Glenn Beck Compares Fox News To Jews During Holocaust (AUDIO)

Leave it to Glenn Beck to take things too far. On his radio show Tuesday Beck drew a rather over-the-top analogy between, of all things, Fox News and Jewish persecution during the Holocaust. The basis for this comparison was the White House's recent criticism of Fox News' reporting, in which it called the network "the communications arm of the Republican Party" and said that its reporting style is more opinion than straight news. Beck suggested that the campaign against Fox was only the beginning of a full on assault by the Obama administration against the press.

When they're done with Fox, and you decide to speak out on something. The old, "first they came for the Jews, and I wasn't Jewish." When you have a question, and you believe that something should be asked, they're a -- totally fine with you right now; they have no problem with you.

Beck then made a plea to other news organizations to not stand by and let this media genocide happen.

Casual comparisons to the Holocaust are probably never a good idea, but Beck hasn't been afraid to go there in the past -- i.e. Beck's claim that Al Gore was creating another "Hitler Youth".

LISTEN to a segment of Beck's rant from Media Matters for America.:

Comments

[BuckCarson]

The reality is that Beck is a real journalist, sticking up for the people at the onset of a new dark age.

The right has a new catch phrase: "Question Authority", formally owned by the left.

The left has a new mantra: "Enslave the poor and ignorant", formally owned by the extreme right living in remote southern towns.

I urge you to watch Beck, wean yourselves of the kool-aid you've been drinking and project forward the real consequences of the axioms you people promulgate.

Stossel is coming on tomorrow to talk about the real costs of your health care. Watch it in full and keep an open mind.

[brady61995]

sorry buck you wrong, he is an actor who reads a script of ha.te and drama. he pushed buttons for ratings like jerry springer. i still believe at the end of the day left and right are not as far apart as we let people tell us we are. when anger is transfered to the masses in the way he does it, it makes them scared. when you back a rat into a corner it bites. the repugs are the rat in the corner and their fear is the world has changed and they are being left behind and the sad part is the world has changed and its america thats being left behind. we need to be a humble smarter people. the empire is imploding and everyone is looking for a beck or obama to blame. we are to blame all of us, with out credit cards and over financed houses and ford f150's and honda hybrids and starbucks shopping at wal,mart complaining about the chin.ese and smiling as we drive home with toys dipped in led and 19.95 dvd player. both sides are getting what they have been asking for and no one likes it.

[Thomas Reissmann]

Hey why not send your comments to those concerned: yourcommen­ts@foxnews­.com, they do read comments and even respond, sometimes.

[lafayette2009]

Glenn Beck wants the White House to call him to tell him he is lying about the White House being full of Maoists, Nazis, Communists, Socialists and that this President is about to sent us all to the Gulag, kill or exile the opposition, censure the media etc.

Glenn - give it up! You are beginning to sound like a combination of Senator McCarthy, Senator Iselin and Dr. Strangelove and two of them were fictitious characters and the other was a nutcase.

You are really becoming devoid of new ideas and are taking your paranoia and idiocy to really extreme lengths.

If you are so concerned about changing the Government, put your money where your mouth is and run for office as a Libertarian.

[commonsense68130]

Would you give it up with these numbers? I sure wouldn't.

5PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
Glenn Beck – 3,222,000 viewers (1,000,000) (1,559,000)
Hardball w/ Chris Matthews—663,000 viewers (151,000) (302,000)

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/10/16/cable-news-ratings-for-thursday-october-15-2009/30690

[lafayette2009]

I am not a fan of Chris Matthews but at least he does not rant on air about imaginary conspiracies and accuse the White House of being about to commit us all to Gulags and kill off the opposition.

The Cable ratings are misleading in the sense that, while they are big for Cable News, they are much lower than - say NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News who would consider a 3.2 million viewership, a disaster.

His figures have actually gone down on average below 3 million but. taking your figure of 3.2 million, it is a 2.1 rating and a 4.5 share.

Everything is relative I guess.

[Crumb]

Probably the same people who line up for roadkill and to watch house fires.

[Cambridge9]

This Idi0t is scared silly right now. When he is his normal agressive self he is obnoxious enough but when he gets this quiet you can bet your bottom dollar that he is seeing the writing on the wall. He is another c0ward who tells his audience what to do and then is going to hide behind the First Amendment when something goes wrong.

Did you know that, on Monday's 5pm show, he had a RED phone installed on his set so that ONLY the W.H. could call him and let him know when he said something that wasn't true. Of course the red phone is not ringing so he has announced to the world that he obviously is not telling any untruths because the W.H. is NOT calling him out on his antics. He is NUTS!

[Crumb]

Maybe Commissioner Gordon will call him.

[Cambridge9]

Maybe NOT!

[callmecrazy831]

Fox News may provide some semblance of news. However Glenn Beck has stated on numerous occasions that he provides opinions and not news. The thing that saddens me most are the viewers and listeners who don't know the difference between the two.

