The Circular Firing Squad Hits Glenn Beck
Conservative author and commentator David Frum
Conservative David Frum, having made a bad name for himself with a crusade against Rush Limbaugh in the leftwing press, has now taken out after Glenn Beck in a column titled “GOP Surrenders to Beck’s Mob Rule.” (Frum is an armchair aristocrat). I don’t have a big quarrel with Frum’s view that Beck’s view of Cass Sunstein is “over the top” or off target. Conservatism is and should be a big tent where people can disagree in their judgments of issues and others. Frum is right that Sunstein is not a raving leftist. On the other hand he is not a critic of raving leftists such as Van Jones either. In fact he is happy to be part of their team.
Moreover, Sunstein has some ideas that are as dangerous as Beck says they are. But this is not a disagreement about interpretations. My real quarrel with Frum is that he denigrates Beck (“mob rule” indeed) and expresses the hope that Beck will soon be gone. This is more than over the top on Frum’s part. It is a betrayal of the conservative cause (much as his unseemly attack on Limbaugh was, too). Without voices like Beck’s and Limbaugh’s — and Ann Coulter’s for that matter — the conservative cause and the cause of this country would be hugely damaged. On the other hand, if Frum’s website were to fold, nobody would notice.
Our country is under assault by a determined, deceitful and powerful left which will stop at nothing to realize its goals. Facing them, I would rather have Glenn Beck out there fighting for our side than 10,000 David Frums who think that appeasing lefitists will make them think well of us. No it won’t. It will only whet their appetite for our heads. Kudos to Jonah Goldberg for standing up for Glenn. We need a hundred like him.
If you missed it, watch the opening of Beck’s show today on YouTube or later this evening. It’s a sermon on the American spirit — the most inspiring, moving and uplifting 15 minutes of television you’re likely to see in a long time.
Continued here:
Trackbacks and Pingbacks
- Understanding, Accepting, and Finally Celebrating The Conservative Chessboard « NewsReal Blog
- Whose Side is Glenn Beck On?
- David Frum Misses The Point « NewsReal Blog
- Glenn Beck Is On Our Side « NewsReal Blog
- The Movement And One George W. Bush And One Cass Sunstein « Around The Sphere
- There Is Room at the Table for Glenn Beck « Astroturf Superstar
- NewsReal Vs. David Frum « NewsReal Blog
You can’t have a big tent when your platform is based on propaganda. People will get confused and won’t know what lies to disseminate.
You can’t have a big tent when your platform is marginalized by skittish Republicans who are easily manipulated by the propaganda from the Left and the MSM. If the Right is worried about being criticized, they’re in the wrong business.
We need more fighters, less appeasers.
The left is running scared realizing conservatives are flocking together and organizing in a big way, using their own means. We need to continue using all means to get into the press our goals out on the table. We need the big numbers to get the country back on track. Glenn Beck, Rush Lymbaugh and Sean Hannity are guiding lights and spread the truth. CNN seems like they are showing who they are… Between the poor reporting of the Coasties in DC to the ACORN videos, they are a laughing stock.
Frum has become a beltway nutcase. He has no feel for the conservative wave that is sweeping the country. Good night, he is against Palin, Rush and Beck? I suppose he supports Spector and McCain. Frum champions views that will continue to see the Republicans loose elections.
Amusingly, my lowly blog — without contributors, a managing editor or financial support from who knows what fund — gets as many unique hits as Frum’s:
Make of that what you will!
http://www.fivefeetoffury.com/:entry:fivefeet-2009-09-01-0005/
http://www.fivefeetoffury.com/:entry:fivefeet-2009-09-02-0001/
Who’s Frum? Hopefully that will be the question.
Ben Hoffman, so self reliance & freedom rather than being a slave of by indebtedness to the state is propaganda?
Hmmm
Agree with all the above and of course David hits it right in the bullseye.
David Frum seems to have accepted the idea that if you are really nice to Regressive Progressives (“Back to Communism”) they will become really decent people and not try to impose Tyranny upon us.
David Frum is one of many economic illiterates who give conservatives a bad name. I have taken issue with his articles on more than one occasion.
He opposes free trade. He would be more at home in mercantilist England than in America.
