Regarding mr. Beck, the problem is that he takes himself too seriously. He is a good showman, but every time that I watch him on television I think that I´m going to see some nurses suddenly appear to take him to the Insane Asylum….

When people stop carrying signs that are clearly racist we will have reached that point. As a black liberal…I am all about dissent. But the teabaggers made it hard for me to support them when I feel like I could be lynched at their little rally.

“Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, joined by several fellow Texas House Democrats, said some people associate talk of secession with racial division and the Civil War and that Perry should disavow any notion of seceding.”

“Talk of secession is an attack on our country. It can be nothing else. It is the ultimate anti-American statement,” Dunnam said at a news conference.”

No, as a Texan (even tho’ in NH), the right of secession is a Texan birthright and condition of being American.

While Beck probably isn’t as “hardcore” in his libertarianism as many of us are, I find it refreshing that he’s at least leaning that way even while standing amongst the masses of left or right-biased media. I also decided to watch his show and really pay attention to the message he’s sending…I hope he sticks to his libertarian proclamations.

@#40 Matt

I didn’t really get that same message from him when I heard his show. He was getting fired up saying how Bush really screwed up during his term and expanded government too far, thus setting Obama up to inherit a huge amount of power (he communicated his feeling that such executive power was bad regardless of the party). From what I’ve seen in the past, most conservative (or rather, neo-conservative) radio/TV show hosts truly do express the very ideas you mentioned (”well power was good for Bush but bad for Obama”). Beck might have a more conservative slant than many here, but my observations lead me to believe that he’s far less conservative than Hannity and those like him and conversely more libertarian than many of those in the typical media. I think many people just get turned off by his mannerisms (like Dave and to some extent me).

I might be wrong, but I’ll be checking out Beck’s show to gather more data about his stances about big government, executive power, sticking to the constitution, etc.

Not to go all Godwin but the Russian Social Democrats thought the Bolsheviks were a tolerable, if over-zealous, ally in the fight against the Monarchists. The Iranian leftists thought the Islamists were a useful ally against the Shah. In fact, history is full of people who thought that they could ally with (aka. “use”) extremists only to seriously regret it later after their movement was hijacked.

The right is no ally to libertarians. They will work with us only until the moment we have a serious good-faith disagreement with them, and then they will call us “leftists” and turn on us.

#38 J. Blanton

Dave, I’ve heard the same things about Beck recently. From what I’ve heard lately, he’s been pushing the evils of big government and the benefits of obeying the constitution, which seems as though he may have changed his ideology a bit when he left CNN.

Ok, I’ll give him a listen again sometime. And you’re right that there are plenty of people out there to pick on without laying into those who are honestly preaching small government. I just used to get the impression from the days when I did watch him, that he was conflicted and wasn’t even aware of it.

On the other hand, my views probably aren’t totally free from conflict either. For example, I think Fox News is terrible but I fully advocate watching it for the babes in the short skirts (provided one feels appropriately shallow while doing so). :)

Some advice, Radley: don’t even think about trying to listen to Randi Rhodes. Dear lord.

Wouldn’t that be “White House Negro”? Or should we not judge the house by the color of its paint?

I dunno about that. Limbaugh alone has an audience probably 10-15 times larger than that of the entire Air America network. Beck, Hannity, and O’Reilly all have big, popular television shows on a big, popular cable news network. Most of them have authored fairly successful books as well. And there’s been more than a few high-level GOP pols lately forced to issue apologies for criticizing Limbaugh. I don’t think that’s ever been the case with Air America, and I would doubt many dem congresspeople would even recognize Miller’s name.

Eh. I’m pretty sympathetic to small government arguments, particularly of the sort that Radley tends to make (i.e. big government tends to benefit entrenched interests, etc), but from what I’ve seen of Beck, he seems mostly to be arguing that big government in the hands of liberals is a bad thing.

And shouldn’t the left wing be reacting t the things Rush says? When the Republicans follow him, shouldn’t what he says be a subject for scrutiny?

Oh, and I agree that some of his mannerisms can get a little grating sometimes :)