White House soirée, part deux: Beck, Bennett, Ingraham, Medved, and others met with Bush
August 02, 2007 8:20 pm ET
In an August 1 blog entry on Townhall.com, syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt wrote that "President Bush invited ten talk show hosts into the Oval Office for an hour of conversation today -- Glenn Beck, Bill Bennett, Neal Boortz, Scott Hennon, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larson, Mark Levin, Michael Medved, Janet Parshall and me. This was an off-the-record conversation, and so I won't be quoting the president." Blogger (and Media Matters for America Web producer) Oliver Willis noted Hewitt's post, and Talkers Magazine's website published a photo of the group.
Several conservative talk radio show hosts reportedly met with President Bush in September 2006, as Media Matters for America documented.
Below are examples of some noteworthy comments, previously documented by Media Matters, from several of President Bush's guests:
Glenn Beck
- On the June 21 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, while discussing an alleged Al Qaeda/Taliban training camp "graduation ceremony" shown on a tape obtained by ABCNews.com, Beck said: "I was surprised, because I really thought speaking at a suicide bomber graduation ceremony, I would just -- I -- maybe [former President] Jimmy Carter was booked and that's why he didn't speak at the commencement ceremony." Beck has also referred to Carter as a "waste of skin" and contrasted him with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who, Beck said, was not a "bigger waste of skin" because "[a]t least evil is using that skin."
- On the June 4 broadcast of his radio show, Beck said of the marriage of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Elizabeth Harper Kucinich: "How did that happen? ... You think it's dope?" Beck went on to speculate whether she was under the influence of "some sort of ... date rape drug," describing the drug he had in mind as "not powerful enough to actually knock you out, but it's powerful enough to, like, make you think that you're not standing next to Dennis Kucinich and making out with him." Beck continued: "I was thinking cyanide. That would be the only thing that would really dull the senses enough. Even then, your dead body would be like, 'Dennis Kucinich has his tongue in my mouth.' "
- On the May 10 edition of his radio show, Beck said that he "wouldn't vote for [Sen.] Joe Lieberman [I-CT] as president ... because of the way the Middle East would use it," but also asserted, "That's not saying the same thing as I wouldn't vote for a Jew for president." He did not explain the distinction he drew between asserting that he would not vote for Lieberman, who is Jewish, and asserting that he wouldn't vote for any Jew for president.
- On the April 30 edition of his radio show, Beck likened former Vice President Al Gore's fight against global warming to Adolf Hitler's use of eugenics as justification for exterminating 6 million European Jews. Beck stated: "Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however. The goal is different. The goal is globalization. The goal is global carbon tax. The goal is the United Nations running the world. That is the goal. Back in the 1930s, the goal was get rid of all of the Jews and have one global government." The Anti-Defamation League denounced Beck's remarks, saying they were part of "a troubling epidemic on the airwaves, where comparisons to Hitler and the Holocaust are becoming all-too facile."
- On the March 15 broadcast of his radio show, Beck referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as "the stereotypical bitch."
- On the February 12 broadcast of his radio show, Beck
featured Philadelphia-based conservative radio host Dom Giordano, who claimed
that "the mainstream media has dubbed [Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)] to be
African-American" and said, "If you start to, you know, delve around the edges,
say, 'Wait a minute, isn't he mixed race? Weren't we told that last year?' Or
whatever, biracial. Not allowed to say that anymore." Beck responded by saying
"he's very white in many ways," adding, "Gee, can I even say that? Can I even
say that without somebody else starting a campaign saying, 'What does he mean,
"He's very white?" ' He is. He's very white."
Beck later attempted to clarify his comments to his executive producer and head writer, Steve Burguiere. Beck claimed that Obama "is colorless," adding that "as a white guy ... [y]ou don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white, you know what I mean?" Beck also said: "I guarantee you, there will be blogs today that will have me being a racist because I say that."
- During an November 2006 interview with then-Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim ever elected to Congress, Beck said: "I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies,' " a comment he later stated was "poorly worded" and "wish[ed]" he "could take back and rephrase."
- Beck warned that if "Muslims and Arabs" don't "act now" by "step[ping] to the plate" to condemn terrorism, they "will be looking through a razor wire fence at the West."
- He has said that "[t]he Middle East is being overrun by 10th-century barbarians" and "[i]f they take over ... we're going to have to nuke the whole place."
- During a discussion of the "politically correct world we live in," Beck claimed that Braille on walls (used to identify rooms for blind people) "drives me out of my mind." He then said, "Just to piss them [blind people] off, I'm going to put in Braille on the coffee pot ... 'Pot is hot.' "
Bill Bennett
- During the February 9, 2006, edition of CNN's The Situation Room, Bennett claimed that "people" who got "a good, close look" at Muslims rioting over perceived anti-Islamic cartoons would say that "these people are unhinged." Later discussing a young Iranian woman sentenced to death for stabbing a man while defending herself during an attempted rape, Bennett claimed "the incident "is a peek into the soul of that faith [Islam] when it's run through a government." He added: "Catholicism is as Catholicism does; Judaism is as Judaism does; and, by God, Islam is as Islam does. And what it's doing right now, I wouldn't want to be associated with."