I personally watch Beck because his time slot provides me the only comedic program I can find. I know that any ideas and/or statements given during Beck's show are not necessarily those of a sane person but are opinions based on one of the most malicious and obtuse paradigms on television today. Beck is the right-winger version of Bill Maher. Beck has the best simulation of real emotion I have seen outside of the daytime lineup.

Perhaps Beck should allow those Americans that disagree with him to call his "red phone" instead of just the white house as I am sure there are more opponents to his ideaology than just the Obama administration or it's officials. Just a thought.

[tlk221]

Perhaps people who disagree with Beck should simply change the channel to one of Obama's Stations, such as msnbc...

[Cambridge9]

Then how would we ever know just how SICK he is??

[Bob Silo]

MJ Rosenberg's blog is so distorted and devoid of facts it's worthy of a Noble Prize for bloggng.

[earstotheground2]

This article is completely misleading. Gazelle Emami, you need to do research before running off at the mouth in your articles. Glenn Beck is referencing is a famous poem credited to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984).
From Wikipedia:
"First they came ..." is a popular poem attributed to Pastor Martin Nieöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. Although the precise origin of the poem is not known, Niemoller stated he prefers the version as:
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me."
It's meant as a reminder about history's lessons and to draw attention to a potential slippery slope. It has nothing to do with Nazi's or Jews or anyone specific but a lesson to remember and to avoid repeating.

[Beki345]

I posted this 2 hours ago, but the HP censors did not like what I had to say about Glenn Beck misquoting it and did not print my post. Thank you for pointing it out!

[commonsense68130]

I get censored a lot too... just a glimpse of our future.

[Bob Silo]

Great post, earstotheground2. you neglected to include one VERY important fact from wikipedia.
Pastor Martin poem is well-known, frequently quoted, and is a popular model for describing the dangers of political apathy

Have you noticed how much hate the anti-Beck crowd has. Know why? They can't argue facts (such as yours) so they attack the messenger not the message. How shallow they are.

[callmecrazy831]

The attack on Beck stems from his complete lack of thinking before he speaks. When someone has such a hyperbolic view and says things that are so far from the truth, perhaps not always, they lose credibility when they discuss realistic ideas.

For example, on October 14th, Glenn Beck says on his show on Fox.

"Nobody wants the healthcare plan, and yet there still doing it."

I can't imagine any reason for Beck saying that except that he has an unconstructive message for his followers and those he seeks to connect with. Beck is a clown by his own admission. All of his listeners should take this into account.
Arguing facts would require an ability to see the difference between opinion and facts. We should see his arguments for what they are not what he has made them out to be.

[jack s]

The HP used the same format in one of their articles last month.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/first-they-came-for-acorn_b_300941.html

[lafayette2009]

And that lesson has been ignored in many countries, hence the fact that we still have dictators and despots throoughout the world.

However, the likelihood of that happening in countries like the USA and most of the European countries is extremely unlikely with all the checks and balances in place.

Furthermore, there is no basis to postulate that this country is being deliberately ruined by President Obama and/or the Democrats. They said the same about Clinton and we did ok during his 8-years.

Where I do agree with Glenn Beck is that Washington needs a major clean out - on both sides - but that won't happen until we have term limits on Senators (in particular) and a ban, or at least major restrictions, on lobbying and campaign financing.

Other Western Countries manage to have General Elections within a few months from declaration of the election to declaration of the winners. They do not allow contributions to individuals, only to the Political Party and then it is up to them how it is divided among their candidates for the election.

[lafayette2009]

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me."

Why did Beck only say; "The old, "first they came for the Jews, and I wasn't Jewish" - not even what the Pastor actually said.

Why, because referring to Hitler and the Nazis coming for the Communists, the Socialists and the Trade Unionists does not suit him because he equates Obama with all three.

Sorry but he has used the Nazi analogy nearly 200 times. As I have posted, some of the points Beck makes are good - particularly the need to cleanse Washington on all sides - but his Nazi, holocaust, Fascism, et al constant references have gone too far.

By the way, Hitler and the Nazis were responsible for the death of 17 million people in Germany as part of his cleansing and that included Russians, Socialists - who he hated - people of color, Trade Union leaders, Catholics, German citizens who would not fight for the Nazis and, of course, Jews. The holocaust gets the publicity because of the manner in which

[WeCanDoMore]

GB is an racist opportunist and a truth manipulator extraordinaire. He and his ilk are the power of greed and evil of our time. To call those that are trying to make justice and equality a daily livable fact nazis is just another expectable, but no less deplorable lie. It is unfortunate he is able to put his ideas out to the masses, but most thankfully most people ( 70% in the US, and a greater number world wide) people understand that he is a sick man, and don't take him seriously. Just a sad US joke.

Fox likes to puff up their numbers, so it won't be so obvious when they try to cheat in elections, but, they can't get away with it anymore. The educated ( Dems ) are too smart to let the creationists bamboozle us, and corporate thugs buy our reps, now that we know who we are dealing with.

Eyes on the balls, patience, keep the faith.

[JRD-FLA]

The black helicopter crowd speaks again.
Stop listening to the voices in your head, you might hurt someone.

