From Emi Kolawole at the Washington Post, “Brady Campaign slams Glenn Beck rally”:
The announcement that Glenn Beck would host a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream Speech” was bound to attract critics.
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In an editorial featured on The Huffington Post, Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke takes aim at the “Restoring Honor” rally, which is co-hosted by the National Rifle Association (NRA). “Most jarring is the sad irony of all of these people at the podium,” writes Helmke, “with their supporters spread across our National Mall, celebrating, in part, their worship of guns, while invoking, quite blatantly, the legacies of two great Americans whose magnificent lives were cruelly cut short by bullets.”
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But Beck argues that the date is merely a coincidence. “The Restoring Honor Rally is neither a 9/12 nor a Tea Party rally,” reads a press release,”There will be absolutely no politics involved. This rally will honor the troops, unite the American people under the principles of integrity and truth, and make a pledge to restore honor within ourselves and our country.” Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R)… will also be in attendance.
Well, it’s hard to imagine a venue more suited to Palin’s talents. Any bets on a deranged Second Amendment supporter trying to elevate one or both of these sterling conservative spokespersons to their rightful place in America’s Hall of Martyrs?
If Beck/Palin’s Vengeful Sky-Father God exists, He needs to stop hiring His scriptwriters from the SNL bench.
EDIT: The first commentor complains “Not cute, not clever, not funny.” I meant it seriously. Beck, and Palin, have invited armed fanatics to a media-intensive event at the memorial to America’s first and most famous assassination victim. Believe me, I hope the worst that ensues is a rightwing fap-fest.
Glenn Beck's Chalkboard
No cute, not clever, not funny.
Bulworth
Why or how do the Beckers think “honor” has been lost? Maybe they recognize the loss of honor generated by Breitbart’s and Faux’s race baiting. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
Keith G
It should be nice and hot about that time. Hope they bring water. Other than that, I really do not care.
r€nato
Last April, 2nd Amendment rallies were held on the anniversary of… the Oklahoma City bombings. April 19th.
That, too, was a coinky-dink. Of course.
r€nato
This…
has what to do with this???
Next week I’m going to hold a rally against cannibalism. The Donner party, Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Jeffrey Dahmer are the featured speakers.
r€nato
Speaking of Glenn Beck… pardon me if you’ve already heard about this, but it’s a new one to me.
IM
Oklahoma City bombing is also the day of Waco, right?
Perhaps they should just have waited a day. April 20th is totally harmless.
Rock
@Glenn Beck’s Chalkboard: Maybe Annie was suggesting that it was a lot less likely than someone enacting “a Second Amendment solution” against a prominent liberal.
In any case, I think someone could view a big conservative NRA rally at the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of MLK’s speech as almost celebratory of the past enactment of Second Amendment solutions. While *I* certainly don’t suggest that is what is happening, I do think one could very well see it that way.
HyperIon
@Bulworth:
Actually I’m in the “Do the Beckers think?” club.
r€nato
@IM:
Hmmm… about that… 4/20’s buzz is totally harshed by being both Hitler’s birthday and the anniversary of the Columbine massacre.
tbogg
Two words: Bob Roberts
Providing Palin doesn’t hold littleTrigger up as a shield
danimal
I agree that the “hall of martyrs” comment is ill-considered. Joking about killing political enemies is going too far. I hate it from the right and I hate it from the left.
Joe Lisboa
Anne, do not go there with that closing bit. Shame on the nutters for invoking assassination and shame on you. We are better than that. Act (and write) like it, please.
IM
@r€nato:
You don’t say.
Jeffro
@Bulworth: That was my first thought, too – when exactly, according to Beck, was the nation’s honor lost? November 4th, 2008 or January 20th, 2009?
IM
Providing Palin doesn’t hold littleTrigger up as a shield
King was a naive liberal writing in a more innocent day. No true Plain supporter would have any problems with that.
Caoimhe
Like others have already commented, this is in horribly bad taste and does not reflect well upon the site.
Please retract and apologize.
licensed to kill time
Just a wild guess: “Restoring Honor” would involve replacing the current blackity black guy in the White House.
__
via Media Matters
SiubhanDuinne
Kind of off topic, but it’s an open thread, so . . . . I posted this link on an open thread this morning, but the thread had gone dead by that time, and this is SO VERY worth seeing it deserves another link:
27bslash6.com/missy.html
Usually when I claim to have laughed til I cried, I’m just indulging in a bit of hyperbole. But this quite literally had me weeping with mirth.