- During the September 28, 2005, edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bennett told a caller that if "you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett conceded that aborting all African-American babies "would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do," but then added again, "but the crime rate would go down."
Neal Boortz
- During the June 21 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Boortz offered a suggestion he said he got from a listener's email: "When we defeat this illegal alien amnesty bill, and when we yank out the welcome mat, and they all start going back to Mexico, as a going away gift let's all give them a box of nuclear waste." Boortz continued: "Give 'em all a little nuclear waste and let 'em take it on down there to Mexico. Tell 'em it can -- it'll heat tortillas."
- On the June 18 edition of his radio program, Boortz advocated building a "double fence along the Mexican border, and stop the damn invasion." Boortz continued: "I don't care if Mexicans pile up against that fence like tumbleweeds in the Santa Ana winds in Southern California. Let 'em. You know, then just run a couple of taco trucks up and down the line, and somebody's gonna be a millionaire out of that."
- On the June 11 edition of his radio show, a caller asked, "Why can't we just load them on planes and keep on loading them until they're back?" Boortz later responded, "We're not gonna throw these people out of airplanes with taco-shaped parachutes."
- On the October 16, 2006, edition of his radio show, Boortz declared: "Islam is a virus. It is a deadly virus that is spreading throughout Europe and the Western world," adding that "we're going to wait far too long to develop a vaccine to find a way to fight this."
- On the August 3, 2006, edition of his radio show, Boortz asked his audience, "[H]ow incompetent, how ignorant, how worthless is an adult that can't earn more than the minimum wage?" Boortz continued: "You have to really, really, really be a pretty pathetic human being to not be able to earn more than ... the minimum wage."
- On the July 19, 2006, edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Boortz claimed that "at its core," Islam is a "violent, violent religion," and called "this Muhammad guy ... just a phony rag-picker." Boortz asserted that "[i]t is perfectly legitimate, perhaps even praiseworthy, to recognize Islam as a religion of vicious, violent, bloodthirsty cretins."
- On the June 6, 2006, edition of his radio show, Boortz stated that "[s]o many" of the victims of Hurricane Katrina "have turned out to be complete bums, just debris."
- While discussing protests in Los Angeles against proposed immigration restrictions, Boortz, on the March 27, 2006, edition of his radio show, suggested the U.S. government should "store 11 million Hispanics" who entered the country illegally in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans and in the Houston Astrodome before deporting them to their home countries.
- As the weblog Firedoglake first noted, during the November 7 edition of her nationally syndicated talk radio show, Ingraham urged listeners to jam the phone lines of a voter assistance hotline sponsored by the Democratic Party. Ingraham stated: "I want you to call it and I want you tell us what you get when you call 1-888-DEM-VOTE. They're on top of all of the shenanigans at the polling stations. One problem: you can't get through." Minutes later, while talking with a listener who called the hotline, Ingraham said: "Let's keep 'dem' lines ringing."
- On the October 30, 2006, edition of CNN's Larry King Live, when asked by host Larry King if she "agree[d] that more than 50 percent of the public would support stem cell research," Ingraham replied: "I think more than 50 percent of the public would probably approve of public executions of child molesters, but it doesn't mean that we actually do that, Larry. I mean, please."
- On the July 19, 2006, broadcast of her radio show, Ingraham stated that Hearst Newspapers columnist Helen Thomas -- who is of Lebanese descent -- "represents Hezbollah in the White House press room." Ingraham made her comment after playing an audio clip of a July 18, 2006, press briefing, during which White House press secretary Tony Snow said, "Well, thank you for the Hezbollah view," in response to an assertion by Thomas that the United States had not made an effort to stop Israel's attacks on Lebanon and that the "perception of the United States" was that the government supports "collective punishment against all of Lebanon and Palestine."
- On the March 21, 2006, broadcast of
NBC's Today, Ingraham decried NBC News for "report[ing] only on
the IEDs [improvised explosive devices], only on the killings ... only on the
reprisals" in Iraq, and for "reporting from hotel
balconies" instead of in the field. Following the explosion of a car bomb in
Baghdad a week
later that killed two members of a CBS News crew and severely wounded a third,
Ingraham defended her remarks.
On the May 31 broadcast of her show, Ingraham stated that when she "brought up the hotel balconies, that was coming right off a Richard Engel report from a hotel balcony about the latest IEDs going off." She added that "[a]ll the guys [troops] I talked to in Iraq were tired of it, and I was speaking for them." Noting ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff's injuries in Iraq, Ingraham later stated that although "our hearts and prayers go out" to the "brave" journalists in Iraq "who are on the ground, getting the facts out," "I will not change my view that giving context in this reporting is important." She continued: "[Y]ou have to see the forest through the trees, here. The insurgents not only know how to play to the press, they manipulate -- let's make that very clear."
