Beck's 'racism' charge hits Howard Kurtz's outrage meter
You have to believe things are really getting foul out there in cable land when Howard Kurtz -- whose willingness to look the other way when it comes to all kinds of vile and kooky wingnuttery is the stuff of legend -- finally reaches his threshold, as he apparently did Sunday on his 'Reliable Sources' program:
It's getting ugly out there. And by out there, I mean the great cable echo chamber. Six months after Barack Obama took office, the vitriol that often marked the Bush years when Iraq and terror were the driving issues is now being directed at his successor. And apparently, you can say just about anything about the president of the United States and still stay on the air. The national outrage meter doesn't even seem to move very much, so accustomed have we become about incendiary. My personal needle has hit the maximum.
What really pushed Kurtz over the line -- in addition to the Lou Dobbs 'Birther' controversy -- was Glenn Beck's charge that President Obama is a 'racist':
KURTZ: So, is some of this cable commentary getting out of control? Should there be a line you can't cross without getting fired? And why are we still debating the Skip Gates arrest?
Joining us now, Michel Martin, host of "Tell Me More" on National Public Radio; Amanda Carpenter, reporter and columnist for "The Washington Times"; and Michelle Cottle, senior editor of "The New Republic." Michel Martin, is calling the president a racist, not saying that he made a racist statement, but that he hates White people, is that simply out of bounds?
MARTIN: Yes.
KURTZ: And yet, there doesn't seem to be any great uproar about it.
MARTIN: I don't know. That's the part that surprises me a little. But there's a lot -- I guess it would be funny if it weren't so -- and here's a word that we've heard a lot of lately -- stupid.
I mean, here is a man who has a white mother, here is a man who was raised by two white grandparents who obviously adored him and who he adores. Here's a man who's better at so-called "white culture" than Glenn Beck is, and yet we have to hear this kind of commentary. It's quite remarkable.
Kurtz goes on to wonder how Beck and the rest of the inflammatory right-wing pundit class gets away this:
KURTZ: Michelle Cottle, I've interviewed Glenn Beck back when he worked for CNN's Headline News, and you ask him about his inflammatory statement, and he says, "You know, I'm just a rodeo clown." He kind of portrays himself as an entertainer.
So, my question is, how does he get away with this? He doesn't seem to be paying any price. If anything, he's getting more attention.
COTTLE: Two words: crazy sells. I mean, if you're talking about political punditry, it does not serve you well to go out there and talk nuance and whatever, or at least it doesn't get you the big audience. And more than that, the committed audience.
I mean, normal people have lots to do with their time. What you have with Glenn Beck is, the crazier he gets, the more obsessive he draws. And these people sit and watch every word and buy every book and go to every speech, and it's great for him and it's great for Fox, so they're not going to do a thing about it.
KURTZ: So, playing to the base, so to speak?
COTTLE: Yes. 'Base' in both terms of the word.
MARTIN: And the fact is, big numbers in the cable world is a relative term; is it not?
KURTZ: Sure.
MARTIN: I mean, the big stars in cable would not draw a needle in the broader network universe. But it's great for selling books.
KURTZ: Right. You get two or three million viewers in cable and you are a superstar. And you worry -- you basically -- you can make a very nice living catering to those people, even if everyone else says, racist? How can you call the president a racist? Especially a president, ironically enough, who usually tries to avoid or neutralize racial issues, except in this case.
Actually, the main reason they get away with this is that people like Howard Kurtz have a history of excusing it. But we wouldn't expect Kurtz to tackle that problem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVxr63WaRrs&fe...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Sad, innit?
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
how much money can i make?
Where was this scumbag Christian's outrage when his Fuhrer was invading innocent countries and raping, torturing, and murdering innocent citizens? Where was this Christian loon's outrage when his Fuhrer was inflicting USA PATRIOT Act and other acts of treason against us?
is not simply that they excuse it.
They defend it when uttered by someone on their own network.
Beck used to do this on CNN. Lou Dobbs still does.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
a lot of "pundits" who work on the left-wing side of crazy. Wingnuts only, thanks.
Kurtz, you big phonie, you enabled this kind of behavior from the wingnuts for years.
You now have the gall to ask that question as if you can't believe it's happening?
Then all that talk about "great for selling books" as if we don't all know that those "books" are gifted through rightwingnut organizations to inflate their numbers, and "sold" at a loss...
Assclown.
... will forget his outrage in the same manner that Tweety Matthews routinely plays intellectual roulette before every broadcast.
Kurtz goes on to wonder how Beck and the rest of the inflammatory right-wing pundit class gets away this:
Oh please Howard. The only difference between you and Beck is tone, timbre and decorum...but you float just as much crazy shit as Beck and you were just one more heinie licker of the Bush Administration.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
Vitriol directed at Bush, caused by: Destroying the economy while allowing the largest terrorist attack on American soil and then lying us into 2 wars. Shredding almost every American value along with the constitution. Oh, and Katrina.
Vitriol directed at Obama, caused by: He's black.
.
