Don't Tell Me What 9/12 Means, Glenn Beck

::Applause & cheering:: So eloquent, James. Thank you.

Thank you.

What’s the symbolism behind the links to the “9 Principles” page not working? (Both your link and the link from their own home page go to an error message.) Has it finally been determined that Glenn Beck has no actual principles?

Awesome, very well put!

Thank you! You said it better than I ever could.

Just when I thought I could no longer hold Glenn Beck in greater contempt, here comes his latest nonsense. A well written article, concise and a much more professional approach to castigating Glenn Beck than how I usually summarize my feelings about him, which is by simply refering to him as Emperor Douchebag.

That’s bizarre. Was working an hour or so ago–will change the link.

Hmmm…I think I preferred the error message.

Well done. Glenn Beck is not the boss of us.

Good ol Glen, proving once again that these days, “Republican” is not philosophy, it ‘s pathology.

Considering that the term, ‘fascism,’ is based on the united or bounded arrows of the fasci–I think this defines the motives behind cynical attempts like Beck’s to exploit 9/11, and the path he wants his country to follow.

‘If we could only all be victims again.’ ‘If only there were another war or terror attack to unify us behind a purposed leader.’ These aren’t wishes for peace but for destruction. Thanks for calling him out, James.

Beck went on a big fasces kick back in the spring. He got very exercised about the fact that there were fasces on the Mercury dime. It was like something out of National Treasure. Anyway, I did a lot of reading up on it back then, as I was doing a column on him.

The fasces are symbol that long predated Mussolini, et al.–the symbolism, obviously, is of strength, union, the idea that like bundled sticks, individual parts bundled together were stronger than they were separately. They are used, for instance, on Civil War era monuments, like the memorial arch in Grand Army Plaza (as in Grand Army of the Republic) near my home in Brooklyn. Then, of course, they symbolized the strength of the Union, which was very important to old fascists like Abraham Lincoln.

The 4th and 5th principals don’t even work together. It also sure sounds like he’s advocating all of us not paying our taxes. It’s no surprise that the people who follow this wingnut, are the same type of people who hide their assets offshore in Swiss bank accounts. Maybe Glenn would like to have to pay a toll on every road he drives.

James, excellent post, really great. I wish your colleagues down the hall at Swampland would have written a similar post considering their coverage of all things political. I even posted that idea for them. If they’re talking about politics, they should talk about this disgusting political attempt to mar a painful reminder in our history.

Of course Glenn Beck wants to focus on 9/12. He’s hoping people will forget what he said about the 9/11 victims’ families.

“When you are rioting for these tickets, or these ATM cards, the second thing that came to mind was — and this is horrible to say, and I wonder if I’m alone in this — you know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims’ families? Took me about a year.”

“But the second thought I had when I saw these people and they had to shut down the Astrodome and lock it down, I thought: I didn’t think I could hate victims faster than the 9-11 victims. “

[...] Topics: 9/12, 911, glenn beck, James Poniewozik Over at Tuned In, our colleague Jim Poniewozik has a message for Glenn [...]

[...] “bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States, or political parties. We were united as Americans…” READ MORE… [...]

Nicely done. Thanks.

Inspired post – beautiful writing. I’ll be emailing this one around. Thank you for clearly speaking truth to his hateful cynicism.

Not exactly germaine to the post but: I’m an NYCer (I live literally 3 blocks from WTC — just by chance I was out of town on 9/11) and so today I was watching the various TV rebroadcasts from 9/11/2001 and the thing that jumped into mind was how much the entire world loved Giuliani thereafter.

Now, of course, people consider him a near laughingstock.

Watching him then and now it’s really mind-boggling how far & how fast someone can fall in the public’s estimate.

Wow what a stupid article. Do any of you even watch Glenn’s show everyday? I bet most of you haven’t even watched a full episode. The 912 project is a group formed to unite Americans again the way we were right after 911. It doesn’t mean that you forgot what physically and mentally happened that day, who could forget something like that DUH. That was a life changing experience for everyone. People have lost that American Pride Spirit & that’s what the 912 project is for. Huhhhhh……I could write here forever but it would probably be pointless because most people don’t understand. They just follow the stupid crowd. And I know someone will post something back to my post saying something rude and I reallt don’t care. I am fed up!

America is falling apart and people need to put this my side vs. your side crap away. The country is divided more then ever and it’s both republicans and democrats. Let’s unite just like we were DURING 911.

It’s funny because Glenn’s ratings are killing most News shows. He is obviously doing something right. I’d rather watch a show everyday that speaks with FACTS/COMMON SENSE and not with shit talking and making fun of people like back in highschool stuff (Keith Olberman) Why is it that liberals can have grassroots movements and it’s ok, it’s normal, it’s a great thing? HYPOCRITES For your information a revolution is getting people together, what else would it be? Thank god for people like Glenn Beck, someone in the media that is actually doing their job. Do us a favor and write a REAL article on the ACORN Pimp/Prostitute/child sex trafficking scam. I am also happy that he brought out that Communist (who admitted it himself) out. I am from Oakland, CA and have a police officers in my family. Van Jones has had a huge part in COP WATCH and has caused many problems. Why do you think when the 4 police officers were shot by that trash Lovelle Mixon in March, the families wouldn’t let the mayor of Oakland speak at the memorial? Because he to was apart of it and the Black Panthers. Van Jones is a racist and Obama is to. I don’t care if he is half white and half black. He is still a racist and hates what America stands for FREEDOM. I still cannot believe that a piece of trash like him is in the whitehouse. Wake up people!!

Don’t forget that he also said he hates 9/11 families because they pushed for a 9/11 commission that Republicans didn’t want.

So why are only old white people in on his movement?
And since he “hates” families that actually lost family on 9/11, is it safe to say they aren’t invited?

I’m with you. I had friends who died on 9/11. Beck makes me want to go all Deadwood on him.

People have lost that American Pride Spirit & that’s what the 912 project is for.

Uh, no. It’s your ilk who are talking about secession. Guess what buddy? This is America, love it or leave it.

You’re right Perez, unity IS communist! BOOO Beck and his communist 912 program! Booo-urns!

Amanda Terkel of Think Progress has a terrific item about Beck’s hypocrisy:

Terkel reminds us first that Beck has said he “hates” the families of the victims of 9/11 terrorist attacks (as an earlier commenter noted).

Terkel also notes that “in the past, Beck has criticized the supporters of the Ron Paul ‘Revolution’ who did a fundraiser on Guy Fawkes Day.” She cites Beck’s remark, “It’s really not the way I would go, tying my movement in with a historical terrorist attack, especially in post-9/11 America.” Gosh, he used to be so sensitive!

Thanks so much for this great column. No one, except perhaps Beck boss Roger Ailes & GOP boss Rush Limbaugh has done more to undermine American unity. It isn’t the perfect that is the enemy of the good so much it is the vicious venality of guys like these.

The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com

[...] by Carol Gee on September 11, 2009 "Don't Tell Me What 9/12 Means, Glenn Beck" is a post by James Poniewozik at Tuned In/Time Magazine (9/11/09).  Hap tip to Karen Tumulty [...]

How is this not surprising, the bashing of Glenn Beck on this site. Such a “moving” bag of crap you write Mr Poniewoz.
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“But as someone who happened to be in New York City eight years ago today, the implicit premise of the 9-12 Project—that those who aren’t on Beck’s side must have somehow “forgotten” 9/11 and its aftermath—ticks me off royally and personally.

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One need only to read your drivel to fully understand that you DID forget. You forgot, but we shall help you to remember!

Jesus said “You will know them by their fruits.” Thank you for pointing that out, James. I appreciate it.

