Saturday Night Beck (Bill Bennett)

National Review ^ | February 21, 2010 | Bill Bennett

[greyfoxx39]

Saturday Night Beck    [Bill Bennett]

There’s a lot to say about CPAC. This morning the major papers are highlighting Glenn Beck’s speech. I like Glenn a lot and I think he has something to teach us. But not what he offered last night.

Analogizing his own struggles with alcohol to the problems of our polity and in our politics, he said, “Hello, my name is the Republican party, and I have a problem!” “I’m addicted to spending and big government.” ”It is still morning in America.” ”It just happens to be kind of a head-pounding, hung-over, vomiting-for-four-hours kind of morning in America. And it’s shaping up to be kind of a nasty day. But it is still morning in America.” And, again, “I believe in redemption, but the first step to getting redemption is you’ve got to admit that you’ve got a problem. I have not heard people in the Republican party yet admit that they have a problem.”

Glenn is among the best talkers in the business of broadcast. I am not sure he’s a very good listener.

First, there is a good and strong tradition in alcohol and drug treatment that personal failings should not be extrapolated into the public sphere; that too often when this is done, conclusions are reached based on the wrong motives and, often, the wrong analysis. Glenn has made that mistake here and taken to our politics a cosmologizing of his own deficiencies. This is not a baseless criticism; they are his own deficiencies that he keeps publicly redounding to and analogizing to. It is wrong and he is wrong.

Second, for him to continue to say that he does not hear the Republican party admit its failings or problems is to ignore some of the loudest and brightest lights in the party. From Jim DeMint to Tom Coburn to Mike Pence to Paul Ryan, any number of Republicans have admitted the excesses of the party and done constructive and serious work to correct them and find and promote solutions. Even John McCain has said again and again that “the Republican party lost its way.” These leaders, and many others, have been offering real proposals, not ill-informed muttering diatribes that can’t distinguish between conservative and liberal, free enterprise and controlled markets, or night and day. Does Glenn truly believe there is no difference between a Tom Coburn, for example, and a Harry Reid or a Charles Schumer or a Barbara Boxer? Between a Paul Ryan or Michele Bachmann and a Nancy Pelosi or Barney Frank?

Third, to admit it is still “morning in America” but a “vomiting for four hours” kind of morning is to diminish, discourage, and disparage all the work of the conservative, Republican, and independent resistance of the past year. The Tea Partiers know better than this. I don’t think they would describe their rallies and resistance as a bilious purging but, rather, as a very positive democratic reaction aimed at correcting the wrongs of the current political leadership. The mainstream media may describe their reactions as an unhealthy expurgation. I do not.

A year ago, we were told the Republican party and the conservative movement were moribund. Today they are ascendant, and it is the left and the Democratic party that are on defense — even while they are in control. That’s quite an amazing achievement. But anyone who knows the history of this country and its political movements should not be surprised. America has a long tradition of antibodies that kick in. From Carter we got Reagan. And from Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama we took back a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, with midterm elections on the horizon that Republicans and conservatives are actually excited about, not afraid of.

To say the GOP and the Democrats are no different, to say the GOP needs to hit a recovery-program-type bottom and hang its head in remorse, is to delay our own country’s recovery from the problems the Democratic left is inflicting. The stakes are too important to go through that kind of exercise, which will ultimately go nowhere anyway — because it’s already happened.

The first task of a serious political analyst is to see things as they are. There is a difference between morning and night. There is a difference between drunk and sober. And there is a difference between the Republican and Democratic parties. To ignore these differences, or propagate the myth that they don’t exist, is not only discouraging, it is dangerous.

 

[mulligan]

Bill Bennett is already trying to immunize Republican’s from what Glenn said about Republican’s - ‘They will or have not ‘fessed up’ to their part in the current financial mess’. And Bennett goes on to say there is a world of difference between Dem’s and Pub’s. In some areas that is true, but the destruction of our financial system that has us on the brink of bankruptcy is a ‘both Parties contribution’. Just go back and read Charlie Reese’s article, 545 vs. 300,000,000. Government is the problem and government includes both Democrat’s and Republican’s. And until the Pub’s really do admit their complicity, quit just talking and begin to walk the talk the mess will continue and may even become worse.

[AuntB]

“I interpreted his remarks as claiming the *results* are the same.

IIRC he did not identify or malign any conservative GOP politicians.

We are in this crisis because the Democrats caused it and the GOP did not prevent it. Same result.”

Good points!

Elephants and Asses, screwing the masses.

[Brugmansian]

Ouch. I lost all respect for Beck when he started this "they are all the same" stuff. If one can't discern differences then they are not qualified to deal with politics.

Me too. The moral equivalency, "everybody does it" stuff is mindrot. The left pushes it constantly. Simply because X is not good does not mean it is the same as X+++.

[MHGinTN]

He wasn’t indoctrinated by years under leftist professors, either. Think about it ...

[woofie]

Ive often felt like an aggrieved liver cell

[spiderfern]

And if you listened to Bill Bennett’s (Morning in America) show last week, you’ll note that he is sponsoring John McCain vs J.D. Hayworth in my state of Arizona. This strongly indicates Bennett is still a Washington Eliteist and not supporting what middle America wants and needs.

[lewislynn]

BECK: One college, one semester, one class......gee, wonder how sharp he would be.......if he actually had a degree!