- On the April 11, 2005, edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Ingraham stated that Democratic Sens. John Kerry (MA), Joseph R. Biden Jr. (DE), and Barbara Boxer (CA) are "on the side of" North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il because of their opposition to John R. Bolton, President Bush's then-nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Mark Levin
- On the April 5 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Sean Hannity asked Levin, host of WABC's The Mark Levin Show, why he referred to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as "Stretch." Levin replied: "You could bounce a dime off her cheeks. The woman has had so many face-lifts."
Michael Medved
- On the September 18, 2006, edition of his nationally syndicated
radio show, Medved stated that the "crucial issue" of whether "the violence and
the bloodshed and the horror and the misery and ... the disgusting behavior
throughout the Muslim world ... is ... based upon some problems within Islam
itself" was "the subject of my conversation with the president of the United
States on Friday, when I had the privilege of sitting with him in the Oval
Office for 90 minutes." Medved was apparently referring to a reported meeting
held by Bush at the White House on September 17, 2006, which also included
Boortz, Hannity, Mike Gallagher, and Ingraham.
Medved asserted that "there are problems with Islam, as a faith, as a culture, as a vision of civilization, or actually a vision of barbarism in the world" and that these "problems ... go very, very deep." Later in the program, Medved confirmed that he believes there is "a violence problem in the Muslim world because that is an inherent problem in Islam" and that "a core foundational difference between Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, if you will, even Hinduism and Islam" is that Islam is "a primitive religion."
- On the August 2, 2006, edition of CNN's Paula Zahn Now, Medved dismissed as "ridiculous" Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel's call to "professionally shun[] Mel Gibson and refus[e] to work with him even if it means a sacrifice to their bottom line" for making anti-Semitic remarks. Medved declared that Emanuel is "[filmmaker] Michael Moore's agent, and Michael Moore has done far more damage to the Jewish community, particularly regarding the issue of Israel, than anything Mel Gibson has ever done."
Janet Parshall
- On the July 3, 2006, edition of Salem Radio Network's Janet Parshall's America, Parshall hosted Thomas E. Woods Jr., author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History (Regnery, December 2004) and a founding member of the League of the South, which the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has classified as a "hate group." The League of the South is a neo-Confederate organization with approximately 9,000 members. The SPLC described the group as "rife with white supremacists and racist ideology." Michael Hill, who founded the league alongside Woods in 1988, wrote to members of his organization in 1998: "The day of Southern guilt is over -- THE SOUTH WAS RIGHT -- and let us not forget that salient fact. NO APOLOGIES FOR SLAVERY should be made. In both the Old and New Testaments slavery is sanctioned and regulated according to God's word. Thus, when practiced in accord with Holy Scripture, it is NOT A SIN. Our ancestors were not evil men because they held slaves. This issue is our Achilles Heel, and the only way to deal with it is to confront our accusers boldly and without guilt. After all, what we are really upholding is GOD'S WORD. Let us fear Him, and we'll fear no man."
- During the January 17, 2006, edition of Larry King Live -- dedicated to a discussion of the implications of "the buzz around" award-winning film Brokeback Mountain (Focus Features, December 2005) -- Parshall referred to the adoption of children by same-sex couples as "state-sanctioned child abuse" and asked if Matthew Shepard, a gay man who was murdered in 1998, had been "looking for trouble in all the wrong places." Opining on gay marriage, Parshall called it a "pretend family," arguing that "God himself" defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman, and that "everything else is a fraudulent misrepresentation." She then asserted that allowing a gay couple to adopt constituted "state-sanctioned child abuse because you've purposely taken away either a momma or a daddy, and mom and dad are both necessary in a child's life."
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Several conservative talk radio show hosts reportedly met with President Bush in September 2006, as Media Matters for America documented.
Well, there's cetainly some treason there. MMFA is be coming the Tex group for conspiricies. The man had like minded people meet with him. Holy crap. The omission Bill Press was not invited and it becomes a thread.
yeah, heaven knows, bush might actually hear someone who disagrees with him. i'm sure they all learned a lot.....not.
What are you talking about? They covered the entire range of conservative thought, from A to B.
; )
That's A to A'.
My thoughts exactly -- there's a "B"?!?!
Any good Randian sociopath will tell you that there is only 'A' and that 'A' is always 'A'.
I am surprised you all are here instead of at the Kos Kornvention.....whats the matter not money for tickets? Or are those guys to "left" for the usual MMFA poster? curious minds what to know?
The only definition of curious that would apply to your mind would be meaning odd or strange, certainly not one implying a desire for knowledge.
Perhaps you missed the quotations on the above article. Or maybe you agree that Bush would be in agreement with their statements. Pretty sorry lot, all of them.
In the military, we call this type of gathering a "cluster fick".
Towards the end, it's said Richard Nixon wandered the White House halls at night, talking to the pictures. Apparently, Nixon had better taste in conversationalists.