And where were you then, and who are you now, to tell Mr. Poniewozik what he does and does not remember? Glenn Beck is grossly exploiting a horrific tragedy that the writer personally experienced, and you think you have the right to dictate his memories to your satisfaction?
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Pro tip: get over yourself, Rusty. Nothing, nothing gives you the right to tell anyone that they’ve ‘forgotten’ 9/11, solely because they take offense to a blowhard using a national trauma as a personal pedestal.

You tell him! I got a little teary reading this.

On 9/12, all I felt was numb. We were going through the motions of trying to recover data from our office in the WTC that got blown up. Ever try to focus on recovering files that belonged to people who were murdered so that business can continue? Try doing it for 18 months straight.

When douchebags like Beck make 9/11 about their personal crusade for attention or power or greatness, I want to choke them. I want to make them sift through the emails and the files and the hard drives of dead people, and understand that something irreplaceable was lost. And then I remember that people – to use the term loosely – like him wouldn’t feel that kind of loss anyway. All they see is opportunity.

[...] conservatism, which is what the Project amounts to in practice. Exit quotation from peeved liberal James Poniewozik: “You want to bring back the feeling of national unity and civility, Glenn Beck? You could [...]

America would be a better place if Glenn Beck actually lived by his published values and principles.

Twisted though it may be, I believe that Beck truly does want national unity.

The problem is that the unity he yearns for entails everybody agreeing with his weird view of the world – no taxes, no forgiveness for past ‘sins’ (his own alcoholism and drug addictions excepted, obviously), no racial, religious or gender equality, no respect for the constitution , the United Nations or the sovereign status of any other nation, no acceptance of climate change science, no regard for the rights of prisoners (domestic or foreign), no questioning of anything he or his fellow leaders ever say or do…

Obviously there is another, very remote possibility – that Beck and his ilk are making millions upon millions of dollars by pandering to their dull, resentful followers’ appetite for anything that legitimizes their hate and prejudice.

James – not that I needed the reminder, but thanks for reminding me why I make sure I read this blog every day. Something makes me feel like this is the perfect post to end the summer silly season, if only Lost was starting up with everything else next week…

And then there’s the whole thing of trying to profit politically and personally off of the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Beck is a real peach…

http://www.political-buzz.com/

People need to realise that Glenn doesn’t want you to relive the attack but the feeling of unity that we all shared on 9/12. We didn’t have political parties telling us how to feel or what we need. That is what he is trying to do for america. Also, people who think he is just taking advantage of 9/11 for fame is dead wrong. He really believes in this 9/12 project. Does anyone know how many death threats he gets a day? Yet he refuses to stop reporting on things like the corruption in Washington DC and this new acorn scandle. I don’t know why people hate him, sure you can disagree but just use your brains instead of listening to your political masters tell you what to think. Most haven’t ever heard more than a few sound clips but just because he is conservative you hate him. Take 5 min to listen and you realize most people want what he wants, a better America.

Two suggestions, James:

1. Why don’t you write a post about how popular TV star Charlie Sheen this week (for the umpteenth time) stated that the Bush administration was behind 9/11? He is a truther, a la Van Jones. What a disgraceful thing for him to say during the week we commemorate the victims of 9/11.

2. If you won’t write a post about how Fox News exposed the CRIMES of ACORN re the prostitute/pimp video, at least write a post about how CNN, after the Fox expose, was wondering how many laws the people pretending to be the prostitute and pimp had broken!! No wonder Fox News creams both CNN and MSNBC in the ratings.

I used to watch Glenn Beck, of course that was before he became a rabid hate/fear monger.

I loathe the way he has put God and religion into his march of hate. Even worse, I am saddened by the ease with which it appears so many can be led.

Leaving the Republican party and becoming Independent was the right choice for all who have done so to date (including me). The Republican party appears to have been co-opted completely by extremist, lie mongering, race baiting, bible altering, fear selling lying desperate folk. Very sad indeed.

LM

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

People on various blog threads have been raving that we need to recapture the feeling of righteous rage that we felt in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. We should feel that same grief, that same fear, and that same ruthless desire for revenge every single day. They want American unity in the sense of Americans being united against common enemies, in unquestioning devotion to a Leader.

Trouble is, human psychology doesn’t work that way. You can’t cling to a trauma and keep making yourself the victim of it over and over every day without driving yourself mad. (Glenn Beck is of course the lab hamster for that phenomenon). History is littered with terrible dates and events that people vowed Never To Forget. Remember the Maine? Of course not, none of us were alive at the time. Remember the Alamo? If you live in Texas, of course, but only because every other business in the state has “Alamo” in its name. If you’ve traveled in Europe, you’ve seen lots of streets and piazzas with names like “17th of November Street” or “5th of March Square.” Ever wonder what happened on those days? Me neither.

There are kids alive now who can read chapter books and do multiplication and division who weren’t born on 9/11/01. That’s life. That’s how trauma becomes news and then history. Get used to it, Glenn.

[...] wants us to unite to feel what we felt the day after the murder of 3,000 people: bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we [...]

Great post, James. I wish more journalists would point out how it’s people like Glenn Beck who are dividing this country.

WOW! What a bunch of sh!t !
Why are only WHITES at these rallys? Have you seen the UNcropped photos of some rallys? The one with the automatitic rife?
Beck is quite the ass for bringing people together!
There is alot of us busting our asses that need to make you people aware of the fact that you have neighbors! Do you know your next door neighbors name?
The only way some people know to communicate is by calling names.
9/11 was a bad day for all. (Unless your are a royal piece of shit)
If you want to bash and exploit a person that is trying to bring people together with people with “Common Sense” . DO IT!

How many of those car window U.S. flags did you see by the side of the road by 10/11? If you did not notice, you have no knowledge of resperct for the flag OR how to treat it!

Have you ever sighted in an M-16? Ever signed your life away for a bunch of people that only care if you live or die; decided by the cost?

Iam a 38yr old vet,(YOUR Welcome!) You people are what I risked my life for?

O.K. Hop in your BMW SUV take your 2.5 kids to school, micowave a potroast,and pay the illegal that painted the privacy fence.

James Poniewozik:
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I very much appreciate your having written this thoughtful post.
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I sincerely hope that you won’t mind if I re-post my commentary from Tumulty’s Swampland thread that brought me here.
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http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/09/11/poniewozik-and-glenn-beck/comment-page-1/#comment-95170
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I first wrote:

JP writes:

I was at home in Brooklyn, holding my six-week-old baby on the couch, when I saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Center on TV.

Long-time commenters and posters here might recall I’ve had something to say about this subject, about the rooftop I was on when the Towers burned and fell that day.
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I have a slight suggested amendment to the title of JP’s post to offer, the rejection of which will be entirely understandable, but that comes straight from the heart of downtown New York City, where I live:
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Don’t F*cking Tell Me What 9/12 Means, Glenn Beck, You Carpetbagging F*ck.

Another long-time commenter, Pau-No-Not-That-One (or “PNNTO”, as we shorthand his handle), responded expressing concern at my language possibly appropriating the tragedy as “belonging” to New Yorkers, due to the term “carpetbagger”.
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I responded thus:

PNNTO:
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As JP says so well:

None of us have a unique claim on the meaning of 9/11, or 9/12. The fact that I was in New York on 9/11 does not make my views about anything that’s happened since more valid than anyone else’s. (If you were in Montana on 9/11, your views are just as legitimate as mine.) Millions of us were here, and we drew millions of different lessons from that day.