NAH! Not required.

I guess not. Ever hear of that uneducated illiterate Rush Limbaugh? < /sarcasm >

[OKSooner]

Bennett can go piss away another bazillion bucks from his family’s fortune at the roulette wheel so far as I care, but I’d rather he didn’t presume to lecture or pontificate to the rest of us.

[spodefly]

Get a grip, Bennett.

Even John McCain has said again and again that “the Republican party lost its way.”

Yea, because McCain and his "reach across the aisle" nonsense has allowed so much of the crap we have had to endure from Democrats all the while allowing government to suck at every function with no apology.

And McCain, had he been a real fighter, would be President now, because he would have cared enough to point out what was obvious about Obama to anyone that paid attention -- That the Wright association DID matter, that the voting record was far far left, that Obama was an empty vessel.

Beck is right, and although there are good Republicans, the party as a whole has sucked only slightly less overall that the Democrats.

[MozarkDawg]

Exactly right, oldplayer, thank you.

I just found this quote from McCain on a thread about his wanting to limit access to nutritional supplements, vitamins and minerals for those of us too uneducated to understand them big words:

“Not only are these substances outside of the FDA’s purview, they don’t even require a doctor’s prescription,” McCain complained. “A person’s health is being left in his own uninformed hands instead of being overseen by those trained in the field. Government has an obligation to save such a person from his own folly.”

As I just posted on the thread, THIS is what Glenn was talking about last night, Dr. Bennett.

[FerociousRabbit]

This post of yours is absurd. Please rethink it. Of course you can tell always tell the differences between the D’s and R’s. just look at the differences:

For the D’s we have Snowe, Spector, Collins, Nelson, McCain, Landrieu, Graham, Steele, Bayh... wait, those are the R’s... no, the D’s... what party is Spector in today? Wait, these are definately the R’s... no, the...

Never mind. You are 100% correct. Sometime you just can’t tell.

[mazda77]

But Beck makes it perfectly clear there are bright spots in the party just as Bennett did. The focus of Beck’s scorn is the LEADERSHIP of the party, not individual members. Unless the locomotive knows where it is going, there is no way in hell the caboose is going to lead the train. Not to say those bright spots mentioned are the caboose, but they are merely just rail cars that are pulled by the locomotive.

As amember of the Tea Party Patriots, we do not describe ourselves as part of any party, as Bennett infers, and that has a very specific reason. As much as Bill likes McCain personally, John is wrong on policy. We need only to recall the recent SCOTUS ruling on the McCain-Feingold law as evidence that McCain is one of the reasons the Tea Partiers are just as mad at the Republican leadership as they are at the rest of the DC establishment. Combine it with his public distain for conservatives on policy matters and the picture is clear.

[fideist]

I think Bennett is right on two counts — alcoholics are not supposed to trade on their experiences, and Beck is overgeneralizing about the Republican party. There are some good conservatives in the Repubican party, which is a helluva lot more than among the Democrats.

HOWEVER, Beck’s larger point is dead-on. The Republican party as an institution still has not had its “Come to Jesus” moment. They are still propping up what they think are “electable” (read RINO) candidates. They need to more put practical politics aside and return to principles.

[lewislynn]

Third, to admit it is still “morning in America” but a “vomiting for four hours” kind of morning is to diminish, discourage, and disparage all the work of the conservative, Republican, and independent resistance of the past year. The Tea Partiers know better than this. I don’t think they would describe their rallies and resistance as a bilious purging but, rather, as a very positive democratic reaction aimed at correcting the wrongs of the current political leadership. The mainstream media may describe their reactions as an unhealthy expurgation. I do not.

Gee Bill I hope you aren't implying the Teaparties are a result of the Republican party in a positive way...You know the Republican party that, at first, ran from the Teaparty kooks like scalded dogs.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

In case anybody didn’t catch Beck’s speech here is the link.

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/292185-10

WARNING: It’s an hour long.

[MozarkDawg]

And if you listened to Bill Bennett’s (Morning in America) show last week, you’ll note that he is sponsoring John McCain vs J.D. Hayworth in my state of Arizona.

I didn't, but thank you for posting this, as it does indeed confirm my own take on why he had to come out with this diatribe this morning. Let me post once again this quote from McCain:

"Government has an obligation to save such a person from his own folly."

NOT IN AMERICA.

[MozarkDawg]

As much as Bill likes McCain personally, John is wrong on policy.

Policy, philosophy, procedure, politics on the whole. The fact that Glenn continues to call him on it is what has Bennett out here today.

[Ransomed]

“And if you listened to Bill Bennett’s (Morning in America) show last week...”

Don’t do it while driving, he should call it “Boring in America”. The few times I tried it I changed it to the light jazz station for a heart pounding change of pace.

And you are right, anybody who had “czar” after their name as part of their job description is likely to be an elitist stiff.

Freegards

[upsdriver]

We have many Rino’s in the party that need to be purged...Let Beck speak.

Let Beck run for a public office. Saying is easy, doing is not so easy. Let's see if his actions can match his rhetoric.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Beck can be a bit of a drama queen.

That's why I initially wasn't going to watch him at CPAC. But I thought he did a great job toning it down and an outstanding job describing the problem we face. Progressivism = Cancer