Picking up on the last paragraph: In addition to Beck’s sermon on the American spirit . . . Yesterday, 9/11, Rush Limbaugh gave one of the most inspiring monologues I’ve ever heard. He read the Gettysburg address, followed by the story of Todd Beamer of Flight 93. They gave “the last measure of devotion,” that the rest of us might live in freedom. Beautiful. If anyone is interested, visit rushlimbaugh.com (“Obama hijacks 9/11″).
Is he a undercover communist. Cass Sunstein is one of the most dangerous men in Comrade Obama group. Wait for your dog’s lawyer to sue you for mistreatment and not buy him his favor food. This what Cass Sunsunstein believes. Remember that he is now in charge of all regulations in the government. This is a very dangerous time. It reminds me of a home owner in Riverside County here in CA was told he couldn’t clear brush around his house because of some little bug that was on the endangered spieces list. Like a true American he took his well being first and clear cut and save his home when a fire hit the area. Ask the farmers and almond growers in the Central Valley about the Delta Smelt while they lose their farms and orchards, and your food bill goes up.
PS: my fellow Canadians and I call Frum the “Winner of the Genetic Lottery”.
That’s because his mom was a very famous broadcaster, sort of like our Connie Chung or Diane Sawyer. Our national CBC anchorwoman for years and years.
The Canadian media is overweighted with folks with famous last names and privileged backgrounds.
Harder for us ordinary types to break in. Yeah, that’s life on planet earth in general but — stills sticks in the craw
So on top of everything else, we Canadian-cons have an extra beef against Frum. Irrational? Yeah. But anyhow…
I for one would rather have one Glenn Beck in front of me, that 10,000 David Frum’s behind me.
The truth is a powerful weapon and when wielded appropriately, is very effective. The truth to Obama is like garlic to a vampire (sorry, it was too funny not to include, since a 14 year old said this). The very foundation of this country is at stake. My father pasted away last November. He was one of those U.S. soldiers that landed at Normandy and made their way through the bodies of fallen soldiers, dodging weapons fire to end a tyranny that crept across Europe in very little time. He related that his platoon slept in the mud, went days without food, spent every moment of the day hearing screams of the wounded and weapons firing. The fact that he was a patriot and a good father, husband and cared about his country bodes well for his character. He was not a college graduate, did not receive invitations to attend Harvard, but he had integrity, and spoke openly about truth and the need for all to stand firm in the fact that honesty, hard work and love God, family and country are the backbone of this nation.
David Frum’s problem with Glenn Beck is the same one he had with the paleoconservatives back in the early 1990’s: he’s afraid of the marriage of populism with conservatism.
Bill in CA
With Cass Sunstein’s confirmation rolling along, I feel the need to protect myself from the future legislation that will enable my dog to sue me. I stocked up on milk bones this weekend. She can get quite tesstie when the cookie jar is empty. I suggest you do the same.
I read blogs from the right and the left in hopes of learning what is going on. I no longer trust any of the Cable News Station.. Fox is as far right as MSBC is to the left. CNN is like a pendulum, reporting on whatever hate is spewed by either side. And that is all I seem to hear or read lately, each side accusing the other of lies, distortion, and being against America. What really bothers me is that neither side is listening. Neither side is trying to find consensus. Both side are trying to force their opinions on the public using inflammatory rhetoric. The far far right is still trying to prove that Obama is not an American, The TeaBaggers are trying to convince all their followers that it is time for Armed insurection. Both sides are bent on proving that the other side is more corrupt.
Where are the Centrist who can convince both sides to Sit Down, Get Quiet, Present Plans, and fix this mess.
If I were in charge I would change a few laws by executive order. . Un Gerrymander the districts. the district that I live in combines parts of counties in snake like pattern. Make all lobby groups illegal, stop the money that makes the lawmakers beholden to them decide once and for all that in this republic, we elect people to represent Our interests, we need to be able to prioritize our needs and fix things
by a triage system. and accept that we can’t always be first. Sometimes things are so bad that one state needs to wait. There are too many duplications in the government.
There are a lot of things that could be bought more reasonably priced if someone from each department could read the paper and find the sales. Departments should be able to, no encouraged to save money whenever possible and not have to spend it all before the end of the year.
There are so many common sense solutions, but everyone seems to be more interest in casting blame or deflecting it or saying that others are worse than they are.
If things don’t change soon, Our great strength will keep dissipating and we will be lower and the third world countries. We will become a 4th world country, the once great who have fallen on hard times.
