No, not really. It's just like any other movement.

It is all about the good of the party ... comrade.

Republican Mainstream: Fingers in ears NA NA NA NA NA 'Bout sums it up

It's not odd, it's their M.O. Saying that establishment republicans are disingenuous, hypocritical, and opportunistic is like saying the Lady Gaga dresses weird.

Obviously Beck can say whatever he wants to - unless of course it offends his Saudi boss.

Repugnants to Beck:

Hey, asshole, they may be a mob, but they're our mob.

Is it really odd?

The people who drive the Republican legislative agenda, and who benefit from it, don't want the applecart upset. They don't want the substantive agenda discussed, and they don't want the people who vote Republican -- whether they believe or even understand that agenda (or even are compos mentis) -- to stop voting Republican.

It might seem less than ideal that the movement is not entirely intellectually unified -- the voters don't necessarily have a clue what they're voting for -- but last I looked, that wasn't a strict requirement in politics.

That they're mentioning it at all is, for me, a sign that they're worried that some of the applecart is starting to shake apart -- that the extremism of the crazies is driving away some of the votes that the puppetmasters need to keep the agenda on track. So they're saying some of the words that appeal to the less-crazies. But if the shoe were on the other foot -- if "deficit hawks" were becoming so strident that the Teabaggers started realizing that they're a bunch of moneyed elitists -- then I'll bet they'd be saying the exact opposite of what they are.

With all the metophoric talk the past two days of how certain political factions are attracted to using Sarah Palin as a tool for their own purposes, it should be noted the Republican party believes it has an arsonel of tools to employ against their political enemies - too bad not-a-one is sharp enough to use with any effective results!

And I even bet Beck is the dullest hoe you'll ever meet in your lifetimes! -Kevo

Is it really odd? -bleh

No, but it certainly is a movement.

Aw, I can't whine about this one, Steve. A lot of us loved us some Ralph Nader until he started telling us there was no difference between the parties.

Party First, my friends.

The people who control the Republican party have to keep working stiffs who are paying more in SS and Medicare taxes to support a party that wants to eliminate taxes on inheritance and investments, neither of which is subject to SS or Medicare taxes. Beck is dangerous to these people.

beejeez beat me to it. this doesn't strike me as anything unusual or attackable since a great many on the left (including Steve if my memory isn't failing yet) took the same stance with regard to Nader: we like many of your ideas, we like you when you are working to promote your ideas from inside the tent, but once you start saying things that split the non-Republican electorate, you actually help the Republicans and hell yes there is a difference between the parties.

We certainly don't want to be engaging in the same hypocricies we call the wingnuts on. Here the attacks on Beck are predictable and even logical in the framework of the two-party reality we have.

Maybe Steve's still feeling the after-effects of celebrating his blogoversary. :)

zeitgeist was there something of a halucinatory nature in your coffee this morning? Comparing Nader to Beck is a stretch to begin with. The criticisms of Nader were comparable only in that he was devisive. It's almost impossible to make sense of any other comparisons.

Never, ever, EVER forget that it's all about making money.

Republicans don't care about fiscal policy -- Dick Cheney said: "Ronald Reagan proved deficits don't matter." But, Libertarians do care.

If the Tea-bag movement were a REAL movement independent of the Astro-turf corporations that funded it and the right-wing Republican activists who run it, then it would be a REAL DANGER to the Republican party and the "Conservative movement" itself -- as well as threatening entrenched elites!

That's why you see Ron Paul attacked remorselessly on Fox News! He actually believes his insane Libertarian ideas about getting rid of government!

He wants to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and slash the military because he knows that you can't have "limited government" with a $560 billion a year military budget that only ever goes up!

Reality: NO Republican politician is EVER going to "balance the budget!" They are going to cut taxes for the top 1% and INCREASE Military spending forever!

Indeed it is odd, especially after you were praising Beck for smearing Debra Medina with a lie about her a 9-11 "truther". Indeed they are upset when he goes after the GOP and the establishment they all serve. But what they don't understand is that the Tea Parties exist because after eight years of Bush II and watching GOP Congressmen go around their districts bragging about all the,money the district is getting from "porkulus", they really don't see a difference.

