Strangely, on his July 25 radio program, Glenn Beck smeared the victims of this tragedy by comparing them to Hitler youth, saying:

“As the thing started to unfold and there was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like the Hitler Youth. Who does a camp for kids that’s all about politics? Disturbing.”

Needless to say, Beck’s smear was wildly off base. A former press secretary of Norway’s prime minister explained to The Daily Telegraph:

“Young political activists have gathered at Utoya for over 60 years to learn about and be part of democracy, the very opposite of what the Hitler Youth was about.  Glenn Beck’s comments are ignorant, incorrect and extremely hurtful.”

Audio of Beck’s remarks:

Beck is no stranger to smears and outrageous comparisons.  Just a few months ago, Beck claimed that Reform Judaism was akin to “radicalized Islam.”

Update (7/26/11):

On his radio show today, Glenn Beck offered no apology for comparing the victims to Hitler youth. Instead, he defended the use of Hitler analogies, explaining that if we can’t use Hitler comparisons in “logical conversation” then “we are going to be a society of gas chambers.”

Audio:

On the February 22 edition of his radio show, Glenn Beck railed against Reform Judaism by comparing it to “radicalized Islam” and saying that it was more about politics than faith.

Audio and transcript of the relevant portion:

STU BURGUIERE (executive producer): And now remember, this is all fueled by an organization that Soros funds, that has a bunch of progressive rabbis that came out against Glenn and said –

BECK: OK, you have to — hang on just a second. When you talk about rabbis, understand that most — most people who are not Jewish don’t understand that there are the Orthodox rabbis, and then there are the Reformed rabbis. Reformed rabbis are generally political in nature. It’s almost like Islam, radicalized Islam in a way, to where it is just — radicalized Islam is less about religion than it is about politics. When you look at the Reform Judaism, it is more about politics. I’m not saying that they’re the same on –

BURGUIERE: No, obviously not.

BECK: — and they’re going to take it at that, but — stand in line.

BURGUIERE: “Glenn Beck says –”

BECK: It’s not about terror or anything else, it’s about politics, and so it becomes more about politics than it does about faith. Orthodox rabbis — that is about faith. There’s not a single Orthodox rabbi on this list. This is all Reformed rabbis that were — that made this list.

BURGUIERE: Yeah, I don’t know that for a fact. I know that certainly this organization is a progressive political organization. And that’s fine.

To put it another way, Glenn Beck just smeared 35% of American Jews. Media Matters has more here.

[...]

In recent months, however, Jewish sensitivities have been irritated by both Fox News’s reigning talk-show star, Glenn Beck, and Roger Ailes, president of Fox News.

[...]

Beck regularly professes his deep love for Israel and has a history of using Holocaust analogies to attack those with whom he disagrees – anyone to the left of him. He accuses his opponents of laying the groundwork for a fascist state. Last summer, Jewish Funds for Justice, a progressive group, criticised Beck’s opposition to the campaign for social justice. The head of the organisation, Simon Greer, argued that “to put God first is to put humankind first, and to put humankind first is to put the common good first.” Beck responded that this world-view “leads to death camps. A Jew, of all people, should know that. This is exactly the kind of talk that led to the death camps in Germany. Put humankind and the common good first.”

[...]

But this was surpassed by Beck a few months later when he ran a three-part series on George Soros, entitled The Puppet Master. Complete with images of demonic-looking Jewish stars, Beck attacked Soros for supposedly trying to take over the world.

[...]

Many people found Beck’s reference to Soros’s experiences during the Holocaust particularly egregious. Soros’s parents had hidden him with a non-Jew who worked for the Hungarian ministry of agriculture.

On one occasion, the man took Soros with him when he made an inventory of the contents of a home of wealthy Jews who had been deported. Apparently, Soros spent the time riding a horse on the property. This is how Beck described it: “And George Soros used to go around with this antisemite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening…

“Here’s a Jewish boy,” Beck concluded, “helping send the Jews to the death camps.” This charge echoes a classic antisemitic motif: Jews will oppress their own if it is to their advantage to do so. J. J. Goldberg of Forward described it as the closest thing he had heard to fascism on mainstream television.

