Apr 11 2009
Far Right Jumps The Shark – Updated
Update: If the Tea Party movement is being lost to the far right we will have lost a real opportunity to challenge the liberals. Key statment:
If this is any indication of who’s trying to run the show, count me out. It’s hard enough being a conservative without this kind of baggage.
Make sure to follow the links a bit they go to some interesting places – end update
Where is the sane opposition to the liberals in DC? I knew when the far right went on their purity putsch they would repulse a majority of the conservative coalition – because the far right has been and always will be a small minority of the groups who oppose uncontrolled liberalism. I knew that the migration of the center right away from the far right would distill the conservatives down to their most fringe and most ‘pure’. But I had no idea how fringe the ‘true conservatives’ were – until now.
Charles Johnson at LGF posted the following video showing how far right lunatics have taken over the Tea Party movement – and in the process destroyed any hope of a ground swell arising from the grass roots to oppose the liberals in DC. If I had been in the room I would have been walking out, half laughing at the idiocy and half crying at how far the conservative movement has fallen from its glory days under Presidents Bush and Reagan. At the end of the clip, after some nut job claims the age of digital TV is actually a plot for the government to plant mind control devices in our homes, we get to the evil of evolution – which people demand be dealt with by book burning. It is a truly sad testament to how a lack of a minimal, public school education can really hurt you for life.
These people are keeping Obama in power because they keep reasonable and sane opposition from forming. This crazy mob-think is going to repulse many times the people than it attracts. This poisonous thinking will keep the dems in power for years to come because it will scatter any ground swell that starts to build.
Even worse, now we have ‘conservative icon’ Glenn Beck out there talking about preferring suicide to providing an acceptable path to immigration reform, while playing out some bizzaro fantasy about setting a person on fire with gasoline. Â
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While in both cases there are occasional moments where these people come back to Earth, for the most part they have lost their minds and are suffering from serious delusions. This foolishness better not be the future of the GOP, because that leads to oblivion. From the link above I learned this tidbit about what happened next on the Beck show:
(Unfortunately, not captured in the video is what happened next, when Texas Gov. Rick Perry came on and Beck asked, “Governor, you’re regretting being on this program at this point, are you not, sir?” Perry responded, “Not at all, Glenn Beck. I’m proud to be with you.”)
I don’t know about anyone else (as Beck said in his version of “Jumping The SharK” on TV), but I miss having a wholesome, smart, family oriented (and family rated) symbol for the conservative movement. No more hyperventilating paranoid fools screaming about the end of the world. Not for me. I want a symbol of what is good about America, not the lunatic side.
When I think about the shining city on the hill, and the opportunity for anyone to achieve anything in this country, right now I find myself going back to one person who reflects the best of  conservatism and the average American family all at once:
Palin deals with gasoline as did Beck, the difference is she discusses it seriously and not as some lame skit. I challenge all GOP congressional candidates to get Sarah Palin supporting their team and speaking on their behalf both in ads and on the stump. I would bet that by doing so, a wave of new GOP leaders could be taking their seats in DC in 2011 and begin rolling back the mess the DC liberals are putting in place.
If they go with Beck and kowtow to the book burners they are doomed. This ain’t all that complicated.
[…] the far right melts down before our eyes, I am glad to see the Obama administration redoubling their efforts to bring total and final […]
TV/Radio talk show hosts aren’t paid to be deep thinkers. They’re in it to make a living and the way to do it is to be provocative and controversial and entertaining. If the GOP is counting on any of these people to lead it out of the wilderness then they’re going to be scratching blindly in the dirt for a long time to come.
And Sarah Palin has no political future outside of Alaska. She’s been quayled.
Have faith AJ, maybe all this loud talk, that is all over the place and some really crazy, is the natural way of sorting the wheat from the shaft. I remember the dems were yelling and screaming after Clinton left. Who would have thought Obama would have risen from the ashes. For sure it’s a messy and ugly process, but I have faith leaders will rise to the top.
Doginblue,
LOL! Sarah Palin holds the all time record for attracting a TV audience to a national ticket debate. You are kidding yourself if you think she is not known or loved outside of Alaska. She drew record, bipartisan crowds in numbers that challenged Obama and his PR machine. And she did it because of who she was, without the media backing.
It’s either Palin or oblivion.
“You are kidding yourself if you think she is not known or loved outside of Alaska. She drew record, bipartisan crowds in numbers that challenged Obama and his PR machine. And she did it because of who she was, without the media backing.
It’s either Palin or oblivion.”