And what they complaining about Beck? Who do they think they are? Journalists? scholars? politicians? No they are ENTERTAINERS! That's what they are. That's how they are judged, through being entertaining in order to get ratings. Beck knows this as well as anyone as so do they. That's why he says "I'm a rodeo clown." He's pulling the mask off they don't like it.

Poor Glenn; he's having a Homer Simpson moment ("too far.....go back"). It's amazing that having notice taken of his hoarse barking and screaming was by no means inevitable. If he could have just stuck with running down everything Obama and Democrats do, punctuated by the odd "I just love my country so much" cloudburst of crocodile tears, he would have still been in the upper deck of the Republican team.

Unfortunately, being off-the-edge-of-the-map crazy has something in common with shitting your pants - you can only keep it a secret for so long. Crazy people can't be controlled, and Beck has been lurching from one ditch to the other for quite some time; his break for the open fields was a foregone conclusion. Shame he couldn't have held on to his credibility for long enough to destroy the Republicans completely.

Maybe he'll be forgiven. We can only hope.

It's pretty amazing, watching Beck. At the CPAC, he went back to Wilson to find blame for "progressives" and their campaign to "take away our freedoms," citing the 19th Amendment and Prohibition, which "took away our alcohol." Now, one can say looking at video of this that it's pretty clear that gaggle of droolers were pretty well liquored-up (lynch mob level liquored-up), but what's funny is that Beck is a recovering alcoholic (as well as a recovering cocaine junky). Over the years, I have run across more than a few AAers who would be very happy to see the return of Prohibition (yes, before all you steppers shout, I know that's not the AA official position).

"I'm just a rodeo clown" is his direct quote. That this drug-addled failed top-40 disc jockey is taken seriously by anyone about anything, is a demonstration of how bad off we are.

Limpdick is worried that the majority of his audience agrees with Beck, unsuprising from the drug-addled bozo who set them all up for the rodeo clown.

The Republican right is indeed a movement - a bowel movement. And you know what bowel movements produce, every time.

I don't know about all of this. I was drawn into a raging debate the other day with some folks who really, really loved Glenn Beck's speech at CPAC. For them it was a "Give 'em hell" event. They point to it as supporting the idea that both parties have committed profound sins against the American people. Near as I can tell the speech is playing pretty well outside Washington.

What Republicans are worried about is what beejeez said above. If he keeps it up Beck will be the right's Nader. He will encourage the great unwashed Conservative base to sit on their collective hands in general elections involving incumbent or other party first Republicans.

Ha! So every time a wingnut gets caught breaking the law they always point to "both parties being just as corrupt" bullshit and now it is coming back around to bit them in the ass. 'Bout time...

So, let me get this straight. Prominent conservative voices don't mind Beck's deranged conspiracy theories, his humiliating ignorance, and his hatred for those who don't think as he does. But these conservative voices mind a great deal if Beck notes that Republicans have an embarrassing record when it comes to deficit reduction, the national debt, government spending, and increasing the size and scope of the federal government's powers -- an observation that happens to be true. What an odd movement.

Thank you, thank you, thank you...

Thi9s is a perfect example of a glaring contradiction and yet it will probably get little attention in the media in general and probably none on the Right.

I was heartened to see Levin's criticism at first
that was linked at NRO. He was discomforted by the inclusion of the John Birchers at the CPAC and noted how they were shunned many years ago by Goldwater and Buckley.

Then he went to rave about the "Socialists" around Obama and how bad Beck was for saying the two parties were the same.

Pretend to pour gas on people as a way of fearmongering about Democrats and play a skit where you "pretend" to poison the Speaker of the House...and you'll get a pass. Turn your attention to the GOP's faults and earn the ire of your fellow conservative pundits.

So dysfunctional, it's breathtaking.

Party First, my friends.
Posted by: John Sidney McCain III

and money second, power third (or is that second), public perception fourth, media distortion of all things non-Republican fifth, undermining Democrats regardless of benefit sixth (or is it second), and somewhere down the list is nation, and family (minus the abortion skeleton in the closet) and sometimes God, though He may have dropped off the bottom of the list about 10 years ago.

