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Beck calls President Warren Harding's death "divine providence"

February 20, 2010 7:57 pm ET

From Glenn Beck's February 20 CPAC speech:

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    • Author by soze169880 (February 20, 2010 8:03 pm ET)
      15  
      MagCynic in a couple minutes: "He's not advocating violence, he's just claiming God kills people he doesn't like. What's the big deal?"
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    • Author by Marker (February 20, 2010 8:05 pm ET)
      10  
      Let's have some divine providence for Beck.
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      • Author by carlileb5935 (February 21, 2010 3:42 am ET)
        6  
        There is a method to this guy's madness--- Beck is only part of a trend regarding Harding.

        Since history has been revisiting Harding lately and giving him a little better score than he he's had for years-- he pardoned Eugene Debs, for one thing, from a lifetime jail sentence for sedition-- well, the Right Wing now lumps him in with the evil liberals.

        That's how reactionary these guys are-- they're upset that Debs got pardoned, after his obvious kangaroo trial! These people are very dangerous.
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    • Author by Boxer1979 (February 20, 2010 8:05 pm ET)
      11  
      Beck calls President Warren Harding's death "divine providence"

      General providence - refers to God's continuous upholding the existence and natural order of the universe.

      WOW! So the death of President Harding was a good thing since Calvin Coolidge came in office huh? Well they both started the deregulation that started the Roaring Twenties, and eventually The Great Depression! So I guess that was good.

      *FACPALM*
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      • Author by Barry Bonds (February 20, 2010 8:09 pm ET)
        13  
        That's what happens when you get your history lessons from an entertainer without a formal education in anything.
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      • Author by leftofwhat (February 20, 2010 8:34 pm ET)
        10  
        Funny that Harding had a black heritage and he gets mentioned by mister history.
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        • Author by leftofwhat (February 20, 2010 8:46 pm ET)
          8  
          In other words,Harding was our first "black" president.
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          • Author by bintx (February 21, 2010 1:02 pm ET)
            3  
            Well, apparently, he was, according to the old "one drop of black blood" rule. He had at least one AA great grandmother.
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            • Author by leftofwhat (February 21, 2010 1:25 pm ET)
              2  
              And cousins and such.He actually rode with the Klan to hide his "blackness"
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              • Author by leftofwhat (February 21, 2010 2:15 pm ET)
                1  
                bintx.Harding's history is pretty enigmatic with many conflicting stories.Beck just set me off with comparison of Harding to Obama,when,in fact there is none.I actually hope that Harding will be found to be more "black".Then,maybe the con haters can focus more on Harding than Obama.
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    • Author by Ninure (February 20, 2010 8:07 pm ET)
         
      I just can't decide if this man is stupid, evil, or "crazy like a fox".
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    • Author by chickenfried (February 20, 2010 8:14 pm ET)
        1
      I bet the Progressives rushed to Google to find out who Harding is.
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      • Author by political_left-religious_right (February 23, 2010 10:30 am ET)
           
        You lose. Progressives tend to be better educated than your typical CPAC fan. As for me, I've even been to the Harding birthplace. It's a great place to kill ten minutes.
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    • Author by DAWUSS (February 20, 2010 8:23 pm ET)
      10  
      For as much fun as they make over Obama's dependency on a teleprompter, Glenn Beck is just as dependent on a chalkboard
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      • Author by leftofwhat (February 20, 2010 11:40 pm ET)
        4  
        Probably because they don't make sharp chalk.
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      • Author by Civic Racecar (February 21, 2010 4:34 am ET)
        3  
        That's because he can grind up the chalk, snort it, and feel like he's reliving the old days. Can't do the real thing anymore because it makes his delusions seem that much more real when he does.
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      • Author by dogbreath (February 21, 2010 9:51 am ET)
           
        He loves the way it makes him feel professorial, an advocation that he clearly will never be qualified for. It is like he is fulfilling some fantasy or something. Moreover, since Beck hasn't been in a classroom for a long time, perhaps ever, he might want to know that even the chalkboard is going the way of the dinosaur, as they are being replaced with smartboards.
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    • Author by DAWUSS (February 20, 2010 8:23 pm ET)
      3  
      For as much fun as they make over Obama's dependency on a teleprompter, Glenn Beck is just as dependent on a chalkboard
      Report Abuse
    • Author by ojnabieoot (February 20, 2010 8:48 pm ET)
      6  
      I'm not quite sure what Beck's point is here. Coolidge and Harding had very similar political philosophies - both were small government conservatives. The difference is that Coolidge was (arguably) a good president, whereas Harding was (unarguably) a bad one. If Beck's implying that Coolidge was a good president because of his political philosophy, he's dead wrong - the counterexample directly precedes Coolidge. (I should say that I'm not watching this live, so I might be putting words in Beck's mouth. Odds are that, if anything, I'm making him sound too reasonable.)

