Anthony Weiner takes on Glenn Beck's gold scam

[Lumi]

Anthony Weiner takes on Glenn Beck's gold scam

Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., is at war with Fox News paranoia clown Glenn Beck. Weiner produced a brief report laying out the case against Beck advertiser Goldline, a corporation of scam artists in a mutually beneficial relationship with many conservative radio pundits.
Weiner pointed out that Beck scares his audience into buying gold, and then his audience hears ads for a company that sells gold at ridiculously inflated prices. (Goldline generally encourages them to buy massively marked-up coins, not bullion.) Goldline is better at responding to customer complaints than other, shadier gold businesses, but its entire business model is "rip off old people who don't know any better."
Weiner's report is here (pdf).
Beck's response has been, well, typical Beck. (Except no crying, so far.) He started a bizarre website consisting mainly of the same pro-Goldline talking points reiterated in various ways alternating with jokes about Weiner's name. Beck accused Weiner of doing the bidding of the Obama administration.
Anthony Weiner is one of the best television performers the Democrats have in the House. He's feisty, funny and able to argue for his principles. So he's maybe not the best congressman for Glenn Beck to take on. But, on the other hand, he's basically the East Coast iteration of the Fox News Liberal Democrat Caricature (the West Coast version is Speaker Pelosi, obviously).
So when Weiner appeared on "The O'Reilly Factor" last night, it predictably ended in a volley of shouting. Bill, in his new character of Fox's reasonable guy, didn't defend Goldline, he just ... well, he defended Goldline. And Beck. And accused Weiner of engaging in a witch hunt. Not that he's saying Weiner's doing anything wrong! (It's hard for Bill to keep up his new Reasonable Guy character while still making sure to have the correct position on matters like Glenn Beck shilling for scam artists.)

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In his daily e-mail today, Beck called Weiner "either the dumbest human being alive or the biggest liar on the planet..." But Beck barely mentioned Weiner on his Fox show today. He showed a picture of Weiner. He called Weiner ridiculous. He warned viewers: "Don't trust me. Don't trust anybody." He briefly talked like he was going to play a clip of Weiner on "The O'Reilly Factor," but then he didn't. Instead, it was on to One World Government.
And gold ads at every commercial break.

 

[Skulnik]

Debra Medina Glenn Beck 9/11 Truther Radio Comment ? Glenn Beck Debra Medina interview can be found here.Glenn Beck talked to Debra Medina who is a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2010 Texas gubernatorial election earlier today where things got a little heated. When the radio commentator asked Medina to share her opinion on the 9/11 truther movement which is a group that believes the U.S. government might have been behind the 9-11 destruction of the World Trade Center,she replied by:

?I don?t have all the evidence there, Glenn,So I?m not in a place ? I have not been out publicly questioning that. I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard. There?s some very good arguments and I think the American people have not seen all the evidence there so I?ve not taken a position there.?


:0corn

 

[Lumi]

Debra Medina Glenn Beck 9/11 Truther Radio Comment ? Glenn Beck Debra Medina interview can be found here.Glenn Beck talked to Debra Medina who is a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2010 Texas gubernatorial election earlier today where things got a little heated. When the radio commentator asked Medina to share her opinion on the 9/11 truther movement which is a group that believes the U.S. government might have been behind the 9-11 destruction of the World Trade Center,she replied by:

?I don?t have all the evidence there, Glenn,So I?m not in a place ? I have not been out publicly questioning that. I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard. There?s some very good arguments and I think the American people have not seen all the evidence there so I?ve not taken a position there.?


:0corn

You really are a fucking tool aren't you?

What does the Medina interview have to do with Beck being a Shill for Goldline?

Give me one good answer once you are done gulping down Neocon Cum

 

[Skulnik]

Lumi, you know a lot about CUMCHUGGING I guess?

:0074

 

[Skulnik]

I know why you hate Beck you NUT.


HEE HAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

:142smilie


JMHO

 

[shawn555]

Illum you were not expecting an adult response from skul were you?

 

[Skulnik]

Illum you were not expecting an adult response from skul were you?

I guess you didn't read his, pity really.


:0corn

 

[rusty]

I guess you didn't read his, pity really.


:0corn

Skul really consider the source.:142smilie

 

[Trench]

Good stuff Lumi. Does anyone really watch Beck's show for anything but laughs? Really?

There's as much unintentional humor in Beck's show is as there is in Rusty's posts.

Why waste your time with Skulnik? He hasn't posted anything worthy of a response since... well, never.