[...]

You can read the full piece here.

The Anti-Defamation league released a statement condemning the attacks as “over the top:”

New York, NY, November 11, 2010 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today criticized as “completely inappropriate and offensive” remarks by Glenn Beck on his radio and television programs, in which he inaccurately connected George Soros, who was then a young boy, to the actions of others in sending Jews to death camps during the Holocaust.

On his November 10 radio show, Beck described how Soros, who was born in Hungary to Orthodox Jewish parents, “used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. And George Soros was part of it. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening. Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps.”

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor, issued the following statement:

Glenn Beck’s description of George Soros’ actions during the Holocaust is completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top. For a political commentator or entertainer to have the audacity to say – inaccurately – that there’s a Jewish boy sending Jews to death camps, as part of a broader assault on Mr. Soros, that’s horrific.

While I, too, may disagree with many of Soros’ views and analysis on the issues, to bring in this kind of innuendo about his past is unacceptable. To hold a young boy responsible for what was going on around him during the Holocaust as part of a larger effort to denigrate the man is repugnant.

The Holocaust was a horrific time, and many people had to make excruciating choices to ensure their survival. George Soros has been forthright about his childhood experiences and his family’s history, and there the matter should rest.

Simon Greer, the president of Jewish Funds for Justice, released a statement about Beck’s smears saying “this scares me:”

A message from Jewish Funds for Justice
President Simon Greer

Dear friends:

Yesterday, Glenn Beck and the leadership of Fox News made a mockery of their commitment to me and two rabbis. Let me take a few steps back to tell you why what happened yesterday scares me.

On Tuesday night, many in our community were gathered together, in Brooklyn, in Dayton, in Santa Barbara. Seventy-two years ago, the homes, shops, and synagogues of many of our parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were ransacked, broken, and burned as Nazi storm troopers destroyed towns and villages across Germany and Austria. Many historians view Kristallnacht as the beginning of the Final Solution and the Holocaust.

Washington Post journalist Dana Milbank has observed that Fox News host Glenn Beck has a bit of a Nazi fetish. From Obama’s inauguration through June 2010, Beck had “202 mentions of Nazis or Nazism, according to transcripts, 147 mentions of Hitler, 193 mentions of fascism or fascist, and another 24 bonus mentions of Joseph Goebbels.” Yesterday he spoke again about the Holocaust. But it was not to commemorate Kristallnacht. It was to engage in an insidious form of Holocaust revisionism. His motivation? To score political points against George Soros, a prominent Jewish philanthropist and Holocaust survivor.

As many of you know, I was the subject of a personal attack by Glenn Beck in May of this year. Responding to an article I wrote supporting a government role to advance the common good, Beck scolded me, declaring that my words “are what led to the death camps in Germany” and that I “as a Jew, should know better.” To discuss this and other, similar comments, on July 26, I joined rabbis Steve Gutow and David Ellenson, on behalf of fourteen prominent leaders of national Jewish organizations, in a meeting with Fox News President Roger Ailes and the producer of Glenn Beck’s television show, Joel Cheatwood. We spoke for almost an hour about the concerns held by many Jews about Glenn Beck’s constant and often inappropriate invocation of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany on the air.

We were assured by Ailes and Cheatwood that they understand our concerns and would explain them to Beck. Two days later, I received a hand-written note from Beck, which stated: “Simon, Joel shared the details of your meeting yesterday. Please know that I understand the sensitivity and sacred nature of this dark chapter in Human History. Thank you for your candor and helpful thoughts.”

Yesterday, Glenn Beck and the leadership of Fox News made a mockery of their professed understanding. In his own words, “George Soros used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. And George Soros was part of it. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening. Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps.”

No one who truly understands “the sensitivity and sacred nature” of the Holocaust would deliberately and grotesquely mischaracterize the experience of a 13-year-old Jew in Nazi-occupied Hungary whose father hid him with a non-Jewish family to keep him alive. Many other Jews survived the attempted extermination of the Jewish people by changing their identities and hiding with Righteous Gentiles. With today’s falsehoods, Beck has engaged in a form of Holocaust revisionism.