Waydago!
to the Villagers, whether the vitriol is fact-based or not is besides the point. The point is that there's yelling, which is not the "bipartisanship" that they all fetishize. To people like Kurtz, the facts behind the vitriol are mutable, and therefore meaningless. Like, it all depends on what your definition of "war crime" is.
was a classic.
You know this country has hit rock bottom, when a rich pudgy white male who has a Germanic last name and follows a religion that up to a few years ago considered non-whites as subhuman, has the gall to accuse a mixed race guy with an African last name as the second coming of Hitler because he wants to allow young people to work helping their communities.
It was a moment of pure paranoiac schizophrenia and unchecked projection, with a side order of sociopathic behavior. Which probably signals the end of the line for us.
We had a good run while it lasted though...
Did I hear the "Fuhrer" in the first 30 seconds of the clip
and
Beck state that the president "exposed himself"?
I just thought that was sorta Freudian...
A short while ago, I flipped on Beck. He was talking about how angry people are, and he showed a video clip of those idiots interrupting Arlen Specter at a Townhall meeting.
I sent Beck and email telling him that O'Reilly despises these types of things, calling those who interrupt "far left wing loons" (e.g., Code Pink, when they interrupt Congress).
So it told Beck that I call these people who interrupt Townhall meeting "brownshirts," and I finished by telling him, "I just knew you were a nazi!"
The racists like Beck and Dobbs are the ones who continue to fan the flames of racism. The bigots also think that they are the sole interpretor of what is or isn't racism.
They want and believe that they now need the racist vote to win future elections.
the flames of racism" and following the script to keep people emotional, reactive and distracted from reasonable judgement of important issues. classic.
that Kurtz drawing these observations is patently absurd and hypocritical,let me just ask..
If Beck is a rodeo clown,why do people who listen to him want to go out and shoot other people who do not,in he skull?
Why are their warning labels on hip hop records but not on Beck's forehead?"Warning-listening to Glenn Beck may cause you to murder people".
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
"The Great Cable Echo Chamber." You mean like your own show, Howie?
And since when was Beck entertaining and not just a race-baiting bigot?
the vitriol that often marked the Bush years when Iraq and terror were the driving issues is now being directed at his successor.
Just exactly what anti-bush, anti-war vitriol is that vapid asswipe referring to? Jon Stewart?
Just exactly what anti-bush, anti-war vitriol is that vapid asswipe referring to? Jon Stewart?
Veiled attempt to equate progressive bloggers to the wingnuts dominating the mainstream media.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
Is that all this "anti-Bush vitriol" had actual um,"substance".
A view substantial enough in fact to be promoted world wide by countless disparate interests.
This recent avalanche of hatred however,is purely the work of sick poisoned minds bent on destroying a Presidency for no other reason than extreme ideological fantasies gurgling up into a quagmire of scatter brained sickly paranoia.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
If Beck considers himself a rodeo clown there should be a disclaimer at the beginning of his show that states, The opinions expressed on this show are those of a rodeo clown and should be viewed as such.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Beck's too stupid to be classified as a rodeo clown.
He's more like a crash test dummy.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
I always hated that band
And Four Non-Talents
And Ace of Bass.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Real rodeo clowns are the health and safety monitors of their profession. Beck, Dobbs, et al are what rodeo clowns scrape off their big red shoes at the end of the day.
.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
You illustrated exactly how Beck fails to think before he spews his nonsense.
makes perfect sense to me.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
Another flaming ass pipes up. McCain has announced he will vote against Judge Sotomayor. I guess I shouldn't be surprised but I thought McCain might have a shred of decency left in him
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
He's voting with his constituency...the rapidly declining white "majority" in Arizona.
He's not running for reelection again. So, he'll go out by pissing off the Hispanics in Arizona. It's his way of getting back at the GOP conservatives for shackling him with Palin.
You do understand that John McCain is a vindictive little prick.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
After his behavior during the election there should be no doubt what he is.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
in any way surprised at that racist, vindictive, self-absorbed old fart's actions.
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
being a teabagging queen? Obviously when these girls were teabagged, the guys teabaagging them didn't tell them it was teabagging. Rachel knew the definition.
..KURTZ: "So, is some of this cable commentary getting out of control? Should there be a line you can't cross without getting fired? And why are we still debating the Skip Gates arrest?"
Considering the crap that has emanated from FAUX for all these years is finally starting to matter to more than just progressive-leaning individuals.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
OMG
Haven't they been listening? What planet are these people from!
"So, my question is, how does he get away with this? He doesn't seem to be paying any price. If anything, he's getting more attention."
i thought howie was supposed to be the media critic, not the friggin idiotic buffoon.
how does beck get away with it? you answer your own question, you fraud: he's getting more attention.
listen, howie, if you were a true media critic you would point out that therein lies the problem--the attention draws viewers, viewers bring ad revenue, cable stations roll around naked in piles of cash. if you were a true media critic, howie, you would use your title to expose the danger of commercial "news". but, of course, that would take integrity.
...some ostensible knowledge of the media.