Trench

 

[Skulnik]

Good stuff Lumi. Does anyone really watch Beck's show for anything but laughs? Really?

There's as much unintentional humor in Beck's show is as there is in Rusty's posts.

Why waste your time with Skulnik? He hasn't posted anything worthy of a response since... well, never.

Trench

I guess i'm missing all of your brilliat posts that everyone is RAVING about, you're a LEGEND in your own mind, Pity Really


:0074

HEE HAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW


:mj07:

 

[Skulnik]

Skul really consider the source.:142smilie

You are correct sir.


:toast:

 

[Trampled Underfoot]

Skul really consider the source.:142smilie

I would like to acknowledge your first post with no grammatical errors.

 

[Lumi]

I know Skulnutz that you no long suck dick for profit and now that it's only for pleasure.

GET SOME !

Don't Ask, Don't Tell !

 

[Skulnik]

I know Skulnutz that you no long suck dick for profit and now that it's only for pleasure.

GET SOME !

Don't Ask, Don't Tell !

You want to continue with the CHILDISH namecalling and Insults?

You're the BIGGEST NUTJOB on this site, go suck on your daddys cock, he's going for your ASS PUSSY later.

JMHO.

:0corn

 

[Lumi]

My # 1 Rule,

Because all my Rules are # 1

Leave family out of it

You lost since you stooped to that level

 

[Skulnik]

My # 1 Rule,

Because all my Rules are # 1

Leave family out of it

You lost since you stooped to that level

Maybe a better RULE to follow is to not talk that way in the FIRST PLACE.


JMHO.

:0corn

 

[Chadman]

Actually, I think Beck has done pretty well for himself. It's not every day that people will worship a former Top 40 DJ that abused drugs, as a main source for helping them form their own political assumptions. Other than, say, Rush Limbaugh, that is. I don't think Rush was a DJ, though, so Beck was a bit more qualified to be an expert on public affairs.

 

[Chadman]

More "qualifications":

In the polarized political theater that has become television news, the honesty of this self-described ?recovering alcoholic rodeo clown with limited education,? might be, at first glance, refreshing. He does not consider himself a journalist, but an opinion guy who is ?as conservative as you can get,? and even at his most indignant, never froths at the mouth like an O?Reilly or Hannity. But, occasional disclosure of bias notwithstanding, Beck is still reprehensible. At best, he attempts to pass off far-right talking points as mere common sense. At his worst, when Beck climbs into his primetime pulpit to bear false witness and fear-monger, the levity and humility vanish as he pitches the apocalypse-du-jour and vilifies liberals.

Glenn Beck, born in 1964, began his media career shortly after high school. As a Top 40 radio DJ in Connecticut, he established himself as a local morning host. As Beck tells it, after more than a decade of this, he entered into a non-degree program at Yale University thanks to a recommendation letter from Sen. Joe Lieberman. Due to a combination of personal divorce, tragic family circumstances, alcoholism, and cocaine abuse, Beck quickly failed out.

After sobering up and becoming a Mormon, Beck resumed his career in 2000 as a talk-radio host in Miami. The Glenn Beck Program quickly rose in local rankings, going into national syndication shortly afterwards. The three-hour show, billed as ?half the politics and twice the comedy,? attracts about 3 million listeners nationwide.

Beck?s incoherent politics?sometimes libertarian, as in the case of opposing a minimum-wage increase; bigoted and populist on the issue of undocumented workers; and socially conservative on choice issues?are a reflection of his own shallow understanding of politics as well as his ratings-motivated ideological flexibility. Infused with sketch comedy that has all the wit and nuance of Larry the Cable Guy, Beck?s shtick may be acceptable for talk-radio, but not for the journalistic mainstream. Yet in an April 2006 press release, CNN advertised the ?unique,? ?engaging,? and ?no-nonsense? approach that Beck would be bringing as ?the perfect next step in the evolution of the Headline Prime line-up.?

Beck, despite being characterized by CNN as ?cordial,? was already notorious for his pathological lack of empathy for disaster victims and their families. In one radio segment, Beck bemoaned what he saw as the constant complaining of 9/11 victims? families, wishing they would ?shut up.? Segueing into his reflections on New Orleans, Beck commented, ?I didn?t think I could hate [Katrina] victims faster than the 9-11 victims,? before proceeding to call those who remained in the New Orleans ?scumbags.? Prone to articulating his exasperation with gory hyperbole (his oratorical repertoire includes ?blood is going to shoot out of my eyes? and ?makes you want to put a gun in your mouth?), Beck once indulged himself in an on-air fantasy of ?choking the life out? of filmmaker Michael Moore.