I have had the privilege recently of getting to know George Soros. During our conversations, he made it clear that his experience surviving the Holocaust seared a simple but profound truth in his brain. Jews suffer in nationalist societies and thrive in open societies. When he began his philanthropy, it was driven by this insight. It’s why he named his foundation the Open Society Institute. This year alone, he has donated $700 million in an effort to make the world safe for all outsiders, to protect the weak from being preyed on by the powerful. It is what motivated one of his sons to pursue a PhD in Jewish Studies, with a focus on Modern European Jewish history.

Yet according to Glenn Beck, Soros “is a collaborator” who “saw people into the gas chambers.” So what’s the truth? It’s no secret. Here is the account provided by Michael T. Kaufman in his 2002 biography, Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire.

This is what actually happened. Shortly after George went to live with Baumbach [the Righteous Gentile hiding Soros], the man was assigned to take inventory on the vast estate of Mor Kornfeld, an extremely wealthy aristocrat of Jewish origin. The Kornfeld family had the wealth, wisdom and connections to be able to leave some of its belongings behind in exchange for permission to make their way to Lisbon. Baumbach was ordered to go to the Kornfeld estate and inventory the artworks, furnishings, and other property. Rather than leave his “godson” [Soros] behind in Budapest for three days, he took the boy with him. As Baumbach itemized the material, George walked around the grounds and spent time with Kornfeld’s staff. It was his first visit to such a mansion, and the first time he rode a horse. He collaborated with no one and he paid attention to what he understood to be his primary responsibility: making sure that no one doubted that he was Sandor Kiss. Among his practical concerns was to make sure that no one saw him pee.

Of all the new “Tea Party” leaders, Glenn Beck is one of the most vitriolic, and – with more than 800 hours of on-air time a year – the most visible. His portrayal of Soros today as the “Puppet Master,” as the special was called, evokes anti-Semitic stereotypes from the “devaluer of many currencies” to “advocate for one world government” from “anti-American” to “thinks he’s smarter than the rest of us.”

Beck’s words have consequences. They advance a world view that ultimately places Jews like Soros in the crosshairs, not unlike what we saw with Father Coughlin in the 1930s or the John Birch Society in the 1950s. Byron Williams, a Beck acolyte who recently engaged in a shoot-out with police on his way to kill “people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU,” shares his hero’s hatred of Soros and other “progressives.” Given the more than 40 percent of Jews self-identify as liberal, this hatred targets us.

I will be sending a letter with other Jewish leaders to Glenn Beck, Roger Ailes, and Rupert Murdoch, expressing to them what I have expressed to you. I will be in touch with you again tomorrow as we begin to respond to this most recent outrage. Thank you in advance for your continued support in the days and weeks to come.

Simon Greer
President and CEO
Jewish Funds for Justice

Despite these condemnations, Fox News executives are lining up behind Glenn Beck.  This is precisely why accountability matters and your continued participation in this effort is important.

Onward we go…

This morning, Glenn Beck claimed that Michelle Obama’s initiative has something to do with administration officials plan to put sterilants in the drinking water:

There’s simply no reasoning with this kind of reckless disregard for the truth. And, then people wonder why we have no choice but to urge his few remaining sponsors to cease supporting this kind of socially destructive vitriol.

Glenn Beck not only fetishizes 9/11, but he exploits this tragedy for his personal gain.  Last year, Glenn Beck launched the 9/12 Project, which describes itself as follows:

The 9-12 Project is designed to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001.

That’s right. Last year, Glenn Beck started a self-serving “movement” that’s sole purpose was to encourage people to feel as frazzled, terrified and disoriented as they were immediately after 9/11. (Of note: the 9/12 project was basically the proto tea party).

This year, Glenn Beck is upping the contemptibility.  He’s heading to Alaska, where he’ll be holding an 9/11 event with Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin said she “can think of no better way to commemorate 9/11 than to gather with patriots who will never forget.” Yea, patriots who will never forget…and fork over loads of cash.