In 1988 the first George Bush did a terrible job with the roll out of his VP candidate. His first major interviews were bumbling and he came across as callow, a little shifty (on the National Guard issue) and sort of dim. Although Bush won that election, the press bird-dogged Quayle and magnified his every verbal tic or mis-spoken word, reinforcing in people’s minds that he was a dummy.
Dan Quayle was never as popular with the base as Palin but he also wasn’t as interesting. Surely yes there are Republicans who would support her candidacy. But nobody wins a national election just by appealing to the base and Sarah Palin has been lampooned so successfully she is now labeled as an intellectual lightweight with a personal life that plays out like a bad country/western song.
That a candidate generates intrigue shouldn’t be mistaken for broad support. Can she overcome all this? Quayle never could. And he didn’t have the father of his daughter’s unborn child popping up on national TV to talk about their sex life and how Dad must have known all about it.
dodgin,
I understood your analogy – its just so damn silly! Quayle never drew crowds like Palin. Seems you’re trying to bend over backwards to avoid facing reality regarding her star power.
Silly, just plain silly. I am not of the base (and neither are most of our friends) and she appeals to us just fine. I find the base is the group that is afraid she is another George W Bush (which she is).
“Quayle never drew crowds like Palin.”
And how are you so sure that the crowds are going to translate into enough votes to win a national election?
And the GOP lost in 2008 with her star power on full beam. Before Levi started doing his Jerry Springer thing. I’m not of the base either and most of my friends are moderates, the kind of people who voted for Bush in 2004 and Obama in 2008 and they don’t see Sarah Palin. They see Tina Fey.
Sarah Palin’s not toxic everywhere and there are candidates she could help, which was your original point, but she really better not be the GOP’s last best hope.
If Republicans are not going to stand up for people like Palin, those in office, like John McCain for an example, and tell those left wing bloggers and “news pundits” enough is enough rather then act embarrassed, then I have a bad feeling for Palin and those like her.
Where is the Republican party when the Democrats are destroying Palin and her family?
Dodgin,
Not concerned about the voters who cannot distinguish reality from SNL – they are a lost cause.
The ‘family’ vote is where it is at. That group votes and doesn’t get easily confused.
BTW Dodgin,
I guarantee you those who cannot draw crowds have no hope of winning!
Enough, you want to live in a fantasy world and seem afraid of Palin for whatever personal reasons. You will defend your mistaken views to the bitter end – like the many other wilderness wandering conservatives.
I fail to see much daylight between Glenn Beck and AJ Strata on most issues. For instance, both think AGW is a crock and both think Obama’s outrageous spending and growth of government are dangerous and foolish. Both adore Sarah Palin and think she has great potential as a national candidate in the future, having the ability to appeal to a broad swath of Americans. Both are basically independents who have a certain distrust of both major parties, and are willing to take a good idea from wherever it comes.
The only real difference is in their ability to get the nation’s attention. To quote AJ above: “I guarantee you those who cannot draw crowds have no hope of winning!”
AJ, I think you and Charles Johnson only help the left’s obvious strategy of portraying any effective communicator who takes them to task as being a crazy nut, therefore marginalizing them in the minds of the uninformed. They continue to try to do the very same thing with Sarah Palin. There may be a few bona-fide nuts out there, but I disagree that Glenn or Rush fit that description.
But I think the whole strategy will backfire. Once people actually tune into Glenn and Rush, having had their curiosity piqued, and listen to/watch them in context, they learn there is presented a whole lot more substance, sensible argument and genuine humanity than what they’ve been led to believe from watching selective clips and quotes. And much more so than they’ve experienced watching the liberals on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN and MSNBC arguing for government over individuals. They have an appealing, common sense message, their particular showmanship styles aside. That’s why their ratings blow the other side away, not because they’ve got some huge corner on the kook-market.
Ironically, I was first introduced to Sarah Palin in June on Beck’s very show, as were you perhaps. The exchange between them was inspiring and genuine, especially when Glenn expressed appreciation for the way she had handled her situation of having a special needs child, having one himself. I thought — wow, wouldn’t she make a great VP candidate. And also, what a big, selfless heart both of them have.
That was the first and last time I ever saw her, until she was brought out on stage by John McCain. I wonder if maybe he or someone on his staff was also watching Glenn’s show that night.
Obviously it’s unfortunate that Beck and others may be energizing some on the fringe right, but I think you’re underestimating how much they’re also energizing average, ordinary folks, many of whom don’t read Strata and would be totally unaware of what the far left’s plans (and Barack Obama IS far left, make no mistake) portend for us.
