Free Republic

If you guessed “far-right garbage,” give yourself a cookie. John Avlon reviews the punditry giant’s just-released The Overton Window for the Daily Beast, and, wouldn’t you know it, his diagnosis dovetails nicely with the thesis of Avlon’s own book (funny how that works out…). Avlon finds Overton to be “an instructively bad book because it offers a complete color-by-numbers picture of the contemporary Wingnut psyche,” exposing Beck (and, by extension, his conservative allies and sympathizers) as a paranoid crank (perhaps-unwittingly) ginning up the fears of various malcontents on the verge of armed rebellion. Glenn Beck has his moments of rhetorical...

I think it’s interesting as well as worrying that the left should conform to a historic pattern of appeasement and enabling of our totalitarian enemies. I am referring to the left that extends from the Chomsky supporters of Hamas to the Joshua Micah Marshall-Huffington Post liberals who may despise Chomsky — 0r may not — but in any case regard Robert Spencer and David Horowitz as the greater threat, regard the term Islamo-fascism as religious hate speech and join the chorus of apologists for America’s enemies. With the liberals’ acquiescence and active help, Islamo-fascists have penetrated our military and intelligence...

Once considered one of the more interesting conservative intellectuals, Andrew Sullivan had an emotional meltdown during the Bush years over two issues: gay marriage — Sullivan is desperate for government approval for him to play house — and the supposed “torture” of terrorists (which Sullivan emotionally argues is morally equivalent to our enemies’ slaughter of innocents.) Last year, Sullivan gave up any credentials he had for criticizing the “birthers,” or any other fringe element, when he spent about a week hysterically promoting the obvious hoax that Trig Palin was not really born to Sarah, but to his older sister, Bristol.

For Chris Matthews, it’s not progress to find out there is less racism in the country than he supposed. THAT does not put the tingle in his leg, not one bit. Last week, the Democrats’ top national pollster, Stan Greenberg, and his partner, James “The Snake” Carville put out a focus group report that essentially said race is “beside the point” for those who oppose Obama’s policies. Chris was not happy. Now this should be good news for the Left. This means their opponents are not hardened by blind hatred or prejudice, and can be reached by reason, or won...

Disgraced journalist Rick Sanchez can’t seem to stop falsely-accusing people of racism on his daily CNN show. How do you follow up trying to destroy Rush Limbaugh with a fake quote about slavery having merit? You accuse Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio of being another Bull Connor. Arpaio has become a man of controversy recently as some in the Obama administration do not care for his tactics in arresting illegal aliens. (This controversy was featured and detailed in another NewsReal blog here.) Arpaio has been elected five times in his county. He is famous for his frugality in taking care of...

Muslims Protest Geert Wilders Outside Dutch ParliamentEverywhere you look these days Americans' most basic freedom is under attack by the jihadists of the international left. The infamous UN Human Rights Commission which includes the worst human rights violators on the planet (now joined by the Obama Administration) has recently passed a resolution which paves the way for the Islamic Conference's measure against religious defamation -- defined as linking Islamists to terrorism. At home Democrats have attached a "hate crimes" amendment which would make thinking a crime to the new defense appropriations bill. Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been...

In his worst post yet David Frum picks up some Andrew Sullivan foam (which is pretty much what Andrew produces since he became a celebrity of the left) and takes it to the next level of nasty. “Do Limbaugh and Beck Believe What They Say?” is the title of Andrew’s thoughtless little jape. At least Sullivan deploys the question as an unabashed instrument of derision which he doesn’t himself take seriously. We’ve all asked the question, which is our way of saying no one in his right mind could believe that. It’s what every liberal thinks (when they’re not thinking)...

Sarah explained her involvement in social causes this way: “When I was growing up my father was a devout Marxist. My mother volunteered in the schools and noticed that many of the children were coming to school hungry, so my father helped the Black Panther Party with its free school breakfast programs. Later, my father was embittered by the many murders justified by Marxist ideology. This left me with a two-fold legacy. I have always felt driven to pursue justice, but am wary of ideology and partisan politics.”

NewsReal is looking for more people to blog with us about the cable news shows. We're interested in both professional writers as well as those who blog as a hobby. If you fall into either of these categories than please email NewsReal's Managing Editor David Swindle (DavidSwindle AT Gmail Dot Com.) Please write a brief letter introducing yourself and include links to your blog and 3-6 writing samples. Please include "NewsReal Application?" as your subject. If it appears you might be a good fit for NewsReal then you'll be given an application to fill out so we can learn more...

NewsReal is looking for more people to blog with us about the cable news shows. We're interested in both professional writers as well as those who blog as a hobby. If you fall into either of these categories than please email NewsReal's Managing Editor David Swindle (DavidSwindle AT Gmail Dot Com.) Please write a brief letter introducing yourself and include links to your blog and 3-6 writing samples. Please include "NewsReal Application?" as your subject. If it appears you might be a good fit for NewsReal then you'll be given an application to fill out so we can learn more...