[WeCanDoMore]

Are you 12 years old? You sound it. This is serious stuff, lives depend on it. Get real. This is no joke. Fox et al are deranged, and do not love life, just money and make believe.

Ask your self, do you want to be part of the problem or part of the solution?

[celmo]

Lets be honest and admit one thing......Fox isn't fair and balanced. This should be very obvious to most fair minded people. To contend anything to the contrary, is to be intellectual dishonest. In all actuality, their claim is an insult to some people.

[Aiden]

I don't think your opinion is supported by any fact.


http://www.journalism.org/node/13436#fn1

[atretrioeciii]

How is stating the obvious "going after foxnews"?

[TheobaldLocke]

When the White House came for Fox I said nothing, I wasn't a Fox viewer

When the White House came for minority hat.ing republicans I said nothing, I was not a republican

When the White House came for main stream media I stepped up, cos main stream media offers some value to my life

[ynot4tony]

Yes, they justify your meaningless hatred.

To some, that's value. To me, it's pandering.

I can't even put myself in your shoes. No matter what evil you attempt to project unto the Bush administration, they weren't petty enough to call out by name the blatant propaganda some in the media were pushing at the time (think Rather's Memogate, the two year old "breaking" story about missing weapons in Iraq the week before the election, to name a few).

And if the Bush administration had tried to bully an entire network, they'd lose my support and my vote. That's the difference between you and I. I care abut the First Amendment in ALL CASES, not just when it justifies my preconceived ideals.

[JRD-FLA]

Quick cover up .... your hypocrisy is showing.

[Darken]

The point Glen Beck was trying to make, and I think you all missed it because of your own obsession with the Holocust and Jewish implications he said, was the fact that if the government started censuring the media, it would not just stop with Fox News. Personally, I don't agree with Beck on most things he says, I think he's irrational in most of the things he says, but I do, however, agree with the statement that if censure is began, it will continue until everything is censured, to the point where the Consitution no longer has any value. It's bad enough that so much of it has already been abandoned and demoralized. Freedom of speech is a very important part of our freedoms as a nation. Whether you agree with Beck or not, that is your right to do so, but in no way should anyone be censured for saying what they believe.

[lafayette2009]

No-one is denying Beck his 1st amendment rights and I have not seen the White House try to censor him or Fox . The WH Communications Director said they were a propaganda machine for the Republicans, which is her right to say under her 1st Amendment rights.

The major objection I and many of my family and friends (of all political persuasions) have to Beck is his insistence on likening everything to the Nazis.

He is outrageous and can be funny and, frankly, some of his exposes have been relevant but enough of Hitler and Nazism. That I believe is taking his 1st Amendment rights a little too far.

[sarac]

Correct word usagte should have been..'begun', not began.

[sarac]

sorry..usage

[TheobaldLocke]

Censuring? How so? How has Beck seen his ability to say what he wants diminished in any way? The White house replies after Beck speaks...

The White house if anything added another news outlet by posting their replies to fox lies. if Beck wants to go on saying inflammatory things then he shouldn't cry when people start fighting back.

And who do you think did most of the demoralization and abandoning of the constitution.. the eight years of the former president or the ten months of the current one?

[JISantiago]

Freedom of expression without due responsibility and integrity is as dangerous as muzzling genuine criticism with censors.

What Glenn Beck spews everyday is not an exercise of freedom of speech. Rather, it is the abuse of such rights. He is polarising the society with his distortions of truth and fabrication of facts.

[lafayette2009]

Rush Limbaugh claimed he spawned Glenn Beck and both of them laugh their respective ar$$e$ off everytime they cash in on of the $million checks they receive from Media Matters, Fox, et al.

They have become relevant as much because of the protests they create from Democrats, Liberals, Independents and many moderate Republicans.

My Father, like thousands of others spent 7-years away from his family to fight Hitler and Nazism, millions of people died either because of the direct actions of the Nazis or fighting to rid the world of them.

For Beck to continue to liken just about everything this administration does to the Nazis is beyond being a "news" show or trying to be what he claims he is - an entertainer.

If Nazis (and there are people today who clim to be Nazis) had their way, Barack Obama would be one of the first they would eliminate. Has Beck not heard of the Arian Race??

Enough is enough and the best thing Huffington Post and other liberal media can do is to totally IGNORE this idiot and the best we can do here is STOP reacting to him.

When a child throws a tantrum, you send them to their room for a time out, so we should try to ignore Beck and send him for a long time out. Once he loses his notoriety, he will lose his appeal, advertisers support and eventually his income.

[trosmok]

No, I've never suffered through more than a minute or two of a Beck show, and seldom, if ever, tune in to anything on that station. The one time when that hypocrite Rush appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, Dave started chiding him with comments like, oh come now, you can't really believe a lot of what you put out there do ya? Rush pretends to protest, and Dave says "Don't you feel like some of the stuff you are saying is just so much hot gas?" BAM! cut to commercial, long break, and when the show comes back on......no Rush, no explanation, and ol' Dave just sitting there cracking up to himself.

Beck's grasp of reality must be very tenuous, at best.

[ohiomark]

What a complete NON-story.