The vile exploitation of a mythology built around the real event, as JP accurately describes:

What he purportedly wants is to bring back our feeling of “unity.” I remember that feeling. After 9/11, I remember hardcore liberal New Yorkers rallying behind Rudy Giuliani, saying nice things about President Bush when he spoke at the WTC ruins. I remember thousands of American flags being flown out of apartment and brownstone windows, not as political statements or in the you-better-prove-your-patriotism spirit of flag pins and Freedom Fries, but simply because we felt we Americans were all in this together.

, is what compels me to use the term “carpetbagger”.
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The attacks may have been on the country, but the remarkable serenity and solemnity with which we in New York City approached the task of holding ourselves together in those days was particular to us– especially for its reversal of New Yorkers’ stereotypically competitive and confrontational character. We proved and knew during that terrible time that we had something of the spirit of Britons during the Battle of Britain in us, and you truly had to be here to witness its power.
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Some guy I didn’t know stopped his car on First Avenue for me as I was walking 40 blocks up to my office, and gave me a ride. Delis were letting people walk in, and giving them things to eat and bottled water to drink. The lines at the hospitals of people there to give blood –to do anything to help– were an awesome thing to witness. I’m not romanticizing here, JP isn’t either, I can tell you. That’s really what it was like.
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We looked at each other differently. The flags we flew out of our windows weren’t ceremonial, they were testimonial. I am so proud of us, I can’t even tell you what it means to have been there, to have been one of the hundreds of thousands of people who had the opportunity to be the best that one can be under difficult circumstances. There was a quiet something that went on in people as we tried to go about life afterward, and just before the end of it, we even believed a little that we might go on that way as a country.
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It’s not just the memory of the attacks on our country that this two-bit carnival huckster is cheapening by his crass pitch, it’s that amazing time for us here in New York, when –unexpectedly, really– we did our best for each other.
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That this dirt-preaching charlatan wants to join the memorial parade for that time at the head of it, wearing his ringmasters’ gear, and megaphoning his corrupt, illiterate, jingoist slogans is offensive in the extreme. As someone who lived here during that time, there is a special affront to him, to which the term “carpetbagger” can only speak.
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As JP says, it “ticks me off royally and personally“.
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Feel free to disagree; these are only my personal opinions, PNNTO.

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I thought you might want to have the opportunity to correct my understanding of your piece, and to read what it compelled another to write in support. I hope that I haven’t taken up too much space in your blog, and that you’ve had some bit of satisfaction from my commentary.
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Thanks so much for reading and considering this, James Poniewozik.

Beck is not dividing this country, an inability to think clearly is the problem.
There is a mentality that seems to prevent some people from thinking clearly once certain emotions are stoked.

LM

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

Glen Beck has lost over 26 sponsors for Fox News. He is on his way out because of his outrageous behavior towards our duly elected President. He should go back to drugs and alcohol. Perhaps he can team up with fellow druggie Rush Limbaugh. They both only care about their ratings with a wide following of crazies and not the average American people.

Have you listened to Beck lately? He is not just conservative (there is nothing wrong with being conservative), that is hardly the issue–he is selling a right wing extremist agenda using fear mongering and lies.
If the issues he is toying around with were not so key–his show would be almost comical.

As for Death threats? How odd.

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/

The problem is the UNinformed American people!
Sorry if I interupted the Fox News coverage of the ACORN meeting!

Can you guys on the left not focus on Glenn Beck for a second? Is Glenn Beck the leader of the free world? If you want a day to call your own 9/13 through 9/30 is available. If you don’t think Obama is a radical than why does he associate with radicals? Can you defend Jeremiah Wright his pastor for 20 yrs. or Van Jones his former green job czar? Obama didn’t defend them, after they were exposed for being radicals, he distanced himself from them. Was Obama unaware of their radical views? Do Democrats agree with the views of Jeremiah Wright and Van Jones? Why is the Obama administration now distancing themselves from ACORN (now excluded from the census)? This isn’t about a radio personality, this is about our beloved country. You should be outraged. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white, left or right. If you love our country you should be very concerned. Your concern should be directed towards our elected officials both Democrats and Republicans, not a TV personality.

It sure seems like Glenn Beck is going through a lot of trouble to get us to focus on him, since –according to you, at least– we’re not really supposed to.
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Also, if I love my country, I should be very concerned about Jeremiah Wright, because that’s much important to the future of America than Glenn Beck.
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Got it.

As a person squeezed into a sweaty little office with 20 other programmers for MONTHS after 9/11 and an anthrax attack that was traced to an American – but ignored…And as a person who worked in an office for two YEARS after in an office building 18 floors above ground zero – a building comtaminated with toxics and no doubt parts of victims, who watched the excavation of that ground day in and day out for all that time… The Glenn Beck’s of the world can crawl back under the rock they are coming out of.. You may think this happened to you…but it didn’t. It happened to people you normally hate, and have continued to spew hate towards every OTHER day of the year. You are transparent. A dirt bag opportunist who cares for nothing but money. Your crocodile tears, ain’t shit to me. Sorry, for my lack of eloquence, but this man is consistently an embarrassment to any thinking American and has no shame at all. Be silent and remember the dead, and remember to that some of us are still DEALING with it, up front and personal like.

Radicals? None of these people you mentions are talking about secession…not like the Palins, not like a bunch of GOP meat puppets are now… The only time we have ever gone to war is over secession.

So please check your history and your self.

People don’t like him because if you have any sense of reality, of the facts, of what ACORN is just for instance – He is on his face, a lying sack of garbage. Its not a matter of opinion. If you value reality, you defend it.

Wilson for instance, does not value reality, and so he yelled “YOU LIE.” – He OBJECTIVELY is not telling the truth when he yells this like a drunk yelling at a ref at a hockey game.

This country will not come together as long as people tolerate this level of bullsh*t..for RATINGS.

As a person who was in NYC – There is NOTHING disrespectful about seeking the TRUTH of those hours and days before, after and since. For those concerned with reality and not what we would like to believe about this world…not much at all ads up about what we have been told about 9/11.

The abject incuriousness of us all is very depressing, and signals to me, that we don’t really care about much besides American Idol, whose got fake boobs and competitive butter eating contests…that or survival…

Well it’s late but I found this very interesting, that on here there are some so blind they can’t see and there are some so paranoid they see too much, lol what a looney bunch of misfits in the world today…gnite sleep tight, dont let the neo cons or liberal loons get ya …lmbo at you all and your ignorance…yes at both sides of the aisles…too funny

Exactly what has he lied about? Specifics if you can please. If journalists were doing their job, which is “reporting” & investigating the news, you’d be hearing everything he’s finding on other networks as well. Truth is, they’ve all sold out. BTW, if you are telling the truth about watching Glen Beck before (which I suspect you aren’t), you would know he is NOT a Republican.

Another date could be selected, if it would make you happy. If you are a left wing liberal you will like the direction this country is going in. If you are like many others of us, you do not like the direction and want to stand up to show our so-called representatives how we feel. Its not about race or political party, its about losing rights, too much government spending, and much more.

Wow… I remember when Time was relevant and employed journalists.

Another date could be selected, justamaz? That’s great – arrange it please.

I worry about Mr. Beck’s assertion that “The family is sacred.” The family is a gift from God, to be kept precious. It is _not_ sacred. To worship it is to make an idol, evil when it stands against love of God or neighbor — or even those in one’s family.

What a wonderful comment. Thanks for expressing, so articulately, what so many of us feel!

For those who are ignorant (uninformed) or blind:

If Beck wants to unify Americans, his methods are, to say the least, unsuccessful. He spreads hate, anger, lies and divisiveness.

If Beck worries about death threats, remind him of the time he gave Nancy Pelosi poison wine on his show, and told her to “drink up.”

