Posted on 02/22/2010 6:44:14 AM PST by cricket
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.
— Bill Bennett is the host of Morning in America, the Washington Fellow of the Claremont Institute, and the author of A Century Turns: New Hopes, New Fears.
02/21 11:02 AMShare
IMO. Beck was right on all points in his speech.
GOP under President Bush EXPANDED the size & scope of federal government 2001-2008. Tax cuts were great. Tax cuts + massive spending increases = foundation for calamity.
When the GOP kicks all the progressives like McCain & Graham out of the party, it will be a great day for the nation.
completely disagree. glenn was spot on. it’s too bad some republicans can’t take the criticism...an indication to me that ears are closed...which could mean we are in for the same old, same old.
Glenn Beck nailed it, and Mr. Bennett seems to ignore the growing list of RINOs in order to come to the defense of the noble few. He even cherry-picks a single John McCain (!) quote in his attempt to deflect Beck's criticisms. (BTW, when McCain said, "The party has lost its way", he wasn't calling for smaller government.)
The party, as a whole, is a wreck, a few shining stars notwithstanding.
Glenn is right.
I agree!! Thought his speech was terrific. But, his slam of the rep party was a bit off. I’m thinking maybe he doesn’t want to appear partisan? O’Rielly does the same type of thing from time to time. But, hey they are both human and not always right.
Boy! Beck sure has the Republican establishment riled.
Mr. William Bennett held his outrage in check but made it clear that Beck overstepped the bounds of acceptable discourse. I'm listening to Bennett's radio show. I have not read his column.
Republican establishment riles, Rockefeller rules?
Nelson Rockefeller according to Stuart Spencer (Rockefeller's public relations head) said, "We had to destroy Barry Goldwater as a member of the human race."
Mainline Republicans have to destroy Glenn Beck as a member of the human race?
I'm not equating Beck to Goldwater -- I just remember 1964 and I'm still livid.
If the first four were representative of the Republican Party there wouldn't be a problem. McCain's an entirely different issue and for him to make such a statement is disingenuous at best. The “reach across the aisle maverick” is exhibit A in how the party lost its way.
Beck was dead on in that speech. He had the guts to tell the Republicans that just because they are not as bad as the Democrats doesn’t mean they are good. And Bill Bennett needs to learn that Denial isn’t a river in Egypt.
“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.”
AMEN
So Bennett thinks that America’s near bankruptcy can be solved by gradualism? What a joke. That is the initial stance of a spendthrift who thinks that cutting back $10 a week at a time on his profligacy.
The present weenies in the GOP who think that they still can be Socialism-Lite brand and save the country are either dishonest or delusional. McCain is maybe the latter, but the rest are a pack of weasels.
Sorry, they had their day.
And not one of these are considered a serious candidate for POTUS in 2012.
Bennett is wrong about BECK. His was the finest speech I have heard made at CPAC since Reagan!!
True the DEMS are a bunch of Communists but the Republicans are weak on controlling spending.
Everybody thinks their ideas are better than everybody elses.” So Glen is right in his own eyes and I tend to agree with him.
Bennett seems to see the party as a loose collection of individuals. Beck sees it as an institution that transcends individuals. The party wants it both ways.
Beck is absolutely right to challenge the party to take sides. It is not enough to win. They also have to win in order to accomplish something. And the party has not been clear about what it, as an institution, is striving for.
Beck’s point in his speech was that the GOP is a “lite” version of the Democrats. This was clearly in this speech. So Bennett (and Levin) are creating a straw man arguement. Since Beck’s speech was themed on history, he pointed out many past self proclaimed progressives in the GOP. If Bennett wants contemporaneous support, listen to George Will’s speech on the entitlement culture. Will points out at least three programs that were started by Republicans.
Beck was exactly right!! If the republican party wasn’t so messed up, McCain would never have been made the parties nominee. The left needs to be called out as Beck has done.
And Bill, why do you think that is? It certainly isn't due to the milquetoast program you air each morning, or you commentary as a CNN contributor. It's folks like Beck who have energized conservatives.
When you are supposed to be in the fertile jungle of prosperity, and everyone on the bus can see you are driving through the desert; admitting you are lost is really more of a "well, duh" moments.
I can't tell you how shocked....shocked I am that Repubs actually pat themselves on the back for being lost. See if you can find your way back to me.
No, I'm over here. You're getting colder.
Notice to Bennett:
Tell the following truths to Americans:
1. Social Security and Medicare at the federal lever either has to be cut drastically or abolished altogether.
2. Slavish devotion to Green theology has put millions of Americans out of work and must pruned back to basic health and safety standards. Nothing for esthetics.
3. Or the country will continue to go down the drain.
Screw up the courage to be truthful, and I might listen again.
For those who have known the sins of the GOP for a long time, Glenn’s rhetoric may seem unjustifiably extreme. But he’s not speaking to the choir; he’s talking to all the oblivious country club Eagleburger types who think all this Constitution stuff is just vulgar ravening hysteria. As their financial holdings continue to be devastated, they may start to take Glenn more seriously and reconsider the value of the Ole Boy Network.
GREAT POINT!
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