Glen Beck and the Bin Laden Booster Club

Tips for batshit crazy pundits. (2.00 / 4)

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

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by: chrisblask @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 19:42:23 PM CDT

And the "explanation" is thus... (2.00 / 5)

Mike Scheuer's Google Alerts must be going crazy after his Glenn Beck appearance, because he left this message in the comment thread on my earlier post:

Spencer, What I tried to say on FOX last night is what I said in my last two books. I believe that our governing elite has a single foreign policy vis. the Muslim World and that it has no contact points with reality. Americans are therefore very inadequately protected. I increasingly believe that our leaders' perception of the threat and attempts to defeat it are verging on the feckless, and that most Americans - concerned with the economy, raising families, and quite insular in any event - do not recognize the poor job leaders in both parties are doing in defending their country, homes, and family. I am afraid that another, greater-than-9/11 attack will occur - because our leaders see the world that they want to be and not the one on offer - and that only then will Americans starkly see what I believe is unconscionable failure of the federal goverment to put their safety first. My bottom line is that there will be another attack because the Republicans and Democrats are abject incompetents and because our current economic state is too good a chance for bin Laden not to try to push forward al-Qaeda's "bleed America to bankruptcy" strategey . Far from wishing for another attack, I trust that Churchill's judgment that God looks out for drunks and the United States of America still holds good and and we remain safe. God better do the job, because no one in our elite is doing it.

Respectfully, Mike Scheuer

washingtonindependent

Given that Obama has taken great steps to begin to change the Bush policies in the Middle East, I'm not sure what this guy's problem is.  I'm no expert and he supposedly is but it would be nice to get a solid policy discussion not a wish for a terrorist attack.

At what point does Fox Not-a-news-organization go over the line?

Hey Tancredo ~ I can spell "vote" and I can spell "bigot," too.

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by: HappyinVT @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 20:17:20 PM CDT

Experts are like rectums, (2.00 / 5)

everyone has one.

There are also foreign policy experts - like Richard Clarke and Colin Powell - who disagree.

Mr. Scheuer has a very absolutist point of view.  To hear him talk, he is the sole arbiter of what the country needs to do.  If the entire "governing elite" is blind and it is only this one rogue warrior between us an oblivion then I guess our system really doesn't work.

I know what you are saying, Mr. Scheuer.  You are saying that only enough violence can keep us safe from someone else's "enough violence".  Only enough violence against us will allow us to muster the will to unleash our own violence to protect us from violence.  You aren't promoting violence - heavens, no - you just think we need more of it.

Bite me, Mr. Sheuer.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

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by: chrisblask @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 20:45:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sadly (2.00 / 4)

Just as ancient Rome in her decline the greatest threat to the sustainable prosperity and security of the United States is the ideological zealots who, through lack of understanding and perspicacity, have totally misconstrued and wilfully misrepresented our historical antecedents and current role in world history and incline it to a fantasy of imperial grandeur and metaphysically absurd choices.

Ironically the US has not yet assumed it's proper position in world history but it is a position invisible in the tunnel vision of conservativism and reaction.

Shrug off the 'I'm no expert' mentality and disown the authority of these self-proclaimed ideological pretenders.  They have no more right to set agendas for our nation than any other voter, as Obama has amply, and notably, demonstrated.

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by: Shaun Appleby @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 21:38:17 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It's not just that Beck and this whacko are wrong, (0.00 / 0)

they are dangerously simple.

I'm no pacifist, and I do in fact believe in: (a) leaving no doubt in your opponents' minds that you will use staggering violence against them if necessary, and; (b) using staggering violence against them if necessary.  But first you need to determine who your opponents are and in that process you want to reduce the number of them you need to deal with.  

Mr. Beck and Scheuer and their ideological brethern are be missing that last bit, they can't figure out that we need to first and foremost reduce the number of adversaries, and they haven't a clue as to how that might be done.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

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by: chrisblask @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 22:14:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Me Neither (2.00 / 2)

And I'm a firm believer in US airpower, which is currently neglected.  But their particular brand of wholesale and self-destructive idiocy is self-evidently destructive to our aspirations as a people and a nation.

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by: Shaun Appleby @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 23:37:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Pointing out the problems with their view is so cliche that it's painful to say. (2.00 / 2)

If you want to be the bad-ass warrior you find ways to limit the battles you fight before they start.  Obama has cleared the battle space of tremendous numbers of individuals without using any force at all, which is much more of an accomplishment than hitting a building with a bomb.  The base of support for our enemies has shrunk.  

While not fully complete yet, the Iranian uprising would simply never have started with the alternate approach being taken by the White House (which is exactly what would have been the case with the alternate leadership choice we had).

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

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by: chrisblask @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 00:09:39 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

there... (2.00 / 2)

is only one way to describe this guy: douche.

sadly though these right-wing pundit goons go on and on without any repercussions.

"Democracy! Bah! When I hear that word I reach for my feather Boa!" -- Allen Ginsberg

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by: canadian gal @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 21:19:03 PM CDT

Well, it's not like they should be arrested. (2.00 / 5)

And the best repercussion we could hope for is public ridicule.  These are the kinds of interviews that have left many of my right-handed friends backing away from the wreckage of the Right.

Now, if we can keep those anti-middle on the Left from scaring them away from the Democrats we can advance the dialogues we need to have...

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

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by: chrisblask @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 21:29:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well Said (2.00 / 3)

Time, and reason, is on our side.

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by: Shaun Appleby @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 21:39:36 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I don't know about time being on our side. (2.00 / 2)

There will never be a shortage of idiocy. This is a forever battle.

John

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." - Sinclair Lewis

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by: John Allen @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 22:33:07 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

True Enough (2.00 / 4)

But it's 'swings and roundabouts' and for now it appears we are on the swings.

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by: Shaun Appleby @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 23:34:23 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

And given that there are no moderates on the Right who are (2.00 / 3)

stepping up, it appears that, unless something goes terribly wrong, the swings will continue into the foreseeable future.

Hey Tancredo ~ I can spell "vote" and I can spell "bigot," too.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 12:52:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The moderates on the right are mostly on the left these days. (2.00 / 2)

Or, more accurately, the left has expanded to include the center right while the right has contracted to contain primarily the far right.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

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by: chrisblask @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 13:56:13 PM CDT

[ Parent ]