Glenn Beck is obsessed with Hitler and Woodrow Wilson

[sonomak]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/30/AR2010093005267.html

Glenn Beck is obsessed with Hitler and Woodrow Wilson. (I'm just saying.)
By Dana Milbank
Sunday, October 3, 2010; B01

Glenn Beck, the conservative television and radio host, is an amateur historian. Very amateur. One day, he rhetorically asked his Fox News viewers: "Why did we buy Alaska in the 1950s?" A good question - because "we" purchased Alaska in 1867. Another day, he gave his version of European history: "We have the Age of Enlightenment, 1620 to 1871, uh, 1781. This was a time when people said, 'Wait a minute, wait a minute, we can think out of the box.' This is coming out of the Dark Ages." That was thinking outside of the box, because the Dark Ages ended in about 1000 AD, six centuries earlier than Beck claimed.

Beck has created an online "Beck University" to spread his unique views of the past and has hosted "Founders' Fridays" on his television show, devoted to rewriting the nation's early history as that of a fundamentalist state. When the subject turns, as it usually does, to President Obama, Beck again sees lessons from history. In particular, he has seized upon two individuals who he believes provide excellent historical parallels to the 44th commander in chief: Woodrow Wilson and Adolf Hitler. You don't understand how Obama is tied to a genocidal monster and to an American president who died 86 years ago? Allow Professor Beck to explain.

On Aug. 11, 2009, in the middle of a summer of rage-filled town hall meetings over health care, Beck said he would describe some Obama administration plans that "should horrify America... particularly if you're elderly, handicapped or have a very, very young child." And with that, the lesson began. American "progressives" such as Wilson, Beck explained, were responsible for inspiring "the Nazi eugenic idea evolved naturally into the eventual Holocaust and the deaths of 6 million Jews." He went on: "The builder of the master race was only part of the problem in Germany, made possible after they began to devalue life. They tried to figure out how much is a life worth, and put a price on how much each individual was worth - and some were worth more than others."

Naturally, this led straight to Obama. Beck explained - without benefit of actual fact - that Obama's advisers favor health-care rationing and sterilants in drinking water, and then he went on to endorse Sarah Palin's allegations that Americans would have to stand before Obama's "death panel" so bureaucrats could decide who was worthy to live. Voila! We go from Hitler's eugenics to Obama's health-care plan, with an assist from poor Woodrow Wilson. Telling the nation that Obama is leading the country into Nazism is outrageous - and that's exactly why Beck has been so successful. He averages more than 2 million nightly viewers on his Fox show, brings in $32 million in annual revenue from his various ventures, according to Forbes magazine, and is an unofficial leader of the tea party and its mass anti-government rallies.....

[HuckleB]

1. Small minds tend to get stuck on repeat.

[teknomanzer]

2. Exploiting ignorance and making a buck...

Its the new American Dream brought to you by Glenn Beck. What was that quote by H.L. Mencken?

"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."

Beck makes millions off his stupid viewers. What a great racket. If only I could dispense with ethics then I could be a schiester and live the American dream. Maybe I'll get my self an undocumented central American to be my housekeeper and pay her shit, then fire her when I decide to run for office. Then I won't just be fleecing the flock, I'll be gnawing on lamb chops. Seriously, this progressive gig is not paying the bills.

[dogknob]

3. I've been joking for a long time...

...that the U.S.' biggest exports are fear and ignorance. I never got much in the way of laughs because it's not really a joke.