I guess people need something or someone to believe in. By the looks of those crowds, they also need to know they're in a group. Reminds me of the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet for some reason...............
Glenn Beck
by will_the_apostate 157 Replies latest watchtower bible
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sammielee24
When Obama was attending a church that the media said hated white people - people of the USA believed that because he kept company with such a man that he was such a man.
If the following article stands true, shouldn't the same people admit that Glen Beck, by keeping company with Nugent, has the same belief values?
sammieswife
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In activist’s video, Glenn Beck fans agree with Ted Nugent on shooting illegal immigrants
By Stephen C. Webster
Sunday, August 29th, 2010 -- 7:40 pm
Beck's recent, frequent analogies between the civil rights movement and the right-wing protest groups known as the tea parties would seem to lead skeptical viewers to think otherwise.
In truth, the two eras and movements could not be more different: a point the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence wants to drive home. The activist group, which advocates greater study of gun violence and enhanced efforts to limit it, pieced together a video that contrasts clips of Dr. King's legendary speech with interviews of Beck fans at Saturday's event.
Asked about the summary of southern rocker and NRA board member Ted Nugent's immigration platform ("Remember the Alamo? Shoot 'em!" he said, speaking to the NRA in 2005), several event attendees enthusiastically agreed.
"I am for Americans getting shoulder-to-sounder, gun in hand and drivin' south," one woman cheered.
"No, that's good," another man said, disagreeing with the cameraman's assessment that the idea of shooting illegal immigrants is "crazy."
"If they're crossing the line they're breaking the law," he continued, suggesting immigrants go somewhere else, "like Germany."
"If you cross the border you're dead," he said.
Beck insisted his event was a-political and encouraged attendees to avoid carrying signs. He did, however, feature former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as one of his speakers, along with other conservative figures.
Considering that tens of thousands attended Saturday's gathering, it's not fair to say the ideas of a few represent those of many -- but to those familiar with Beck's brand of proselytizing, the presence of some extremely fringe personalities at Saturday's event should not be surprising.
The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is made up of advocates for social justice, whom Beck frequently castigates as being of a secretly nefarious ideology. In the recent past the group has attended other right-wing rallies and interviewed attendees, quizzing them on their knowledge of the issues being protested.
At the Second Amendment March on Washington, D.C. this past April, the coalition found that some attendees would give them completely false information when asked about President Obama's gun control policies. All of the respondents were convinced that the president has a secret plan to take their firearms, or had already set that plan into motion.
In fact, President Obama and congressional Democrats have largely spurned the gun control issue, Reason magazine explained.
In terms of actual policy, rather than his previous record, Obama is a long way from being anti-gun. This is not because he has fond memories of sitting in a deer stand as a lad in Hawaii or of talking shotguns with Dick Cheney. It's because his mother didn't raise a fool.
Like some other Democrats, he may recall that in 1994, after banning "assault weapons," they lost the House for the first time in 40 years. Obama knows that anyone who staunchly favors banning guns won't vote Republican no matter what. But some independents who are protective of their weapons may vote Democratic if that issue is off the table.
Off the table is exactly where he intends to keep it. Last year, 65 House Democrats wrote Holder vowing to "actively oppose" any effort to restore the assault weapons ban. The president has enough trouble getting legislation that enjoys overwhelming support in his party. He is not about to pick a fight with centrist Democrats over gun control.
Since taking office, the president has signed legislation that allowed concealed weapons in national parks and in luggage on trains. He has taken no steps toward rolling gun rights back. Still, disinformation about the president's actions and stated agenda, on gun rights and dozens of other issues, remains a constant among the disjointed tea party groups.
Nugent, who also spoke at Beck's event on Saturday, found himself the recent target of fresh controversy after he thanked a crowd in Dubuque, Iowa for being "white."
“There’s a lot of white people in this crowd — I like that!" he said. "[Dubuque] is a white town."
Dubuque's community newspaper, the Telegraph Herald, noted that the audience roared in approval.
"The crowd -- not just a few fans here and there -- cheered. [...] "People who attend performances, whether they are stand-up comics or musicians or the like, might expect some political comments to be interjected during a show. But Nugent's remarks crossed the line."
The paper called the whole display "an outrage and embarrassment."
Nugent also recently claimed during a radio interview that he's convinced the president is a "muslim operative."
"He says he’s a Christian so he can continue with his jihad of a America-destroying policies,"the right-wing rocker insisted.
