Today, Glenn Beck's news website TheBlaze.com released a video compilation of clips from several public talks Soros had given, under the hyperventilating title: “OPEN SOCIETY: SOROS EXPLAINS THE ANTI-CAPITALIST, PRO-MARXIST TACTICS HE USES TO FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORM COUNTRIES.” On his Fox News program, Beck promoted the video -- which he said was put together by “the journalists at the Blaze” -- and aired a clip showing, in Beck's view, that Soros wants to bring about a one-world government “the Marxist way.”
Here's what Soros said in the clip about anticipating Britain's withdraw from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism:
SOROS: I precipitated the event which occurred I think the next day or within two days. So, in a way, it works as in the Marxist way. Marxist theory is that you can accelerate the course of history by anticipating it correctly. And I think he's -- in that particular instance -- he is right. It really works that way.
Oh no!!!
The operative phrase here is “in that particular instance.” Soros is clearly not commenting on any other component of Karl Marx's philosophy. But Beck seems to think that just quoting someone approvingly equals an endorsement of that person's entire world view.
That would be a ridiculous standard to hold people to even if Beck applied it consistently. Lucky for Beck's friends, it doesn't apply to them.
Take Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, who helped Beck with his 8/28 projects. Reed reportedly once said:
Mao Tse-Tung said politics is war without bloodshed. Clearly, there are some metaphors that sit nicely with politics.
Applying the Beck standard to that remark, we can only assume that Reed likes to practice politics the Maoist way: by slaughtering millions of counterrevolutionaries. “War without bloodshed” indeed, you Maoist.
But if we take some more logic lessons from Professor Beck, it gets even worse. Because by using his favorite investigative strategy of guilt by association, we can easily deduce that Beck himself is a Maoist as well.