Beck producer: "To most rational people," Beck's CA wildfire comments not uncivil
An October 23 post at USA Today's On Deadline blog highlighted nationally syndicated radio host Glenn Beck's statement -- documented by Media Matters for America -- concerning the Southern California wildfires that "I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today." The entry also noted that Chris Balfe, the producer of Beck's radio program, "expressed surprise that bloggers are seizing on this quotation as an example of incivility." On Deadline quoted Balfe saying: "To most rational people, unfortunately still means unfortunately." The On Deadline entry gave no indication that Balfe addressed Beck's statement linking the "handful of people who hate America" and the destruction of homes by the California wildfires.
According to CNN, the evacuation triggered by the fires is the largest evacuation forced by a natural disaster since hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
From the October 23 On Deadline entry:
Conservative talker Glenn Beck is under fire today for comments he made about some of the victims of the southern California wildfires during yesterday's edition of The Glenn Beck Program.
Media Matters for America, a liberal watchdog group, recorded Beck making the comment on his radio show during a lengthy monologue about the importance of coming together as one nation, with the understanding that: We all love America. We all love America. We just disagree on how we should function, what we should do, big government, small government. It doesn't mean you hate America. I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today. There are a few people that hate America. But I don't think the Democrats are those. I think there are those posing as Democrats that are like that.
In addition to the radio program, Beck hosts a prime-time TV show on CNN's Headline News. We have requested comment from Beck and will update this posting if he gets back to us before the end of the day.
Update at 10:17 a.m. ET: A spokesman for Beck expressed surprise that bloggers are seizing on this quotation as an example of incivility. "To most rational people, unfortunately still means unfortunately," Chris Balfe, the show's producer, tells On Deadline through a spokesman.
Yes, "unfortunately" Chris Balfe is as dumb and uncivil as Beck.
Well that would explain why Beck's stupidity is tolerated at CNN. Birds of a feather...
I wish that MMFA offered an "ad hominum" filter, since it's all that Libs have to counter Beck's OPINIONS.
Fact: California is a liberal state.
Fact: lots of liberals bitch about america.
Fact: some liberals hate what america stands for.
Fact: people in cali are losing their homes.
It's quite possible that some of the haters are among them.
Remember, Libs hate America, Cons hate children. It's pretty straightforward.
Chris Balfe, the sycophant toady
Needs a truck to haul this loady
Of bileous gunk
From Glen Beck, the skunk
Who inspires the mindless and groady
Beck has a most interesting program. Good, frank commentary, good guests, good humour: overall a good show.
We need more of it. More Beck, less Larry king.
Beck is a troglodyte war-mongering putz. Larry King is relatively harmless by comparison.
If ingrate is your style, you go, Less.
Translation: Its UNFORTUNATE that the traitors/ememy lost their homes.
I am sure that the fire victims feel better knowing that as American hating traitors, beck thinks their loss is unfortunate.
He didn't just say "unfortunately." He said "Unfortunately FOR THEM," implying the loss of their homes are their problems alone, and that Beck does not sympathize with them.
The definition of "rational" is "capable of being expressed exactly by a ratio of two integers".
Why does MMfH insist on taking him out of context?
Yes, Beck is clearly irrational, as he's definitely got an imaginary component...
Different math concept. Irrational numbers are not the same as imaginary numbers.
John Henry, I was going to call the other two nerds, then you went and busted them on a math technical.. King of the Geeks! ;0)
I've got a math joke! The punchline is "Pie are not squared. Cornbread are squared."
This guy either misses the point, or is as big a liar as Beck. Isn't it the classification of Southern Californians as "Haters of America" that is the real offense?
It's pointless to get mad at Beck,
Most of what he says is dreck.
It's pointless too for us to whine.
Better to remember Gertrude Stein
Who would not have given his thought much truck
Other than say: a schmuck is a schmuck is a schmuck.
CNN is almost as much of a disgrace as Fox. They moved away from news and reportage to compete on Fox' gutter level. The success of Fox is based on a talk radio model. Murdoch and NewsCorp have no real agenda other than making money here and abroad. They see a niche and they give them what they want. CNN, on the other hand, would fare better if they actually stopped sitting on the fence and picked a side. I think it's time for a truly partisan news outlet for us lefties, other than Comedy Central that is. We still wouldn't be as rabidly loyal to it as the Fox News syncophants though. Those people are just not critical thinkers.