And I’m a cat lover. Also.
r€nato
sarcasm fail on my part, IM. Sorry.
thomas
@Rock:
I’m with Rock on this. And I think that Anne has her snark on.
r€nato
@Jeffro: August 4, 1961. When Barack Obama, Ann Dunham and Bill Ayers hatched their satanic conspiracy – along with the non-existent Republic of Kenya and the non-existent ACORN – to install Barack Saddam Hussein Osama bin Laden al-Qaeda in the White House nearly 50 years later.
pharniel
I admit I lolled.
C Nelson Reilly
Add Breitbart to the mix and you’ve got a great power trio
Bulworth
I’m particularly curious as to how the worship of guns enhances the “restore honor” theme.
Strandedvandal
“retract and apologize”? Seriously?
Assuming that it wasn’t snark, which I am certain it was,
Why? Because it might upset the precious fee fee’s of some wingnut? Who gives a flying f*ck? They are sh*tting all over MLK’s memory with this crap. F*CK THEM and their feelings.
Zifnab
I’ve become firmly convinced Glenn Beck has been putting together a classic jump suit wearing, kool-aid drinking cult. I really am just waiting for him to command all his followers to meet him on a compound somewhere in Utah or Nevada, where he can finally conduct their passing on to some nearby approaching patriotically themed meteor.
Sentient Puddle
This being an open thread, can I note how surprised I am that I haven’t heard a peep from anyone (especially John) about Starcraft II?
Ah well, about an hour until I’m done with work.
jeffreyw
Thread needs more doggies
Baby
Tatu
Bulworth
Leaving aside the “integrity” part of this equation, I wholeheartedly agree that the nation needs to be united around the principle of truth–as in, no, there really aren’t any death panels in the health care bill and, no, there really aren’t any concentration camps full of FEMA trailers for conservative dissidents, and yes, the president was born here, and no, the stimulus bill really did not increase your stupid taxes, you imbecile.
aimai
@Bulworth: That caught my eye, too. I haven’t lost my honor, as far as I know. And neither has anyone else I know. What strange concept is this code for?
aimai
El Cid
These patriots should rename themselves something like the Liberty League.
R-Jud
@aimai:
You’re a liberal, silly– we don’t have honor! We just have arugula.
Violet
@SiubhanDuinne:
That’s hilarious. I actually guffawed.
pharniel
@aimai:
You just don’t know you’ve lost your honor MAAAAN. ‘Cause you’re like…brainwashed by the man man!
’cause he’s got the intertubes and the netroots and they’ve blinded you to the conspiracy around us man, that you can only taste it if you’re a real american, and every american should be able to taste it. It tastes like rotten apple pie! but when you’re free man, it’s like, apple pie man. real apple pie, like you get from wallmart.
///
At least that’s how I imagine someone my dad’s age trying to explain it.
THe sad bit is that they are not actually high, just burnt out and butthurt because they could never live up to the legacy of their parents.
Fergus Wooster
As I recall, “restore honor and dignity” was code for “no more blowjobs from interns” in 2000.
Now it’s just part of the lame retread word-salad we’ve gotten since the teabaggers took their “bush-cheney” buttons off.
Omnes Omnibus
@aimai: I think they feel dishonored that our head of state is not white. They see themselves as ruled by a Black man which upsets the natural order of things. But, hell, I can’t really figure it out either.
PeakVT
@Bulworth: “Honor” sounds better than “manliness” or “tribe.”
Zach
I am out of town on the 28th, but would organize this if I were in the DC area:
Make signs with racist or otherwise indefensible statements by Beck, Limbaugh, Gingrich, Palin, etc written out in huge type and bring them to the rally. For example:
Additionally, “Barack Obama has a deep seeded hatred of white people”, “White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw.“ “you know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims’ families,” ” I’m thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I’m wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could.” “Like I told you, minorities never do anything for which they have to apologize.”, “Can you let your son’s body become the same temperature as your son’s head before you turn this into a political campaign against the president” … etc.
Just make a ton of large white signs with plain, huge, black print and display them around the event. It’s not a protest; you’re just reinforcing exactly what the folks in charge of the event stand for.
Jim Crozier
“rightwing fap-fest”
Would it be possible to add this to our list of tags? I honestly see a lot of usage for this particular phrase.
IM
arugula e muerte!
rea
The only “loss of honor” I remember recetnly involved torturing prisoners and invading countries.
