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.

 

[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?

[Mr Ramsbotham]

John McCain is part of the problem.

Hell, he may actually be the problem.

[FreeReign]

Beck is right sometimes you can’t tell the difference between the Rs and the Ds...

Is the use of the word "sometimes" yours or Beck's?

[MHGinTN]

Please, don’t forget your sarcasm tags when you post such nonsense. Levin is a RINO like Stalin was a choirboy all his life.

[karenfromny]

I just noticed my last post, and realized I forgot a comma. This is the way it should read...

Beck is right, sometimes you can’t tell the difference between the Rs and the Ds...

[MozarkDawg]

John McCain is part of the problem.

And Glenn's refusal to back down on calling McCain on his culpability, either by name or like last night, referral, is probably a good reason why Bennett is criticizing him this morning.

[woofie]

Yep, it’s very predictable what that undercover RINO operative, Mark Levin, will say on Monday nite’s show.

I hope that was sarcasm

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Why do people bash Beck? Does he HAVE to be perfect? Are you, Mr. Bennett?

For the same reason they have to bash Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin. Because they are a threat to the status quo. Mr. Bennett knows that if people listen to Beck his powerful connections are not long for the political world. And his connections are what puts money in his bank account.

Mr. Bennett, whom I frequently agree with, is by the way addicted to gambling and has had his own recovery issues. This may be another reason for his sensitivity.

[Elle Bee]

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

.

[Bearshouse]

The perceived ascendancy of republicans is only because they aren't quite as bad as democrats...

Or to paraphrase Glen Beck ..... we don't suck as much as the other guy.

Glen was right, and the level of frustration here on FR over the years at the RHINOs among us is proof that he is saying (with more flair) what has been expressed here many times.

[karenfromny]

I just corrected my post, I forgot the comma. What a difference a comma can make...

[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

[outhousepatrol]

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

NAH! Not required.

[oldplayer]

Dear Mr. Bennet,

You mention Coburn, DeMint and Pence as Republicans who speak out for truth and conservative values. But, Tom Coburn, Jim Demint and Mike Pence are never the party power elites’ first choice for leadership, are they, Bill? Sarah who?

We’re not buying it.

Oldplayer

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Like it or not, we're all a part of the American body politic. When Obama is gone America will be left with trillions in debt and untold collateral damage to our society and political culture.

Consider the metaphor and visualize yourself an aggrieved liver cell. You'll pay for the party along with the rest of us - even if we didn't get to participate in any of the fun stuff.