Course I forgot taxes and teabaggin' and the continual patching of the disinegrating religious image...

wow. really impressed by the level of discourse on this site: "the Rethuglicans..." "they are a movement, a bowel movement..." "the drug-addled bozo..." "limpdick..." hardy har har, you guys are so hilarious, and so clever!

it's funny to me that you all think Glenn Beck is such a hater, but you would NEVER hear Beck make ad hominem attacks like those in these comments. he talks about issues, not personalities. of course you wouldn't know that, since you don't actually watch his show--you just criticize him because somehow you just KNOW he's a stupid bad evil clown.

keep on going down this road, lefties. let's talk in November and see how well this went down with the American people.

Partisan dupes hate anybody who won't accept the post-Perot party duopoly. Same way with either the D or R tribe.

michiganruth@4:10: wow. really impressed by the level of discourse on this site: "the Rethuglicans..." "they are a movement, a bowel movement..." "the drug-addled bozo..." "limpdick..." hardy har har, you guys are so hilarious, and so clever!

it's funny to me that you all think Glenn Beck is such a hater, but you would NEVER hear Beck make ad hominem attacks like those in these comments. he talks about issues, not personalities. of course you wouldn't know that, since you don't actually watch his show--you just criticize him because somehow you just KNOW he's a stupid bad evil clown.

keep on going down this road, lefties. let's talk in November and see how well this went down with the American people.

Ruth, this is an open forum. None of us are journalists and many of us should never be. Have you read the comments section of a right-wing blog lately? I would encourage you to do so, but warn you not to write off your comrades too hastily, just because "a few" of them advocate torture and murder. But I would encourage you to count, then come back to this blog later for a comparison.

For what it's worth (not much, I'm sure), I'm one of many here who never, ever use terms like 'Repiglican', Rush 'Limpballs' or make sophomoric references to bodily functions, while serious discussions are taking place. And I can tell you that anyone (once in a blue moon, it happens) who comes along advocating violence is put in their place pretty quickly here.

sorry, JTK, the "just a few bad apples" argument doesn't work here. I went back and looked at all the comments posted so far to this article. a VAST majority of them contained the kind of idiocy I mentioned in my earlier post. you may be completely different, and I'm glad to hear you are. but from the evidence, I can't say I believe that others here are.

I have read conservative blog comments--I'm usually over at newsbusters and pajamas. and I have to say I have missed these frequent references to torture and murder that you mention. to the contrary, what I notice most is the focus on issues. sure, some loons might want to name-call Obama a "communist" or whatever, but I just don't see the vitriol I see on more left-ish sites.

you can see this on TV, too. Hannity and Beck may hate on your politics, but they've never called anyone a "mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick," as Keith Olbermann called Michelle Malkin.

same with the healthcare debate. being against Obamacare is enough to get one called a racist.

a little more "comity" on each side would be good, but I have to say I see more straight-up viciousness on the left.

Funny, Ruth... that you reach your conclusion after, what, one day? My history here stretches back about 5 years.

We truly live in different worlds. However, I'm glad you slipped up and used the term 'Obamacare'. It plays into my perception that many conservatives have a difficult time calling things by their actual names ('Democrat Party', 'Death Tax', etc.) and instead, dutifully pass along the propaganda that's been fed them.

I will not try to persuade you further as it appears you see things through your own prism (and I cannot prove that my prism is any less selective than your own). In one breath, you admit you *do* see vitriol on your own side, then reveal your own bias by failing to explain how that is different.

I guess "vitriol" is anything negative being said about what *you* believe. And I didn't intend to make a "few bad apples" argument for my less-mature cobloggers. Though I choose my words more wisely, I *do* believe Glenn Beck is a liar and that Michelle Malkin is a vile excuse for a human being.

However someone else chooses to say that is their own business. The problem is that it upsets people who haven't yet figured out how far the conservative movement has fallen, and just what lying, conniving sociopaths these people really are.