Do Commies all go to the same training camps? Every liberal comment labels conservatives ‘far right’ when the ‘right’ reveals what is right….the truth. That is as old as this dirt ball we live on. Perhaps if so many liberals did not lie, we would not have to call them liars or ‘radicals’? During times like this, one does NOT sit down and shut up and utilize their ‘PC’ indoctrination…they stand up and speak out, and rightfully so. Without two sides of a story…is like a football game without opponents…and that is NO GAME at all. To keep the political facade and game going , there MUST be TWO sides, and when you lose one…there is no game at all…just like our House and Senate.
We have a one party Gov’t and Representation at this moment, but as long as they ‘look good talking’ or appear to oppose one another, the two sided game, though a fraud, at least keeps up the appearances, does it not?
In defense of Glenn Beck: Yes, I too was disappointed in the 2 hour special with Glenn as well. But those of us who have gone on to further criticize, let’s stop for a moment and look at the whole picture. Glenn may or may not have Fox in back of him at this time. He’s been a one man show. Look at his face! For crying out loud he has bag under his eyes and he’s killing himself….for you and me! He is getting threats against himself and his family. I’m sure he’s in trouble with Fox and the advertising situation. He’s taking on Chicagoland goons. He’s a human being – don’t you think he’s exhausted, frightened particularly for his family, and under enormous pressure? Give this man a break! He said he’d be in DC today, but he was in New York. He didn’t break the big story we were all waiting for. Yes, I would have liked if he had had more interaction with the protestors and it surprised me. But this man is carrying a very very heavy loud right now. How amongst us could honestly say they could stand up under all this pressure and come on stage fresh, relaxed and present the show as it should have been. He probably got no sleep last night. I’m giving him a BIG pass. Anyone in 912 who criticizes him should be ashamed for all he has done for us. I acknowledge he wasn’t up to par but just one look at him this past week on HD TV and it was easy to understand he’s having difficulty. I believe he’s having a lot of trouble with Fox News as well. He needs us now more than ever.
On the matter of David Frum, at one time he was a columnist for Canada’s National Post. While he was on the paper he exhibited a great deal of common sense and came off as a true conservative, even by American standards, minimalist less intrusive government, free market capitalism, etc. I don’t know what has happened to this man since he went stateside but in his writings and commentary, hit pieces on Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and other conservatives, love letters for Obama and other statists, either he has had a Damascus road conversion or he is a pander. What I mean by a pander is someone who bends and twists the viewpoint expressed in order to gain the attention and accolades of a given audience, it seems a common affliction among members of the Canadian media. In other wards he kneecaps conservatives with a verbal Louisville slugger so he can be invited to more “liberal” talk shows and cocktail parties, if he thought he could gain attention by doing so he would start kneecapping “liberals” to get on conservative talk shows. The fact is that Mr. Frum is becoming irrelevant, and as he becomes even more so one can expect even more outrageous commentary from this man to try and draw attention to himself.
To Mr. Frum and his supporters:
Are you at all familiar with the term “Useful Idiots”
I suggest you look it up.
Great postings all! Loved the various put-downs of Frum – what my late father would called, “a has-been that never was!” He will never even make the ranks, years from now, of “Whatever happened to…?”
Loved the various analyses of Beck, too. Yes, that man is unique, but his greatest service to the Right has been to “fire up the troops” on a number of fronts. We need the info & the encouragement of an outspoken (to say the least!) character named Glenn Beck! Heck, you know he’s go to be doing SOMETHING right if the Libtards get their balls in such a knot!
Finally, how can the Right – not that it would make much of a difference, anyway, he’s such an asshat – but how can the Right start doing some serious lampooning of Olbermann? Sell Olberman masks for Halloween? Find a good enough actor to “do” an Olbermann and start doing those smarmy things he does – but using the Left as a punching bag, instead of the Right. Skewer the Dems & the Progressives in the same manner as he tries to skewer the GOP and those on the Right. Just a thought…. Maybe too tall an order!
David’s initial comments trouble me. Frum is useless and dengerous as he wants to be used as some kind of conservative foil against the Right. For Mr. Horowitz to write of him as he does only makes Frum more difficult to ignore. And Beck over the top? Sometimes, yes, but when he is, it is only barely. And I believe if the discussion were to be balanced as compared to the utter garbage that passes for the MSN, Beck is nowhere near “Over the top” enough!
