Sunday, September 6, 2009

Glenn Beck's Statement on Van Jones' Resignation

From Glenn Beck:

The American people stood up and demanded answers. Instead of providing them, the Administration had Jones resign under cover of darkness. I continue to be amazed by the power of everyday Americans to initiate change in our government through honest questioning, and judging by the other radicals in the administration, I expect that questioning to continue for the foreseeable future.
I'm heartened by Beck's use of the term "everyday Americans." That's the same descriptor I used earlier in my post, "Leftist Disbelief at Revolt of the Everyman: 'White House Dealing With Political Terrorists'."

Beck's creds are skyrocketing, by the way. Politico's got a new piece out, "
Glenn Beck Up, Left Down and Van Jones Defiant." The article's mostly a summary of the news that's been circling around today, but I love this passage:
"If Jones left under pressure from the Obama administration then we are in for a very long and painful four years,” said Melissa Harris Lacewell, a political science professor at Princeton University. “I would hate to think that Glenn Beck can simply shout down any member of the administration he chooses to target.”
Actuallly, Professor Lacewell shouldn't "hate to think" any such thing - that is, not if she's an advocate for a vigorous press as presidential watchdog. Glenn Beck has been doing for weeks what the mainstream press should have been doing all along: Shining a spotlight on the administration's staffers, their policies, and the history (and as we can see, Beck's not taking a breather just yet). Glenn Reynold's has more on the Politico's piece, here.

Another important resource has been World Net Daily, an outlet that's getting
less kudos than it should for its role in bringing down Jones. Joseph Farah has a piece up right now that's worth a look, "WND Brings Down the 'Red Czar'." As Farah notes, "While talk radio and cable television picked up WND's reporting and increased the pressure on the administration to cut Jones loose, there was no significant coverage of the scandal by the major U.S. news media until last week!"

That's an extremely important fact, and it's a point that's only going to become
more significant as the traditional "objective press" goes the way of the dinasaur.

8 comments:

Dennis said...

As I remember it is the people who support and have a say about the government not the vice. Government of the people, by the people and for the people. Every day Americans are the important part of this country not the government.
When the government that is by the people starts calling the people names and begins to think that the people are not smart enough to know what is happening then it is time to replace that government. It no longer represents the people.
My hope is that Beck goes after each Czar and exposes them for the unelected and not vetted by our representatives radicals for who they are. This shadow government needs to fall.

Billiam said...

My hope is that Congress remembers that they should have a say in these matters. There should be no so-called czars without Congressional approval. Even a Congress as corrupt as this current one. No President should be aloud to gather this much power around himself.

Benjamin Blattberg said...

First, I don't remember you guys complaining when Bush/Cheney created any czar positions--and they did: "In the span of about six years, Rove's White House oversaw the creation of a "food safety czar," a "cybersecurity czar," a "regulatory czar," an "AIDS czar," a "manufacturing czar," an "intelligence czar," a "bird-flu czar," and a "Katrina czar."" (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/019299.php)

Second, the idea that these czars are somehow a shadow government seems strange to me, since any bills they propose would have to go through Congress to be made into laws, same as always.

So, a) Bush created czar positions and b) czar positions are not dangers to liberty.

That said, I have no problems with people arguing against appointments they don't like (like Van Jones) and I wish governmental positions were occupied by people capable of handling them.

shoprat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
shoprat said...

The media of any stripe should be able to take down any political appointment or politician who is corrupt or hiding who they really are, or just plain inept. All Beck did was expose him for what he was and the American people reacted. The left didn't feel this way when the press targeted Nixon but then I guess he was one of the bad guys (a Republican); Democrats are off limits I suppose.

Dennis said...

Sorry, but most of us have detested the term Czar whether used by Republicans or Democrats.
Leftist drivel.

Benjamin Blattberg said...

OK Dennis--I just hope that when people complain about Obama's czars, they realize that Bush had his own czars. Many people who should know better--like Eric Cantor and Lamar Alexander--have been complaining about Obama's czars when they didn't say anything about Bush's. Since you have always detested the use of the word "czar," I hope you are correcting people.

As for what's to detest, I'm still a little unclear. Lamar Alexander recently said that the czars are an affront to the Constitution, which either shows that he doesn't understand what it means to be a czar or that he doesn't understand the Constitution. The position of "czar" doesn't include any czarist powers; maybe we should retire the word "czar" and call them what they are: advisors to the president on particular areas of policy.

Anonymous said...

Those Americans that believe and follow on everything Beck and Rush do or say are like dogs trying to catch their own tails.
The GOP/Republicans are the destroyers of what America stands for. They are distorting the true meaning of being American and the Constitution. GB