If he wants to bring back the spirit of 9/11, remind him that no one hated the surviving 9/11 families back then.

To the veteran who commented: Thank you so very much for your service to our country. I have the deepest respect for everyone who serves in the military. Please don’t hate Americans for expressing their opinions – that freedom of speech is really what needs defending, because right wingers tried to take it away this summer. And, although I know members of the military have no control over where they serve, and I don’t blame any of them for where they did serve, I don’t believe, for one minute, that any of them were sent to Iraq to “preserve my freedom.” Iraq was no threat to our freedom. I’d rather they were here, at town halls, to protect us from lunatics hanging out in crowds with semi-automatic weapons. I also wish they would protect us from the hatred Beck stirs up among those armed lunatics. It is beginning to look like they may have to protect us from the growing armed militias who call themselves “Patriots” . . . unless they have joined one of those many militias springing up all over the country. http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=392

Yes!

As for the “crimes of ACORN,” the terrible “crime” was actually POOR judgement by two corrupt employees of ACORN, who were immediaely FIRED by ACORN. What a terrible scandal!

ACORN fired the toxic employees right away.

Why hasn’t FOX fired Beck?

I think you don’t understand what Glenn Beck is all about, he is not pro-Republican or pro-Democrat, and I think the bitterness displayed in this ariticle is tantamout to disrepect and I doubt if you have watched his program on a regular basis. It’s does seem like September 11th, had lost it’s meaning to most in the rest of the country, as we realize that to you in New York it must be an open wound, but the rest of America has trivialized it. It is hardly mentioned. Glenn just wants us to remember the feelings of togetherness we had at that moment, but I sense in your writings somewhat of a contempt for the way the original 9/12 was handled because Bush did an magnificent job, and you see Beck as a Bush supporter and he is not. I see so may knee-jerk reactions from these posters and Beck is for all of us, yet this march is well hidden by the major media, so it’s seems to the rest of America that they fear him. You are only maker him stronger. He has been a great help to many of us here who are buried under the government from the right to the left, so any thoughts you may have about Glenn trying to unseat “your” president are a myth built out of fear.

This is my first exposure to your blog and I found it refreshing. Glenn Beck represents nothing but fear to me. Our citizens are re-capturing a part of 9/12 every day- the fear that our lives will never be the same again. “News organizations”, and I use that term VERY loosely, like Fox, capitalize on that fear every day. But just because we fear the unknown doesn’t mean that we should let that fear interfere with change. People were afraid during the Civil Rights movement. Life was going to change fundamentally and it made people uncomfortable. Glenn Beck makes me unspeakably sad. I think that it is fundamentally wrong, especially in a Christian sense, to steer people using their greatest fears. I can only hope that, like with the Civil Rights movement, that our country will look back and see the people ushering in this new era of equality and compassion as heroes of a movement.

FYI, James – I had friends who died on 9/11, too. You haven’t cornered the market on that distinction. I’m not remotely a Glenn Beck acolyte, but you are exploiting 9/11 every bit as much as Beck.

Your piece, and most of the comments on it, have nothing to do with your feelings about 9/11. This is just a convenient opportunity for you to rail against someone with whom you disagree politically. Shame on you.

Now bad mouth me. :)

First let me say I’m sorry for your loss and for the extended immersion into the lives of the newly departed. It’s a sad business and it takes a long time to recover from it

Mr. Beck is a sick man. He is nothing but an entertainer who has to keep spouting new outrages to top his last performance and gin up a greater audience.

As you note, he goes to all extremes to keep the attention focused on himself.

How is it that mentally ill people such as Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly can have such an impact on national discourse?

Shorter agnomia: The right I have is and always has been the First Admendment of the Constitution.
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The same right that You and Poniewoz have to spread your LIES and liberal talking points, also provides me the voice to counter your garbage.
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The voice that today, in the Nation’s Capitol is being heard around the world. Those united voices are claiming their country back from the rat-infestation of the far left, Progressive Movement.
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MoveON agnomia. Your day in the spotlight has come to an end. Return to the bowels of your Communist / Socialist brothers and sisters. We shall be sending Obama, and the rest of the liberal bloc to you soon as well.

So why are only old white people in on his movement?

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Are you watching Fox News pafro? There doesn’t seem to be just “old white people” holding up signs and demonstrating against the most corrupt President, former ACORN employee and “Community Organizer” this country has ever seen.
.
It is not surprising that out of the corrupt and vile ACORN radical activist group, their former leader will go down in history as the worst President this country has ever elected into office.
.
The end of the Democrat Party ends with this Administration’s failure. We can only hope we stop his corrupt Administration before they completely destroy this great country.

It is difficult to watch or listen to Glenn Beck for any extended period. To be engaged by Mr. Beck except to watch him in voyeuristic fascination, is to believe his extremely radical and dishonest monologues.

Glenn Beck is manipulating and stimulating his listeners with their own prejudices and fears. He’s calling everyone communists and fascists. There’s a red under every bed and all that.

I am deeply saddened to see people I love taken in by this self-serving, UNPATRIOTIC, evil man.

[...] Tunedin (Time): So since March, what has Glenn Beck been doing to re-establish that sense of nonpartisan national brotherhood? Calling President Obama a racist, declaring that the government was bringing fascism upon us, asking his fans to dig up dirt on political figures he doesn’t like, and predicting civil-war-like uprisings. Because that’s how you bring people together. [...]

You used your baby and 9/11 to trash Glenn Beck. You shouldn’t be preaching to anyone.

Yeah, what you said about them making millions. You got that right!

What’s wrong with flag pins and Freedom Fries, Poniewozik? Can’t anyone do something that you disagree with without you showing your intolerance of others?

Sad, deluded people. This clown who openly declares that he despises 9/11 families (as well as Katrina victims) and who condemned another group for using November 5th (400+ years ago!) because it was ‘disrespectful’ is blatantly using the memory of 9/11 to promote hate, division and the armed overthrow of America’s duly elected government.

What kind of sick ‘patriot’ is that?

[...] [...]

I think that Glenn Beck can be over the top at times… however you seem to miss the point. Glenn wants us to be united not pulled apart like we have become. I listen to my government all I hear is bickering… I read articles like this and all I see is disagreement and hatred. We need to have each others’ back. We need to reason with one another and not emotionalize with each other.

Was and is 9-11 and emotional topic, yes!!! But what happened the days after was unity. Common goals, reason!

I remember that days as if it were yesterday… I don’t want to forget… We need to remember… because the our greatest hour of need, was our greatest hour of strength, we came together as Americans!!!

Well said, Mr. Poniewozik.

Besides, the ONN has already told me what 9/11 and 9/12 are all about…

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/americans_observing_9_11_by?utm_source=a-section

@rustywhatever

wouldn’t want to trouble you with facts… but Obama never worked for acorn

@rustwhoever

sorry, a few thousand aren’t enough to be “heard around the world”; maybe you could get some acorn organizers to help boost your numbers

Glenn Beck is correct…Open your eyes America or the America our Fathers fought for will be no more!

[...] his best to tear this country apart since Americans elected Obama by a 53% electoral majority. As James Poniewozik writes: “So since March, what has Glenn Beck been doing to re-establish that sense of nonpartisan [...]

perez09,

Good reply. Its obvious that most of these people are like sheep. They follow the majority and cannot think for themselves. What is sad is, these are the same individuals that most likely WANTED CHANGE when they last voted but were to naive and stupid to ask exactly what that meant.
9/12 project has no platform basis (no republican not democrat). Its people tired on government intervening in private areas or affairs they should.

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.



Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?



Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?


You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does.



You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.


You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.


You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.


