Glenn Beck ought to hire a fact-checker
April 01, 2009 4:02 pm ET by Eric Boehlert
Stop laughing.
We clipped this video yesterday, mostly to highlight the part where Beck claims the government "is a heroin pusher using smiley-faced fascism to grow the nanny state." The larger context was that Beck, loyally following Drudge's lead, was making fun of a new online government initiative, overseen by the Dept. of Health and Human Services, to help Americans deal with the additional stress that's accompanied the painful economic recession.
Beck thinks that's pathetic and it's part of the larger "Nanny State" meme the right-wing has been pushing. (i.e. How dare the government try to help people!) But here's where Beck just made stuff up [emphasis added]:
We don't need a website. We didn't need one after Oklahoma City. We didn't need one after Columbine. We didn't need one even after 9-11. You know why? Because we had each other.
Hmm, well what do you call this, which was published by the Bush administration's Dept. of Health and Human Services, following the attacks of 9-11:
Mental Health Response to Mass Violence and Terrorism
(h/t No More Mister Nice Blog)
This guy is a total joke. And a fraud. How anyone can fall for this guy's "compassion" is beyond me. How does this guy get these kind of ratings at 5PM? For example, on my basic analog cable, MSNBC is not available because it is channel 185 but FNC is because its channel is 33. I wonder how this affects ratings? I would like to know how many homes MSNBC is available in compared to FNC. Anyone know if this is possible to research?
And Glenn, following Columbine, there were plenty of websites out there. And I'm sure that the government in Colorado provided for counseling for the town, the students, and the teachers and other people who needed it.
And after 9/11, see link posted in this blog piece.
Sometimes, having one another isn't enough to get past immense tragedy on the scale of Oklahoma, 9/11, and Columbine, this is where the professional help comes into play. Are you telling me that you got sober all by yourself and not without the help of others and professionals?