But in Nixon's case, the pictures talked back.
Washington's picture told him to "tell the truth".
Jefferson's picture told him to "believe in the people".
And Lincoln's picture told him to "go see a play".
:-)
"The man had like minded people meet with him."
Yep, that pretty much says it all. Did you read the moronic hate filled comments of the talk broadcasters he invited?
I can't think of another time that propaganda has so infiltrated our airwaves. And the Executive Branch of the White House has orchestrated a campaign of deceit and fear with so many willing lapdogs ready willing and able to take up the cause.
These people are not journalists. I personally do not want my tax dollars going to a meeting with the above ignorant fools. The White House is becoming ever so much more desperate and dangerous.
The man had like minded people meet with him.
Hitler and Stalin surrounded themselves with like-minded people, too.
---"The man had like minded people meet with h"---
Bush: 'Hey Karl-get me some like-minded people. You know, wealthy, middle-aged white men mostly. Highly partisan. Truth-twisters. Propagandists. With closeted prejudices. Name-callers. Smirkers. Some people who look down upon the masses and their lack of intelligence. Some guys who are good at assuming an audience's ignorance.'
hewitt won't "quote the president"? you mean there was more than the usual illiterate mumbling?
He wouldn't quote Bush because he didn't understand Bush's drunken rambling.....
:-)
You have your marching order now go forth my minions. However, before you leave drop off the tattered remains of your soul with Rove so he can feed Cheney and keep him at bay.
Oh NO!!!!
You mean Conservatives met with a Republican President!!! Wow, good news post. Keep it up.
Ohh, nooooo! Mr. Bill can't understand why Bush is sooo afraid of getting a differing opinion! Ohh nooooo! Not Mr. Sluggo!
Bush can invite whomever he wants. That he choose to have only guests with whom he agrees on just about everything is very telling.
But worse is that THIS president, who was touted as bringing dignity and respect back to the White House, would have this pack of pigs crapping on the Oval Office carpeting. I hope Bush loses his deposit when he moves out, which can't be any time soon enough.
" Conservatives meet with Bush"
I don't label the wing nut broadcasters as "conservatives" Come on. They are a nasty fear mongering group, preying on that fear for their own gain, clogging up the air waves with propaganda.
I don't hear reasoned discussion of policy, but mindless attacks and bullying.
They have corrupted and polluted the word conservative.
These are "extremist" in every definition of the word.
That the President of the United States would have a private meeting with this crew is another telling commentary on how low he will go.
If what you describe is not real conservatism, then why is it so consistently presented as conservatism? From FOX, CNN, Savage, Limbaugh etc etc, the same ideology, self identified as conservatism. The conservatives have let lying, bullying, fear mongering become the significant traits of their movement. Bottom line, they are concerned only with acquiring wealth and power, not governing or leadership.
Didn't you hear? Bush isn't conservative either. Apparently he never was. Even though the conservative movement praised him for all those years and not once did they deny his conservative credentials, somehow in the past few years, surely having nothing to do with the fact that his incompetence and corruption has become nearly impossible to deny, they all decided that he never ever was a "real" conservative.
Conservatism can't fail you, you can only fail conservatism.
"If what you describe is not real conservatism, then why is it so consistently presented as conservatism?"
It's the propaganda machine, the wingnuts don't want to be labeled for what they really are- nut case extremist. The talking heads have about as much credibility as a snake in the grass, most are uneducated, wannabe disc jockeys, who can't write or reason, so they bloviate. They play and prey on the lowest common denominator in people's fears and worse instincts with the promotion of bias and hate.
I'm sure if they still have their sense of smell intact, there was a whiff of Rove in that so called "meeting" with the President. How shameful and embarrassing. The leader of the free world? This is who he invites in the Oval office?
What more proof does anyone need. The man is worthless as President of the United States.
And how many times has Bush invited Randi Rhodes, Sam Seder, Ed Shultz, or Al Franken to the White House?
Hmmmmmmmmmmm????
Yes, a Republican president met with "conservatives" and "like-minded people". Regular citizens chosen purely at random from among a pool of millions. Coincidentally they all have radio and/or television shows.
Wow!
Ten of the biggest mouths on earth and they spent an hour licking his boots?
They must've been really dirty.
Or, they just really liked what they were doing.
Bush will go down in history as the worst president because he is partisan to the extreme.
A president should realize he is a president of all Americans not so in Bush's case.
Our first president blows Bush totally out of the waters. Washington picked two men who were opposites in political ideology to be a member of his administration. The two were Jefferson and Hamilton. By doing this Washington reach across all Americans and kept America united by doing this.
Bush is just all hot air when he claimed to have been a uniter and not a divider. He didn't earn the nickname Texas souffle that falls flat for nothing.
This blatant display of partisan behavior will be noted by historians and the obstructionist behavior of the current Republican Party will be noted as well. Let us not forget the attempt by Bush to rig the elections as well.
