GOP Surrenders to Beck's Mob Rule

NewMajority ^ | 9/11/09 | David Frum

[steve-b]

When Glenn Beck made his Fox debut, some shrewd conservatives responded with a wink. Maybe the show was paranoid and hysterical. Maybe Beck was none too scrupulous about facts and truth. But why be squeamish? The other side did as bad, or nearly. And see how usefully he mobilized the base!

Those shrewd conservatives assumed Beck was working for them. Big mistake. Beck is working for himself – and he chooses his targets according to his own scheme of priorities....

Glenn Beck is not the first to make a pleasant living for himself by reckless defamation. We have seen his kind before in American journalism and American politics, and the good news is that their careers never last long. But the bad news is that while their careers do last, such people do terrible damage.....

[CharlesWayneCT]

This article is about Sunstein, not ACORN.

[myself6]

Meh... F—k Frum...

Hes proven himself to be a “liberal” piece of sh-t that enables the socialist in the GOP. Thats why hes pissed, because someone semi attacked that dumb a— socialist McCain.

There is simply no reason to do anything other than mock what the bastard has to say. There is certainly no reason to take anything he says seriously.

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

Frum is lying - he is too full of himself to be honest.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"Maybe Beck was none too scrupulous about facts and truth.

Glenn Beck is not the first to make a pleasant living for himself by reckless defamation."

Mr. Frum ... if your statements are indeed the truth, surely you have what you consider the real facts with which to prove Mr. Beck's wrong and reckless. The very same challenge has gone out to the White House and they are still silent as well.

[LoneStarGI]

I’m still amazed how Libs think that asking simple pointed questions and showing videos of groups and individuals caught in acts of corruption is defamation and smear.

[chatham]

What does Frum do on Weekends? Haunt Houses ????

[The Comedian]

[FreedomPoster]

Jerry Pournelle has for some years referred to this guy as “The egregious Frum”.

[listenhillary]

Seems to be a copy and paste of what the intelligentsia said about Rush Limbaugh 15 years ago.

[PapaBear3625]

In theory, Frum is a "conservative". He's book-smart, got his law degree from Harvard, and seems most comfortable when things are being run by his faction of the "Insider Elite". Unfortunately for Frum, he just does not have the charisma to really motivate people, and Beck does.

He seems threatened by Beck, who came from working-class roots and dropped out of college after one term. Beck, like Palin, is not part of the "Insider Elite" network, and this upsets the members of the "Insider Elite".

[Elsie]

Glenn Beck is not the first to make a pleasant living for himself by reckless defamation.

WHO has he defamed?

[chiller]

As I understand it, Sunstein is one part sanity (which is why Frum and David Horowitz have written in his support) and one part insanity.

What does that make Sunstein? As Steyn wrote: if you mix ice cream and dog feces, the result will taste more like the later than the former. imho, Sunstein is two parts insanity.

[sport]

Molest little boys probably.

[MozarkDawg]

Beck may have let half truths fly, Sunstein is not the wacko he claims - imo.

Hold on ... you opine that Sunstein is not a wacko, I beg to differ with you, but that is beside the point -- what "half-truths" can you show that you charge Glenn has "let fly"??

[chiller]

As I understand it, Sunstein is one part sanity (which is why Frum and David Horowitz have written in his support) and one part insanity.

What does that make Sunstein? As Steyn wrote: if you mix ice cream and dog feces, the result will taste more like the later than the former. imho, Sunstein is two parts insanity.

[jesseam]

Thanks for the infomation about Frum....

[sport]

You are correct. He is worse.

[Elsie]

"repeat a lie an allegation often enough, and ..."

[CharlesWayneCT]

Here's some alleged quotes from Sunstein which tend to undercut Frum's argument.

Another kook to take office

For starters, Sunstein believes in regulating hunting out of existence. He told a Harvard audience in 2007 that "we ought to ban hunting." And in The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer (2002), he said:

I think we should go further ... the law should impose further regulation on hunting, scientific experiments, entertainment, and (above all) farming to ensure against unnecessary animal suffering. It is easy to imagine a set of initiatives that would do a great deal here, and indeed European nations have moved in just this direction. There are many possibilities.

...

"We could even grant animals a right to bring suit without insisting that animals are persons, or that they are not property," Sunstein said on page 11 of Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions (2004).

...

In Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing Courts are Wrong for America (2005), Sunstein says:

Almost all gun control legislation is constitutionally fine.... [O]n the Constitution's text, fundamentalists [that is, gun rights supporters] should not be so confident in their enthusiasm for invalidating gun control legislation.

..

"We could even grant animals a right to bring suit without insisting that animals are persons, or that they are not property," Sunstein said on page 11 of Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions (2004).

So, there was a quote from Sunstein in a book, saying we could grant animals the right to bring suit. That certainly sounds like what Beck was saying, and it looks like Frum was wrong.

[MozarkDawg]

Beck does go over the top sometimes in my opinion, but he doesn’t intentionally lie and decieve like Olbermann does and most of the evidence he presents is factual ...

Here's another post ... he doesn't intentionally lie? So he just lies by mistake? And most of the evidence he presents is factual? These comments are odd, taking the rest of your post in context.