But a leftist gathering ALSO brings out the crazies, in spades, in fact they dominate, but unfortunately, our Democrat-voting media works to shield the public’s eyes from them. We never learn about how that anti-war protest is organized by a communist off-shoot “workers” organization as opposed to being a spontaneous uprising.
That same media will work to magnify the influence and importance of a relative few on the right that can fairly be described as a little kooky, and will this time take a keen interest in just what devious puppet-master must be pulling the strings. Please — let’s not help them make their case.
Nice try Gary,
But I am not a lunatic pretending to pore gasoline on someone, and Charles and I both have day jobs doing real work.
And to try and connect this hard working father who is a part time blogger to such a jerk like Beck has you on the verge of being banned since I do take that as a very serious insult.
Don’t insult your host. Deal with facts. This is my little corner of the free speech world, not yours. This is my home.
It was certainly not my intent to insult you, AJ. I’m sorry you take it that way. I simply wish to express my disagreement with the notion that popular radio/TV guys on the right are part of the problem. I see them as part of the solution, just as I see your particular form of interaction with the world as such.
We just had a poll come out saying that only 53% of us think that capitalism is better than socialism. Somebody needs to give the country a good shaking. Glenn’s way of doing that is to get people’s attention by pouring simulated gasoline on someone, but then talking passionately about exactly what’s going on with this administration, and even what went on with the previous one, while also having on numerous credible and knowledgeable guests who help him make his points.
I had no firm idea of the depth of your dislike for Glenn Beck. I don’t quite understand it, but at the same time, I apologize for overstepping my bounds on your blog, which I find to be a wonderful resource.
I found great solace in your pre-election suspicions about the polls, even though that proved to be wrong. I love how you appreciate George W. Bush, and have the courage to stand up for him. Not many out there do. I appreciate also your rebuttals to the AGW hype, another position unpopular with far too many.
Again, my apologies, and let us just agree to disagree on the asset-liability ratio of the “far-right” loudmouths.
Beck is no more a lunatic than you are AJ. If you don’t like his show, that’s fine, but I don’t think you’re familiar with him, his show, or what his positions or beliefs are. Maybe you could provide an example of what offended you so much about him? I believe you’re drawing conclusions based on YouTube snippets and the result is that you don’t like his style, but don’t really know what he stands for.
As for the video, when you do two minutes worth of research on the person who created and posted it, you find out she’s an atheist who went to the meeting to try and get people to say outrageous things, and then ends up saying them herself to get a laugh (for herself). But somehow, she’s “far right” and destroying the movement.
Now, please explain to me how it is going to work that you’re going to attract the “far right” to team up with the “center right” on issues you agree on when you spend the majority of your time insulting them, never have a positive thing to say about them, and continually post points where you agree with Obama, but don’t post anything highlighting that you agree on some issues with the “far right”.
This is coming from a “far right” guy who happened to agree with the pragmatic approach to immigration reform that you also supported (I believe) since the alternative was passing nothing and potentially ending up in the current situation.
In any event, best, NED
NewEnglandDevil,
Of course I am familiar with his show – I used to like it somewhat. What he did was buffoonish.
And what does the fact the person who posted is an Atheist have to do with squat? Should I filter information based on the religious views of the person?
What makes you think we need the far right???? All they have done is destroy the conservative movement. My view is we cut our losses before they do more harm!
AJ – Buffoonish I can agree with (presuming you’re talking about the “pouring the gasoline on” skit). I don’t see how that makes him a jerk.
“what does the fact the person who posted is an Atheist have to do with squat?”
The person who created and posted that video to YouTube – was the person making those outlandish statements in the video! What I’m telling you is that the video itself is dishonest if you use it to characterize ANYONE at the Tea Parties, since the person featured in the video (“ban the books!”, etc.) doesn’t advocate for the Tea Parties or even for the positions she outlined in the video. It is political theater. It is a lie. Since the video is being used to argue that the “far right” has hijacked the tea parties, knowing that the subject of the video is NOT a far right person demonstrates that the premise is not supported by the video.
“What makes you think we need the far right?”
Maybe for your goals, what you consider important, you don’t. However, if you ever expect your views on stem cells to be respected and codified, then you’ll need the “far right” to get there. A centrist coalition that rejects the “far right” on issues like gov’t spending will not succeed. In the end, you end up with policies you outright opposed instead of policies you can, minimally, live with – just like immigration.
The growth of the Extreme far right to include everybody who is none socialist is confusing.
I suggest we categorize the extreme fat right into groups such as the religious extreme, the academic extreme, the Extreme Government Opposition Party (E-GOP), ect.
I have a strong belief that many people are _Extreme_ in name only (EINO [e-no-s] )