So, when you hear angry rhetoric aimed at one of your tribe, you hear someone baselessly insulting someone with whom (in your mind) there's nothing wrong. What I hear is years and years of frustration over lying media scumbags (see, I just did it myself because that what I believe they are) culminating in something that would be childish and petty were there no history to back it up.

But getting back to your 'apples-to-oranges' comparison (you cannot compare a media giant making $20,000,000/yr. to an anonymous blogger), just remember this: nobody here is paid for their comments. Sometimes those comments might seem crass... but rarely are they unfounded. On the other hand, if somebody paid you 20 million, I suspect you'd lie too if that was what was expected of you.

Read more. Listen more. Reflect more. Do it now, Ruth.

Mark Levin hasn't been paying attention to what's been going on in the Republican Party lately if he really thinks he can say to Glenn Beck: "You can't wear the clown nose and not wear the clown nose at the same time."

Taking two opposite positions simultaneously is exactly what Republicans are doing. In fact, contradiction defines them as a party. And their only chance of regaining power with the party they have is the hope that nobody notices. Which is where Fox News and Rush Limbaugh come in.

Republicans are against the stimulus but not the money that goes to their district. They vote to filibuster a bill they then vote in favor of when it gets to the floor.

And just what does Levin think the Tea Party movement is anyway? It's largely an attempt by a large portion of the Republican Party to pretend they are not Republican, when they really are.

Levin's complaint with Beck is that Beck takes all of this talk of independence seriously. Levin knows that Tea Party "Nation" is an attempt by the bad "old" Republican Party to distance itself from itself so that a new purified and redeemed Republican Party can emerge to take the reins of power once more. Beck's mistake is taking all of this third party independent talk seriously instead of understanding what it is -- just part of the normal regenerative life-cycle of the conservative movement, sort of like a snake shedding its old skin, in which the movement is able to heal itself after devastating defeats by throwing its institutionalized "Republican" self under the bus so that it does not have to sacrifice a single one of its core "conservative principles."

In his 1994 book The End of the Republican Era, parties and interest group professor Theodore Lowi predicted that a conservative coalition built around the volatile compounds of "moral purity and ideological certitude" was bound to degenerate into what he called a state of "hypocracy" as conservative movement leaders found it increasingly impossible to meet the practical demands of governing a modern state while placating a true-believing ideological base committed to what amounts to a political religion.

The hypocrisies, double standards, deceits and incoherancies that we are seeing from the Republican Party today were entirely predictable even as far back as 1994 to anyone like Lowi who understood the basic demands and dynamics of the "nationalized morality" that first came to power with Gingrich and the Southern reactionaries who have controlled the GOP ever since.

Glenn Beck's only crime when he takes seriously conservative calls a third party promoting a purified brand of conservatism is to make these stress fractures more visible.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock , you’ve heard about Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has sign the Bill (sb1070) into law. A law that makes it necessary for all people to carry their identification card with them at all times. The law gives Police Officials the authority to ask and to see the information not only from aliens but from any individual that is considered suspicious or when there is enough suspicion that suspect is not legal resident. In other word the racist Governor gave police cops with a history of racist belief! The right to harass beat and murder and racial profile! The Democrats as well as many different Hispanic coalitions up in arms saying that the bill is unconstitutional and racially bias. THEY ARE RIGHT!

At what point in my lifetime will white Americans step up? At what point will white leadership take responsibility for their race? Blaming minorities and oversea terrorist and not looking at themselves must turn around! I'm talking about the young white Irish girl that was bully and committed suicide and the white control administration did nothing! We have witness a white cop taser a 72 year old white senior citizen. The white community said NOTHING! NO WHITE LEADERSHIP! Many sided with the white cop! White movie like "Mean Girls" God father" "Natural Born Killer"! A movie I never understood and thought white leadership would stop from ever being seen. BUT NO! This movie "Mean Girls" was so irresponsible given the fact that the Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States a mostly all white community, near Denver and Littleton. Two white sick senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 11white students and one black student one white teacher. They also injured 21 other white students directly, and three people were injured while attempting to escape. The white cowards then committed suicide. It is the fourth-deadliest school massacre in United States history, after the 1927 Bath School disaster, 2007 Virginia Tech massacre and the 1966 University of Texas massacre, and the deadliest for an American high school.
The massacre provoked debate regarding gun control laws, the availability of firearms in the United States, and gun violence involving youths. What America refuse to address is a white control America that coontinue to allow children as young as eight years old to own a gun "for hunting'! These white teens where able to purchase weapon online and have the weapon deliver to their homes!