I'd settle for CNN, or someone, returning to the investigative journalism model which seems to have died after Watergate. Instead, they have become stenographers for the White House spin machine. Can you imagine where we'd be if the Bush administration were subjected to the kind of scrutiny Nixon was? For that matter, what if they talked about the WMD Intelligence Lies half as much as they talked about Monica Lewinski's thong? Bush and Cheney would be impeached and GONE.
Nerzog writes:
I'd settle for CNN, or someone, returning to the investigative journalism model which seems to have died after Watergate. Instead, they have become stenographers for the White House spin machine.
Investigative journalism costs money. There's more money to be made in entertainment. Network moguls have realized that traditonal entertainment requires creative talent and large casts. These cost money. It's so much cheaper to keep the average American TV viewer and radio listener entertained by the likes of Hannity and O'Reilly and Carlson and Beck and Blitzer and Limbaugh. Our educational system has long ago left an entire generation so far behind that some commentators even in these columns believe themselves to be on an intellectual pedestal when they recall the definition of a rational number! Imbeciles are so easily delighted by their own cleverness!
Careful now, son. A lack of a sense of humor leaves one inadequately equipped to understand- much less critique - others. Don't nullify an otherwise coherent thesis by overextending yourself.
For NEONDESERT:
It seems that you are not offended that I slightly "overextended." But, surely, we must all confess that network news is in a mess. Now CNN apes FOX--absurd! Is this the blossom on the turd?
No! We absolutely do nott need our own partisan network.
We need a totally non-partisan news channel that is focused on investigative journalism and fights against corruption.
We should not that it is a qualified "unfortunately." It is "unfortunately, for them", not for Beck. He has removed himself and distanced himself from the unfortunate-ness through his choice of deictics. This is an example of deictic distancing. Beck does not include himself within the expression of unfortunate-ness. This Chris Balfe is either dishonest or naive.
What's wrong with these people?
Don't they have the common decency to admit a mistake and apologize?
Rep. Stark apologized for the remarks he made last week.
Maybe Stark and the Democrats are stuck in pre-9/11 politics.
Nowdays its all about "stay the course"
Well, since it's completely civil to wish that on certain people, I guess I would be in the clear saying "unfortunately for rich republicans, a lot of them are losing their homes today". There, said it, and I have a shield of invincibility from Beck to validate my response. thhhpt!
I can't wait to see the spinning on Mr Mathews commentary describing the democrats as " damn democrats ". i heard him use those exact words.
don't hold your breath waiting for an apology from the package-sniffer ...
Maybe not un-civil, but plainly asinine.
"To most rational people..."
It just struck me how incredibly insulting Chris Balfe's comment is. He is saying that Glenn Beck is rational...and we're not. Man, do I feel dissed...
Oh, I do love neal diamond!Cal-i on fire
my home just went up in flames!
I loved my new house,
But Glenn Beck said I was to blame!
He calls me an america hater,
Cause I live here,
If I really didn't know any better,
he thinks I am queer!
I really liked my house,
it just went up in flames,
I just lost everything,
Glenn Beck thinks I'm to blame
Cause I hate?
Worked real hard, to pay for what I made,
Nature had other plans
"dry as hell, and i know you'll understand"
I understand
I really liked my house,
it just went up in flames,
I just lost everything,
Glenn Beck thinks I'm to blame
Cause I hate?
Its an inferno down there, unfortunatly. To much of the national guard has been sent to Iraq, unfortunatly. The politics of those who have lost to the inferno is an issue, unfortunatly. Mr. beck has neither the capabilities nor desire to help, unfortunatly. I'd like to see Mr. Beck down there in full firefighting gear, on the line, unfortunatly. Insurers will face claiments able to hire very good lawyers, unfortunatly.
The loss from this goes way beyond unfortunatly.
Is there some process or historical action that kept this type of fire from happenning previously?
The western US is looking at 100years of extreme fire conditions. I can remember Santa Ana wind fires since 1969 (Paseo Grande Fire). As developement moves further into wildland interface, two things happen.
1 Better fire suppression resulting in fuel loads building up to un-natural levels.
2 What used to be brush fires in semi remote areas are now catastrophic because of the devlopement, and subsequent loss of structures.
