Glenn Beck Compares Derailing Health Care To Preparing For 9/11

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.

Comments

[MikeLawson]

Ms Foxx, and Beck, both have nice health insurance plans. They could care less if people end up bankrupt because they got seriously ill, or if children can't see a doctor and get medication because the parents have to choose between rent and utilities and can't even fathom paying insurance premiums that in most cases are higher for a family than the national average for a monthly mortgage or rent payment.

Republicans are selfish, idolators of unfettered capitalism, and their holy church is the so-called free market, where those who have not enough money to buy a necessity need to keep their mouth's shut and not bother those that do. These scoundrels wrap themselves in the America flag and claim to be patriots, but nothing is further from the truth. Selfish, me-centric, greed-is-good idolators of unfettered capitalism, that's what they are, and they are too disingenuous to even admit that truth. And the love of money is clearly the root of all of this evil.

These so-called patriotic Americans who enjoy seeing poor people go without access to health care, claim to be Christians. They ignore the Sermon on the Mount and think it is optional. They ignore all of the things that Jesus had to say about taking care of the poor, the sick, those in prison and about riches. Some have even undertaken the task of re-writing the Bible because even the Bible is now TOO LIBERAL for them.

[graceland9]

Oh, hey - that sounds familiar...where did he ever come up with that theory?!

[StillAmused]

What comes after "Tilt!" ?

[VikingQuest]

Yeah . . .

I watched that video and really fail to see the outrage in the comparison.

[LiberalBuzz]

Of course you didn't. It's hard to fathom anything remotely intelligent when you only come out from under your bridge to make dumbazzed comments.

[sus2222]

Republicans live on FEAR.
Without their FEAR they would collapse and become more normal.
They are afraid and want YOU to be afraid too.

forget THAT !

[jeff90125]

Well, there is a lot to be afraid of. We are living through a government takeover of our private industries. So much so that the government is even dictating pay rates. Now we are looking at a takeover of the healthcare industry and enormous tax increases. You aren't scared? You should be.

[MikeLawson]

Thats' a straight-up lie, Jeff.

[gymmy]

Glen Beck is Fox's ANSWER to the Colbert Report.........
.... but now, its called 'comment-t­ire'...ins­tead of 'satire'

[Manhattanite]

"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."

Methink they don't have busy lives. Otherwise they would not have time to waste teabagging, between work, kids, etc...

[gymmy]

..........­..........­..The popularity of the style of the 'Colbert Report', devastating in its outright sarcasm, must of had Fox Execs scratching their heads, until it dawned on them......­..."....OH WAIT, I got it!........lets build on this and have our own Colbert - half truth - half wit interpretive style of 'news'....."

.....Bingo!

[marmalade]

These moronic idiots are a goldmine for independents and Democrats. I love the swirl around the drain, but they ring they leave sure smells.

[EndTheEcho]

So when the 9/12ers are taking their shoes off and standing in line, maybe we should swipe the shoes. Maybe we could re-distribute them to others.

The really funny thing about that line of argument is that no one read the Patriot Act, no shoes, no lines. Shoes and lines are more about blind obedience to the Government, TSA is the government.

[jeff90125]

The Patriot Act was one of the worst pieces of legislation ever passed. And it passed without anybody reading it. I was hoping that Obama, in his dislike of everything republican, would get it repealed. No, he renewed it.

What we need is a piece of legislation that would require congress to read the bills before passing them. Something like this:

http://www.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/27

[breakingpoint]

why would anyone listen to a guy who gets paid millions to rile you up?

think.

[MajorNews]

Just one more example of what Utter Complete Lunatics Republican party in USA has been and continues to be. After all consider the FACT that the Conservative parties in Europe are 100% for their Universal Nationalized Health Care systems, which puts them to the far far left of the Democrats in US.
For example here is the Conservative party in UK:
"This body will allocate money fairly and in a way which will help secure equal access to healthcare for all." Which you can read about it here:
http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Where_we_stand/Health.aspx

[gordonla]

Glen Beck may use sensational sound-bites, rather than dialogue. But then anyone who calls him "lunatic fringe" is also using non-dialogue language.

