The latest lunatic fringe talking point equates Democratic-led efforts at health care reform with the 9/11 terrorist attacks on American soil.
During his Monday broadcast, Fox News host Glenn Beck applauded the tea-party protesters and grassroots organizers who are "taking time out of our busy lives" to work against the enactment of health care reform.
Beck said the 9/12ers, as they are also referred to, "are reading 2,000-page healthcare bills on the weekend. [They] are willing to stand in line and take our shoes off before the plane actually hits the tower."
Perhaps Beck was concerned that he was losing the battle of hyperbole to another conservative firebrand. Earlier in the day, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) raised the specter of 9/11 herself, warning from the floor of the House of Representatives that America has more to fear from health care than from terrorism.
"I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country," said the North Carolina Republican.
Coming from Foxx and Beck, the remarks are yet another instance of flame throwing rhetoric that is divorced from reality. Health care reform, if passed, is so watered down from the supposedly scary Big Government form that even mainstream Democrats are beginning to lament its potential (lack-of) impact.
But for others in the conservative movement, Beck's comments could prove problematic. Earlier on Monday, the conservative party's Doug Hoffman called the Fox News host a personal "mentor." Hoffman, of course, is now the front running candidate for the special election in New York - a state that knows better than all the others that terrorism and health care simply aren't equitable, even in vaguely-worded parallels.
HERE IS A TRANSCRIPT OF BECK:
Ten years ago, I could have shouted every single day about Osama bin Laden and his wacky crazy threats to kill Americans in New York and nobody would have been willing to stand in line two hours while some security officer made grandma take her shoes off. No one would have done it. But don't you see. While the government is still not willing to do these things, today America is different. America has changed. Washington, we're not going to let you get away with it anymore. Look, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Conservatives are awake. 9/12ers are willing to do the hard things. We know what this means! We're taking time out of our busy lives, taking time away from their families, they're attending town hall meetings. Do you think they want to do that? They are calling their representatives. How many times do we have to be yelled at by your people in Washington? They are reading 2,000-page healthcare bills on the weekend. The 9/12ers are willing to stand in line and take our shoes off before the plane actually hits the tower.
AND HERE IS A TRANSCRIPT OF FOXXX:
Everywhere I go in my district, people tell me they are frightened. ... I share that fear, and I believe they should be fearful. And I believe the greatest fear that we all should have to our freedom comes from this room -- this very room -- and what may happen later this week in terms of a tax increase bill masquerading as a health care bill. I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country.