Obama Verses the Rodeo Clown

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Lee Cary

Much of what aggravates the Obama administration about FOX News is what Joe Biden would call a three-letter word: B-E-C-K.

Beck calls himself a "rodeo clown." That fits. A rodeo clown distracts the bull's attention to defend rodeo riders at risk. Beck believes the nation is at risk and he's out to distract the raging bulls, or the progressives in power.

In other cultures, matadors in tight pants use a red cape to taunt the bull into fatigue before the kill. Rodeo clowns face the bull wearing flexible, goofy-looking clothes and running shoes. When they succeed, they end up diving into the clown lounge. It's a heavy barrel of thick steel with a dense foam rubber lining inside. After the rodeo, they pound out dents made by the horns of one-ton head hunters (bulls that like chasing two-legged animals). Rodeo clowns look and act a bit like circus clowns. But when they're into their clown shtick, they keep both eyes on the bull. Despite the garb, they're really not about clowning around.

...

t's unlikely that the White House inner circle of image-makers sees anything entertaining about Beck. It is likely, though, that the enlightenment side of Beck's shtick commands their attention and evokes their disdain. After all, he filleted and fried Green Jobs Czar Van Jones. That got the attention of New York Times Managing Editor Jill Abramson. When the legacy media had to report on the story after Van resigned she said, "We should have been paying closer attention." Somebody start a list. She also said the NYT was "a beat behind on this story." Stay a step behind the rodeo clown, Jill, and you end up rodeo kill.

Beck has been ending his shows lately with the words, "Goodnight, Mrs. Dunn, wherever you are" -- referring to White House Communication Director Anita Dunn, whose admiration of Mao Zedong Beck recently outed. Many viewers may not recognize that as a parody on Jimmy Durante's signature sign-off, "Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." Beck's occasional inside-the-Beck-brain humor is part of his charm to his fans.

For weeks, he's been constructing sort of a Unified Theory of Obamativity. He started charting it on a chalkboard, like Professor Jacob Barnhardt (actor Sam Jaffe) did in the 1951 version of The Day the Earth Stood Still until Klaatu the space traveler (Michael Rennie) entered the professor's study and easily finished the equation. This week, Beck is up to three chalk boards.

His fusion of entertainment and enlightenment is working, and it's driving up his ratings.

Beck, more thoroughly than any other FOX commentator, aims to connect the dots in a complex equation representing what "fundamentally transform America" means to the Obama administration. He's not fixated on the President because he knows Obama isn't leading the parade; Obama's riding the horse that's leading the parade. The horse is socialist progressivism. Beck looks for the most revolutionary progressives where the President has placed them. The traditional cabinet seats are reserved for the party apparatchiks like Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services. She taught us how to sneeze into our sleeves. Please, Kathleen, no toilet hygiene lessons.

Long a force in American politics, the progressive movement is reshaping the Republic in ways dreamed of by progressives throughout the 20th Century, flirted with during the New Deal and the Great Society, and now running at full throttle. More thoroughly than any other commentator, Beck stresses history and context. He invites academic historians of the Progressive Movement and the Great Depression onto his daily radio and television shows. He pumps out bestselling books like a hen does eggs. In short, he's the energizer bunny in his opposition to the progressive initiatives of the 44th President of the United States and his minions.

Beck had better watch out.

Once upon a time there was another popular media personality who bucked a progressive President during an economic downturn. Father Charles E. Coughlin, a Roman Catholic priest, broadcast weekly radio sermons beginning in 1926. Coughlin preached social justice based on monetary reform. He was an early supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, enthusiastically backing FDR's promise to reform the country's financial system. When the change that Coughlin hoped FDR would bring didn't come, he turned sour on Roosevelt. He called him "the great betrayer and liar," and he spoke (video) against the Federal Reserve. Millions huddled around their radios to hear Coughlin's weekly program drift from religion into politics. They sent him tens of thousands of fan letters weekly. They heard him say,

Oh, capitalism shall never again flourish as once it did. Capitalism has been almost taxed out of existence in an effort to meet the coupons and the bonds, in an effort to meet the dole system that is absolutely unnecessary in a country of our wealth.

And democracy? All we who twenty years ago entered a war to fight its battles to make the world safe for democracy, tonight we stand aghast because its last fortification, its last tower of strength, the Supreme Court of America, who has been a protector of the rights of the poor, who has been the protector of the rights of the rich, who has been the protector of the liberties of all, is now assailed and is now the target for those who blame it for our misdemeanors and who blame it for the Depression and the following misery which eventuated from it.