However, Glen Beck appeals to responsible citizens who feel the federal government is broken and incapable of providing what people want. The underlying fact is that the Federal Health Care plan being proposed is an unfundable ponzi scheme that preys on the legitimate desire for everyone to have some measure of health care.

The proposed system will require more taxes, drive more companies out of business, and make insurance less affordable for those who have it. It will speed the fiscal collapse of the Federal Government. Already Medicare is being defrauded of billions of dollars because it is SO EASY to defraud a large bureaucracy. Adding more bureaucracy will only increase the cost and the fraud.

9/11 was an attack on physical life. The Federal Health Care bill is only an attack on quality of life and freedom, but it is still a symptom of the collapse of the spirit that made the United States great.

[sviolette]

You don't think 122 deaths a year is enough to qualify as an attack on physical life? 15 times as many people die each year as were killed on 9/11. Everyone of those were physical lives.

[Luv2Purple]

gordonla - sorry to disagree - but beck is a lunatic! He, like palin, has accomplished nothing to give him the voice he has...he is a failed early morning radio comedian who is spewing hate speech to make money. Our current health care system is guilty of dooming over 100,000 Americans die each year in hospitals - from infections, not the disease they went in for. when Clinton proposed increasing federal spending for infrastructure it got ZERO rethuglican votes...they said it would bankrupt the country. Instead Clinton balanced the budget, left a surplus & help create 23 million jobs. What was the rethuglican record of achievement? other than ILLEGAL SPYING & TORTURE - HUGE DEFICITS - LOSS of JOBS - and war crimes tied to illegal occupations? OH...and it's entirely likely that if jr was doing his job he would have taken action(rather than vacation) that could have derailed the 9/11 plot. We should all have gotten a security briefing that said "Bush determined to leave country in a dung heap"

[oldpol2]

Gordon, I think your priorities are a little skewed. If you wish to save large sums of money ( I agree, a thing to fight for), Let's reduce funding to DOD by about half. I am not afraid of terrorists and I don't think your leaderhip is either. The war on terror is really about oil in Iraq and drugs and pipelines in Afghanistan. All involves obscene amounts of money. Bring our troops home. Spend our tax dollars on the taxpayers. We need health care. NOW! To expect people to do without healthcare to save the health insurance industry is BS. To expect people to do without because your cost may go up a little is selfish in the extreme and most unChristian. I can sfford the $800. per month I pay for insurance, most families cannot.

[gparks]

Gordo the pozi scheme you MUST be referring to is both wars Bush/Cheney/Repubs got us in .... the off book budget for both wars IS one of many reasons for our current mess. And if you mean by responsible citizens ... the ones who voted for Bush/Cheney/Repubs ... I agree! These mis- guideded, delusional citizens who believe and believed the lies and BS of the past Admin ARE responsible for the broken federal gov't they so love. Yet where was the outrage? The agast during the past 8 years? These very same "citizens" would hit YOU over the head IF you attempted to take away or reduce their Medicare benefits ... yet ... for some "strange" reason THEY vote overwhelmingly for THE party that WAS against Medicare at its inception and has been attempting to cut it every since. I agree with you that "lunatic fringe" is also using non-dialogue language" BUT what other language do these citizens speak or understand? Certainly NOT the facts NOR the TRUTH!

[Never-The-Less]

please stop covering Fox news so closely. I don't watch Fox I ignore it, and this constant coverage gives them a voice. It often makes me think that all media is a game to build up a false diferance between the "right" and the "left" so we focus on those fake differances instead of the much more apparent simularities. Our government is broke and both dems are republicans have had a hand in it, yet here we sit looking at some crazy Beck , he is a distraction, nothing more.

[sviolette]

122 deaths a day not a year. sorry.

[billobasher]

Just like with Rush, Fox News lies about their actual ratings.

more here: http://mediamatters.org/columns/200911030004