On his Fox News show tonight, Glenn Beck attacked a large chunk of the progressive movement with his handy chalkboard, some new magnets, and a McCarthy-like attitude unmatched by any other media figure today.
Beck's antics tonight were all in an effort to discredit the “Rally To Save The American Dream” that will be taking place this weekend. According to Beck and his chalkboard, ten of the sponsors for this weekend's events are communist organizations. They are:
- Keystone Progress
- TrueMajority
- Progressive Change Campaign Committee
- US Action
- Apollo Alliance
- 350.org
- Democracy For America
- United States Student Association
- National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
- Jobs with Justice
At no point did Beck provide any evidence to back up his allegation that these organizations espouse communism. Apparently, it's not enough for him to simply criticize progressive and pro-union viewpoints; he needs to brand them as communists (not to mention "enemies of God") and insist that there's something nefarious about progressives holding a rally.
The strange thing is that when he started the show six of the groups on his board were communist, and by about half way through the hour, there were suddenly ten organizations labeled communist.
I hope he doesn't think adding more red boxes makes his hysteria any more persuasive.