Yet, in May of 2006, the hour-long, Glenn Beck on Headline News began to air nightly on CNN?s Headline News channel. Beck might say that he is no journalist, but CNN seemed not to care. He began appearing as a commentator on other CNN shows, and in November of 2006, hosted a special program called Exposed: The Extremist Agenda. The inflammatory, uninformative special on anti-Americanism in the Middle East, which included Beck expressing ?surprise? that a letter critical of Al-Qaeda came from a Muslim, followed close on the heels of another controversy involving Beck?s take on Islam. In an interview with Keith Ellison, America?s first Muslim congressman, Beck provided the disclaimer of ?I know Muslims? and ?I like Muslims? before saying this: "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies. And I know you?re not. I?m not accusing you of being an enemy, but that?s the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.?

Yet after Ellison took the oath of office using a Koran, Beck appeared on CNN?s Paula Zahn Now, calling criticism of Ellison ?ridiculous,? ?nonsense,? and a ?non-issue.?

Such apparent inconsistency shouldn?t be surprising from a man who can decry the dangers of divisive rhetoric one moment, and draw parallels between Democrats and Hitler the next. Beck?s lowest moments include calling anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan a ?pretty big prostitute,? labeling former President Jimmy Carter a ?waste of skin,? portraying all undocumented Mexican immigrants as ?terrorists? ?who can?t make a living in their own dirt bag country,? responding to George Clooney?s Academy Awards speech by mimicking blackface, and defending McCarthyism. In January of 2007 he became a contributor to ABC?s Good Morning America, hired over the protests of three Muslim-American groups.

Glenn Beck hosts one of the most highly-coveted timeslots on a respected news channel that most Americans watch expecting to be given sound and reliable information, but he apparently feels no responsibility to provide that. A typical show often begins with what Beck calls candy, a segment ?absolutely of no value? discussing, for example, Madonna or the Oscars. Shortly thereafter, Beck moves on to reminding Americans what they need to be afraid of, with enough warmongering to keep them just terrified enough to tune in the next day and vote conservative in the meantime. He ends with ?The Point,? a typically absurd and outright moronic overstatement of a conservative policy gripe, and a feeble attempt to recap how he arrived at such an indefensible conclusion. His b?te noir of late seems to be Iranian President Ahmadinejad (who Beck refers to as President Tom so that he can pronounce it), but he is equally at ease conjuring the cataclysmic events that could emanate from Islam, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela, multiculturalism, immigration, pornography, or the Democratic party.

As much as Glenn Beck postures as a non-partisan, regular, good-ole red-blooded American, the only significant point of contention between him and his ideological brethren on the right seems to be whether the inevitable apocalyptic conflict we are facing would be World War III, IV, or V (Beck prefers III while John Gibson has said IV and Hannity has said V.) In a recent interview with Radar Magazine, Beck was asked ?Don?t you ever feel like you?re full of shit?? Beck replied with the affirmative ?every single day.?

Beck indulges in violent, bigoted, and deliberately provocative statements to try to reaffirm his political-outsider, average-Joe persona, passing off offensive provocation as bold and rare displays of honesty in media. But what Beck?s defenders admire in his occasional willingness to admit he?s wrong is no defense; it is sheer disregard for facts and pride in anti-intellectualism. Ultimately, being a disingenuous, right-wing partisan, fear-mongering, cheap-shot taking, ignorant windbag isn?t the kind of sin that can be absolved through confession, especially if one repeats the act night after night on CNN. When Beck was first approached for TV, he reportedly balked at the idea. Maybe he should?ve trusted his gut.

 

[Skulnik]

Actually, I think Beck has done pretty well for himself. It's not every day that people will worship a former Top 40 DJ that abused drugs, as a main source for helping them form their own political assumptions. Other than, say, Rush Limbaugh, that is. I don't think Rush was a DJ, though, so Beck was a bit more qualified to be an expert on public affairs.

Obama said his MENTOR was Reverend Jeremiah Wright and he was an Acorn Lawyer.

:0074

 

[Chadman]

Just out of morbid curiosity, I thought I click through on one of your posts to see if anything had changed. Should have known better. Another off-topic rip of Obama... which has nothing to do with Glenn Beck.

I do realize how tough it is to deal with being embarrassed on repeated subjects, and why you'd continue to try avoid them with a simplistic rip of Obama.

Back on ignore... keep up the good work. Pity to see House's avatar attached in this manner, though.