Glenn Beck vs. Van Jones: McCarthyism Enters the 21st Century

When Fox News' Glenn Beck called President Barack Obama a "racist" and claimed that he had "a deep-seated hatred for white people" an African-American netroots group, ColorOfChange.org, organized a successful boycott of Beck's corporate sponsors. It wasn't long until fifty seven of Beck's sponsors jumped ship lest they be associated with Beck's own "deep-seated" white supremacy. Burned, Beck and his right-wing Republican producers sought revenge by using his slice of the echo chamber to go after Van Jones, one of President Obama's most important advisers on green jobs, who could be linked to ColorOfChange. Beck and his buddies viewed Jones as the low hanging fruit of the Obama White House and launched a focused smear campaign against him. During one of his many conspiracy-laden tirades Beck asked: "Will progressive pigs fly right out of Van Jones' butt and pedal bicycles to" replace coal power? It didn't take much time under the glare of Beck's assault for Jones to make the politic move and resign his official post.

The New Republic's John McWhorter criticized Beck's bullying of Jones raising the question: "What, precisely, would have been wrong with letting Glenn Beck and the others keep screaming their heads off about Jones' purported radical intentions?" I think McWhorter poses a valid question but in the current political context of the looming health care Battle Royale handing the Far Right a 24-hour news cycle feeding frenzy centered on Jones would be a distraction the president does not need right now. Regrettably, the right-wing echo chamber flexed its muscle and Jones is gone. He had little choice but to leave. (Van Jones is still the "Top Story" on Beck's website.) But that doesn't make it right.

The Beck vs. Jones saga illustrates that even with the Republicans out of power their control over a propaganda ministry called Fox News, combined with their domination of the AM radio dial, still allows them to frame the debates within our wider political discourse.

What Glenn Beck, Roger Ailes, and their allies did in drumming Van Jones out of the government was an example of 21st century McCarthyism. They smeared Jones' past political remarks and associations the same way Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn smeared a young Boston lawyer named Fred Fisher for being a member of the National Lawyers Guild, which they called "the legal mouthpiece of the Communist Party." There's no difference. I always said that if Joe McCarthy were alive today he'd have his own show on Fox News. Well, there you have it. Beck's tactics, which are identical to McCarthy's, have entered the bloodstream of our body politic. At some point someone has got to ask the well-timed question that Joseph Welch asked Joe McCarthy: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" That "sense of decency" to which Mr. Welch referred left our political discourse long ago, somewhere between Lee Atwater and Karl Rove.

What I find interesting about the hyperventilating and shrill denunciations of Jones' mild past remarks coming from Beck and his legions of aggrieved white men is that President George W. Bush had surrounded himself for eight years with a stunning collection of political hacks and charlatans who had said things in the past that would make Minnesota Representative Michelle Bachmann sound cool and rational. To take just one of many possible examples, Bush chose a guy to sit on the federal bench in Little Rock, Arkansas named James Leon Holmes. According to Eric Alterman and Mark Green in their 2004 book, The Book on Bush,Holmes was the former president of Arkansas Right to Life who wrote that "the wife is to subordinate herself to her husband" and "the woman is to place herself under the protection of Christ." An earlier example of what flowed from Holmes' pen said this: "[c]oncern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami." (p. 162) (Miami saw snow once in a hundred years; there were 32,000 women who became pregnant by rape the year Holmes wrote this drivel.) I only bring up this example to show that no right-wing administration has to worry about purges of their people from a powerless but noisy Left, showing once again the bankruptcy of the faux balance the mainstream press insists on imposing on these types of political fights.

If you serve a right-wing Republican president you can write or say anything you want, even be connected to the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens (C of CC). But if you serve a liberal Democratic president, like the "pinks" who fell victim to McCarthyism, you can be taken down in a heartbeat.