Kyle
Iraq was not involved in the 9/11 attacks, Saddam’s nukes did not get secretly shipped to Syria, Fox News is not fair and balanced, Ronald Reagan did not “win the Cold War”, humans are affecting global climate change, the Earth is not 6000 years old, and Jesus did not ride a dinosaur to church.
You get started on stupid shit that rightards believe, and we could be here for days.
gwangung
Thread needs more cuteness period.
Uloborus
@aimai:
Well, they do hype that every time Obama is so much as polite to another country he’s ‘dishonoring’ America. But really, ‘lost our honor’ is code for ‘Democrats are in power’. I believe the evolution of the meme is through the insistence that all of Obama’s policies are anti-American and defy the constitution, thus making them ‘dishonorable’. But it’s not the policies they don’t like – as has been thoroughly researched. It’s the person making those policies.
Really, we got a lot of this stuff when Clinton came into power, like the morons wearing black on inauguration day because we would all be dead before another president could be elected. And a vast upswing in militias. It’s just that this time they’re being egged on.
Mike in NC
@Rock:
It would be irresponsible not to speculate, would it not?
Seriously, these dirtbags are beyond mocking.
Keith G
@Strandedvandal: Not that I care one way or the other, but this type of humor/snark can be riposted out of context to ill effect.
Svensker
@IM:
Fixed it for ya, just a bit.
Also FYWP
QuaintIrene
You’re asking for details? Sorry, for the Beck/Palin/Bachmann type crowd, they only speak in bumperstickers. Ask for exactly what they mean by lost honor, or spiraling into socialism or trashing the constitution or…. you’ll just get a lot of sputtering and ’cause I said so, that’s why.’
Ash Can
Isn’t it illegal to carry firearms in DC parks? What I would be willing to bet on is the possibility of either Beck or Palin (if she doesn’t bail beforehand) yelling, “Hey, patriots! Show me your guns!” The dunderheads enthusiastically comply, and the park rangers sweep in and make mass arrests.
IM
Well I meant that in the sense of : See Venice and die, eating arugula giving you such earthly bliss that you can then die content.
And you are an elitist. Also.
(I should work for Palin)
R-Jud
@Svensker:
Now there’s a tattoo idea.
Bulworth
Well, I believe him. Don’t you?
kay
@Bulworth:
I do. I think he’s selling books, and his cable program, and his radio show, and his “brand”.
If newspapers are wondering why they don’t have sufficient revenue, they might want to think about charging for advertising. I have no idea why they’re giving it to him.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Whatevs. Good luck spinning the optics.
As for me, I’ll be praying for another of the really violent storms this area is so good at producing. I don’t care how long my power is out, the sight of those turds being flushed into the Tidal Basin would be worth it.
Brachiator
More needs to be said about the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery.
There was a rally in her support in London recently (Ashtiani death sentence protesters hold London rally). And I note for the benefit of those who think that nothing that happens in the Muslim world is anybody else’s business that some Muslim Tom Joads have come forward to protest this.
Ominously, the authorities put out an arrest warrant for the lawyer representing Ashtiani.
Elsewhere in the news, the BBC reports that around 1,500 Israeli police razed an ‘illegal’ Bedouin village in Negev, ousting 300 people from their homes.
Another bad week for justice.
bemused
@SiubhanDuinne:
I love cats too but my stomach really hurts from laughing.
JGabriel
@tbogg:
Jesus, she would so do that.
That wins the thread.
.
jl
The childishness is spreading, like in some 50s scifi pic where something bad takes over people’s brains
Talkingpointsmemo reports that
‘ Opponents of a new mosque and community center in Riverside, California have opted for a new strategy of asking protestors to bring dogs since Muslims “hate dogs.” ‘
talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/07/islam-bashers_adopt_new_canine_strategy.php?ref=fpblg
Woodrowfan
@IM:
April 19 is “Patriot Day” in parts of New England as it was the day of Lexington-Concord. Some of the tinfoilers on the right think Waco happened on that day as a “message” from President Clinton that we were no longer free. Oklahoma City happened on that day as both “revenge” for Waco and because it was the anniversary of Lexington-Concord. Gun rallies pick that day because of Lexington as well..
JGabriel
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks for the link. That honestly is quite brilliant.
.
Joseph Nobles
828 isn’t a political rally.
Does Glenn Beck really need to have such a white-knuckle grasp on the Lyingest Lying Liar award of 2010?
JCT
@SiubhanDuinne: I was instant-messaging with my daughter in Morocco when you posted (she is a massive cat lover) so we shared a good laugh together over this!