The Roosevelt administration couldn't pressure Coughlin off the air by leveraging other religions personalities against him. So,

When this approach didn't work, the Roosevelt administration declared that the First Amendment's free speech didn't cover radio broadcasts, and Coughlin was promptly forced from the air when he was unable to receive a newly mandatory operating permit. Coughlin's counter to this was to purchase independent air time and play prerecorded shows on the air.

In 1939, the Code Committee of the National Association of Broadcasters forged new rules and placed increasingly rigid limitations on the sale of radio time to controversial spokesmen. This was directly aimed at Father Coughlin and his unwillingness to concede his throne as the nation's top dissenting voice. Now, manuscripts would have to be given in advance, and stations were threatened with a loss of license should they not comply with the new standards on "free speech." In a 1939 issue of Social Justice, Coughlin stated that he had been forced off the air by those who controlled circumstances beyond his reach.

Coughlin's anti-Jewish statements seriously tarnished his historical image and sharply distinguish him from Beck. But his widespread popularity and perceived threat to a progressive President's plans make him similar to Beck (and Limbaugh), along with a handful of other conservative radio and television commentators.

Beck's self-deprecating demeanor includes 'fessing up to his past sins. So unless he's hiding a felony conviction, his detractors won't find anything to discredit him by investigating his background. They're more likely to keep leaning on the sponsors of his shows, hoping to shut him up. Meanwhile, administration officials aim to marginalize FOX News by ignoring their correspondents and personalities.

To date, Beck shows no signs of letting up. FOX shows no signs of reining him in. And Rahm-Axelrod and friends aren't likely to relent in their campaign against FOX until Beck and others tap the brakes and zombie up like the other media outlets.

Sooner or later, someone is bound to blink.

__________________
Liberals would prefer no opposition. Behind the force field of political correctness, there should never be any disagreement once the liberal mind has decided that something is good for society. There can be no opposition to the "correct" way of thinking, and if you don't think "correctly," you are attacked.*
Reverend Kenneth L. Hutcherson

[off2bed]

One should only pick the battles one is prepared to win.

From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never.

All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years.

No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.

— Abraham Lincoln

Why doesn't Obama simply charge Fox News with treason and get it over with?

[Byron In Exile]

Originally Posted by Frisco_Slug_Esq

He's not fixated on the President because he knows Obama isn't leading the parade; Obama's riding the horse that's leading the parade.

All hail the new hood ornament!

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Cadillac, Cadillac, long and dark, shiny and black...

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Glenn Beck news, Lou Dobbs news, Rush news, Fox news, George Soros news and yes, you knew this had to be in the mix somewhere: ACORN news.

Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs fans, your prayers have been answered.
Links to campaigns supporting the removal of both men from their respective television shows have been dropped by So We Might See, the increasingly controversial interfaith religious group funded in part by the George Soros-backed Media Democracy Fund. One of those campaigns (targeting Beck) was led by Color of Change, the group co-founded by now-resigned Obama White House aide Van Jones.
More news.

The petition to the FCC citing Rush Limbaugh for hate speech has lost yet another supposed religious sponsor from So We Might See following the revelations here in this space, making this the third church in a row to reject the petition in as many weeks.

And still more news.

It turns out two of the funders for the Media Democracy Fund campaign targeting Fox News and talk radio personalities are -- wait for it -- ACORN money pots.

And yes, more news still.

The Catholic Bishops are unhappy.
The Methodists are out.
The Disciples of Christ just said no.
The United Church of Christ is furious.

And the National Hispanic Media Conference, which was the vehicle used to launch this effort to silence talk radio stars and Fox News personalities in the name of hate speech, is, surprise, surprise -- now revealed to be fueled by money from the same George Soros-connected Media Democracy Fund that is funding the United Church of Christ's Office of Communications, Inc.. Which in turn is using its Soros-tainted money to back the Soros-connected NMHC FCC petition drive.

Did I mention ACORN?

KO...

Noticing a common parallel to all these threads yet?

Jeffrey Lord
American Spectator

[busybody]

Pet Rocks

Rube ICKS Cube

Chia Pet

and

Obama

All were interesting for 12 minutes

Times up!

Get teh FUCK OUT!



In Iowa, Second Thoughts on Obama
JEFF ZELENY
Published: November 2, 2009
WILLIAMSBURG, Iowa — Pauline McAreavy voted for President Obama. From the moment she first saw him two years ago, she was smitten by his speeches and sold on his promise of change. She switched parties to support him in the Iowa caucuses, donated money and opened her home to a pair of young campaign workers.




President Obama won Marengo, Iowa, by 14 votes last November, but some supporters are now second-guessing their vote.


