Sunday, January 31, 2010

Roger Ailes and Arianna Huffington Discuss Glenn Beck

It seems that Arianna Huffington has not changed her opinion on Glenn Beck's First Amendment right to free speech.

Ms. Huffington, in classic Progressive fashion, characterized Beck as "Inciting the American People" during a discussion on ABC's Sunday Morning show "This Week."



Huffington, who doesn't herself make vile comments but instead allows her blog's commenters to do so on her behalf, has in the past claimed that Beck is "Morally liable" for his words if "Violence ensues from what he says."

Taking into account only her political perspective and not the role of individual responsibility in the discussion, Huffington went on to say "When he talks about people being slaughtered, about who is going to be next in the killing spree..."

Roger Ailes at that point had heard enough, and put Ms. Huffington in her place. "Well, he was talking about Hitler and Stalin slaughtering people, so I think he was probably accurate," Ailes said with a remarkably straight face.

The information Ms. Huffington conveniently fails to present in this discussion is that each and every show (both TV and radio), Glenn Beck offers more than one "disclaimer" regarding the context of his show, and frequently states the fact that he absolutely is not calling for violence. In fact, he makes very specific points to differentiate between atrocities of the past and today's administration.

Huffington tried to claim "He was talking about this administration," to which Mr. Ailes calmly replied, "I think he speaks English. I don't know... but I don't mis-interpret any of his words. He did say one unfortunate thing which he apologized for (referencing Beck's calling Obama a racist) but that happens on live television, so... I think if we start going around as the word police..."

Ms. Huffington then went on to attempt portray Beck in the frame of a "paranoid style" and discuss the fact that there is "real pain out there," to which Ailes replied that he had read something on Huffington Post about how he "looked like J. Edgar Hoover, had a face like a fist, and was essentially a malignant tumor."

A final thought... as is unfortunately typical of those on the left, Ms. Huffington fails to include in her thought process the element of personal responsibility. Glenn Beck in no way, shape, or form is inciting people to take up arms and create violence or chaos, yet consistently we hear charges from the left of "incitement to violence" with regards to Beck's desire to educate his audience about the true history of the "Progressive" movement in America and around the world. Should a tragic event take place in America and the perpetrator should happen to own a copy of Beck's "Common Sense," that person has already been found guilty in the court of the mainstream media, even though no such event has yet taken place.

10 comments:

Just a conservative girl said...

It would be nice if for once she actually listened to what Beck says before she puts him down and calls him names. It would only make sense.

It does amaze me that they make judgements without really listening.

Soloman said...

Hey JACG -

I agree, and regarding your thought on "judgements" I was just adding to the post while you were leaving your comment... in case you wish to check back and see my final thoughts.

Sadly, as is proven by her website, she takes what is offered by Media Matters as truth. They source that website for "information" more than any other.

Teresa said...

Liberals spew their hate and judgements without knowing the facts or even listening to the person. Liberals classify all conservatives in a certain category, in a bad light unjustly, and then it goes on from there...

Heather Chandler said...

She's just jealous of his Bold/Fresh Tour with O'Reilly. She'd never sell out crowds like those two can.

The Conservative Lady said...

Arianna is a typical liberal, spinning the truth into what she wants it to be. We see it all of the time, they twist the truth and distort it.
And, you're right Sol...Glenn Beck makes a point of discouraging violence and says if it should happen, then that's the end of everything we've worked for. I guess Arianna hasn't been to a tea party...we know how much violence happens at those things.

Fuzzy Slippers said...

lmao, she's just bent out of shape because the NYT didn't jump on her suggestion of having a "separate but equal" bestseller list because Beck's and other conservatives' books were topping it every single week.

Sour grapes.

It's so weird to me that the left keeps hammering on Beck's massive influence, etc., but I guess if you're used to gobbling up whatever you're told, blindly following along with the rest of the sheeple, you're prone to imagine that everyone else is a brain dead zombie, too. It's really sad, but it does say more about them than it does about us. ;)

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

She moans about people suffering. She should step in and help them. After all, the people she worships (mmm, mmm, mmm) caused most of our problems.

Anonymous said...

Liberals are certainly consistent in their insanity.

Soloman said...

All -

I just did a follow-up on this, because Beck today broke down the exact clip Huffington is complaining about.

He was hilarious.. check it out here.

Malcolm said...

Roger got off easy during the roundtable segment on Sunday. Although Beck does like to use harsh metaphors to play on the fears of his loyal flock, he wasn't talking about the Obama administration literally slaughtering people. What Arianna should have asked Roger in regards to Glenn Beck is his tendency to play fast and loose with the facts. For example, why he used a falsified chart on his program claiming that less than 10% of Obama's cabinet has prior private sector experience.

I actually watched the entire roundtable when it aired on Sunday. What this clip doesn't include is when Paul Krugman questions Roger Ailes about the time Fox deliberately cropped a clip to make it sound like President Obama was saying we should have a European style health care plan. Not surprisingly, Ailes didn't give an explanation for why Fox intentionally misled its viewers.

Also at the end of the segment, Arianna Huffington asked Ailes why Fox cut away early from the summit in which Obama took questions from the GOP. His answer was that Fox is the most trusted name in news. Even the most ardent Fox supporter should be honest enough to realize that's not a sufficient answer to Arianna's question. It makes as much sense as asking someone what time it is and their answer is "Harry Potter".