"...an event that...felt like the Jerry Lewis Telethon, minus the comic stylings of Shecky Greene. "

[babylonsister]

an event that...felt like the Jerry Lewis Telethon, minus the comic stylings of Shecky Greene.

Beck's Backwards "Dream" for America

August 28, 2010 7:54 pm ET by Will Bunch


snip//


The reality on the National Mall today was that with his empty comparisons to the King legacy, Beck revealed how radically different - and disheartening -- his real vision for America is, especially at a time of lingering unemployment, fading home ownership, and growing anxieties over race, religion and immigration that is rivaling the upheaval of the 1960s.

Think about it. In 1963, King and thousands of Americans marched to the Lincoln Memorial in a plea to Washington for massive action to tackle the problems of poverty and unemployment and also to block the forces of "nullification" and "interposition" -- personified by Alabama's racist Gov.George Wallace - that prevented blacks from voting and even using the same drinking fountains asd whites.

In 2010, Beck not only told his predominantly middle-class gathering that not only do the poor in America not have it so bad but that in an era of political roadblocks, America need not focus on taking collective action but should look inward for answers, devoting more time to family but in particular by turning to God, the major theme of the Restoring Honor rally. Indeed, in his keynote speech, he said the rally had "nothing to do with politics, everything to do with God."

In a sense, that was true. In the works and in the news and eventually the subject of much controversy for much of this year, the actual "Restoring Honor" rally was a strange and often tepid affair -- stripped of all the political red-meat and angry Obama bashing (indeed, the president was almost never mentioned either from the podium or in the vast crowd) that has marked earlier Tea Party events, including the large Beck-inspired 9-12 rally last fall. It was nothing like any Tea Party-incited event I'd attended over the last year while researching my book on the movement, The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama. That might have been a disappointment to some in the crowd who traveled to Washington to show their displeasure with the current administration.

That's why Bert Melli was one of more than 100 people huddled in the pre-dawn pitch blackness at 4:45 a.m. yesterday in a shopping center parking lot in Havertown, Pa., waiting for a bus. "We have to let people know they are unhappy with the direction of the country," said Melli, a 78-year-old retiree. "This is a way to get their attention."

But what Melli and the other heated overheated masses got instead on a languid, partly cloudy August day was an event that at times felt like the Jerry Lewis Telethon, minus the comic stylings of Shecky Greene.

more...

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201008280028

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. Beck is promoting a distribution of wealth to the very rich

because he knows that they pay him.

poorer people who support him will be voting against themselves. I guess that they are too simple to realize this?

[spanone]

2. bwahahahahaaa...k&r

[babylonsister]

3. Ha! Made me laugh!! nt

[msongs]

4. it was only a marketing scam to build his brand identity lol nt

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Hmmm Wonder if Mr Melli cashes his SS check each month...and who the hell pays his doctor bills.

"We have to let people know they are unhappy with the direction of the country," said Melli, a 78-year-old retiree. "This is a way to get their attention."

[Bluenorthwest]

6. I'm sure he does use those benefits

but you do need to understand for the sake of the larger issues, that Medicare beneficiaries pay their own doctor bills, just like people with other insurance. It is not free, not to anyone. Premiums, co-pays, deductibles, the whole enchilada. This is true of all who use that program. Just the way it is.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. That depends on which plan one chooses.

I have no deductible and in most cases, except for unusual specialists, no copay.
There is a premium, but it is EXTREMELY subsidized by the govt.
I pay $100/mth for coverage that would cost thousands from a private insurance provider.

Even the Medicare Plus policies are subsidized.

[pinboy3niner]

7. LOL!

Today, it looked like Beck WAS Shecky Greene. What a putz!

[BrklynLiberal]

9. Beck WISHES he could be a funny as Shecky Green.

Greene says after he riffed on Sinatra during a performance, Old Blue Eyes sent some goons to see him. "So Frank Sinatra saved my life one day. Five guys are beating me up and I heard Frank Sinatra say, 'that's enough boys.'"

[pinboy3niner]

10. That's funny

Probably not so funny at the time. It's also a great setup for an inappropriate comment that most of us here wouldn't make. We don't advocate violence or wish anyone--even Beckkk--harm.

Thanks for that amusing anecdote. :hi:

[BrklynLiberal]

11. Shecky Greene = VERY FUNNY MAN