Saturday Night Beck (Bill Bennett)

National Review ^ | February 21, 2010 | Bill Bennett

[greyfoxx39]

Saturday Night Beck    [Bill Bennett]

There’s a lot to say about CPAC. This morning the major papers are highlighting Glenn Beck’s speech. I like Glenn a lot and I think he has something to teach us. But not what he offered last night.

Analogizing his own struggles with alcohol to the problems of our polity and in our politics, he said, “Hello, my name is the Republican party, and I have a problem!” “I’m addicted to spending and big government.” ”It is still morning in America.” ”It just happens to be kind of a head-pounding, hung-over, vomiting-for-four-hours kind of morning in America. And it’s shaping up to be kind of a nasty day. But it is still morning in America.” And, again, “I believe in redemption, but the first step to getting redemption is you’ve got to admit that you’ve got a problem. I have not heard people in the Republican party yet admit that they have a problem.”

Glenn is among the best talkers in the business of broadcast. I am not sure he’s a very good listener.

First, there is a good and strong tradition in alcohol and drug treatment that personal failings should not be extrapolated into the public sphere; that too often when this is done, conclusions are reached based on the wrong motives and, often, the wrong analysis. Glenn has made that mistake here and taken to our politics a cosmologizing of his own deficiencies. This is not a baseless criticism; they are his own deficiencies that he keeps publicly redounding to and analogizing to. It is wrong and he is wrong.

Second, for him to continue to say that he does not hear the Republican party admit its failings or problems is to ignore some of the loudest and brightest lights in the party. From Jim DeMint to Tom Coburn to Mike Pence to Paul Ryan, any number of Republicans have admitted the excesses of the party and done constructive and serious work to correct them and find and promote solutions. Even John McCain has said again and again that “the Republican party lost its way.” These leaders, and many others, have been offering real proposals, not ill-informed muttering diatribes that can’t distinguish between conservative and liberal, free enterprise and controlled markets, or night and day. Does Glenn truly believe there is no difference between a Tom Coburn, for example, and a Harry Reid or a Charles Schumer or a Barbara Boxer? Between a Paul Ryan or Michele Bachmann and a Nancy Pelosi or Barney Frank?

Third, to admit it is still “morning in America” but a “vomiting for four hours” kind of morning is to diminish, discourage, and disparage all the work of the conservative, Republican, and independent resistance of the past year. The Tea Partiers know better than this. I don’t think they would describe their rallies and resistance as a bilious purging but, rather, as a very positive democratic reaction aimed at correcting the wrongs of the current political leadership. The mainstream media may describe their reactions as an unhealthy expurgation. I do not.

A year ago, we were told the Republican party and the conservative movement were moribund. Today they are ascendant, and it is the left and the Democratic party that are on defense — even while they are in control. That’s quite an amazing achievement. But anyone who knows the history of this country and its political movements should not be surprised. America has a long tradition of antibodies that kick in. From Carter we got Reagan. And from Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama we took back a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, with midterm elections on the horizon that Republicans and conservatives are actually excited about, not afraid of.

To say the GOP and the Democrats are no different, to say the GOP needs to hit a recovery-program-type bottom and hang its head in remorse, is to delay our own country’s recovery from the problems the Democratic left is inflicting. The stakes are too important to go through that kind of exercise, which will ultimately go nowhere anyway — because it’s already happened.

The first task of a serious political analyst is to see things as they are. There is a difference between morning and night. There is a difference between drunk and sober. And there is a difference between the Republican and Democratic parties. To ignore these differences, or propagate the myth that they don’t exist, is not only discouraging, it is dangerous.

 

[InABunkerUnderSF]

I thought the analogy of the after Obama hangover was fairly apt.

[rightwingextremist1776]

Glenn is 100% CORRECT! If the pubbies don’t get a handle on themselves then they WILL be a party destined for the dustbin of history.

[personalaccts]

Even John McCain has said again and again that “the Republican party lost its way.” I think McCain meant it by Republicans not jumping across the aisle to support Democrats

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Even John McCain has said again and again that “the Republican party lost its way.”

Talk is cheap, Bill.

[fkabuckeyesrule]

I Like Beck but he can be a bit of a drama queen.

[freekitty]

Beck is doing the job the Republican Congress critter RINOS won’t do.

[cripplecreek]

Beck is right.

[Invincibly Ignorant]

This from “inside the beltway” Bill who gave us our candidate McCain last time.

[OregonTide]

An incredible speech from my perspective....I believe the Republican Party has to own up to it’s own failings. Bush spent like a drunken sailor, he advocated for ‘open’ borders, he was not focused with Iraq and Afghan...We have many Rino’s in the party that need to be purged...Let Beck speak.

[TornadoAlley3]

Maybe Dr Coburn needs a chalkboard like Beck. Oh to be as brilliant as Glenn Beck.

[plain talk]

Does Glenn truly believe there is no difference between a Tom Coburn, for example, and a Harry Reid or a Charles Schumer or a Barbara Boxer? Between a Paul Ryan or Michele Bachmann and a Nancy Pelosi or Barney Frank?

Ouch. I lost all respect for Beck when he started this "they are all the same" stuff. If one can't discern differences then they are not qualified to deal with politics.

[misterrob]

So a few people in the party stuck to principles? A few didn't participate in the destruction of America and for that Beck is wrong? A few more have started singing a new more responsible tune after going in lock step with Bush's leftist policies and military adventures?

Pfffft.

Want to bet that you can't rebut that Bill.

[vicar7]

Well Mr Bennett there is a difference between the two parties one always practices what they preach. The other party preaches but does not always practice what they preach. You always know where a true believer stands but when one says one thing and does another it causes confusion Mr. Bennett. The party that says one thing and does another ought to repent and move forward from there and we might trust them.

[lewislynn]

Let's put it this way Bill: Beck is more right than wrong. The perceived ascendancy of republicans is only because they aren't quite as bad as democrats...

Maybe you forgot Bill just why and how the democrats and Obama got where they are.

Keep quoting McCain to define what republicans are Bill...Were you saying something about "dangerous"?

[gidget7]

Bill is lumping Conservatives in with ALL folks who have an R next to their name, even going so far as to quote, of all people McCain???! He is still roaming in the wilderness on this.

[doc]

Yes Bill there are differences between the Republicans and Democrats. However, under GW the government did expand and tried their best to out spend the Democrats. The Tea Party is an honest conservative core value movement. The Republican Party better listen and incorporate this philosophy or they will continue to lose popularity.

[MizSterious]

It’s not the drama queen part that bothers me about Beck. It’s how quick he is to dismiss the birth certificate issue, without so much as a “let’s look into this.” And the toadying up to Bill O’Reilly doesn’t help.

[Luke21]

I’m an ex-drunk. Bennett is full of it.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Why do people bash Beck? Does he HAVE to be perfect? Are you, Mr. Bennett?
And have you noticed that most conservatives, self-styled conservatives, and right-leaning Republicans who bash Beck, will assume the most ridiculous postures to do it, and strain at gnats. You don’t like his metaphors? Wow, that’s really worth putting into print. Makes you sound so nuanced, you could almost pass for a lib.
Petty, Mr. Bennett. You might have been going for discriminating, nuanced, and superior, but you landed petty and snobbish.