Also, the topography and the way the development is built create paths of overgrown brush and trees along canyon bottoms, right where the santa ana winds are strongest. Essentially creating paths for the fire to spread into suburban areas. Once the fire starts down a canyon, during a wind situation there is nothing that can stop it. Even air tankers etc can't do anything because of the smoke and wind.
Good try, but he should have stuck with the tried and true, editing it out, i.e. Rush; like we didn't hear what he really said and didn't get what he rally meant. Of course, he meant Democrats (southern Ca, is so full of them) so now maybe without a home address they can't vote and southern Ca. will turn into the land it truly wants to be rich, old white men who hate the welfare state unless you mean water rights and then all bets are off.
Randi Rhodes connected the dots yesterday without making any actual accusations. Blackwater wanted to build an 800 acre military training center in the area. Local residents protested. Now the protesters (and their homes) are all out of the way. A bit of "scorched earth" policy, perhaps?
I am so frustrated dealing with people like this. When did we stop caring about each other? The media is almost cartoonish in it's support of the $$makers they support, simply because they play to the baser instincts of the savages they hope we become as a result of the exposure we allow in our homes, hearts, minds. I am beginning to think in more black and white terms about television, as my hippie parents once did in the early 1970's.....not allowed in my home, heart, mind. T.V., YOU ARE CANCER, AND I DON"T HAVE HEALTHCARE!!!!!
when the political discourse turned into something that sounds like a pro rassler's promo using cheap heat ...
It's ironic (to me) that the Repuke party has turned political discussion into the Jerry Springer Show ...
Oh, please radio/TV “talking-head” spew another hate filled diatribe. It helps widen the divide between normal people and Republicans.
Your “Hate Speak” is perfect. It’s the political fodder that prevents the “republican right” from moderating toward the middle. “Hate Speak” also creates the political blow-back necessary to help the sane take control of the country.
Please Sir, may I have another?
The cultist have worked hard on the "liberal" and "left" anti-concepts, but they have also devoted a lot time and energy into making "hollywood" a hate catchall as well.
I used to frequent FrontPage Magazine and post over there. They would do movie reviews of politically innocuous movies and trash them from their cultic neocon standpoint. But if they didn't like a movie, or if another movie wasn't getting the attention it deserved, "hollywood" was at fault, as if all studios and artists FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD who worked in LA and elsewhere in the film industry were in collusion to slowly erode America's values and turn us into communists.
That's what cults do...they have to have an "other" an enemy...something easy to blame for all the ills of the world. Beck just meant "those" people...he wasn't actually picturing the human drama of it...it saved that for avoiding an apology....he just slipped and spoke his mind. Something tells me Beck didn't get slapped as a kid when maybe he should have. He missed learning something there.
Atlanta, where CNN is headquartered, has about 90 days of water left in their lake. I guess Beck will soon see a payback by Ma Nature.
Ugh....
There is a lot more people in Atlanta than Beck.
I hope you are not correct.
I don't wish harm on anyone.
No.... This is a producer and a network that backs up their personalities. Democrats can't spin this BS about California. I like Beck, and when MMFA stops attacking everyone that isn't left of center, they will truly become a Media Watchdog. Right now they are just sensationalists. Looking for angry left wingers.
Time will come they are no more.
Beck accused a portion of the people who are LOSING THEIR HOMES to a fire of "hating America."
What part of that shouldn't make someone angry? This is not a manufactured conspiracy, this is like walking up to someone at a funeral and calling them names for no reason.
They dont claim to be a media watchdog they claim to expose conservative media. Just like MRC and AIM expose liberal media. Do you rightwingers EVER know what you are talking about?
Glenn Beck's Producer saying "To most rational people," Beck's CA wildfire comments not uncivil" only demonstrates that Chris Balfe is in serious need of a reality check.
Regarding "To most rational people, unfortunately still means unfortunately," Chris Balfe, the show's producer, tells On Deadline through a spokesman., is in itself, insulting, acting as though most rational people can't tell when they've just heard an insult cloaked in semantics, and then being told that it isn't an insult.
Balfe also needs to go back to school and take English 101, over. Never start a sentence with a preposition. However, given the lack of intelligence shown in the comments above, it probably wouldn’t help.
Brilliant, Sal! Without your diligence, the rest of us would not be unable to recognize an error in language skills. Outside of this forum, many people use prepositions or prepositional phrases to begin sentences. Within this forum, it is good to have an english wizard like you to catch anyone that might err in their english skills. You must be a genius!
//(Idiot)