I’ve viewed and read a lot of Sunstein’s comments. There is nothing to indicate that Becks comments were over the top. I saw several of the same comments about Beck when he “introduced” Van Jones, even some of those have had to look back and say Beck was right.
We have lived in such a civil society for so long that those acting as a warning siren look out of place, yet there are historic similarities where charismatic people influenced uninformed public and the informed public stood back thinking “he couldn’t really think or do that”.
About Beck, is it just a question of what level he calls the alarm? Okay if he mentions it in passing…but over the top if he becomes animated and yells? When bad is bad we need to evaluate the message not the messenger.
Samuel
Gee, David, your readers aren’t too bright. Why don’t you teach them the functions of spell check?
The closed platform of the Democratic/Communist Party disseminates nothing but lies.
The Left is not confused, the Left know what lies to disseminate!
Thats because you are burning with gasoline and Frum is just a smelly bag of hot air.
Your site is one of my favorites!
Frum…not so much. heheh….
That fact that you are employing the derogatory term “Teabaggers” in reference to ordinary Americans concerned about the run away spending, deficits, and debt would indicate to me that you are not much of a centrist? Also regarding people that believe in the original interpretation of the U.S constitution and limited government as “Radical Right” is very telling. What is a centrist anyhow? Is that someone who can’t make up their mind, that believe that there is a middle ground with everything? How can you be a centrist on murder or paedophilia for example? Or the matter of a light bulb being burned out or a tire being flat? Facts are facts, sure Glen Beck goes off the rails once in a while but more often then not he hits on the truth, compared to the daily demented ravings and conspiracy theories of Keith Olbermann he’s downright sensible.
Fritz, even though “cee’s” initial comments above would lead me to believe he/she is of Democrat persuasion and much more critical of the tactics/groupings of the political “right” re-read what he/she says later on…there are some common themes in the post I can agree with. A few are:
-Un Gerrymander the districts.
-accept that we can’t always be first
-There are too many duplications in the government.
-a lot of things that could be bought more reasonably price
-Departments should be encouraged to save money whenever possible and not have to spend it all before the end of the year.
And to “cee” I would respond to your following quote:
“There are so many common sense solutions, but everyone seems to be more interest in casting blame or deflecting it or saying that others are worse than they are”
I agree and as you can see by Fritz’s response, some the words you chose in delineating the problem are not helpful to creating an environment where – as you said “.. the Centrist who can convince both sides to Sit Down, Get Quiet, Present Plans, and fix this mess.”
Do you really believe “The TeaBaggers are trying to convince all their followers that it is time for Armed insurection. “?
Julie
Julie;
Yes I did read the portions in Cee’s comments regarding reform, and there were some good points made, but those were more then blunted with the David Frum style hits at the beginning. Bringing an end to the gerrymandering of districts was a good point, some of the others would amount to little more then administrative tinkering, which doesn’t address the underlying problem that government is growing too large too fast. With large rallies like the tea party protests it’s very difficult to control who shows up with what, the cause shouldn’t be derided because of a tiny minority. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the more extreme, racially charged, placards displayed were in fact produced by Alinskite interlopers to smear the rally..
Fritz, I agree with you. Bear with me as I explain this and I hope it’s helpful
I believe there are many people in this country who identify with the Democrat party, who are liberal in the true sense of the word (not the distorted leftist moniker) AND who have not fully formed their conscience let alone their political, religious and/or societal beliefs. They would tend to believe the government is the answer because that’s all they’ve ever known.
There are also those who are firm in their belief of central government control, oversite and regulation of every aspect of human life as the answer to every human, societal, religious, etc condition (our Constitution gets in the way of the means to do this, so it should be either ignored or changed). Those would be the Leftist, Marxist idealogues with whom you & I most disagree and hope to defeat in their plan to destroy the very freedom (life, liberty, etc) they say they are creating.
The manner in which Cee began his/her comment led me to believe he/she was of the former descriptive group, not the latter. But that’s not what’s important.
I would rather take the time to help people continue to form their conscience, etc based on “all” the information by trying to write in an unoffensive manner and starting with agreed upon statements than dismiss them immediately as the opposition, treat them rudely thus removing any possibilty of a productive discourse and sending them running to the other “side”.
That is one of the reasons I admire David Horowitz, I believe that is his style and worth emulating.
I appreciate your response to my comment and I hope this conversation continues, but I have to say I wish the comments you directed to me (above) were the words you used when responding to Cee.