Extremist rhetoric = bad; however, “extremist” rhetoric = popularity and ratings
Logic and reason = good = method to rebuild GOP; however, logic and reason = invisibility
Watching Fox News’ new sensation Glenn Beck is not for the faint of heart. It is a disquieting entree into the feverish mind of a conspiracy theorist who believes, among other things, that the government wants to remotely control our thermostats, that the relaxing of the ban on stem cell research — as well as efforts to prevent global warming — is reminiscent of Nazism, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be setting up concentration camps and, finally, that the country is on the path to socialism or possibly fascism but definitely some “-ism†that should be avoided.
Um, Mr. Cohen?
- The government wants to remotely control our thermostats = smart grid and California legislation, sweetie
- Relaxing the ban on embryonic stem-cell research (important distinction, Mr. Cohen) = human hubris which lead to eugenics before and it will again
- FEMA camps = Glenn already debunked those rumors
Also, Mr. Cohen needs to show me where calm, collected, non-impassioned rhetoric has helped rebuild a political party. ANY political party.
At any time.
Not holding my breath, of course.
Over the years, the GOP scored political benefit by playing on the resentments and fears of voters, but after the wreckage of the Bush years, Americans seem more interested in solutions than scapegoats. Conspiracy-laden rhetoric is unlikely to resonate far beyond the party’s core base of supporters. Moreover, it’s hard to imagine many Americans trusting a party so deeply influenced by its most extreme fringe.
The irony! It burnsss ussss!
UPDATE: Good thing the electric grid is safe from all kinds of tampering, both foreign and domestic. But even if it went down, we’d all be OK. Right?
Just to be sure, make sure you have a dashboard Jesus Obama in your car, for good luck!
Comment by Hadlowe on 4/7 @ 7:41 pm #
Not a drop on himself. Amazing.
Comment by mojo on 4/7 @ 8:24 pm #
I liked the double back-flip, too. Guy’s got talent.
Comment by o.graze on 4/7 @ 10:09 pm #
The Politico is very careful to tie Beck to the Republican Party, while avoiding any mention of the fact that, on a number of occasions, as I understand it, he has squarely pointed the finger at the two-party system itself. That, more than anything else, is what makes him an “extremist” in the minds of duopolist ideologists in the media and government. The very idea that they are part of the problem is taken as an affront to ‘decency’ and ‘reason’.
Comment by dicentra on 4/7 @ 10:16 pm #
Glenn is not shy about wanting a pox on both houses.
He’s a conservative, not a republican. A distinction that is important only to thinkers.
Comment by psycho... on 4/7 @ 11:07 pm #
I don’t know if thinking even comes into it. It’s a distinction that’s absent from Democrats’ lives. There’s no group so leftist that they don’t side with the Party and gather votes on its behalf. That’s what being a leftist (an American one, anyway) is about — hivin’ up.
Republicans don’t get the support of the “extreme right.” They get a very slight presumption in their favor that doesn’t translate into votes.
Except in 1994.
Won’t get fooled again?
Probably.
Comment by Dan Collins on 4/7 @ 11:12 pm #
Yeah, it’s really terrible when your message goes awry.
Comment by Warren Bonesteel on 4/8 @ 1:41 am #
…on FEMA camps.
Beck’s an idiot. So is Meigs.
 What? Did you expect to find it listed somewhere
under, “FEMA Concentarion Camps: Located here!” at the FEMA website or somethin’? What? With maps and
gps readings, too, I suppose?
=====
33.)
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-645
HR 645 IH 111th Congress
1st Session
H. R. 645 To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national
emergency centers on military installations.
In the House of Representatives, January 22, 2009
=====
34.)
http://www.kbr.com/news/2006/govnews_060124.aspx
KBR Awarded U.S. Department of Homeland Security Contingency Support Project
for Emergency Support Services
Arlington. Jan. 24, 2006
=====
35.)
Civilian Inmate Labor Program
http://www.apfn.org/pdf/prison_camps.pdf
additional information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Inmate_Labor_Program
=====
36.)
   a.) FEMA’s Preparedness for the Next Catastrophic Disaster, OIG-08-34
      http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_08-34_Mar08.pdf
   b.) Rex 84: FEMA’s Blueprint for Martial Law in America
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_84
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3010 Rex 84: FEMA’s
Blueprint for Martial Law in America by Allen L Roland Global Research,
August 20, 2006 Salon.com Blogs
=====
37.)
http://tinyurl.com/9aqnn http://www.peterdalescott.net/
Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps
by Peter Dale Scott,
New America Media,
News Analysis/Commentary,
Posted: Feb 08, 2006
=====
More references available if’n ya want ‘em.
Comment by serr8d on 4/8 @ 2:25 am #
This line
shipwrecks every single argument he’s attempting to make.
Fuck Michael A. Cohen and that dingy he paddled in on.
Comment by William Teach on 4/8 @ 11:16 am #
I’m surprised Cohen didn’t drop something in about the EVIL Neocon conspiracy led by Jews, as well as a blurb about the Christian Right wanting to implement the Spanish Inquisition.
This is all based on a leftard talking point apparently spread around months ago, whereby they would attempt to discredit and marginalize anyone criticizing Obama and The Donkeys for disagreeing with their Progressive agenda. Have you seen any comments where they try and call posters or commenters as having Obama Derangement Syndrome? When all you are doing is disagreeing? You must be a hater if you disagree with allowing the use of federal money to do ESC research, you know.
And, it is also nothing new. The whole “you’re a racist/bigot argument,” calling anyone who disagrees with abortion on demand, er, choice, socialized medicine, man made global warming, etc, is extreme and outside the mainstream. You know the hit parade.
Comment by Jim Treacher on 4/8 @ 11:18 am #
Dude, don’t you see all this wreckage? It’s everywhere.
Hey, Warren Bonesteel knows how to cut and paste.
Pingback by Cartoon Depicts Christians As Islamiphobes. No Riot Ensues » Pirate’s Cove on 4/8 @ 12:46 pm #
[...] down with our Bibles and guns. I mean, sheesh, look at these cwazy right wing extremists here and here, who just want a call from the GOP. How dare they try to refute the Official Democrat/MoveOn [...]
Pingback by Cartoon Depicts Christians As Islamiphobes. No Riot Ensues : Stop The ACLU on 4/8 @ 12:48 pm #
[...] down with our Bibles and guns. I mean, sheesh, look at these cwazy right wing extremists here and here, who just want a call from the GOP. How dare they try to refute the Official Democrat/MoveOn [...]
Comment by meya on 4/8 @ 12:54 pm #
“FEMA camps = Glenn already debunked those rumors”
For the lolz.
Comment by mojo on 4/8 @ 4:35 pm #
Your Obama decal won’t get you into Sardi’s anymore.