One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices  545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I could go on but I won’t as I am certain you agree. Too many of those you provided their comments really don’t have a lot of insight on how the representative will represent.

Our forefathers were much brighter then many in government today and if they stopped and studied where they came from (I am really mean read and studied) they would understand and I quote:

“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as  Europe.”
Thomas Jefferson

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”
Thomas Jefferson (And this was before Socialism)

but MOST IMPORTANTLY and directed at the current administration-

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
Thomas Jefferson

9/12 Project is not platform specific, its American people specific.

It basically represents what President Thomas Jefferson said ( you remember him don’t you Mr. PONIEWOZIK?):

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

To ojzrgzl:

Where to start…

-Beck claims Obama’s “civilian national security force” is “what Hitler did with the SS,” “what Saddam Hussein” did.
-Beck suggests health care reform designed as a system of backdoor reparations
-Beck: Maybe Treasury is “selling black-market bonds.”
-Beck says Obama “wants you to work as a bureaucratic slave to government.”
-Beck flirts with the idea that FEMA is building detention camps
-Beck’s: N.O. levees were allowed to fail to hide ACORN corruption.
-Beck says he can “make a case” Rathke brothers are “enslaving people through ACORN”
-Glenn Beck, climate scientist: cool temperatures this year in New York prove global warming wrong
-Beck calls Obama’s stay-in-school speech to students “indoctrination”
-Beck rants that Obama’s “Chavez administration” will “seize power” with its “civilian military”
-Beck suggests that Obama administration will use bombings of Canadian pipeline to justify takeover of oil companies
-Beck: “There is a coup going on … it has been done through the guise of an election”
-Beck says Sarah Palin “is right” about the “deather part of this bill”
-Beck warns that ACORN, unions, AmeriCorps acting as Obama’s “civilian force,” “brownshirts”
-Beck: Obama has “exposed himself as a guy” with “a deep seated hatred for white people”
-Beck “theory”: Obama, following ACORN’s lead, planted Gates question because it “helps” him rally “hardcore supporters”
-Beck: “modern day slave state” being constructed out of ACORN, SEIU, student loans, census and service initiatives
-Wealthy conservative media figures, including Beck, deny crisis in health care
-Beck: “Don’t tell me that our president isn’t a socialist — he is a community organizer.”
-Beck: “The president is a Marxist” who is “setting up a class system”
-Beck falsely claimed “bean head” Paul Krugman “missed” the housing bubble
-Beck on Obama: “His friends and his nominees and everything, they’re all Marxist”
-Beck calls Sotomayor a “racist”
-Beck echoes tired falsehood that ACORN received stimulus funds
-Beck: “Whether or not you’re morally in favor of waterboarding or not, it is a far cry from torture”

…just to list a “few”…

I was wondering what group is paying all of you to have such negative things to say about Glenn Beck. I know that you couldn’t have thought that up for yourself. It must be a left wing conspiracy paying people to go on the blogs and disagree with Glenn and the conservatives.

When will people learn that the Faux news channel is not a real news channel but a corporate propaganda machine that doesn’t care about the public at all unless it suits there own ends.
The lies propagated and spun on this channel would be libelous if it were in print,but because it’s reality tv anything goes. As was proven by the numerous lawsuits against it over the last decade.
By a Judges own admission in court that because Fox News is on tv and by there own admission that they are an entertainment network they cannot be held liable to the facts on there channel.

If you are talking about Glenn Beck he does not even advertise his show as “News”. It is “the fusion of entertainment and enlightenment” But I bet you will get more “News” there than the Obama controlled MSNBC or the communist news network. Now wasn’t my response childish. Well just thought I would take a page out of the liberal handbook.

Somebody tell Glenn Beck how to spell “OLIGARCHY”

Beck wants rantings and he will do what it takes to get them, including fake crying.

You don’t get it so feel free to be left in the dust.
As for James Poniewozik’s take on the 9/12 Rally. Listen, my husband was a New York Fireman on 9/11. Do you know what I was doing on 9/11? I was trying to find out if he and the rest of “The Guys” were alive. I was a lucky wife, my husband was alright, but I know many who couldn’t say the same. So James..how many friend’s funerals did you go to after 9/11?
While you were home holding your baby, my husband spent every day either digging in the pit looking for his fellow “Brothers and New Yorkers”, pulling regular duty or going to funerals. He did that for what seemed like months. He did it for those who would no longer be able to go home and hold their loved ones.
So stop feeling so smug and open your eyes. Many in America don’t like the path this country is going in and are standing together to stop it…all the time with either no media coverage or negative bitchy remarks. Just know it doesn’t really matter in the end. America will stay on the path that the Founding Fathers started us on, with or without you.

Wow you must have not read anything on the 9/12 website. Sad that the main stream media, yes that includes Time Magazine (Magazine…..nah I’ll check Drudge it is in real time) is so afraid of the average American. That’s okay paper media’s days are numbered.

Glenn Beck is a true patriot in every sense of the word, as are the concerned Americans attending the marches across the country today. The tide is turning in America…Buckle Up liberals!

Oh give me a break crowmd. What you just described is exactly what the mainstream media sources like NBC, CBS and ABC have become in detail: nothing more than a corporate propanda machine that doesn’t care about the public at all unless it suits their own ends.

Look at who owns some of these mainstream media networks. Take for example the corporate network NBC and MSNBC news.

GE (General Electric) owns and operates NBC news. Now I wonder what a company like GE would stand to gain from a President like Barack Obama who is pushing for alternative fuel sources and a more eco friendly environment? Well lets consider how GE’s biggest competitors is the oil companies and how GE would love to replace them as the main provider for transportation fuel sources. We’re talking about billions of dollars here. Also, who owns most of the shares in GE? George Soros and Warren Buffett two of Obamas biggest campaign investors.

And NBC isn’t the only one. This is a multi billion dollar money game, it’s not about focusing on getting out the truth. It’s just about getting out the truth you want people to hear so that they will side with you. Anyone that even still watches NBC news has been duped if they think they’re getting anything more than primetime Barack Obama propaganda. Their ratings are already showing it too because people are finally starting to see what’s happening.

The only reason people have a problem with Fox News is because you have so many left wing liberals that can’t stand anything being reported contrary to the view they believe in. They don’t believe in fair and balanced news. They believe in news that shares their opinion.

How many times just these past few weeks have news stories broke on Fox News that were never even mentioned on mainstream media outlets like NBC, CBS, and ABC? How about Van Jones? They didn’t even mention the guy until the day he resigned. How about ACORN? There is still not a single story on NBC, CBS or ABC about the two videos that were discovered showing ACORN employees advocating prostitution and child trafficking. If not for Fox News they would likely still be working at their offices in Baltimore and Washington. And what about the call from Yosi Seargant of the National Endowment For the Arts concering your tax dollars going to fund artwork propoganda in the arts industry that supports President Obama’s agenda?? This guy has since been moved to a different department after Fox News reported on it. The list goes on and on. And if Fox News hadn’t made an issue about each of these cases NOTHING would of been done.

You might not agree with everything reported on Fox News, especially from persons like Glenn Beck who can be somewhat eccentric and a bit of conspiracy theorist at times but at least he and the rest of the ones at Fox News have the balls to stand up for what they believe in and get things out there in the public eye so that you can make your own personal decision about it and go from there.

The primary mainstream media however has become such puppits controled by the billionares who own them that they fail to report news if it goes in the face of their political agenda because this can hurt what they are pushing for. They are also afraid to put out anything too controversial in fear that that it might get them labeled in the same manner that Fox News has been. So it’s not about the truth in news any more, it’s about the money at stake, fear of being labeled and the personal views of those in control.