These radio hacks have nothing to brag about because all history will say is they met a man who spent his life in public affairs for private advantages. Bush is the worst of the worst.
Lincoln, too, packed his cabinet with political rivals and opponents because he, wise fellow he was, wanted to hear all sides before making a decision. Remarkable man.
Buttons must have been busting over the foie gras with their propping up of the 27% approval rating lame duck. Good job, lads, lasses and asses.
Mark Levin makes Michael Savage seem like a moderate. These are the most extreme and Bush embraces them. Where is OReillys outrage ? If the Daily Kos is hate, is not these people?
Bush is rewarding the loyal ones who have worked hard to dispense the Kool-Aide even when it became harder and harder to give away.
I have to apologize in advance, but Levin is one of the dumbest guys on radio. I would attack the substance of his arguments, but it simply doesn't exist. I am surprised he doesn't show up on MMFA more often as everytime I have listened to him, he was sputtering some nonsense.
Levin is best described as Hannity's inner Beavis.
That's the best laugh I've had all day. Hannity's inner Beavis. Awesome, thank you.
Which Makes Hannity Levin's inner Butt-Head.
He-he-he-he-he-he.....
"Nyeh-heh-heh.. heh-heh-heh.. Look at the 'libs' on that one, Hannity. Nyeh-heh-heh-heh..."
The point isn't that Bush meets with right wing nut job radio/tv hosts. The point is who he excludes.
The point is Cheney demands Fox News (sic) on all the tvs in his suite to the exclusion of everything else when he's on the road.
These guys politicize everything from the justice department to the pentagon and back again.
He's supposed to be president of ALL the people isn't he?
Fox News (sic)
I love that!
I agree. I wish I had written it. Very nicely done.
I tend to refer to those clowns as "Faux News".
I tend to refer to them as Al Foxeera. I cribbed it from someone on a blog, I forget who but I got it from them, so I have to give them credit.
Two thoughts here:
1.) Looking at the picture of the "crew" with President Poopypants was looking at Mount Rushmore through the wrong end of the binoculars.
2.) You mean they overlooked inviting Britney Spears!??! Hell, there isn't anybody in that group she'd like to threaten.
This is the kind of braintrust needed when, like Bush you're committed to “never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people.”
Now you get back to practicin' yer love of women.
Actually, Bush is concerned about "catapult[ing] the propaganda" and he had to make sure that all his little two-legged catapults were all in working order and fully loaded.
Your comments on Bennett are a stretch. I listen to him occasionally, because he is the most thoughtful and considerate of that crowd. and I happened to be tuned in on the "black baby" day.
Two things went through my mind immediately, in rapid succession:
1) "I get what he is saying; roughly, he's making a point about the ridiculous conclusions one can reach if one relies strictly on math and doesn't consider the context of one's (too) narrow analysis"
2) "This will be thrown back at him because he shouldn't assume that people will actually TRY to understand the point. Some will just hurl his words back at him out of context in an attempt to vilify him."
And they did. But he is not a bad guy at all. He does challenge you to think and he appreciates people who do.
TERRY:
As a leader and professional, where do you think Bill Bennett did his best work?
As Drug Czar?
As Education Czar?
As Morality Czar?
At the craps table?
I think we're discussing Bennett as a social and political commentator.
Bennett simply appreciates good debate. I think his strengths are mostly intellectual in nature. Discussions on his show are carried out in a mature way.
I have no opinion on his performance in previous roles, as I was a flat out workaholic in those days and paid no attention.
If Bennett is a racist or bigot, as has been implied, I haven't seen evidence of that brought to the table. To skewer him for (a segment of) one remark, one he should not have made in the course of an impromptu give-and-take on the subject of the book Freakonomics is just a stretch. That's all.
The thing that was most disappointing about the remark, even as a completely extemporaneous and impromptu one, is that he didn't appreciate how it would be misinterpreted. It was uncharacteristic brain lock. But we all have bad days.
Bill Bennett is an idiot. And so is anyone who finds him the least bit worthwhile.
Now there is a typical 'liberal' statement.
Wassamatta? The truth hurt??
Seriously AA and any other sensible Conservative ( don’t answer Leatherhelmet and RINO) on this site, what do you think about the president meeting with a group of some of the goofier voices out there on the right? Isn't it safe to assume that this is an attempt to if not control and direct the message that conservative talk show listeners are receiving but at least to influence the message? It kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth and it would give me great concern if I actually listened to these nuts that they were not even attempting to give me objective information. I don't recall any administration ever singling out a communication niche and doing this. Do you? But the practices of the Bushies have been unprecedented, so I'm not shock at it at all.
"I have no opinion on his performance in previous roles, as I was a flat out workaholic in those days and paid no attention."
Go out and educate yourself then.
Bennett has a long, odious history that you're obviously completely unaware of.
Do yourself a favor and look into it.