“I really thought there would be immediate change,” said Pauline McAreavy, 76, a retired school nurse.

But by the time she received a fund-raising letter last month from the Democratic National Committee, a sense of disappointment had set in. She returned the solicitation with a handwritten note, saying, “Until I see some progress and he lives up to his promises in Iowa, we will not give one penny.”

“I’m afraid I wasn’t realistic,” Ms. McAreavy, 76, a retired school nurse, said on a recent morning on the deck of her home here in east-central Iowa.

“I really thought there would be immediate change,” she said. “Sometimes the Republicans are just as bad as Democrats. But it’s politics as usual, and that’s what I voted against.”

One year after winning the election, Mr. Obama has seen his pledge to transcend partisanship in Washington give way to the hardened realities of office. A campaign for the history books, filled with a sky-high sense of possibility for Mr. Obama not just among legions of loyal Democrats but also among converts from outside the party, has descended to an unfamiliar plateau for a president whose political rise was as rapid as it was charmed.

Interviews with voters across Iowa offer a window into how the president’s standing has leveled off, especially among the independents and Republicans who contributed not just to his margin of victory in the caucuses here but also to the optimism among his supporters that his election would be a break from standard-issue politics.

For Democrats, the immediate peril of failing to hang on to some of these swing voters could play out Tuesday in the governor’s race in Virginia, a state Mr. Obama wrested away from Republicans last year but where the Democratic candidate for governor has struggled to recreate Mr. Obama’s enthusiastic coalition.

In Iowa, Ms. McAreavy fears that the president’s health care plan will shortchange her Medicare benefits and mean infrequent mammogram examinations. She worries that his decision on Afghanistan will mean that her son, a member of the Iowa National Guard, will return to the battlefield. And she believes that too many of Mr. Obama’s actions are rooted in Democratic politics.

“All my Republican friends — and independents — are sitting back saying, ‘Oh, what did we do?” Ms. McAreavy said. “I’m not to that point yet, but a lot of people are.”

Mr. Obama still has generally strong approval ratings and the opportunities that come with a Democratic majority in Congress. Public opinion about him remains in flux, particularly as he heads into the endgame of a push to overhaul the health insurance system and nears a decision about whether to expand the war in Afghanistan.

But an erosion of support from independents and disapproval from Republicans suggests that the coalition Mr. Obama built to win the White House is frayed.

In few places did people get a longer and closer look at Mr. Obama than in Iowa, a swing state home to deep strains of both conservatism and liberalism. Mr. Obama was a constant presence here during the formative months of his candidacy. Many voters have pictures of him on their mantels, looking him in the eye as they took a measure of the man and the politician before giving him a crucial victory in the caucuses.

A social studies teacher who saw Mr. Obama on his maiden visit here wonders whether momentum from the election is gone forever. A retired electrical engineer who became a Democrat to support Mr. Obama believes that the president too often blames others for his troubles. And a teacher who voted for Mr. Obama because she was fed up with President George W. Bush does not trust this administration any more than the previous one.

Yet a laid-off factory worker who returned to school for a degree said Mr. Obama’s support for a new economy had changed his thinking. A public relations executive who changed parties to support Mr. Obama says he saved the nation from fiscal collapse. And a nurse who believes Mr. Obama could be a transformative president, because of health care and other issues, worries that the vitriol could endanger his life.

The Iowa Poll, published in September by The Des Moines Register, showed that Mr. Obama’s approval rating had fallen to 53 percent, from 64 percent in April. In interviews around the state, the economy emerged as one of the most worrisome undercurrents.

“I’m scared,” said Chris Bollhoefer, 49, who lost his job two years ago at Maytag in Newton. “The competition right now, with all the people who have lost jobs that are highly qualified, really puts you up against the wall trying to compete.”

Mr. Bollhoefer said he approved of the job Mr. Obama was doing. “It’s inspirational to me that he’s trying to do something different,” he said.

As a candidate, Mr. Obama soared, several people said in interviews, but as a president, he often has come across as cautious, tentative and prone to blame his troubles on others.

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

I read that this morning.




Liberals won't believe it until it's too late.

Like I said going into the elections; the only way to cure America of the trend towards liberalism would be to give them a VERY liberal government run by Nancy and Barack.

[Powertone]

Originally Posted by Frisco_Slug_Esq

Liberals won't believe it until it's too late.

just like they did with Clinton...even Richard Cohen wrote a piece saying " It appears the conservatives were right about Clinton all along..."
This after Bill pardoned Marc Rich, took the handtowels from Air Force One, and loaded up the U-Haul full of " White House gifts " to take to Chappaqua