Needed a laugh today.
SiubhanDuinne
@Violet:
@bemused:
@JGabriel:
I’ve read it four times now, and get hysterical every time.
(I think this is probably going to go into moderation FYWP because of the FYWP limit on links and number of replies FYWP but I don’t really care, it’s not like I’m contributing to the Beck-Palin conversation FYGB FYSP.)
JGabriel
@Keith G:
You mean, it might get … Sherroded?
Or is Breitbarted the verb we’re using?
.
Gus
@jeffreyw: OMFG. If I didn’t already have two dogs…
SiubhanDuinne
@JCT: Whoever came up with this is insanely brilliant. I’m going to find time to prowl around the slashdot.com site and see if everything over there is that funny, or if the lost cat thing was a one-off.
How fascinating that your daughter is in Morocco! Does she live there, or on vacation, or what? It’s a country I hope to visit in the next few years.
Bulworth
Our liberal conspiracy is doing pretty lousy when we can’t even get it together to make sure that a place as honorable as the Lincoln Memorial is reserved that day just so the Becksters can’t hold a gun an “restore our honor” event.
maya
@licensed to kill time:
Press #1 for Limblish, that comes out; Negroes should be cleaning the White House toilet, not using it.
shortstop
Yeah. Remember when Dubya campaigned on bringing “honor back to the Oval Office”?
Aw, that was painful to type.
None of this is meant to imply that these people aren’t freaking out at having a black president. They are, all day and every day. But to a lesser extent, they also think white Democratic presidents are vessels of dishonor.
Mnemosyne
Zebra/donkey hybrid, anyone?
Apparently it is referred to as a “zedonk.”
bemused
@SiubhanDuinne:
The whole thing was brilliant. After a quick look, his other stuff is damn good too…”Simon’s Pie Charts”, “Party in Apartment 3”. I can’t wait to read them all.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
As soon as I saw the word “zedonk” my mind flashed back to a song from the musical Irma La Douce (“Dis-Donc“) and of course now I can’t get the tune out of my head. And for the rest of my life, every time I think, oh, I’ll just drive up to Dahlonega this weekend and visit the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve and visit the little zedonk, the song “Dis-Donc” will pop up and I’ll have an earworm.
Luckily, “Dis-Donc” is a tune I like.
Luckily, the baby zedonk is adorable.
SiubhanDuinne
@bemused:
I loved Simon’s Pie Charts. Haven’t got down as far as Party in Apartment 3 yet, but I’m heading over there now :-)
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
What can I say, I like cute hybrids. That must be why I’m an Obot who has rescue cats.
The stripey little back legs just kill me. You know that’s going to end up on Cute Overload.
SiubhanDuinne
@bemused:
Did you see “Permission Slip”? If I knew Christopher Hitchens’ email address I’d send him the link. It would cheer him right up.
@Mnemosyne:
I wasn’t kidding when I talked about maybe driving up there one weekend soon (while he’s still in the colt stage of zedonkitude) — it would be pretty easy from Atlanta and it would be fun to see him in person.
Yes, love those little stripey legs.
(Still have “Dis-Donc” going through my head, BTW.)
JCT
@SiubhanDuinne: She’s a college student studying advanced Arabic and also the Moroccan dialect. She loves it there — she had finished her homework and was actually regaling me with the details of her latest meal when I passed along the cat link. It was a nice diversion because she was making me drool over her descriptions of the food.
You should definitely go — she has been traveling around the country easily and has just had a blast.
And apparently she knew about this guy and his site — said the “spider” one was great.
Thanks again for the laugh!
Bill Murray
@Zifnab: I think he is tryong to become Buzz Windrip. He’ll probably have to promise more than $5000 per year to each person
gbear
I hope it’s so hot their guns melt.
kay
@shortstop:
I absolutely do remember that.
First term:
CROWLEY: But by those words, do you think that there are things that the vice president could have done to bring honor back to the White House? Did he act dishonorably, is that what you are saying?
BUSH: No, I’m not casting aspersions on Vice President Gore. What I am saying is America wants somebody to restore honor and dignity to the White House. That is what America is looking for.
Second term:
I am proud to serve beside … a President of the United States who has brought honor and dignity back to the White House.
– Vice President Dick Cheney, 2004
Bush wasn’t casting aspersions though. Al Gore couldn’t restore honor and dignity, simple as that. Bush knew not why. It wasn’t personal.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Dude, if I were Muslim I’d be running around screaming that I hate money. Particularly $50s and $100s.
