Beck's stated goal: Get administration officials fired, “take the administration down”
Written by Adam Shah
Published
In recent days, Glenn Beck has said that something he is “working on” will “take the administration down” and that White House interim communications director Anita Dunn “will have to go away” after “what we show you tonight.” Beck and his fellow Fox News personalities have repeatedly called for Obama administration officials to be fired, asked people to dig up information on administration officials, and fearmongered about President Obama, his advisers, and his policies.
Beck: Working on something that will “take the administration down”
Beck: One of the things I'm working on, if proven, will “take the administration down.” From the October 16 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program:
BECK: I think there is going to come a time soon, and when you see what we have in -- that we're working on now, if -- if especially one of these things come to true -- come to fruition, and is actually true. We're working on four different stories right now that if any of them are true, it's big, big trouble. All of them appear to be, but we have to be able to nail everything down. One of which I think will take the administration down. There comes a point to where people have to say, “OK. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. This was right, this was right, this was right. These people had to go away.” Now they won't answer this charge, this charge, or this charge. They won't -- they can't even address them without smears. [10/16/09]
Beck vows that Anita Dunn will “have to go away” after “what we show you tonight.” From the October 19 edition of The Glenn Beck Program:
BECK: Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod were on television this week, and they were talking about Fox News. And they were talking about how Fox News is -- is not really even news. Now, this is an important story, because it has now been bumped up one level. Before they put Anita Dunn out there -- this is the woman who was extolling the virtues of Mao Zedong -- you know, just a guy who killed 70 million people -- and said it was one of her two favorite political philosophers -- Mao. She has since said that she was joking. We also have some new audio for you we'll play in a second. But now what's happened is, she's being jettisoned.
[...]
BECK: Now that we've exposed Anita as yet another radical in the White House, they're gonna need to jettison Anita Dunn, especially after what we show you tonight. She'll have to go away, because we're asking too many questions about Anita. So now we get up to the big boys. [10/19/09]
Beck-led Fox News “czar” witch hunt moves to ridiculous smear of Dunn. Throughout most of his October 15 Fox News program, Beck falsely claimed that Dunn “worships” and “idolizes” “her hero” Mao Zedong. In fact, in the video that Beck aired as evidence to support his claims, Dunn offered no endorsement of Mao's ideology or atrocities -- rather, she commented that Mao and Mother Teresa were two of her “favorite political philosophers,” and based on short quotes from them, she offered the advice that “you don't have to follow other people's choices and paths” or “let external definition define how good you are internally.” Beck ignored numerous conservatives -- including Barry Goldwater's “alter ego” Stephen C. Shadegg, Cato Institute president Edward H. Crane, and GOP strategist Ralph Reed -- who have approvingly cited the tactics of Mao, Vladimir Lenin, and the Viet Cong, stating that they had used those tactics in their political work, or have otherwise highlighted their philosophies.
Beck, other Fox News personalities have repeatedly called for administration officials to be fired
Beck smeared Van Jones with falsehood, asked, “Do we want communists in the United States government as special advisers to the president?” On August 11, Beck falsely accused Van Jones, who he described as Obama's “green jobs czar,” of being a “convicted felon ... who spent, I think, six months in prison after the Rodney King beating.” In fact, as Eva Paterson, president and founder of the Equal Justice Society, has explained, “Van [Jones] has never served time in any prison. He has never been convicted of any crime.” On September 1, Beck said of Jones: “How much more evidence do you need that we have radicals in the White House? Oh, we haven't even begun. If you think you need more, we need to -- at least in this country -- start having the necessary discussion of: Do we want communists in the United States government as special advisers to the president?” On September 3, Beck said that Jones' place in the Obama administration “says that the president has an agenda that is radical, revolutionary, and in some cases, Marxist.”
Following Van Jones resignation, Beck urged followers to “Find everything you can on Cass Sunstein, Mark Lloyd and Carol Browner.” From Beck's Twitter feed:
Fox Business' Bolling stated, “Van Jones resigns. ... How about J Holdren Science Czar (mass sterilization) and Cass Susstein [sic].” From Eric Bolling's Twitter feed:
Sean Hannity: "[W]e got rid of one [czar], and my job starting tomorrow night is to get rid of every other one. I promise you that." As Think Progress noted, at a September 7 rally in West Virginia, Hannity said:
HANNITY: Do you want another czar?
CROWD: No!
HANNITY: I don't think so. By the way, we got one -- we got rid of one, and my job starting tomorrow night is to get rid of every other one. I promise you that.
Hannity smears Jennings with falsehoods, calls for him to be fired. During the September 30 edition of his Fox News show, Hannity said of Jennings, “I want him fired. I think he's inappropriate. I think anybody that has that kind of judgment does not belong to be the safe schools czar." Hannity repeated his call for Jennings to be fired during the October 6 edition of his radio show.
Hannity asks which Obama “czars” should be fired. During the September 18 edition of his Fox news program, Hannity aired a list of “10 people who President Obama has appointed or nominated to work on your behalf in your government,” and asked, “Should any of them be fired?” Hannity's case for dismissing the advisers largely consisted of false attacks, distortions, and trivial guilt by association.
Fox conducts witch hunt for Obama “czars.” Hannity's declaration that “my job starting tomorrow night is to get rid of every other ['czar']” is just one example of Fox News personalities leading the charge against numerous Obama administration officials and nominees they have described as “czars” -- often by unearthing and criticizing statements the officials had made in the past rather than critiquing their job performance or credentials for those positions.
Beck fearmongers about Obama administration personnel, policies
Beck: Obama is a “racist” and “has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture.” Beck previously said: “This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy -- over and over and over again -- who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture -- I don't know what it is. But you can't sit in a pew with Jeremiah Wright for 20 years and not hear some of that stuff and not have it wash over.” He later added, “I'm not saying that he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. He has a -- this guy is, I believe, a racist. Look at the way -- look at the things he has been surrounded by.” [Fox News' Fox & Friends, 7/28/09]
Beck repeatedly compares Obama administration, people to Nazis. Beck has previously said that “the Germans” during Hitler's rise “were an awful lot like we are now” and that "[w]e are really truly stepping beyond socialism and starting to look at fascism," comparing Obama administration proposals to Nazi Germany. Beck also claimed that Obama's “civilian national security force” is “what Hitler did with the SS,” “what Saddam Hussein” did and stated, “I'm not comparing” Obama to Hitler, but “please read Mein Kampf” and learn from Germany's mistakes.
Beck repeatedly red-baits Obama administration. In addition to spending an entire hour of his Fox News show attacking Dunn because she once cited Mao as a “favorite political philosopher” and claiming that “the president has an agenda that is radical, revolutionary, and in some cases, Marxist,” Beck previously stated that Obama's “radical advisers” like “communist” Van Jones are “fighting a revolution.”