His presence at Saturday's supposedly a-political rally was not made into an issue by any mainstream media outlet. Chances are Nugent was also pleased by the turnout in D.C., which was characterized by The Washington Post as "overwhelmingly white" and "conservative."
Beck insisted his gathering was aimed at "reclaiming" the civil rights movement by "honoring character" over skin color. However, the Fox News personality has accused the president of harboring a "deep seated hatred for white people" and suggested that Obama's meeting with former BP CEO Tony Hayward was delayed because the president did not want to meet with a white man.
He's since backed away from at least one of his racist jabs at Obama, calling his verbal assault "poorly said."
Beck has never publicly advocated violence against illegal immigrants.
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miseryloveselders
I just deleted "Stranglehold" and "Cat Scratch Fever" from my MP3 player. Will be deleting his catalogue from my library. Wow. I always liked his outspokeness toward extreme animal rights type people too. After reading that though, I'm done with him.
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bluesapphire
Bizzy Bee, can you cite the source, please? I NEED this ASAP! Thank you!
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BizzyBee
Bizzy Bee, can you cite the source, please? I NEED this ASAP! Thank you!
Sorry I didn't see this sooner. Source of what, Lisa?
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leavingwt
Christopher Hitchens calls the Beck rally a pity party for white people.
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miseryloveselders
Hitchens hit the nail in my opinion with this,
"In a rather curious and confused way, some white people are starting almost to think like a minority, even like a persecuted one. What does it take to believe that Christianity is an endangered religion in America or that the name of Jesus is insufficiently spoken or appreciated? Who wakes up believing that there is no appreciation for our veterans and our armed forces and that without a noisy speech from Sarah Palin, their sacrifice would be scorned? It's not unfair to say that such grievances are purely and simply imaginary, which in turn leads one to ask what the real ones can be. The clue, surely, is furnished by the remainder of the speeches, which deny racial feeling so monotonously and vehemently as to draw attention."
"Concerns of this kind are not confined to the Tea Party belt. Late professors Arthur Schlesinger and Samuel Huntington both published books expressing misgivings about, respectively, multiculturalism and rapid demographic change. But these were phrased so carefully as almost to avoid starting the argument they flirted with. More recently, almost every European country has seen the emergence of populist parties that call upon nativism and give vent to the idea that the majority population now feels itself unwelcome in its own country."
Certain conservatives in this country are practicing their own coded political correctness with their speeches. They're poking certain extremist elements in this country, almost as if they're cooking them slowly. As Hitchins stated, they're careful to avoid what they're actually flirting with, but at the same time they keep raising the temperature with this kind of talk. Several years ago I worked with a white dude on a night shift. We got kind of close, to the point we discussed certain things that most blacks and whites never talk about it. I remember he saying he felt this country was going to be in a race war someday. At the time I thought he was ludicrous. I jokingly said, "dude, you need to turn off the radio and quit listening to Traffic Drive Time Militia." Now as of lately, I'm starting to wonder if he was onto something. I hate to say it, but this country is headed toward something. It isn't going to be pretty either. People like Beck and Palin remind me of cowards who start fights in bars or schools. They talk the most s#$#, and are the first ones out the door when it gets hot. Thats why I really don't respect them as people.
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beksbks
You've essentially hit the nail on the head Misery. But broaden that vision. Realize, that big money is behind this movement. And race is an easy win with these guys. It's about fear. So take the fear of "them", blacks, hispanics, muslims now, ..............them. It's a tactic, a tool to appeal to the fear of people. But the real goal, is to keep the status quo. Keep the rich getting richer. Keep corporations becoming the ruling class in America, and keep the middle class on their downward spiral. You know, that pesky middle class? The ones with breathing room, education, and the ability to make demands.
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beksbks
Beks - do you really mean that? You really wish we could figure out some kind of virus that would kill idiots and leave the rest of us?
Please tell me you were just frustrated when you said that. If you really mean that then please tell us who are the idiots? Are they those who you don't agree with? Please tell me you are not that intollerant. I enjoy most of your comments, even those I don't agree with but this one was not in good taste, sorry to say that.
LOL, sorry Carvin, I guess you haven't been around long enough to know everyone. Most of the political threads involve the "usual suspects". That was deep sarcasm. I've been labeled a "bleeding heart" for a long time. I'm one who thinks that "Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" covers health care, decent wages, education, etc. etc.