have had for decades. It is a brazen assault on unions with the intent of forever breaking their ability to advocated on behalf of their members.

Secondly, Luntz is stretching both truth and reason with his arguments. It seems to me that the only thing that Americans watching the conflict will resent is the fact that they don’t also enjoy the benefits that union membership has brought to public employees in Wisconsin. If they see Wisconsin teachers protecting their interests with regard to pay and pensions, the rest of the country is not going to say “Darn those Cheeseheads, they shouldn’t have pensions.” More likely the nation will think “Hey, we should have a union here so that we can have a say in our own welfare and be able to take on the powerful government and wealthy corporate institutions.”

If anything, the Wisconsin protests will increase demand for union representation at a time when workers are taking the brunt of the economic difficulties the nation is enduring. What is happening in Wisconsin is an advertisement for the benefits of union membership and Americans will recognize that. They will want to know why workers alone are being asked to sacrifice while corporations are earning record profits? If corporate taxes were made more fair, and the numerous loopholes closed, there would be plenty of funds available to keep employee benefit reductions to a minimum. And the more money in the pockets of average Americans, the more prosperous the businesses who employ them will be.

But don’t expect viewers of Fox News to hear this perspective. They will be inundated with false premises and conclusions that are manufactured by partisans like Luntz. It is a theme that has been in evidence all day on Fox News. In the past we have seen leaked memos from Fox executives directing their anchors and corespondents on how to frame the stories they cover. It will not surprise me when the memo is eventually leaked that told these so-called journalists to disparage the unions and present Gov. Walker as a hero. And it will likely contain language that is virtually identical to the spin that Luntz articulated in this interview.

[Addendum] Although Fox has been bashing the protesters all week, implying that they are un-American for even expressing themselves, the Tea Party faction is plotting to emerge tomorrow. They are being organized, in true AstroTurf form, by lobbyists from American Majority, a project of the uber-conservative, billionaire Koch brothers. And their affair will be headlined by the terminally choleric Andrew Breitbart, Joe “The Plumber” Wurtzelbacher, and pizza man Herman Cain.

It will be interesting to see them put on a show of support for government bureaucracy, suppression of workers rights, and the unencumbered rule of the powerful elite, over ordinary, hard-working citizens.


Why Won’t Glenn Beck Say Lara Logan’s Name?

Posted by on February 17, 2011 at 3:23 pm. 12 Comments :

In the past couple of days, Glenn Beck has latched onto a gruesome story about CBS correspondent Lara Logan. While covering protests in Egypt she was the victim of a brutal sexual assault by an unidentified mob.

The story was widely broadcast by many news outlets on TV, radio, and print. But there was only one place where it received a peculiar treatment that served to dehumanize the victim.

Glenn Beck raised the subject on his television program on Wednesday, not to empathize with Logan’s suffering, but to confirm his belief that the worst isn’t over in Egypt:

“While everyone was saying, ‘Oh listen, this is great,’ in this crowd, we found out today, that an American woman was being sexually assaulted – sexually assaulted – by 200 men in this crowd.”

And later he tried to tie Logan’s ordeal to progressives in the U.S. by insinuating that they were all responsible for the repulsive remarks of an individual in New York:

“I told you about a woman who is being raped in that crowd. On Friday, a woman who has sexual assault, an American. How is that tied to the universities? Well a fellow at NYU has stepped down now, after the sexual assault of the American in Egypt that we mentioned earlier.”

Today Beck again referred to “an American woman” who was sexually assaulted in Egypt. That was at least the fifth time that Beck referred to Lara Logan without ever mentioning her name. He would only refer to her as the American, the woman, or the American woman. He never even noted that she was a reporter working on a story, nor her position as Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for CBS News.

Beck certainly knows who Lara Logan is. He even identified her and her affiliation with CBS News on his radio program. But she was invisible on his TV show. It wasn’t enough for Beck to merely demonstrate overt disrespect for an accomplished professional journalist, he went further to deny her humanity by refusing to acknowledge her identity. This information was not private. CBS had issued a press release outlining the details of the assault. But Beck decided to wrap Logan in a metaphorical burka and ignore her suffering and the risk she took on for her work.

Why would he do this? Why would he repeatedly refer to her cryptically as “the American” when he knew her name and used it on the radio earlier the same day? Was he hesitant to give her publicity because she was on a competing network? I don’t know. I just know that it was curious and jarring to hear him struggle so mightily to hide Logan’s face from his viewers.