Posted on 07/23/2014 9:15:08 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
It’s an odd tale of two very ideologically conservative icons coming down on very different sides of the crisis of unaccompanied immigrant children flowing into the United States. Radio and television personality Glenn Beck and former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin have come out diametrically opposed to each other on what the nation should do to help—or not help—these children.
The mainstream press, or as she would call it, the “lamestream” press, doesn’t pay much attention to Palin any more, but she is frequently quoted in outlets like the Breitbart News and conservative newspapers such as the Anschutz-owned Washington Examiner. In a speech to the Western Conservative Summit, Palin described current immigration policies as turning America into an “unfunded charity” for “illegals” drawn to the U.S. by “DREAMweaver” Obama. According to Tony Lee in the Breitbart News, “Palin said that the ‘forgotten man’ who cannot catch a break will now see their tax dollars go to help take care of illegal immigrants while they are forced to compete with them for shrinking resources and jobs.”
In another article, Lee cited Palin’s contention that the Obama “administration was not dumping illegal immigrant children in exclusive liberal communities in Manhattan, Silicon Valley, and the Washington, D.C. suburbs to live with pro-amnesty advocates.” Lee headlined his article that Palin was concerned that the undocumented children were not being sent to Mark Zuckerberg’s neighborhood. Zuckerberg has been an active proponent of immigration reform, though primarily for immigrants with technical skills needed by the tech industry.
Palin doesn’t seem to have much empathy for the children, at least in her public statements. She was highly critical of House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, who late last month said of the immigrant children, “Every child, every person, has a spark of divinity in them and is therefore worthy of respect…[because] we are all God’s children.” Palin responded that Pelosi is “either speaking such gibberish, considering her track record, or she’s confessing one heck of a great conversion.”
It doesn’t appear that Palin is going to be a leader of initiatives to help the unaccompanied children coming from Central America. Glenn Beck, however, is taking a very different position. This past weekend, he made a visit to McAllen, Texas as part of his Mercury One charity to take truckloads of teddy bears and soccer balls for the immigrant children detained there. Describing the children as “caught in the political crossfire” due to “no fault of their own,” Beck told his radio listeners, “my brain is with the law…[but] my heart is with anyone who is suffering.” Beck will be partnering with churches along the border to provide food, money, and toys to the immigrants.
A talented media manipulator like few others, Beck knows that his announcement of compassion and assistance for the immigrant children is going to earn him little or no support among his far right-wing audience. He acknowledged that his plan to assist the immigrant children is “a position more deadly to [his] career” than anything else he has ever done and has already resulted in subscriptions and donations to his program decreasing.
Nonetheless, Beck has given his spurt of compassionate conservatism a political twist. He complained that his aid distribution effort has been joined by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), but the mainstream press won’t cover Cruz’s role because it prefers to paint Cruz as a “hater.” “They cannot cover Ted Cruz going down to the border,” Beck said. “This gives Ted Cruz the ammo to be tough on immigration, to be tough on justice. Once you have mercy established, you have credibility to talk about justice.” The showman in Beck made sure that his show on the border included media-attractive events, such as his grilling chicken for the immigrant kids.
For his efforts, Beck has been slammed by other conservative media stars and declared a “huckster” by Michael Savage. Fox News commentator Greta van Susteren described Beck’s complaint about the lack of coverage he and Cruz have received as “nutty,” noting that bigger stories such as the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 by Ukrainian separatists supported by Putin’s Russia and the Israeli invasion of Gaza might have been more logical reasons for the limited press attention he received. “Glenn is really off the charts on this accusation about us not covering the border,” Van Susteren said.
Nonetheless, despite criticism from his ideological peers like Savage and negative impacts for his network, Beck is undaunted. “Please would you consider doing the hard thing as well would you resist the temptation to flee or break up your family, please don’t hand your child off to a smuggler in the middle of the night,” Beck said. “I can’t sleep at night thinking about your son or daughter and so I and about 150 volunteers and multiple semi-trucks are going down to our border and we will see your child…and we will care for them.”
They write dozens and some days HUNDREDS of articles about her. Rick needs to learn how to use a search engine.
Thus beckoning more invaders who will never be sent back. Cruz and Beck are damned fools for doing this.
It was always the most annoying site to visit anyway.
i just think this is going to encourage more, and in the grand scheme of things, thats the worst thing for the children
I’ll side with Sarah.
Just saying.
On the other hand, Ted Cruz used the opportunity to not only swipe Obama, and his allies, but to reinforce the notion of a secure America. Catherine Frazier, Cruz’s spokeswoman, had this to say:
“…from day one, Sen. Cruz has been leading the charge to stop President Obama’s lawlessness, which is the direct cause of this humanitarian crisis…these young children are very real victims of the President’s promise of amnesty—because of it, they have been subjected to horrific physical and sexual abuse from international drug cartels smuggling them into the country…Private charities and churches are stepping up to provide food, medicine, and toys for these young children, which is a compassionate response that embodies American values…But the most compassionate response—which Senator Cruz is leading the fight to accomplish—is to end the President’s amnesty and to humanely and expeditiously reunite these children with their families back home.”
Not true. The MSM will always highlight any statement or action by Palin which "proves" her idiocy, incompetence, and/or extremism.
How dare a mere female contradict a priesthood holder...
Except for American children. It's okay to steal from them, expose them to exotic deadly diseases, dismember them during birth, brainwash them into being willing sheep led to the slaughter, adopt them out to homosexual pedophiles, deny them medical care, or whatever abuses you can dream up. But you're a big meanie if you don't want to expend all of your resources to the tenth generation to make illegal immigrant "children" of all ages more comfortable.
two very ideologically conservative icons
________________________________________
OK Gov Sarah Palin is one...
who is the other one ???
I completely agree.
Palin is mulling over the possibility of a run in 2016.
I think she’s still actively considering it.
And the media is very, very worried by that possibility.
Sure we need to do some things on our side, there are a segment of our voters who were turned away because of how she bowed out last time around, but I believe there are far more in her corner than many recognize.
I also deleted the Blaze shortcut sometime last year or the year before. I just had stopped using it. Really don’t remember why I stopped going to that site.
Pelosi: Border Children Should Be Treated Like Refugee Baby Jesus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3183824/posts
I WILL SIDE WITH SARAH TOO!!!
teddy bears and soccer balls
____________________________________
always handy to smuggle drugs into the US...
My take:
Beck was kicked off his Fox show b/c he dared liken himself to MLK-—Roger did not like that.
Methinks Glen might be looking for a berth on Fox Latino-—so he’s burnishing his latino bona fides.
She could be the next Oprah or the frontrunner for the 2016 nomination, each with a single phone call or tweet.
Beck is the modern day Elmer Gantry, he makes my skin crawl.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.