Former Bush speechwriter Wehner: "the role Glenn Beck is playing is harmful in its totality"

[babylonsister]

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200909210041

Former Bush speechwriter Peter Wehner says "the role Glenn Beck is playing is harmful in its totality"

September 21, 2009 10:04 pm ET by Media Matters staff


From a September 21 blog post by Peter Wehner on the Commentary magazine blog Contentions:

Only recently have I watched portions of {Glenn Beck's} television program, as well as interviews with him, and heard parts of his radio program. And what I’ve seen should worry the conservative movement.

I say that because he seems to be more of a populist and libertarian than a conservative, more of a Perotista than a Reaganite. His interest in conspiracy theories is disquieting, as is his admiration for Ron Paul and his charges of American “imperialism.” (He is now talking about pulling troops out of Afghanistan, South Korea, Germany, and elsewhere.) Some of Beck’s statements -- for example, that President Obama has a “deep-seated hatred for white people” -- are quite unfair and not good for the country. His argument that there is very little difference between the two parties is silly, and his contempt for parties in general is anti-Burkean (Burke himself was a great champion of political parties). And then there is his sometimes bizarre behavior, from tearing up to screaming at his callers. Beck seems to be a roiling mix of fear, resentment, and anger -- the antithesis of Ronald Reagan.

I understand that a political movement is a mansion with many rooms; the people who occupy them are involved in intellectual and policy work, in politics, and in polemics. Different people take on different roles. And certainly some of the things Beck has done on his program are fine and appropriate. But the role Glenn Beck is playing is harmful in its totality. My hunch is that he is a comet blazing across the media sky right now -- and will soon flame out. Whether he does or not, he isn’t the face or disposition that should represent modern-day conservatism. At a time when we should aim for intellectual depth, for tough-minded and reasoned arguments, for good cheer and calm purpose, rather than erratic behavior, he is not the kind of figure conservatives should embrace or cheer on.

[saltpoint]

1. Recommended. It's good to have a Bush speech writer calling out

Glenn Beck.

The hate-hosts embarrass our other national missions. They're loud, they're wrong, and they're vulgar.

[Turbineguy]

2. Irony

it's kind of like bronzy or goldy.

[midnight]

4. I was thinking pot meet kettle. I wonder if this is the guy who

gave us "Money trumps Peace"gwb

[Jennicut]

3. Wehner is correct in that Beck was always more of a libertarian

A nutty conservative libertarian really. He makes Perot look sane. Actually, I feel its all a big show to get ratings. But the show he puts on is wacked out and strange and he comes off as unstable. Oh well. If there are not enough Rethugs to call him out then they have to live with him and all the other crazies. Once you open the flood gates, its hard to shut them.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. Beck - 'the Comet of Bigotry'

[1776Forever]

6. Beck to me is an opportunist - pure & simple - it is the $$$ signs he worships!

He is out and out a fraud and a side-show carny man! He pulls people to him with dangerous one liners that are based on fear and prejudice. He is a total package of what a Christian should NOT be!

I was at a local event the other day and he had some cronies there dressed in red, white and blue flag shirts with his 9-12 BS crap on a big placard with the Constitution background behind it. I just shook my head as I walked by them and they said, "God bless you. We love everyone". Sick is not the word for this kind of idiocy! Ignorant small minded people love this mentally deranged idiot and nothing you say to them can pull them out of his pot of crap.

:crazy: :silly: :crazy:

[corpseratemedia]

7. We had the republican version of "intellectual depth" before Be_k:

it was called "trickle-down Reaganonics" and then "pre-emptive war" from AIPAC.

That's all they have to offer. Can't justify sociopathy. That's why nutcases are heeding the call; a reasonable person can't defend Reaganomics-conservatism.

[whyverne]

8. Chicken or egg?

If Beck didn't do it, somebody else would.

He's not making all this stuff up. He's marketing stuff that is already out there. Hell, even I agree with him sometimes. We made fun of his misspelling of oligarchy without saying that oligarchy and plutocracy are subverting democracy.

The problem with democracy is that there are so many people who aren't all that bright. They don't examine their emotions. They just run with them. They want representation too.

He found a market for a product. If he was gone someone would take his place.

[Cosmocat]

9. There is a NEVER ENDING stream of "Becks" ...

He is Rush with a spin, Hannity with a spin ...

Bill O'Reilly, Neil Boortz, Laura Ingram, Michele Malkin, Ann Coulter ...

Heck, Beck isn't even close to the most repugnant - Michael Savage is a headliner of the the second tier lugnuts too hot to for even Fox News to get on TV.

Every major city has a host of single A right wing bellowers spewing all kinds of nonsense trying to break into the big leagues of right wing blathering.

You have an endless stream of smirking psuedo intellectuals who pretty up the nonsense a bit for the New Republic and the other conservative rags. And, MSM types who can't hide it like Wolf Blitzter ...

Oh, yeah ... NO DOUBT, there is a

[lib_wit_it]

12. On what issues do you agree with him?

[johnnie]

10. I caught a few minutes of his show

That day they had their march I flipped over to his show and he said something like "more and more I find myself becoming more of a libertarian".

[PreacherCasey]

11. Except when he called for the arrest of Ron Paul supporters. Beck is a political money whore. Period