Rachel was not offended as someone said on that segment. If anything, Rachel was amused at the idiocy of the comment Lou Dobbs made because it did not make any sense.
she seemed mildly amused. LOL!
hit it out of the park (twice) on the teabagg'g ref. conservatives doing their best to offset her success with that. getting the last word. but not the last best word. imo
Bush and Reagan defanged the FCC that would immediately snatch broadcast licenses when shyt like this went on the air.
As for real outrage at calling the POTUS a racist, I guess this country is too NUMB to response yet.
I thought they were the ones who levied fines after wardrobe malfunctions.
the planet that Glenda Becky was born on had universal health care and that the doctor slapped his mother when she hatched him.
Of course he won't be tackling the problem. Kurtz is part of the problem.
So he says, "...and why are we still debating the Skip Gates arrest?".
Am I missing something here? Howard. Why ARE you still debating?
at first, i was going to comment on kurtz and his obligatory ck'g off of the journalism offense of the moment and the non-accountability, insider scam being run.....
right now, glad that there's still information available: alternative media and independent journalists. appreciate: moyers, amy goodman, jeremy skahill, greenwald, hartmann, linktv/pacifica/other independent radio, international news online and on air, etc
too bad for corporate media, consolidation of its power and the destructive influence on democracy and important policy issues of the nation and planet.
So, anyway, back to basics - war crime prosecutions, warrant-less spying, eavesdropping, wire-tapping, reading emails, tracking web-site use, torture, assassinations, ongoing wars, universal health insurance, economy, environment, stuff like that.
So many things we need to know about and so little information. I'm afraid the MSM is succeeding in re-direction of issues. The MSM is talking about reThuglicanz and crazy conspiracy theories.
If the MSM could just let go of the Rethuglicanz, maybe things could be alright. The MSM needs something - anything - to fill the news void after 9/11 and then the terrifying Bush presidency we all just experienced. They want to maintain the heat that a disaster generates. Letting go of the their Republican pundits now would lower the heat, and the news void would deepen somewhat - at least that's the idea.
The lesson is that commercial TV is not our friend - even when it pretends to be.
If the MSM needs hot 'news' to maintain ratings during peace time, i ask their producers to consider just how hot the news will be once they begin to prosecute the Bush-Cheney crime family!
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
I have read the threads of the last 5 or so pieces.
I find it rather unfortunate that for the all the endless entries, I have found only one or two actually thoughtful responses. If you dislike a person or a book, please read the book andstate the reasons why you disagree. If you don't, you have no credibilty. Name calling diminishes your argument and renders you meaningless. The blogs on the right do a lot of this too but they appear to be slightly more policy based. In my opinion, both sides have steered us down the wrong path. We have a lot to be angry with both sides. So "attempt" to leave the biases at the door if you want to be taken seriously. Left and Right
Most interesting thing for me here is that Amanda Carpenter, certainly no stranger to wingnuttery herself, is trying to come back to rationality again. The birthers are her chance to do this. Maybe some other right wingers will take that chance, too. As much as I despise them - that's a healthy development in all this sick mess.
(Clutching at straws, there, I know...)
They are like a bunch of D circuit players. They will do anything for a part - even support the Greedy Old rePuglicanz. The Pugs will do anything too, except play by the rules, so they area perfect match. The MSM is desperate for the kind of hot news the last eight years of Bush-Cheney terror brought us, so they too will do anything, except re-examine the last eight years, so we have a perfect three way.
Except for us that is - we're not invited to the orgies. as a result we don't get to find out what happened for eight years.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
You know, I caught that. She did say that the criticism of Beck might have done some good because she mentioned that Beck no longer said anything the rest of the day about Obama being a racist.
So I sent her an email, telling her that while he may not have said it on cable, he defended his position on Obama being a racist the very next day, on his radio program.
Amanda actually responded to me, asking me if I had a link. She also said something in that email which indicated to me that perhaps, just perhaps, she doesn't care for Beck's antics.
I did send her a link from the New York Daily News discussing Beck's defense of his statements. She actually posted that on her Twitter account, telling her readers that Beck indeed did defend himself on his radio show about his Obama remarks.
This is not a form we EVER want to lose.
http://free.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_...
The Corporate tentacles are pushing hard and deep into the flesh of free society. Immunize immediately.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
beck's base comes with him from his,limbaugh's, hannity's talk radio monopoly where they can say anything they want from 1000 stations spewing GOP talking points 24/7 with call screeners to protect them from real calls.
as long as the left ignores it it wil keep setting the tone and making real democracy impossible.
and a few times on this same show these people wondered and discussed how/why the wingnut stories keep going, how obama's reactions keep them going, etc. it doesn't matter what obama does- if the GOP wants to keep them going limbaugh and hannity make it so. easy as that.
Ummm, Howie, maybe because guys like you, who are considered in the mainstream, don't come right out and say that this guy is an idiot and an asshole? Anyone who is at least rational or moderate (as you claim to be) can not come to any other conclusion. Until you call him on his innappropriate comments he CAN get away with them.
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