You’d think Glenn Beck would be happy. Led by Ted Cruz, House Republicans refused to pass a clean appropriations bill, and now the government is shut down. Government workers are not being paid. Useless offices like the National Parks Service which operates pointless memorials to people like the World War II fighters are closed. But the closer the right-wing Republicans in Congress get to Beck’s own position, the madder he gets.
In a self-defeating rant this week, Beck said that the shutdown isn’t impacting anyone, that anyone who disagrees should be sterilized, and — strangely — that the Republican Party should be “defunded.” I’m sure there are a lot of liberals who will agree with that last point.
Where to begin? Let’s take it from the top:
Defund the GOP
On the front page of the Blaze today, there is a front page story about the Republicans who are caving, who are saying its time to end this government shutdown.
This is what got Beck so angry that he thought the GOP should be defunded. But since the story is on the front page of the Blaze, Beck’s own website, you know that it is probably wrong.
Indeed, it is. 195 Democrats have signed a letter calling for a “clean” funding bill, but John Boehner said he won’t hold a vote on it. Republicans say that they won’t fund the government in its entirety without a bill that makes changes to the Affordable Healthcare Act, other wise known as Obamacare.
So Beck, who supports the government shutdown, should be happy that the Republicans are backing his position. Alternatively, if the Republicans did get the government back up and running again, he should at least be happy that the party he supports has stopped taking a position that is hurting their public standing. Instead, he told his listeners not to donate to the GOP. If GOP donors actually listened to him and didn’t donate, who does he think would fight Obamacare? We won’t ever hear the answer, because most people who have serious wads of cash don’t take him seriously in the first place.
The Shutdown Doesn’t Affect Anyone
Next Beck says the government shutdown hasn’t affected anyone:
“We have to end the government shutdown because its been too taxing.” Too taxing? What? How has this been hard for anybody???”
Does Beck not know that when the government is shutdown a number of government programs are stopped? That means that people will have a harder time getting passports and other documents processed. WIC benefits are affected. Some government workers are furloughed unpaid and others have to work unpaid. National parks are closed, affecting travelers and small business owners (the very “job creators” Beck cares so much about) who own inns, tour companies, and other businesses related to national park travel. Veterans are having a hard time accessing the World War II and Vietnam Memorials. Beck should ask his friend Looney Gohmert, who was at the WWII Memorial, if anyone has been affected. In fact, Beck himself had previously said that the memorial having fences around it would lead to a Holocaust-like genocide. That sounds like it would be pretty hard on a lot of people!
Of course conservatives often don’t think that the programs being closed are legitimate. People shouldn’t be given WIC benefits, they should work harder, the thinking goes. And if government workers aren’t paid then they are lazy crybabies who work for the government.
Even by Beck’s standard, however, the realities of the shutdown prove that “somebody” is being impacted. “Somebody,” being one or more people, is worse off because of the shutdown, irregardless of any value judgment that can be attached to the program in question.
This is what Beck had to say about the greedy Congressional elevator operators who aren’t working:
“Congress is now missing all of those people that they see everyday but are now being shut out because of the government shutdown. And the example they used were the people that push the buttons in the elevators for the Senate and House members. Excuse me? These guys are so out of touch that they think we should have sympathy for the people who are not coming to work today on your tax dollars for the House members and the Senate members.”
Hell no we shouldn’t have sympathy! Let’s fire all their asses, am I right? If we fire every elevator operator, and every doorman, and every janitor, and all other worthless people who work at the Capitol, all of whom have the audacity to not only get paid, but to get paid with YOUR TAX DOLLARS, then we would have the budget balanced in no time!
And if You Disagree, You Should Be Sterilized
I’m not sure what Glenn Beck’s audience hates more: eugenics, or abortion. Probably abortion. Glenn Beck ties the two together and refers to them as if they are the same thing. He has made a number of documentaries accusing liberals (or “progressives,” as he only refers to liberals) of supporting eugenics and genocide, and he accuses Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger of supporting anti-black eugenics. He equates abortion with eugenics.
He expresses his support for both abortion and eugenics during the clip:
“If John Boehner can actually convince anyone in this day and age that he did not about the letter, you are an imbecile, and you might be making a case for Margaret Sanger saying that some people just shouldn’t breed.”
By the point, my ears are becoming incensed at me for having listened this far. Listening to Glenn Beck for prolonged periods of time is a form of self-abuse, not primarily for his viewpoints, however stupid they are, but for his shrieking voice, like that of a wearwolf howling at the moon while scratching a chalkboard with its claws. Beck could be reading a research paper in the American Journal of Science and he would sound like an idiot. In that sense maybe its good he applies his voice and his reasoning techniques to support the kind of positions he does.
For those of you who have more fortitude than I do and who want to listen beyond the 7 minute mark, be my guest:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFCVEHuo5v8[/youtube]
Edited/Published by SB