Now if you still just really don’t agree with anything that’s being reported on Fox News and you feel they are completely biased then simply change the channel to NBC, CBS, ABC, ect. where you can get all the leftist political views and propananda you can stand.

Amen wewere. But you know what you can’t talk to liberals. Remember another word for intolerance is Liberal.

[...] more at TIME.com VN:F [1.6.4_902]please wait…Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)VN:F [1.6.4_902]Rating: 0 (from 0 [...]

[...] James Poniewozik says it without swear words, but the meaning is exactly the same: Today, you are already aware, is the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Tomorrow, you may or may not be aware, is the date of Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Project, which the Fox News host will be marking with a live-TV event in Washington, and which he announced in March in an effort to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States, or political parties. We were united as Americans [...]

[...] Don’t Tell Me What 9/12 Means, Glenn Beck Today, you are already aware, is the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Tomorrow, you may or may not be aware, is [...] [...]

I think you need to start hanging out with a better crowd of New Yorkers slowper. I’m a New Yorker and if you ask around town who was a better Mayor, Beame, Koch, Dinkins, Giuliani or Bloomberg I’ll bet you Rudy wins hands down…. and I was playing nice, I didn’t even mention Lindsay

What are you waiting on….cat got your tongue James? Why is my comment being held up so long in “awaiting moderation”?

For the record Mr Beck is a Libertarian not a Republican. I know that doesn’t work for your train of thought, but it’s the truth. Truth, you know what that is..don’t you?

As a conservative/libertarian who you would think be a humongous Beck fan, I can barely stand watching him these days even though I agree with him on most points. This 9/12 project is about him whether he wants it to be or not as evidenced by the cnn reporter today getting drowned out by chants of “Glenn Beck!” It’s like he’s got his own cult following. I really wish on his program he would talk about foreign policy and how the wars going on right now are entirely misguided and unconstitutional, but oh no he would lose viewers then from his republican sheeple demographic base and he knows it too.

I watched the CNN reporter get drown out by the crowd chanting, “Tell the truth.” But heck…I guess I shouldn’t be too picky. At least they reported something was going on in Washington DC while Obama was hiding out with his health care Obamabots in Democratic-leaning Minnesota.

Hands up all those who:

Hate 9/11 victims
Hate Katrina victims
Hate separation of church and state
Hate the very idea of poor people getting medical treatment
Hate the majority rules electoral system
Hate people who have ever done or said anything wrong or stupid (except Becky, obviously)
Hate Muslims, Jews, Uppity Blacks, Hispanics and atheists
Hate that stupid old piece of paper called the Constitution

Love their guns
Love their neighbors (under certain conditions, like they are white and share certain values including revulsion that a slightly liberal black man is their Commander in Chief)
Love (and support) rich televangelists
Love Becky and Hannity
Love torturers
Love it that rich people on TV can be stupid (or greedy) enough to share their prejudices and jealousy

I would love it if the last 4 solidly red (and small) states* seceded from the union – on the provision that they took all of you haters with them.

*Quite true – look at the latest polls

Apparently Mr. Beck’s lawyers are trying to shut down a website called glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com. Seems fishy what’s he hiding?

Paul…perhaps because it’s libel (libel refers to any form of communication such as written words) So stop pushing the lame web site and move along. This is a comment site for REAL issues. Perhaps you can go off and read how Acorn is going after those 2 twenty-year old kids for breaking “some law” by filming their sleazy employees. hahahahahahaha

Dear Bop.. I have a deal for you. You guys can have ALL of the West coast and a good portion of the Northeast coast. The rest of us in the “flyover states” get to keep America. Deal?

I agree we have real issues to talk about. I just want Glenn Beck to come out and do the following:

1. Deny that he had anything to do with the alleged crimes.

2. Promise that he will never commit such a vile act again.

You must be smoking something good in Maryland there Paul. If you believe for one minute any of that was even remotely true then why don’t the Obamabots have that story splashed all over MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS…ect. ect. Now stop with the kiddie make believe stuff or hit Moveon.org…… Or perhaps you are one of those Colorofchange freaks…hmmmm

I’m just a concerned citizen. Do I believe any of the allegations out there against Mr. Beck? Who knows they probably aren’t true, but I can’t account for Mr. Beck’s whereabouts for all of 1990, only he can. I just hope Mr. Beck can find the courage to do the right thing and put an end to these nasty rumors and let us focus on the more pressing issues facing our country.

Paul..you are more than a concerned citizen. You are a dolt who thinks that poop is true and your words gave you away. In comment 77 you state….
“2. Promise that he will never commit such a vile act again.” AGAIN? Get a grip and move along. Glenn Beck, I’m sure, has better things to do then answer your wacky questions. But Paul of Maryland…where were you all of 1990? Maybe you raped and murdered some poor girl? Heck, perhaps it was a little boy you did those vile things to. I think we should be checking out the missing children in Maryland. You could very well be responsible for their disappearance and be trying to blame someone else for it. Do you have tents in your backyard? Are you holding missing kids in those tents???? Let us check out Paul, he protests too much. He must be guilty!

[...] Benen cites Time’s James Poniewozik: [...]

While I can understand everyone’s frustration with Mr. Beck. I also understand that our current 2-party system is vulnerable to corruption, as in most things in life. I’m gonna go ahead and defend Glenn, as his political ambitions seem obsolete. The case he has made against our elected officials isn’t his case at all.
It’s there own. I agree that dubbing this the 9/12 project may have been incendiary to some, probably most. But it’s a tactic. That worked. If we the people, including YOU, are not appropriately represented there will be worse things than destabilization techniques headed our way. So who can we trust?
Not Glenn Beck, fine. Who then, might I ask, do you trust?

This is a good article and I commend you for taking the time to express your opinions and concerns. I also agree that using tragedy as political gain is wrong and should be avoided. Both sides are doing that very thing, Obama in visiting the site, Beck in exploiting the event. I do however agree with Beck that Dems and Repubs both need to clean up their own house before spending (and wasting) all of these trillions of tax dollars. It appears that corruption dollars are going to overshadow social program dollars if that has not already happened. Support the Constitution as it was written, quit twisting the interpretations, and denounce crime. Those are the reasons I support Beck. considering the number of people protesting I suspect you can find a few there for whatever reason an individual wants to emphasize. Thanks for sharing your feelings.
John

UNITY does not demand that we all march in lockstep with “a President” or “government”. WE THE PEOPLE are the government… not THEM THE LEADERS! There is nothing wrong with voicing opinions and declaring what we think is going on—even if that is the idea that our President might have a racist streak, or that our government is riddled with complicity, corruption and incompetence. No voice should be squelched or censured simply because it doesn’t ring “correct” or in agreement with the ideology of the popular press…Right or Left.

Beck is only sick of the apathy that is born in the enthusiasm of Community Grassroots Organizations exposed looking for ways to shelter child prostitution in a literal and taxable way. Shame on an America who has exchanged dark for light and call bad good, and good bad.

The 12 values Glenn Beck is telling Americans they must embrace are:

•Lieing
•Disrespect
•Hate
•Greed
•Humiliation
•Greed
•Deception
•Excess
•Slavery
•Cowardace
•Greed
•Obiediance
Glenn Beck is also telling Americans in all walks of life that there are 9 principles that must be lived by:

The Nine Principles

1. America is stupid.

2. I believe in God and if he knew what I was up to, he would be very pissed off.

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday, unless it involves making money.

4. The family is greedy. My spouse and I are divorced, and self centered.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it. Except the wealthy.

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results, so dont come looking for handouts you fucking leech.