WHERE ARE THE AMERICANS THAT VOTED FOR CHANGE
Bush turn a surplus into a debt! Bush was a proven idiot elected two times! The healthcare plan President Obama past whether you like it in it’s final writing, it is a historical change! THAT WILL BENEFIT ALL AMERICANS!!!!! Something never done by a sitting President. President Obama receive the country with a higher debt then the former President receive losing nearly 750,000 jobs a month under President Bush and Republican rule! President Obama increase the stimulus package from 350 billion under Bush/Cheney to 850 billion which stop the recession and stabilize the country! Two wars started by Bush/Cheney ( Afghan. and Iraq) one the Iraq war for NOTHING causing the needless death of 4,400 plus Americans lives for NOTHING! There was no WOMD….Weapon of Mass Destruction ….NONE.. Yet Bush/Cheney continue the war allowing Americans to put their life on the line for NOTHING! Today Republicans want to be rewarded for their part in the needless murder of American soldiers! To think there are American that will vote Republicans back into office in direct disrespect of American troops that fought and died for their lives. In a war the Republican knew where WRONG! This notion that President Obama must create jobs that Republicans allowed to be sent oversea! President Obama has been in office nearly two years and is expected to turn the country around from 8 years of destroying the country under Republican and Bush/Cheney! President Obama is redirecting the country re-tooling the country and turning the country around! Republican have been the party on NO not allowing the change to take place. So if Americans where smart they would vote Republicans out of office and give President Obama the power he needs for CHANGE! White Americans are misguided and uninformed. They are fed lies and because of the lies they believe in the wrong thing to change America for the better! White Americans should no that 43 white President did NOTHING to correct white poverty! 61% of Americans receiving food stamps and welfare are WHITE! Newt Gingrich’is now attacking WHITE PEOPLE for receiving food stamps! Blaming them for the downfall of America after his party REPUBLICANS) are responsible for the horrible condition of TODAY! Republicans have a proven record of failure and given America jobs to oversea counties! Turning the country backward is the agenda of the Republican Party! Hate and divide is the agenda of the Republican Party! Promoting anger is the agenda of the Republican Party! Pledge to America is nothing but a waste of paper and Republicans are beting on white that HEAR IT! BELIEVE IT! and REPEAT IT! and don’t investigate past the idiot the fool the racist that informed them!

VOTER ANGER

All the white control media is promoting this ” voter anger”! I question this anger and these polls that only some people (MOSTLY WHITE) are polled! And less then 5,000 in some of these polls! That claim to be the thoughts of 350 million American citizen! THAT IS CRAZY…But Americans have brought their reports for YEARS! I wonder will the white control media ever interview the people on “Wall Street” that benefited from the Obama’s stimulus package! Are they anger? All the banker that got billion of dollars are not angry! All the teacher firemen and women and police officers are not angry! There jobs were save by the stimulus package under President Obama! The 67,000 job create this quarter are they angry HELL NO!!!! Voter anger is nothing more then a spend that I must say is made successfully by the Republican Party and the white control media! Just like the Tea Party people are angry statement repeat over and over by the Republican Party! The white control media up it by saying Americans are angry! NOT ALL AMERICANS ARE ANGRY! People like Bill O’Reilly , Sean Hannity, Sarah Palin, promote this stupidity! Some Republican are running for office that believe in overturning the healthcare plan ,Civil Rights, Social Security”! There are Republican running that believe in witchcraft, Nazism,that speak out against Americans receiving employment but wife receive employment! The Pledge to America from Republican is all hot air! The Republican is beting on hate and divide and playing up American are angry in orther regain power and do nothing!