This is not a free event:

• Regular tickets range from $73.75 – 129.50
• VIP tickets go for $225.00 (this ticket includes a “meet and greet with Glenn Beck)

Glenn Beck holding a for-profit 9/11 event is odious enough.  But, there’s one additional kick in the gut.  Those patriots that are paying Glenn Beck to commemorate 9/11 will be lining the pockets of a guy that once said he “hates 9/11 victims’ families…because they’re always complaining.”

——–

Media Matters has a great post up today about Ted Nugent, who will be speaking at Glenn Beck’s upcoming 828 rally (emphasis added):

One of the scheduled speakers at Glenn Beck’s 8-28 “reclaim the civil rights movement” rally recently reportedly told an audience that he “like[d]” them because there were “a lot of white people.”

The post is definitely worth a read as it also goes on to discuss some of Nugent’s additional deplorable conduct and flirtation with white supremacy (which as you know Glenn Beck is all too eager to embrace).

Media Matters does a pretty good job covering everything, but I just want to add one additional point.

Neil Cavuto recently interviewed Nugent. Nugent’s rant is filled with contrived ambiguity, but Nugent said that we must “kill the pig.” And, two groups he clearly defined as pigs were supporters of health care reform and undefined White House employees.

From the interview:

Nugent: But, I am Ted Nugent, governor of pigland. so I am the expert on the healthcare bill because I kill pigs. And, I just shot a monster big here in Texas.

And, seeing as how this is a pig bill created by pig bureaucrats to help out American pigs, as I approach this huge pig that looked like a beached sperm whale I was expecting George Costanza to come out of the bushes and extract a Titlelist number 3 ball from his blowhole.

But, as I was about to put a 10mm slug in this pig’s head, the last thing he said was [mimics squealing pig], which is pig for “where is my healthcare?” They’re pigs Neal. We gotta kill the pig. And, in November we gotta vote the pigs out of office, because this is a redistribution of wealth. This is the Communist-Mao-Che agenda of the Communist-Mao-Che fans in the White House. They’re pigs Neal!

Cavuto: Alright, So I’ll put you down as a no on healthcare.

Nugent’s excessive use of the word pig is subterfuge for the purpose of limiting or avoiding legal liability. The goal is to create ambiguity. Ambiguity which in turn is supposed to shroud, for legal purposes, Nugent’s call for violence. And, Cavuto was kind enough to let him rant for over a minute, completely uninterupted, so that Nugent wouldn’t have any obstacles for his legal tap dance.

Fox News’ handling of this matter is irresponsible and dangerous. Cavuto failed to repudiate or condemn Nugent’s call for violence. Moreover, Fox News afforded Ted Nugent more uninterrupted time to make his sociopathic point than they offer the President during his interviews. Further, Fox News cuts off people’s mics all the time. Fox News hosts are constantly taking hard lines against the ‘dangerous’ claims of liberals by cutting their mics.

So, why didn’t Fox News do that here? I don’t know, perhaps for the same reason they’re now promoting this video on their website?

Because, Fox News has decided that being seditious is more profitable and consistent with their political goals than being Fair and Balanced.

And, Glenn Beck is all too happy to bring this guy on stage at his “restoring honor” event. Glenn Beck sure has a funny idea of honor.

Onward we go…

A while back, Bill Press reported that the permit for Glenn Beck’s 828 rally had not been approved yet.  Well, as August 17, the permit is still pending.

But don’t get too excited, the permit is very likely to be approved.  The delay is largely attributable to working out logistical issues.

The official description of Glenn Beck’s event for the permit is a “demonstration to honor veterans.”  This is ironic given Glenn Beck’s suggestion that the Purple Heart lacks “honor and integrity” and his plans to do away with it at the event.

OpenCongress adds:

The August 28 rally falls on the 47th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, so several civil-rights groups have also applied for permits to hold events around D.C.

The only one approved so far is from a group of artists who plan to erect a four-foot sculpture on the Mall to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., and protest the Beck rally.