TERRY:
So, you don't think Bennett's resume is important to analyze his value as a commentator? As Drug and Education Czar, what kind of report card would he get for success? As MORALITY Czar, do you think the fact of his gambling addiction has any impact on his ability to instruct OTHERS how to behave, how to act, how to be "moral"?
See, Bennett, like Bush, has a long string of professional disasters, FAILURES in positions of trust and responsibility. Put another way, if you had a project that absolutely HAD to be done, and done right ... Bennett and Bush would be the LAST fellows you would consider giving the job. Their "professional" records are awful.
And so, I don't take advice from Limbaugh on the topic of raising children (although his viagra-assisted visits to South American sex-trade areas might make him an expert on "child rearing"), I don't take advice from Dr. Laura on how a proper lady behaves, I don't take dating advice from Gingrich, Hannity is perhaps the worst source for information on patriotism, and Bennett? Whatever his advice might be on ANY topic, you would be well advised to do the OPPOSITE. Your chances of success would be exponentially better.
I watch FOX News from time to time just so I can be reminded JUST how "fair & balanced" it is, and the other night O'Reilly was speaking about how the liberal media ... ie blogs ... were eschewing nothing but hate speech. Of course, the conservatives do no such thing. Well, lordy, lordy look what I've cut and pasted here straight from MM:
"On the June 4 broadcast of his radio show, Beck said of the marriage of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Elizabeth Harper Kucinich: "How did that happen? ... You think it's dope?" Beck went on to speculate whether she was under the influence of "some sort of ... date rape drug," describing the drug he had in mind as "not powerful enough to actually knock you out, but it's powerful enough to, like, make you think that you're not standing next to Dennis Kucinich and making out with him." Beck continued: "I was thinking cyanide. That would be the only thing that would really dull the senses enough. Even then, your dead body would be like, 'Dennis Kucinich has his tongue in my mouth.' "
Oh, and I caught this episode of Beck, so I know it to be factual. Sounds pretty hateful to me!
coldteablues
No, Bill Bennett has a history of racist comments as Sec. of Education and he knew exactly what he was doing when he equated Black people to crime to a largely conservative audience. This meeting accomplishes the same thing as his comment, red meat for the base.
The Beaver (aka Glenn Beck) was just giddy yesterday.
The Beav claimed that GWB has never used military personnel for political purpose, and for that he was "in awe" of the pres.
Jeepers, seem I can remember at least a couple of times when that happened. I recall one involving an aircraft carrier,another involving Lynch and yet another involving Tillman.
Note to the Beaver: Keep living with your head in the clouds. Life is better that way...unrealistic, but better.
It is very sad that these useful idiots allow themselves to be used for propaganda purposes, but then again, they are probably taking orders from their corporate masters.
Perhaps Media Matters could assign interns to listen to each of these talk show hosts to document that each of them say the exact same talking points about Bush and his policies.
Also, it is truly time to reinstitute some sort of Fairness Doctrine on these political talk shows.
Mark Levin is easily the most worthless individual on the planet. A know-nothing blowhard who's trying to imitate Walter Winchell. Well, it's more like Paul Winchell, only Levin is the dummy!
Looks like a Chickenhawk Convention. I bet they all swapped (non)-war stories.
I wonder how many gallons of drool had to to mopped up after that Slimey Group of Brown-nosing Arse Kissers, left the Oval Office! I sure hope Roundheels didn't trip and fall, in one of her "Stepford Wives" moments,and drown in the drool!
Boortz was claiming today on his web site, (if he hasn't erased it) that a average median American Family (with 2 kids) pays out $25,000 in income tax ! According to White House,Gov, Bush's own site the Average Median family ,stars paying income taxes,when they've earned $41,867!
Boortz is pushing his "Fair Tax" pet project, and will include absolutely every kind of built in, hidden and otherwise untrackable tax in any figure he throws out on his radio show.
Yeah, Moe, Beck was giddy. "You get the feeling that this man has a laser focus, that you better say something important or he wouldn't have time for you. He's willing to take all the flac and wait 30 years for history to be the judge." And something about how he listened to the Creator for his advice. As Bill Maher says we don't need to wait 30 years. The evidence of calamity is only ignored by Bush, not historians.
Don't forget about Lars Larson, who atarted as an actual broadcast journalist, until he turned hard right. He's an accomplished debater and has the capacity for intelligent discourse....
However, he's been shilling for the Republican party for a long time now. He now distorts the news, ignores factual opinion, and often gets his callers to attack local dem politicians en masse for any hint of raising taxes (say, for crumbling intastructure, kids' health care, etc) or equal rights for gays.
Careful, you don't want to say anything political about "crumbling infrastructure" on MMFA at this point in time. I'm not naming names, but you're sure to suffer the wrath.
ok, eh? Perhaps that's why I made the typo on "infrastructure."
Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't there some reason for the September 2006 invite to the whitehouse of the media last year. Did not Bush NEED these people to be on his side for some reason?
Watch in the following days for a huge controversy to be coming up......lights flashing straight from the white house, and the good little soldiers from the air waves will broadcast all is well.