 

 

Follow Joseph A. Palermo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/N/A

Comments

[intel4]

When the old KGB files were opened up, several very good books were written about what was going on in America during the cold war from a Soviet perspective. It prompted one of the writers of the books to say that McArthy probably didn't know how right he was about spies even in president Roosavelt's cabinet after WW2 was over. Our pathetic mainstreem media has given very little play time to what was found in the old KGB files because it undermines their own leftist marxist agenda. Do some research for yourself once in a while readers and you will find that what I am saying is true.

Good luck to this country,

We all will need it.

[SewaneeLeftist]

Extremely good article, very good points, always important to catch the thoroughgoing double standard.

[Shammie2000]

I have stated here at Huffpo over and over and over that the American public (white America mostly)
will alway's give the ReThug's the benefit of the doubt, you would think it would be just the opposite
since the ReThug's claim to be the moral party and are anything but.

[sdskelton03]

He "smeared" Jones with Jones' own words?

Absurd.

[Joseph Palermo]

Would like to lose your job due to some weirdo on FOX raising things you said in your past?

[sdskelton03]

Joseph

That is such nonsense it's difficult to reply. It's not what we said and signed on to that got him fired, but rather it was Beck reporting it? Beck could have reported that he likes to sing in the shower and buys lemonade from children, but he wouldn't have been fired for it.

And you didn't answer my question. How can you "smear" someone when all you do is accurately quote what the man said and air unedited videos of the man speaking?

[sdskelton03]

"he" not "we"

Sorry about the typo.

[FreelanceWriter]

Considering that in my past I never did or said anything as blatantly stupid as Van Jones perpetually did, the answer would be "no" -- I wouldn't have to worry about losing my job due to Fox -- or anyone else -- looking into me.

Let Van Jones be a lesson for everyone out there that words and actions DO come back to haunt you, especially when you try and move up the ladder and into a high profile or news worthy position (which will put you under the microscope) such as working for the White House.

And to be fair, I mean that regardless of whichever side of the political aisle is in power at the time...

[research]

yes, of course. Why is that so hard to understand? Conservatives spin liberals words and deeds all the time. It's SOP.

What words in particular of Jones, don't you like?

[Steve made]

For those of you who are intellectually honest and not afraid to have your longstanding "truths" challenged, this is worth reading.
http://www.amazon.com/Spies-Rise-Fall-KGB-America/dp/0300123906
Contrary to what has been repeated without question over the last fifty years, McCarthy may have been closer to the truth than previously thought. Conventional wisdom = fail.

[satyriasis]

Cast a big enough net and you'll catch anything. I guess destroying the lives of innocent people is all okay so long as the the right wing gets one thought crime perpetrator.

[SewaneeLeftist]

Exactly, satyr. Well said.

[epcraig]

Wht doe Rupert Murdoch get any say in an administration he opposes?

[LMPE]

Not only would Joe McCarthy have his own show, it would probably be called "Truth and Freedom".

[Joseph Palermo]

The McCarthy Factor, and later just, The Factor

[saami]

Excellent post. Glenn Beck is despicable and the crazier he gets the more I think he is sly like a fox. He knows the mentality of his audience and their lack of intelligence and basic ignorance of history and political science and plays his race card over and over. As a white person, I am embarrassed that this guy is on TV. A good film to watch during these times is "Good Night and Good Luck" about Edward R. Murrow and Tail Gunner Joe.

[rnr42005]

what??? you can not stand to have someone make you think for yourself? you would rather be the second cow in the herd with your nose stuck up the firsts' butt not having a clue where you are going or why? just follow what the one leading is doing and everything will be okay!!

much the same with so many societys of the world that have crumbled under themselves­...the masses became complacent and let the few "lead" them to total destruction. check out our world history...­.the Romans, the Huns, the Aztecs...t­he list goes on and on!!!

i don't agree with everything that Glen Beck has to say, but he WILL make you think for yourselves and hopefully encourage you to find the answers!!! what a concept!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­! get involved!!!!!!

and for those of you that believe that one man on FOX NEWS has the power to "brig down" Van Jones????? you REALLY need to begin researching not only history but todays political activities as well!!!!!!!!!!

[saami]

I do think for myself and therefore I reject Glenn Beck as a disgusting rabble rouser with an agenda that has nothing to do with intelligent discourse, the facts or improving our country.