HRA
@jeffreyw:
Aww Jeffrey – we have those 2 in our family. Jasmine is new at 4 months and going to grow into a Baby. Chouee is a twin of Tatu. Sorry, no pics.
Linda Featheringill
Kind of got blasted today, didn’t you? Poor baby.
Okay, maybe we shouldn’t throw around 2nd Amendment jokes too much.
As a child, I remember a bunch of jokes that featured an African-American child getting hurt, threatened, or just plain killed. Sunny beaches! Some of those were rough. I don’t know if anybody in my general circle ever put those “jokes” into action but looking back, I wouldn’t be too surprised if they did. I suspect that if you can laugh about it, you can do it. I hope they didn’t.
Forcing an indignity on another person is not right and inflicting physical harm is definitely wrong. But you know that.
The problem is, not everybody does. And we fear that if we cheapen these acts that are just plain wrong by joking about them, such acts might become more commonplace.
And yes, of course, we still love you. :-)
blair
@IM: just a chilled out, kinda slow day, ya know. dude, here….
Cacti
If this event is about being virtuous, what the hell is Ted Nugent doing there?
SoINeedAName
Hope springs eternal …
But so far as I have checked today, they have not been granted a Permit for that venue.
Jess Sane
Lighten up!
This is no worse than wearing a swastika to a holocaust memorial.
Joe Lisboa
Whatever, I am the furthest thing from a WATB but the fact that Anne has doubled down on implying that assassination of our political opponents would be a good thing puts her far into the WackoKos territory that will likely be thrown at me for disagreeing, here.
THERE IS ENOUGH STUPID FUCKING SHIT TO MOCK about this pathetic Beck-led faux protest at the Lincoln Memorial without invoking assassination. Period. Do not feed the trolls and/or their clueless fire, folks.
Joe Lisboa
I apologize, maybe this is an age thing or something. For a not insignificant portion of the American electorate, assassination is not just a throwaway gag line or something but was, until recently, how the Right resolved its issues when the polling place failed to deliver. I grok that you are mocking that, but still. This is the last I will say about this. WE are better than that.
Mnemosyne
@Joe Lisboa:
That’s the point, though — they’re holding their faux-protest at gunshot victim Lincoln’s memorial on the anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech by gunshot victim Martin Luther King, Jr.
That’s what makes it so fucking inappropriate. If it was at the Washington Memorial on the anniversary of Gerald Ford’s speech pardoning Richard NIxon, it would just be pathetic. When you add in the fact that they’re parading guns around in “celebration” of two famous assassination victims who were shot to death, it goes past “pathetic” and straight into outright offensive.
Yutsano
@SiubhanDuinne:
I had a good friend from college who got married at a resort up that way. AMAZINGLY beautiful country and I loved how the trees were so different from home. Plus she’s the one who convinced me it’s not always a bad thing to chase someone for love, because she ended up meeting her husband while following her heart with another. Plus you stole a damn good egg from the Northwest.
The Moar You Know
Fuck the haters. This is awesome. For all of you butthurt crybabies bawling about the lack of civility in this post, please keep in mind that these people have stated explicitly on many occasions that they specifically want your deaths.
Learn to stand on your feet and throw a punch, you bunch of whiny, good for nothing complainers.
General Stuck
small wonder
TenguPhule
One properly placed bomb would make the world a much better place, alas.
Cacti
How can this event be interpreted as anything other than a giant middle finger to black people by Beck and the Becktards.
The life’s work of Martin Luther King was defined by the principle of non-violent resistance to injustice.
Beck holds an event on the anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream ” speech, sponsored by the National Rifle Association, and featuring redneck buttrocker Ted Nugent, who once said the first black President could “Suck on my machine gun”.
Let’s call this crap what it is. A white power rally dressed in a cloak of honoring the military.
Jebediah
@The Moar You Know:
How many of us constantly get joke email passarounds where the punchline involves the killing or death of a liberal, progressive, Democrat, Muslim, etc.? I lost count when it got over 9000. I have no problem turning a little of that back their way.
j
@Glenn Beck’s Chalkboard: It’s a standard thing. The fanatics go after their idols so they can be as famous as them. Remember what happened to Selena? The president of her fan club killed her. This behavior happens ALL THE TIME. How about all those dead starlets who were killed by their “number one fan”?
TaosJohn
Okay, I’m back. (Don’t get all excited.) Geez, if this blog allowed gravatars for anyone besides the damn cat, I could be advertising my new book.