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to care about the poor and underprivliged. I am selfish and greedy.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion. Unless it costs money.

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me…in a fantasy world.

Here is a prime example of Beck-follower idiocy. It is not acceptable for the President of the United States to participate in a solemn ceremony to commemorate the 9/11 tragedy and pay respect to the victims.

What’s next for morons like this? That the President attending his own inauguration would be ‘too political’?

It’s odd that you would publish this story on 9/11 before Becks date of his call of duty, but I don’t remember getting a letter in the mail, or an email… or even hearing an ad about any of it until coming here, to this site… so I guess it must of only aired on his show? Becks a lot of things, but you picked a poor date to make a point James Poniewozik. Your message would have breathed better a day after or a day before, and in doing so, you have just as much disrespect as Beck. You made a choice to be a hypocrite and instead of making a point, you managed to turn this story into another typical rant.

You are right about one thing, it is our choice… it will remain our choice and most often then not, people who have enough rope and do a dishonest show in life find themselves hung up by their own means.

I like one of the comments on this site, indeed the redirect of this site going to an error page would of been better.

Absolute bollocks. You wingnuts have no idea whatsoever.

Every corporation is 99% aiming at maximizing income, sure, but only a conspiracy nut job is going to imagine an organization like NBC is going to try to distort the news to help another part of the overall business. The big networks all try to walk a line down the middle to maximize their audience share. Unfortunately that middle is somewhere between neutral and traditional conservative – liberal they ain’t.

Fox News is just as profit-focused as the rest, but they have long ago figured that you bible-eating, ludicrously gullible extremists represent a big enough market to ensure them a lovely ongoing income, perfect for a cable network. They think you are as stupid as the rest of us do, but they’re happy to serve up the bs you thrive on. Hell, Murdoch himself actually supported the uppity communist fascist negro at the last election.

Fox News and the ugly Australian are laughing all the way to the bank. And guess who they are laughing at…

More patriot twaddle from the idiot class. Liberal actually means tolerant. We are quite happy for people to worship whatever god they like, be whatever color they like, sleep with whomever they like, say whatever they like – all as long as it doesn’t impinge on other people’s rights to live their lives the way they want. There’s even a place for you in our vision of a more caring, more equitable country.

Doesn’t mean we have to like you and jumped up little pricks like the hateful Beck though.

Mr. Poniewozik, how on Earth can you accuse Beck of using 9/11 as a political platform? Did you notice what the President is turning it into? A NATIONAL DAY OF SERVICE TO SUPPORT HIS STATEIST AGENDA!!! The 9/12 Project has nothing directly to do with the event of 9/11 and your accusing it of being so OFFENDS THE HELL OUT OF ME!!! The 9/12 movement is about reigning in big gov’t spending and reaffirming the principles that this country was founded on, all in the spirit of the same patriotism our nation displayed in the aftermath of 9/11/01!!! This administration is in the process of hijacking an industry that accounts for 1/6 of our economy that works well for 90% of our citizens. Are you willing to sit there with a straight face and marginalize 9/12 in the face of Obama’s radical intentions? Do you not understand that gov’t taking over the healthcare industry gives beaurucrats the potential to decide INDIVIDUAL matters of life and death? Do you not understand that the cost of such an undertaking will break us beyond repair? Do you not understand that his policies are wreaking havoc on the private sector? Do you not understand tyranny? WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO TO GET THROUGH TO YOU PEOPLE?!? IT’S TIME TO PICK A SIDE, FOLKS. LET’S SEE, DO YOU WANT TO SERVE OBAMA ON 9/11 OR DO YOU WANT TO RESTORE THIS COUNTRY’S GREATNESS ON 9/12? You can discredit Rush, Beck, Levin, Hannity, Palin, or whomever you want. The American people respond to the truth and it’s quite clear who’s on the righteous path at this point. All we want in this deal is for this country to stay true to it’s founding. WHY DON’T WE EVER HEAR THE PRESIDENT TALK ABOUT PRESERVING OUR GLORIOUS HERITAGE??? Because all he’s concerned with as attaining as much power as possible in order to “fix injustices” he and his cohorts view in the system. He’s the ultimate radical with too much power.

More ignorance from this fool.

You’ve jumped ahead to Becky’s next nutjob sideshow. This excellent article is in response to the dreadful little fake’s 9/12 nastiness – hijacking a symbol of Americans’ strength and inherent goodness at a terrible time to push his appalling agenda of self-publicity and hate.

Christ, another one crawls out of the woodwork. Obama is your President. Beck is a jumped up little charlatan feeding off the hate seeping from every pore of the self-righteous lunatic right. Cheney/Bush broke every rule in the book – even instructing Homeland Security to raise the terror alert to get themselves re-elected.

Another four years of that evil bunch and you really would have had the police state you’re looking for. Thank God for sanity and Obama!

I agree with what you are saying James.

But can we please stop giving Gleen Beck any more attention that he already has? His tactics are not unlike bin laden’s – its not the substance of his attacks that he worries about, its bringing the rest of us down to his level . Its the REACTION that gives him his power

But I agree entirely, i just can’t stand that MF

Name-calling will get you laughs, but it takes the fire out of the facts.

Nine principles and 12 values, huh?

C’mon Beck, we all know you’re more intereted in those 14 words.

Glenn Beck is an opportunist, plain & simple… and 60,000 people is 0.02% of 307,448,519 Americans… why are we even talking about it? Probably because it is so ridiculous & outrageous that it is news… and that’s what creates a Glenn Beck, and Fox News for that matter… only in America!

I am perfectly willing to publicly state that I have never raped or murdered anyone ever including in 1990. Why hasn’t Glenn Beck? I’m not saying that he has ever committed any violent act, but if you Google “Glenn Beck Murder” you get dozens of websites wondering why he has yet to deny these horrible allegations. I just want Mr. Beck to publicly end this controversy once and for all by stating his innocence and providing the DNA sample that will once and for all exonerate his name.

It is amazing that one would use bible scripture here, so why not have at it.

This country is in judgment, and heading for worse. Sodom would have been spared if just 10 were righteous. It wasn’t the amount of evil that determined judgment, it was the lack of the righteous, as is now.

We have so many so called Christians, that don’t attend church, think about God for 1 hour a week or less, who think it is all right to sin because “God is Love”, and endorse people who vote to allow homosexual marriages, abortion, and so forth.

I am sorrowful that God sees all these people who have heard the gospel, and refuse to embrace it, rather thinking they are just “good enough” to make it and forget him daily.

Well…
“And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

————-

Personally I like much of what Beck has to say, the Irena Sendler video was the first I seen of him. I do not like the shock factor he tries to use on things, but I must admit, few news agencies seem to dare say anything wrong about our current regime. I don’t hang on his every word as truth, the only truth that will last is in the Bible.

Turning 9/11 into some sort of authoritarian/libertarian/neo-conservative party is absolutely shameful. But, then, Glenn Beck has no shame.

This was a wonderful post. We deeply remember the very instant we learned of the 9/11 attacks. Nothing like this ill-educated rabble on Saturday comes to mind.

Are you an idiot or what. Glenn Beck was in New York city on 9/11/2001 choking on the dust from the towers and lost friends also.

Are you just stupid or don’t you fact check. Glenn was talking about the day after 9/11 when everyone in America was angry for being attacked and we all wanted to support the people in New York and the Pentagon and flight 93 and anyone else who had lost someone.

But we came together as a nation to fight a common foe one the day after. Both Democrats and Republicans were on the capital steps singing “God Bless America” and we were all together as one nation on that day.

That is why Glenn started the 9/12 Project, because shortly after, idiots like you started playing party politics again instead of becoming one nation and putting party politics aside to defeat a common enemy who attacked us.

