[FreeReign]

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?

Bennett is correct when says the above.

[MozarkDawg]

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?

No Bill, and maybe if you took yourself out of your own elitist tower and tried to LISTEN to him once in while, you might know this your own self.

[Da Coyote]

Interesting that two top conservative talk show types could completely obliterate the Obamaloon in any debate where the loon couldn’t stand behind his electronic speech machine.

[DCmarcher-976453]

Bill what does 12 going on 14 trillion in debt say about “responsibility” to you? Bill get out of the inside the beltway elitist state of mind and smell the coffee in fly over country and get a grip on the”real” world.

[Utah Binger]

Mitts MorgBots Unite!

Bennett is very correct in what he is saying and I generally do not always agree with him. I wonder how long it will be before Beck is invited to a Harry Reid testimony meeting?

[Elle Bee]

this drivel from a guy who ran the Department of Education ... what a waste of money

.

[ilgipper]

The party as a whole has not demonstrated that they have changed. Certainly indivuduals like Demint, Coburn, Rubio, and new governors in VA and NJ have heard loud and clear, but the party as a whole still looks aimless. They are focusing on winning with ‘sensible’ moderate ideas, not standing for anything substantial. That is not going to fly anymore. Even if we get elected in Nov ‘10 or Nov’12, we need leadership and a vision.

[deaconjim]

I have a lot of respect for Dr. Bennett, but not so much that I won't say he's wrong on this one. If he can't see the truth in what Beck was saying, then the sad truth is that he's part of the problem.

... 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.

Some of the "loudest and brightest" does not make the whole. They are speaking the truth, but is the party listening?

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

Yes, but has John McCain admitted that he was instrumental in blazing the wrong trail? Has he found the right path? I've seen no evidence to suggest he has.

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.

Yes, and the GOP can thank Barak Obama and the Democrat Party for that achievement. The only reason the GOP is "ascendant" is because of the depths to which the Democrats have taken us. Unless the GOP listens to Beck and others like him, they are doomed to continue the same mistakes that have put them in the position they now find themselves.

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.

There is a difference between hot and luke warm too, but not enough. I want to see hot and cold, black and white differences. Dr. Bennett may be satisfied with where the GOP has come, but the American people are not. Unless he can see that, he is in denial.

[Ransomed]

Former big gubberment drug czar Bennett doesn’t dig Becks message.

His radio show comes on in the morning around here, they should play it at night to cure insomnia. What a snooze fest.

Freegards

[MozarkDawg]

So for all of you who think Glenn Beck has castigated the GOP unfairly, you're in lock-step here with Bennett, how do you explain the Republicans meeting with 0bama to help get this total fraud of health care reform back on track over the EXPRESS OBJECTION of the American people en masse? The GOP apparently haven't heard us, aren't listening, don't believe it when we say NO, they are going to *work with 0bama* to prove their *bi-partisanship* regardless what they will do is assist in passing socialized medicine, force it upon us when we have made it abundantly plain we don't want it.

One senator, two, Coburn and Inhofe, cannot derail this by themselves. One representative, Michelle Bachman is unable to kill the legislation herself. GLENN KNOWS THIS, he is not wholly unaware of how Washington works. He doesn't lump each and every politician under the same blanket, he does however recognize a truth -- the REPUBLICANS as a whole have been aiding and abetting the DEMOCRATS as a whole, to claim otherwise is to exercise extreme intellectual dishonesty at best.

[Josh Painter]

Bennett is part of the GOP’s problem. Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are part of the solution.

- JP

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Jane Long]

Mr. Bennett, first, Glenn Beck's analogies were spot on - we (Repubs, Dems and Americans) are addicted to spending. It's Glenn's prerogative to make his own deficiencies public. Who are you to say this is wrong, Bill? Second, Bill, Glenn DOES elevate the brightest ideas - regardless of party. He does this repeatedly on both his radio and Fox programs. Third, Bill, Glenn's analogy describing the sickness of our addiction does NOT diminish any great conservative work and strives made - it only brings our sickness (addiction to spending) to it's ugly, truthful light. Yes, a year ago the Pub Party was moribund - due to overspending. Today's ascendancy for Pubs is due to the Tea Party and conservative values - NOT because of anything Pubs have done. And truthfully, until Pubs in office get the spines to call progressives out - the two parties ARE the same. Bill is right about "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." Glenn explained these differences clearly - using himself as a great example. That's where Bill's being right ends - there is NO difference between the Republican and Democratic parties, when it comes to spending and NOT listening. To ignore these differences, or propagate the myth that they don’t exist, Bill, is not only discouraging, it is very dangerous.

[andy58-in-nh]

Bill Bennett is a very smart guy, but he is making an elementary mistake in his appraisal: he takes what Glenn Beck says literally rather than rhetorically. Bennett was a professor and he ought to know better. Glenn Beck is a performer, as well as a political commentator. What he has done is to throw down a gauntlet at the feet of the GOP. He is challenging them to be better than they have been, to adhere to their principles rather than continue to stray from them.

I have followed Glenn for a number of years now and I am more than convinced that he does not see the two major parties as equally bad or culpable, even if he sometimes sounds as though he has no use for either of them. He obviously favors the GOP, but desperately wants them to have a "come to Jesus" moment where they realize and take responsibility for what they have done: throw away their intellectual and moral advantages over the Democrats in pursuit of short-term gain. And what has it gotten them, and the nation? Pain. Debt. Obama. I really believe he's pushing the GOP to make a choice; as he said, directly, last night, we don't need a "big tent". What are we, a circus? Hopefully, the answer will be "no" and "we're sorry, America, we let you down. We won't do it again".

I also think Bennett is mistaken in objecting to Beck's syllogistic use of his own alcoholism to point out the GOP's failure to live up to its promises. Bennett may not wish to draw attention to his own similar personal issues, and that's understandable. But Beck is not using his own life experience to put the spotlight on himself, but on America and what we, the people have allowed to occur in pursuit of short-term pleasures at the expense of long-term health and happiness. Viewed in that light, I thought such usage was entirely appropriate.

[GoforBroke]

Glenn Beck is more correct than Mr Bennett. I like Mr. Bennett but the modus is too slow.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

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.

And how much of this has anything to do with the Republican Party? The Tea Party movement, gross over-reach by the Democrats, voters waking up to realize just what ObamaCare means and what it will cost, ClimateGate and the AGW lies exposed - what exactly did the Republican Party do to make this happen? There's a difference between an "amazing achievement" and passively watching while others do your job.

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 thing is, the GOP and the Democrats aren't different enough, and the GOP does need to hang its head in remorse over the way government continues to grow whether Republicans or Democrats are in charge. I'm tired of voting for the lesser of two evils - if the only difference is that the GOP spends like a drunken sailor while the Democrats spend like a drunken sailor on crack, I'd rather have neither. Bennett and the GOP need to wake up and realize that voters horrified by Democratic spending are not going to be any happier with Republican spending.