You're probably right. Bush admits that he has to "catapult the propaganda," so it looks like he may well have been reloading his two-legged catapults.
Maybe we're wrong, they were just there for a group tatoo. A nice bonding session, not at all tacky. With Dick on the needle. He's drawing very little blood these days, though Karl is complaining that his diet is suffering from a lack of hemoglobin. This may be posturing on his part, but.he's still a fearful demon.
This just in: the vice adjucnt assitant to the deputy of white house communications will meet with well known liberal radio talk show hosts at an undisclosed location, the identity's of the attendees must also be kept secret to protect national security. None of the attendees will be allowed to mention the meeting, refer to the meeting or brag about attending the meeting.
The purpose of this meeting is to defuse criticism that the president does not give a hoot about any one who is not a conservative rich republican.
Boortz,
I know you are reading this, so here's a question for you: Why did you purchase a Texas A&M ring for the Class of '67, in May of '67, when in fact you had flunked out, or quit school for good, on June 3,1967?
I recently (yesterday) received a e-mail from a friend in lives in College Station, Texas, who knew you in the ROTC. In this e-mail there was a picture of you and Gov. Madox, with you wearing what has to be a class ring. Included also was a e-mail from Texas A&M, showing that in fact you bought a Class of '67 ring on May 26,1967!
Was Gov. Madox aware that in fact you weren't a college graduate at all? In closing, on your Application to the Georgia Bar, did you list yourself as a College Graduate or a College Flunky?
William and I are going to find out! There's nothing worse than lying on a Bar Application,which will get you disbarred, in case you didn't know! Maybe you need to come clean about your application to the Bar,and throw yourself to the mercy of the Bar!
"on your Application to the Georgia Bar, did you list yourself as a College Graduate or a College Flunky?"--mercado
Strangely enough, niether the Georgia State Bar Association nor the John Marshall School of Law where Boortz got his J.D. required a Bachelor's degree to fulfil their admission requirements at the time. For that reason, John Marshall School of Law graduates were denied full accreditation from the ABA. The John Marshall School of Law has since changed to now requiring a Bachelor's degree from what I understand and I believe there is no longer a restriction on Boortz from being a member of the ABA.
The whole situation is pretty weird, but I don't think Boortz can be accused of lying on his application. He was just pretty lucky they were pretty lenient about such standards back then.
I guess you really got him on that one. Oh the scandal! Buying a class ring while you are still in college. For shame! I'm sure he'll resign now. Good work bringing that 40 year old purchase to light!
Check this video out of Janet Parshall and Randi Rhodes at;
youtube.com/watch?V=q058WEMnlWI
A coven of passe' relics.
That's the best description of these time-worn propagandists.
Another American,
It's obvious to me that you are lacking basic comprehensive skills to understand the irony of purchasing a Class Ring , and then flunking out,or quitting College for good, 10 days later! Then getting caught wearing it in a picture with the then Gov. of Ga.
OPEN_MIND,
Thank-you for the info,I wasn't aware of the entry requirements for the John Marshall Law School. But what is perfectly clear until 2005 Boortz had acclaimed proudly that he was in fact of Texas A&M Graduate.
A journalist in Atlanta John Suge, I believe, outed Boortz on his lying. Boortz on various web sites, had claimed in fact he, was a graduate of Texas A&M, and had boasted of it on-air,many times! Even his home radio station had him as a college graduate. He later changed the wording on those sites to, "Finished Up At". But it would be interesting to see how he listed his academic accomplishments, on his Bar Application.
Boortz still claims he's an Aggie.
If you aren't still going to school there, you don't get to claim you're an Aggie unless you graduated.
"it would be interesting to see how he listed his academic accomplishments, on his Bar Application."--mercado
I'm sorry. I re-read my post above and I see I did not do a very good job explaining that the Georgia State Bar Association is one of the few state bar associations that don't require its members to even have a bachelor's degree. I am not sure there is even a question on the application regarding that. If Boortz put A&M down, it would be more of an expression of his own vanity than any kind of a legal transgression. I honestly doubt he misled on the application as he didn't need to do it to join the bar. Boortz was a pretty lucky guy considering how things worked out. I don't know of any lawyers besides him that don't have a Bachelor's degree at all.
I like the post about conservatism discussed from A to A. It reminds me of an old saying by one Aristotle when describing the fundamental premise of logic: A is A. You can't deny that an A is actually an A. That's a great analogy for conservative ideology. Conservatives have real convictions that they derive from logic, reason, and past events. Something that "progressives" or "liberals" refuse to understand: both logic and learning from history. Take pretty much any issue you guys hold dear, and there's some fundamental flaw in the logic. Now I'm not saying that President Bush is conservative, he most certainly isn't, but most of these guys on the radio are (Medved and maybe Hewitt may not fit in very well on some things) and their shows are filled with lively discussion, and close adherence to logic and reason. That's pretty much what their audiences want to hear, and they must be hearing it because conservative talk radio defeated liberal talk radio in the free marketplace. Oh and why hasn't Bush met with Franken? Franken's show pretty much failed, and Bush, as a man trying his darndest (albeit unsuccessfully) to be conservative, only likes to associate himself with winners.
