IMO. Beck was right on all points in his speech.
GOP under President Bush EXPANDED the size & scope of federal government 2001-2008. Tax cuts were great. Tax cuts + massive spending increases = foundation for calamity.
When the GOP kicks all the progressives like McCain & Graham out of the party, it will be a great day for the nation.
completely disagree. glenn was spot on. it’s too bad some republicans can’t take the criticism...an indication to me that ears are closed...which could mean we are in for the same old, same old.
Glenn Beck nailed it, and Mr. Bennett seems to ignore the growing list of RINOs in order to come to the defense of the noble few. He even cherry-picks a single John McCain (!) quote in his attempt to deflect Beck's criticisms. (BTW, when McCain said, "The party has lost its way", he wasn't calling for smaller government.)
The party, as a whole, is a wreck, a few shining stars notwithstanding.
Glenn is right.
I agree!! Thought his speech was terrific. But, his slam of the rep party was a bit off. I’m thinking maybe he doesn’t want to appear partisan? O’Rielly does the same type of thing from time to time. But, hey they are both human and not always right.
Boy! Beck sure has the Republican establishment riled.
Mr. William Bennett held his outrage in check but made it clear that Beck overstepped the bounds of acceptable discourse. I'm listening to Bennett's radio show. I have not read his column.
Republican establishment riles, Rockefeller rules?
Nelson Rockefeller according to Stuart Spencer (Rockefeller's public relations head) said, "We had to destroy Barry Goldwater as a member of the human race."
Mainline Republicans have to destroy Glenn Beck as a member of the human race?
I'm not equating Beck to Goldwater -- I just remember 1964 and I'm still livid.
If the first four were representative of the Republican Party there wouldn't be a problem. McCain's an entirely different issue and for him to make such a statement is disingenuous at best. The “reach across the aisle maverick” is exhibit A in how the party lost its way.
Beck was dead on in that speech. He had the guts to tell the Republicans that just because they are not as bad as the Democrats doesn’t mean they are good. And Bill Bennett needs to learn that Denial isn’t a river in Egypt.
“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.”
AMEN
So Bennett thinks that America’s near bankruptcy can be solved by gradualism? What a joke. That is the initial stance of a spendthrift who thinks that cutting back $10 a week at a time on his profligacy.
The present weenies in the GOP who think that they still can be Socialism-Lite brand and save the country are either dishonest or delusional. McCain is maybe the latter, but the rest are a pack of weasels.
Sorry, they had their day.
And not one of these are considered a serious candidate for POTUS in 2012.
Bennett is wrong about BECK. His was the finest speech I have heard made at CPAC since Reagan!!
True the DEMS are a bunch of Communists but the Republicans are weak on controlling spending.
Bennett seems to see the party as a loose collection of individuals. Beck sees it as an institution that transcends individuals. The party wants it both ways.
Beck is absolutely right to challenge the party to take sides. It is not enough to win. They also have to win in order to accomplish something. And the party has not been clear about what it, as an institution, is striving for.
Beck’s point in his speech was that the GOP is a “lite” version of the Democrats. This was clearly in this speech. So Bennett (and Levin) are creating a straw man arguement. Since Beck’s speech was themed on history, he pointed out many past self proclaimed progressives in the GOP. If Bennett wants contemporaneous support, listen to George Will’s speech on the entitlement culture. Will points out at least three programs that were started by Republicans.
Beck was exactly right!! If the republican party wasn’t so messed up, McCain would never have been made the parties nominee. The left needs to be called out as Beck has done.
And Bill, why do you think that is? It certainly isn't due to the milquetoast program you air each morning, or you commentary as a CNN contributor. It's folks like Beck who have energized conservatives.
When you are supposed to be in the fertile jungle of prosperity, and everyone on the bus can see you are driving through the desert; admitting you are lost is really more of a "well, duh" moments.
I can't tell you how shocked....shocked I am that Repubs actually pat themselves on the back for being lost. See if you can find your way back to me.
No, I'm over here. You're getting colder.
For those who have known the sins of the GOP for a long time, Glenn’s rhetoric may seem unjustifiably extreme. But he’s not speaking to the choir; he’s talking to all the oblivious country club Eagleburger types who think all this Constitution stuff is just vulgar ravening hysteria. As their financial holdings continue to be devastated, they may start to take Glenn more seriously and reconsider the value of the Ole Boy Network.
I thought Beck’s point was well illustrated in the analogy of taking a pole out of your eye (the Dems) but still getting stuck in the eye by a needle (the GOP)...either way, it hurts and isn’t a good thing.
The messenger is fatally flawed.
GB is too much about drama. GB is usually right, but is just so darn dramatic, or just flat out negative. His nightly message on Fox is: We’re all going to die, the country is lost, things have never been this bad, and our enemies have never been this strong.
*sigh*
The stakes are too important to go through that kind of exercise, which will ultimately go nowhere anyway ? because it?s already happened.
No. It hasn't already happened, Bennett. Until the midterms are over and we've removed as many pork-eaters as we can, we will not be able to assess the result. You're just flat wrong. The cutting and trimming of political waste in the Republican Party has only just begun. We have much to do!
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.
No, Bennett, what's dangerous is thinking that the Tea Parties are finished with their work. That the lessons they have to teach have been taught. You're in for a big surprise, Bennett. We are not satisfied. There is much work to do.