Friday night, Keith Olbermann replayed his hour-long “Special Comment” rant, Healthcare Reform: The Fight Against Death. For detailed commentary on his rambling and sometimes exceedingly strange commentary, look here, here and here. Keith says his commentary was prompted by his father’s recent illness and ironically, very good experience with the health care system. Keith gave an excruciatingly detailed account of his father’s ordeal after falling out of bed and being too stubborn to call for help. This was supposed, I guess, to show us… what? I guess it was just to batter us emotionally, tenderizing our brains for the later...

Our motto at NewsReal is "Keeping The Cable Guys Honest." We seek to challenge pundits and newsmakers to stand up for the arguments they make and the facts they choose to report. Individuals are free to put forth whatever ideas they want -- but they are not free to do so with impunity. Those who promote intolerable, offensive ideas backed by questionable facts must be confronted. Given yesterday's revelation that Dr. Marc Lamont Hill was fired from his position as a paid contributor to Fox News it appears we're doing our job. After weeks of ignoring our invitations to defend...

You won't be seeing this scene again soon. Cliff Kincaid over at Accuracy in Media (AIM) announces Fox News has fired Marc Lamont Hill. Cliff represented AIM at NewsCorp's annual meeting. (”Accuracy in Media is a News Corp. shareholder.”) AIM reports that he asked Rupert Murdoch why someone with Hill's radical views would have a role as a Fox News commentator: Before Kincaid completed the background for his question, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch interrupted Kincaid to say that he appreciated Cliff's work on this matter, and that Hill had been "fired" last week. We look forward to confirmation...

The Temple Muslim Students Association is attempting to shut down the scheduled appearance of Geert Wilders on October 20. As part of its Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, and its campaign to Stop the Campus War Against Israel and the Jews, the David Horowitz Freedom Center is sponsoring appearances by Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders at Temple and Columbia universities (October 20 and 21). The Muslim Students Association has issued a statement condemning the event and calling on the Temple Administration to close it down. The MSA statement can be found at the end of this post. The David Horowitz Freedom Center statement...

Monday night, Glenn Beck interviewed mega-selling author Vince Flynn, whose thrillers star Mitch Rapp, a CIA agent who makes Jack Bauer and Dirty Harry seem like members of the Nobel Committee. His new book, Pursuit of Honor, came out Tuesday. Flynn is particularly popular with conservatives, and invariably makes an appearance or two with Beck—and even Limbaugh—when his new book is released. And to answer the question I get from readers nearly every time I review fiction, yes, I AM working on a review right now. Glenn liked the book—a LOT… BECK: Vince Flynn, author of a brand-new thriller -...

This will be the last report on this particular tree falling in the forest—not that we are going to end this series on Keith Olbermann, or MSNBC in general-- but on Keith Olbermann’s not-so- Special Comment on Health Care grandiosely entitled, The Fight Against Death. Tonight, Keith reported proudly just how short a reach he has, when he got all excited that his audience had contributed just under 50 cents per viewer to provide free health care to the needy. Mocking the fact that Keith has raised a half million bucks for charity might seem, well, uncharitable, but Keith’s motives...

David Forsmark isn't the only NewsReal blogger with a review of Glenn Beck's new book. The Five Feet of Fury, Kathy Shaidle, also has a must-read review also. Check it out: When Mark Levin’s book Liberty and Tyranny came out, I joined the chorus who couldn’t believe that Mark Levin the Author sounded nothing like Mark Levin the Talk Radio Host. The style of Liberty and Tyranny purposely echoed the heightened language of the Founding Fathers and their famous documents. Nowhere between the covers did Mark Levin employ the phrases “Shut up, you dummy!” or “There, I said it!” However,...

NewsReal readers might appreciate David Forsmark's review of Glenn Beck's new book Arguing With Idiots that we published at FrontPage yesterday. Here's an excerpt: Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government By Glenn Beck Threshold, $29.99, 325pp.When I received a review copy of the new book by over-emoting radio-TV talker Glenn Beck, I sighed and put it to the side. What put me off were the book’s title, Arguing with Idiots, and the cover photo showing Beck dressed as a commissar, making a funny face. Since it’s axiomatic that arguing with idiots is a waste of...

See Part 1 of NewsReal's ongoing series: Marc Lamont Hill's Overrated Black People List: Michael Eric DysonIn our continuing discussion of the damage done to the African-American community by affirmative action policies very rarely does one actually find actual admissions by an intellectual that they're overrated, that their achievement is inflated because of their race. It does happen sometimes, though. From The Nation's The Notion group blog, Princeton professor and frequent cable news Obama booster Melissa Harris-Lacewell riffed on the harsh response she received from her fellow leftists for not happily going along with the President's Nobel Appeasement Prize I...

In a recent twitter the eminent Fox commentator Marc Lamont Hill asked his followers in exasperation, "Am I the only one who thinks that awarding Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize is ABSURD?!?!?!" Hill coupled that with this: "Ok, now I HAVE to to start my 'overrated Black people' list. A NOBEL PRIZE? REALLY?" We at NewsReal are going to take Hill up on this insightful suggestion (and we will also invite Mr. Hill to post his own candidates). For what Marc Lamont Hill has stumbled onto here is one of the tragedies of our time, inflicted on black people...