Oh please tell that that was all sarcasm or satire.
"Conservatives have real convictions that they derive from logic, reason, and past events. Something that "progressives" or "liberals" refuse to understand: both logic and learning from history.
...
"...their shows are filled with lively discussion, and close adherence to logic and reason. That's pretty much what their audiences want to hear, and they must be hearing it because conservative talk radio defeated liberal talk radio in the free marketplace."--gkfeld4778
First of all, there is nothing at all in your post that supports your baseless claim that conservatives want to hear "close adherence to logic and reason".
Secondly, you go on to claim that the audience must be hearing logic and reason on conservative talk radio because it is popular/successful. You realize that is a very common logical fallacy called Argumentum ad Populam. Don't you? It is described as the contention that something is true simply because many people believe in it.
Ironically, your own apparent lack of logic in your post seems to undermine your main baseless premise even further.
If you were intending to make fun of conservatives and their attempt to be "logical", you did a pretty darn convincing job of it. You even appear to rival tommy in that capacity.
Limbaugh just said he had a private meeting the day after the "10" w/bush n' rove. A fine dinner good talk and then cigars ( Cuban?). So what are they set to announce in the future? September dead line now 2008? suspension of congress? How about some good old fasion marshal law for the rest of the non believers?......................Let your thoughts run wild!!!
How about another announcement of another terror attack.....to scare the beejeebees out of you conservatives so you will TOE THE LINE again.
"W" cant find time to attend one funeral or memorial service for one of the 3600 or more troops that have died in his stupid war, but he finds time to chit chat with his sales force......... it's gonna be rather funny for the next 20 or 30 years to hear the GOP bitch and moan about how the Dems have taken over congress and the White House. DOnt the idiots on the right see that they are driving independants and even moderate Republicans away from the party? I guess not, since "W" keeps doing stupid crap and they keep sending out the Cheney's and Hannittys and Bill-Orallys out to spew thier hate and idiocy.
Here is the GOP platform as of today:
We love to send your kids to police a civil war. Trust us.
We hate mexicans, go home
We hate gays, go to Mexico
We love to spend your money, but only on the things we want.
We are right and everyone else in the world isn't just wrong, they are Al Qeida sympathizers or actual members.
I'd bet money, the GOP doesn't see any power back in my lifetime.
I would take that bet, but have given away all my worldly possesions. You are wrong, because in the bible it says the rapture is coming, soon, and there is no way a rapture could happen with a democrat in the white house, god loves the republicans and hates democrats and would never allow them to have all the glory of the rapture on their watch. Get a bible and repent sinner.
God, I hope you're right.
I listen to Beck on the way home after work because there's something strangely soothing about his robot-like consistency attacking Democrats after a chaotic day in the office. He's full of crap, of course, but consistency is the item of the day.
He described the meeting briefly and said that he looked "the President" right in the eye asked the POTUS about the war and that Bush was so busy shaking hands in a wedding reception-like line, that he walked right past Beck and kept shaking hands. Then, in a moment where Mean Joe Green turns around and gives the kid in the locker room tunnel his jersey, Bush came back to him and made some idiotic comment like:"It's very difficult to know...things are changing...the wind is in the buffalo...the barn door is opening slowly... or some other clap-trap. Beck tried to make it sound like he spoke to Jesus.
Then, as if trying to shore up what little credibility Beck has anymore with anyone, he claims he tried to immediatley ask a follow-up about immigration and Bush walked off, shaking hands.
I believe Adolph Hitler probably gave Hilter Youth Brownshirts more sincere time when they all got together. At least he patted them on the face and bent over to talk to them.
Actually, now that I think about it, Bush probably patted these horses' asses on the face and gave them one of his hayfield-mule nicknames.
Maybe he gave them all a little two-inch pitchfork to put on their mantle.
Talk about a gathering of dunces.
It's no coincidence that that crowd ended up together in a private meeting with a pathetic dry drunk with a messianic complex. They're all enablers. Glenn Beck gives me the heebie jeebies just looking at him....the man is a jerky, jumpy, blinky, eyerolling mess of unresolved rage and hatred. Yeah, tell us again how laserlike Bush's focus is....compared to you, I suppose he is.
The irony of a man who called himself "a uniter" calling together some of the most hateful, divisive buffoons on the airwaves today....just one more example of Bushworld: Life in The Land of Opposites.
I appreciated this cross-section of some of the neo-con's talking heads in the media. It's very disappointing to find individuals that are educated, and reasonably intelligent spouting hate-filled bile that seems to drag all of humanity down to its lowest common denominator.
Free speech is a very important tool for keeping our government in-line with its people. But, these folks should seriously consider a muzzling themselves for the greater good... >Yuch!<