[OdaNobunaga]

Someone who watches Fox News lecturing a liberal on free thought? That's a laugh. That's like the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons telling Brad Pitt to get a life.

[Estreet1964]

Hey Mr. Freethinker, please tell us about the internment camps that Obama is planning.

[ConjureMan]

All cable news is so full of crap these days, from the right and the left, both. The belicose buffons on the right (ala Fox), and the smarmy bunch from the left (ala MSNBC) doing cutesy got'chas aimed at Limbaugh, Beck and the rest of that type. Frankly I don't know who upsets me the most, the bloviating Right Repub's, or the spineless Democrats (formerly my guys) I just about had enough of all of them. Maybe Sacco & Vanzetti had it right, anarchy is te way to go.

[Konnie]

Obama never should have accepted van jones' resignation. he just threw red meat to the lions.
allowed to continue there won't be anyone left in the administration by the next election.
pathetic. no guts no glory works on both sides of this fence. time someone on our side
showed some.

[JerryLevy]

Glenn Beck simply and repeatedly quoted Van Jones. He did not state anything that was not true----all he did was quote the guy, read from his publications, and show an incendiary speech he gave. He truthfully pointed out that Van Jones was a 9/11 "truther" who believed the U.S. government was complicit with the attacks on the WTC. Hardly McCarthyism when only quoting the truth. Personally, I find Van Jones' views offensive but I would not have fired him over this but Beck did nothing but point out exactly what Jones said.

[yankees]

I love your spin. Everybody is playing the race card these days but I must admit the Democrats are using it for any opposition to the President. The Left/Liberals calling us racist because we oppose the Health Plan Bill in its present state, what's that all about? I elected Obama the man not for the color of his skin and if I have to be subjected to all the name calling I won't vote for him next time.

[valkyrie607]

Um, yeah, if you can't perceive that saying that the President has "a deep-seated hatred of white people and white culture" betrays racist sensibilities then I question whether you have a functional definition of racism.

[OdaNobunaga]

"I love your spin. Every Republican is playing the race card these days.."

Fixed that for you.

[gs-425]

Van Jones is 'linked' to the CoC like Cheney was to Halliburton.

[valkyrie607]

Except without the billions of dollars in kick-backs and no-bid contracts.

[gs-425]

Billions in kickbacks.­...got a link to that gem? Billions in no-bids, maybe....k­ickbacks?

[realpolitic]

"I only bring up this example to show that no right-wing administration has to worry about purges of their people from a powerless but noisy Left, showing once again the bankruptcy of the faux balance the mainstream press insists on imposing on these types of political fights." The professor is right, as usual. In fact, if far right conservatives said bizarre, nutty remarks in the past it was probably why they were appointed to their positions in the first place and reason for promotion. Usually with conservatives, the nuttier the remark the better! Ashcroft covered statutes outside the Department of Justice so when he gave interviews the breasts of the statutes would not be revealed. Others on the right make racially tinged, inflammatory rhetoric and the press yawns. But if a Democratic administration appointee has been anything but a boyscout his entire life he is placed under a media glare few can withstand. I don't know in the short run if Democrats have an answer to Fox and AM radio. Fox still pretends it is a news organization, while most thoughtful people know it is just a propaganda machine that cares little about the news, but exists to steer the dialogue to the far right. Democrats must govern responsibly and over time the electoral will contrast that with the fiasco that was the Bush administration and will be future Republican administrations. How can they govern when their sole intent is to fight the culture wars and destroy government?

[TruGal]

Patrick Adams: you hit the nail on the head.
Father Charles Coughlin seems to be both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh's media hero, and unfortunately he lasted a fairly long time in American culture in the thirties . The threat of being charged with sedition may be what finally removed him from the radio, but not before he spread his anti-semitic vitriol.
Today, the "threat" of having men who are both black AND intellectually superior to these dolts on Fox is just making some heads explode over there.

[saami]

I agree they fear intelligent black men. Hard to keep them down.