      Also, is he implying that he only learned about the Coolidge Presidency a few months ago? That's a worrisome - though far from surprising - revelation.
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      • Author by jjamele2880 (February 20, 2010 9:32 pm ET)
        9  
        Harding's cabinet was corrupt, Coolidge's wasn't- but Coolidge was every bit as horrible a President as Harding was. The storm clouds for the Great Depression were gathering during Coolidge's presidency and he did NOTHING to stabilize the banking system, put an end to our self-destructive tariff policies, etc. Coolidge was more responsible for the Depression than Harding was.
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        • Author by 1st Republic 14th Star (February 20, 2010 9:37 pm ET)
          8  
          Coolidge was a horrible President. He looks good only because he was bookended by Harding and Hoover, who were far worse.

          Coolidge's big problem was always inaction. He used to express his philosophy by saying that if he saw a problem coming at him down the road, if he waited, it would probably resolve itself on is own. The problem with that approach is that if the problem doesn't resolve itself, by the time it reaches you it's gathered unstoppable momentum.
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          • Author by cugagcmu805031 (February 20, 2010 11:23 pm ET)
            8  
            GWB was very much like Coolidge who said, "The man who builds a factory builds a temple-the man who works there worships there." Big business is to be worshiped and promoted at all costs. Coolidge favored low taxes, providing more credit to big business for expansion, private enterprise, and little government interference. This worked for a while, leading people to buy more and more on credit using installment plans. Stuff they couldn't afford. People were focused on the present, giving little thought to the future. The Great Depression caught them all off guard. GWB's actions as president look eerily like Coolidge's and so do the results.
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            • Author by worrierking (February 21, 2010 12:04 am ET)
              5  
              Both GWB & Coolidge presided over a nation that all but ignored flood victims in Louisiana.
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              • Author by rtejon (February 21, 2010 3:41 pm ET)
                   
                Wasn't that around the time when Marines were sent to Nicaragua?
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                • Author by rtejon (February 21, 2010 4:06 pm ET)
                  1  
                  I thought that happened just in the 1920's but I just found the occupation was actually from 1912-1933.
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            • Author by dogbreath (February 21, 2010 9:58 am ET)
              1  
              Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The 20's were when credit was introduced to Americans and boy, did they love it, until they couldn't pay the bills anymore. The 20's were also a period, much like today, of tremendous disparity between the wealthy and the middle and lower classes. Sure, unemloyment was low but people were not making enough to support the material lifestyle they wanted to achieve, ala credit. When people stopped buying, overproduction kicked in and helped facilitate the beginning of the Great Depression.
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        • Author by ojnabieoot (February 21, 2010 12:15 am ET)
          2  
          Oh, sorry, I meant to emphasize the "arguably." I still think Harding was way, way worse - not only were his policies crappy, he was also a pathetic leader - but I don't think it's as clear a case that Coolidge was a horrible president. I do personally think he's mediocre, but even historians disagree on these points.
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          • Author by rtejon (February 21, 2010 8:04 pm ET)
            1  
            And he completely made up the word "normalcy."
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            • Author by ojnabieoot (February 22, 2010 2:06 am ET)
              1  
              Though compared with the actual worst president in American history, Harding was an oratorical genius.

              (and no, I'm not referring to Buchanan here.)
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      • Author by carlileb5935 (February 21, 2010 3:43 am ET)
        2  
        Harding pardoned Eugene Debs. That's what this anti-Harding nuttiness is about.
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    • Author by Dradeeus (February 20, 2010 10:37 pm ET)
      5  
      Ugh! Jesus Christ, man! -_-
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    • Author by worrierking (February 21, 2010 12:02 am ET)
      5  
      Is it me or is the doughboy getting doughier.

      It is kind of strange that Glenn would have a crush on a president who ignored the victims of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 almost as much as Glenn hated the Katrina victims in this century.

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    • Author by MeanMrSpicyMustard (February 21, 2010 5:38 pm ET)
         
      Did anybody catch the audio of that guy going "AWWWWWWWWW YEEEAH!" when Beck started on his chalkboard? Give that guy a medal. He wins CPAC.
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    • Author by grmce (February 21, 2010 6:05 pm ET)
         
      Mr. Beck opines that Warren Harding's death was "divine providence". Could it be that Mr. Beck's birth was a diabolical retribution? Certainly his poisonous diatribes seem to be a punishment visited upon all of good will.
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    • Author by swift (February 22, 2010 2:21 pm ET)
         
      The fact that this guy gets more than 5% of the nightly TV viewership is criminal -- oh wait, it's inconsequential, just like Sarah Palin. The question is, why does a tiny minority of the populace pay this guy any attention at all?
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    • Author by albertsenj (February 23, 2010 2:28 am ET)
         
      It's taken me a while but, I think I've figured out who Beck reminds me of: the guy sitting next to you in a bar spouting hours of nonsense. He won't shut up and, if you disagree, he gets noisy and argumentative.
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