Grow up you idiot!

Jesus Christ, kevinkruis. In the reality-based world, dear nutjob, there is nothing whatsoever in common with the shared shock, grief, bravery and determination of the 9/12 people after an obscene attack on the nation and the hate-fuelled mob in Washington the other day. Glenn Beck is a cynical charlatan who just wants power and even more of your money. He’s laughing all the way to the bank – and guess who the gullible fools are he’s laughing at.

Obama has a hell of a job trying to achieve whatever he can to pick up the pieces after 8 years of Cheney/Bush outrages – letting the financial sector run riot, deregulating everything so the sacred cow of capitalism could swindle and suck trillions of dollars up, ruining the economy and millions of Americans’ hopes for a decent retirement in the process… flouting the Constitution ‘that stupid old piece of paper’, conniving to use 9/11 to carry out the war they wanted against a country absolutely unconnected with the atrocity, firing anyone and everyone who dared raise a voice against them, showing the world the proud 200+ year-old American reputation for honor and values meant zilch.

Just how sick and twisted were they to manipulate the law to justify torture procedures America itself had hung Japanese and Germans for? They waterboarded one man, what was it, 90 times, to get him to confirm their bullshit connection between al Qaeda and Iraq?

And now… now there’s a slightly liberal BLACK man in the White House, suddenly your all outraged at a ‘fascist, socialist, unamerican’ agenda your evil puppet-masters have invented out of thin air.

Get treatment, fool. And for f’s sake, try using facts, not fantasies. THINK!

I hate to repeat myself, but, NAME-CALLING MIGHT GET YOU LAUGHS, BUT IT TAKES THE FIRE OUT OF THE FACTS! I made it up. It needs to be spread apparently, because to many people make a good point and the lay a nasty insult for emphasis.
You aren’t emphasising anything other than your need to compensate for something. Please consider this.

Libtard. Socialist. Commie. Fascist. Far-left loony. Anti-Semite. Terrorist. Muslim. Corrupt. Liar. Racist. White-hater. Illegal Alien. Diseased. Monkey. Radical. Hood. Hypocrite. Coon. Disgrace. Coward. Thug. Traitor. Queer. Uppity N-word.

Just a sprinkling of the everyday hate talk about your properly elected President and Commander-in-Chief – starting from Day One of his term. Talk about respect! And you get holier-than-thou about name-calling?

Unbelievable.

Mckeepoop,
You need to stop hanging with such vile people that would say such things about Obama. You’ll find if you have just a tiny bit of class it will rub off on those around you. To “better yourself is to better the world.” Just a bit of Free Common Sense for ya. Good luck with that problem Dear.

Mckeebop, it sounds like your as sick of it as I am. I’m not trying to be “holier than thou”, but you take away from your own talking points by hurling insults rather than facts. You gain popularity, but you lose conviction. I think you just labeled me, “unbelievable”…
You want name-calling, fine. See how many arguements you win. If anything you’ve proven my point.

[...] and I'll let David and the editors know it's here. Just try to keep it civil—which, judging by what usually happens when I post about Beck, may be wishful [...]

If you want a great example of Beck’s hyporcrisy, check out Jon Stewart’s report.

http://www.indecisionforever.com/2009/08/14/jon-stewart-owns-glenn-beck-on-healthcare-hypocrisy/

While still a reporter for CNN, Beck had to have surgery and he reports on the failings of the health care system using things he experienced first hand. Later, when his Overlords at Faux News deemed universal health coverage unpalatable, his views of the American Heathcare System are somewhat different.

What journalism school did comedian Jon Stewart go to? When did he become a reporter??

Pathetic, oris. If you don’t have an answer, do what the bobbleheads at Fox do – attack or mock the messenger.

By the way – which medical school did Jesus graduate from?

Fred – personally I don’t give two tiny stuffs about what names people choose to call me. Yes, it can get people’s backs up if you call them a libtard or a wingnut, but we are here to discuss issues and things can get heated – especially when people refuse to address the actual issue, but rather just snipe away at personalities.

Glenn Beck and his followers did a disgusting thing in using the remembrance of 9/11 to push their divisive, minority-viewpoint platform. The sheer hate on display was enough to make a decent human being retch. If a bunch of liberals had hijacked such an occasion to stage an anti-Fox or pro-Healthcare march ‘in the spirit of 9/12′ or whatever, I would have been just as appalled.

2 quick points Mr Mcboop..
If anyone here should be offended by “using” 9/11 it would be me and my husband. On 9/11 my husband was a working New York City Fireman. He lost many of his Friends and Brothers. Many of my friends became widows. Neither of us have a problem with the 9/12 March on Washington. It didn’t take ANYTHING away from 9/11. So stop that holier than thou poop.
As for what med school Jesus graduated from…He didn’t. But my Doctor is Jewish and graduated from a rather fine one, thank you very much. Also please excuse me for being Jewish.. I know what the Fascist did to my family in past for that and I have no want of seeing THAT happen again.

response to 9/11 & 9/12 posts from captainowowmb

Sorry for the delay in the feedback, but I felt compelled to respond to your posts. You wrote: “Our forefathers were much brighter then many in government today…”
I’M CURIOUS AS TO WHY you say this. I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, but I’m really interested in knowing why you believe this.

“… and if they stopped and studied where they came from (I am really mean read and studied)…”
I AM IN 100% AGREEMENT with what I think you are trying to say here.

“…they would understand and I quote:”
BUT THIS IS WHERE I begin to take issue:

“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.”
Thomas Jefferson
JEFFERSON DID WRITE THIS, as part of a letter to James Madison, but I’d like your interpretation of it, and reason for including it in this collection of quotes.

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”
Thomas Jefferson (And this was before Socialism)
THIS IS NOT A QUOTE FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON, but from John Sharp Williams, a longtime Democratic congressman (House and Senate) from Mississippi, in a 1913 speech. Williams was a fervent believer in the principles of Jeffersonian democracy.
Incidentally, modern socialism was conceived in the late 1700s, and there are models of socialism that date back to the Greeks around 400 B.C.

but MOST IMPORTANTLY and directed at the current administration-

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
Thomas Jefferson
THERE IS NO EVIDENCE IN ANY OF JEFFERSON’S writings, or any works by scholars of his time that this quote originated with Jefferson.
I wholeheartedly agree that people would do well to read and study (or as you stressed, “really read and study”) the writings of our forefathers. Unfortunately, the only name I’m hearing over and over and over is Thomas Jefferson. Admittedly, he is a good start. But sending out “Jefferson” quotes that you got from Glenn Beck or a true believer’s email doesn’t qualify as “reading”, much less “studying”. Especially, when they turn out to be fakes. There’s no shortage of material out there, and it is readily available to everyone, thanks to socialistic institutions such as libraries. You might want to begin with Ford’s The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Vols. 1-12. You can even download it for free from the internet.
Your cause may be just – I’m not going to give my opinion on that since there appears to be a plentiful supply of everyone’s hot air these days. But there is no cause for which passing around falsely-attributed quotes is justified. And, if everyone would read and truly study (and I’m not talking about books by commentators and politicians and pundits), they’d find more than enough material to support their cause honestly and honorably.

[...] a point. If anyone is interested, James Poniewozik, Time magazine, wrote a little bit about the Tea Party movement and 9/11, which I encourage anyone to [...]

[...] James Poniewozik joins us and I interrupt myself to tell him how much I loved, loved, loved his “Don’t Tell Me What 9/12 Means, Glenn Beck” article. At this point, Jon Stewart reprises his epically spectacular Beck impersonation to a round [...]