Update 8/19: As expected, Glenn Beck’s permit has been approved. Of note, Glenn Beck is setting expectations for the event awfully high.  His original permit called for a rally of 150,000 people.  But, he updated the figures during the final approval process and is now expecting a crowd of 300,000.

Only time will tell if Glenn Beck can meet his own hype. Tick Tock…

This Image Has Not Been Photoshopped

On August 28, Glenn Beck is planning a rally in Washington DC.  According to Mr. Beck, he intends on picking up Martin Luther King’s mantle and plans to “restore honor” to America.  How does Glenn Beck intend to restore honor? Well, by being as exploitative and dishonorable as possible.

Notably, Glenn Beck has chosen to hold the rally at the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of MLK’s “I I have a dream” speech.  Mr. Beck’s feeble and pathetic attempt to coopt MLK’s legacy has drawn the ire of civil rights leaders and organizations.  Mr. Beck rebuffed this criticism, asserting: “Blacks don’t own Martin Luther King.”

And, how is Glenn Beck funding this event? He’s raising money by using the Special Operations Warrior Fund’s tax-exempt status.  All donations will first be used to cover the cost of Glenn Beck’s event, whatever remains will go to charity.  The Special Operations Warrior Fund is a charity that benefits wounded veterans and their families.

Given what the Special Operations Warrior Fund supposedly stands for, Glenn Beck’s rant against the Purple Heart and his plans for the 828 event are contemptible…

Back in May, Glenn Beck suggested that the Purple Heart was dishonorable and trashed it as a progressive plot.  Accordingly, he plans to begin the event by doing away with Purple Hearts and awarding his own version of it (emphasis added):

Glenn Beck: Today, we announced the first 15 minutes of the 8-28 event and the people that will join me on stage. We announced that we are going to start — restart the badge of merit that George Washington gave his troops. It’s what the Purple Heart is based on, except the progressives — what a surprise — in 1933 introduced the Purple Heart.

The Purple Heart was based on the badge of merit by George Washington. It had nothing to do with being wounded in action. It had everything to do with doing something of honor and integrity, something to — something that — where you really put your neck out and you did something of real merit, not just getting shot — not that that’s –

But he was trying to build people that understood honor and merit and integrity and God.

That’s right, Glenn Beck plans to “restore honor” by trashing purple heart recipients as lacking honor and integrity.

I wonder how wounded warriors feel about Glenn Beck denigrating their sacrifice?

Listen:

Chip Berlet, one of the conference participants, pens a lengthy explanation of the hoax irresponsibly promoted by Fox News and Glenn Beck.

The story surfaces nationally with a surreal Glenn Beck segment and two ludicrous Fox News discussions highlighting the false claim that Brandeis University was hosting an international conference linking the Tea Party movement to Nazis in Europe. The conference, which took place yesterday, revealed the entire propaganda campaign was a hoax, but not before anguished Holocaust survivors, conservative Jews in the Tea Party movement, and others had deluged Brandeis University with complaints.

Regarding Beck’s tirade, Berlet notes:

As Media Matters for America observed, apparently the most significant aspect of the story for Beck was that the university was named after the late Jewish scholar and Supreme Court justice, Louis D. Brandeis. For Beck, wrote a Media Matters researcher, the “Brandeis University symposium on political extremism is suspect because Louis Brandeis was in [Woodrow] Wilson’s cabinet;” the quip accompanies a link to that portion of Beck’s tirade which skirted on the thin ice of classic antisemitic conspiracy claims about manipulation of politics by powerful elite Jews.

I suggest reading Berlet’s full account. It’s provides yet another example of the recklessness and vitriol that we have come to expect from Mr. Beck and that we are trying to hold him accountable for.

And, this, also from Berlet’s account is worth keeping in mind:

The discussion of the role of angry middle-class right-wing populist movements intersecting with opportunistic politicians and media demagogues to facilitate the formation of fascist and neo fascist movements is well studied in scholarly literature. But hyperbolic claims from the political Left that the Tea Party movement itself is a Nazi movement flow from deeply inaccurate and superficial perceptions about the nature of fascism and the actual attitudes within the Tea Party movement.

Video of Beck’s segment: