Left Doesn't Walk The Walk, Disappointingly

By the miracle of Facebook, I've been catching up with a lot of old friends, some of whom are folks left off with in Cleveland, from 2002 (when I left for Indiana) or earlier then that, as lives changed. Some of these same friends are somewhat alarmed by my libertarian politics, for a variety of reasons. This has caught me somewhat off guard, since I've been plainly advertising myself as a Libertarian since 1995, and was doing a libertarian radio show in that year, and then again 2001-2002.

My experience has long been that those on the left think of libertarians as far right wing, despite vast shared interest in things like civil liberties and at times, foreign policy. Meanwhile, those on the right think of libertarians as being far left, despite common ground on economic issues or the 2nd Amendment.

But most of my 'old' friends are left of center, as I once was. My best guess is that the reaction is thanks to Glenn Beck, who often calls himself a libertarian. He's moving in my direction, but I wouldn't call him one yet. I like that he admits that he knew nothing about our country and its founding, and then read up on it. That's rare. But he's a lightning rod, and the left hates on him. I mean, HATES.

And that's one of the things that gets my reaction. I react against people on the left for using hateful speech about Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, et al, because the left likes to play the role of being on the high road will identifying hate speech. Problem is, too frequently, the left doesn't walk the walk. Plenty of talk, but I only really care about substance. Sure, we're human, and we have passions, but decent people will retract or at least acknowledge the passion of the moment. I find too little of the actual high road in the left these days. I find too much justification of the hypocrisy, and I just don't take that well.

Do I hold the left up to a higher standard? Heck, yeah I do! That's because I was there once upon a time, and was betrayed. Wasn't ever betrayed by the right, since I was never there. It hurts more when you feel hurt or attacked from inside your own camp, as opposed to from the outside, where attacks are what you expect.

The first betrayal was Tipper Gore and the PMRC, with their attack on music lyrics. When I was a young man, the issues that mattered to me were few: 1st Amendment, no draft, an end to interventionist foreign policy. So, when the wife of Al Gore was on the attack on music I liked? I felt totally betrayed. I couldn't believe it. Messed up the black & white picture I had created where Democrats were the good guys, and Republicans were the evil, repressive bad guys.

Over time, my confidence in the Democrats in particular, but also the left as a whole, was eroded in many strokes. But each time, it was a hypocrisy that got my goat. Clinton promised a middle class tax cut, then didn't following through, the Brady Bill, the Americorps 'volunteers', and then taking us to Bosnia? I was done with the Democrats politically. The more I started to see, hear, read and learn, the more I discovered that I was not really well suited to the left, and especially the Democrats. I was a huge fan of Thomas Jefferson, and had simply accepted that his party was still classically liberal, which I was. Alas. Wow, did I learn.

I learned how the left couldn't help but being what it decried. Sure, dislike Rush Limbaugh, or now Glenn Beck, but the vile hatred I've heard over the years directed at Limbaugh- by the people who decry hate speech?

Now I've seen the left, which was all about the anti-war protests while Bush was in office, but not so much once Obama was inaugurated. The plain, political opportunism was revealed at the expense of principle. I've seen this over and over again, and so, I've simply come to the conclusion that the left is completely full of it.

But hey- prove me wrong. Show me that you are holding the feet of your own to the fire about the wars, about indefinite detention, Gitmo, the Patriot Act, the war on drugs, spying on US citizens, and a host of other things that were allegedly important to you before January of 2009, and I'll begin to think better of your side of the spectrum, and even more so if you will take those on your own side to task for saying things like, "I'd like to see that Limbaugh (or Beck, Hannity, etc,) dead". Squash your own hate speech and racism, and I'll take your protests on it seriously. But not until.

What The Talk Will Be Tomorrow

Did the President give a speech tonight? Forget about that. Glenn Beck will be all over what Chris Matthews said on MSNBC. It's so egregious that Media Matters posted it up:






I was just remarking the other day what a complete douchebag Chris Matthews is. So it goes.

If Glenn Beck said this, there would be calls for his head and his job. Let's see if there are similar calls for Matthews.

It's just as well. The State of the Union address was what is becoming typical Obama: Great speechifying, little real substance, contradictions and impossibilities within the text, and the masterful deception of making one's own messes appear to have been someone else's doing and cause for alarm/action. Seemed like a campaign speech rather than a report.

Barr on Glenn Beck, Repeated. Twice

(Big Sky, MT)- Let's hear it for hotel room dial hopping. I was pleased to find Bob Barr's full hour with Glenn Beck being repeated on CNN tonight. Here's the first quarter-hour:

Beck wasn't throwing Barr softballs. I'd love to see McBama get questioned the way Barr does. Let's hear it for Barr, though. He comports himself well. The more I see of Barr, the happier I am with him as the Libertarian nominee.

Barr on Colbert Report

Bob Barr will appear on the Colbert Report on Wednesday, June 4, on Comedy Central at 11:30pm Eastern.

Barr will also be on CNN's Glenn Beck program that evening at 7pm, but I'm far more interested in the Colbert appearance, because you never really know what Colbert will do with a guest. I'm thinking this will turn out better than Barr's cameo on Borat, although I'm fond of the idea of him as a member of the ruling regime.

I'm jealous of my friends in NYC who could attend the taping of Colbert. This would be a fun one to catch in person! Link to tickets.

This is a Joke, Right?

I just got an email alert from my favorite talk station in Indy, WXNT 14030-am, advising that there will be a new host, Phil Hendrie, on the station. Get a load of his "credentials":

Hendrie's views are unique for modern talk radio. He is a registered Democrat who vocally supported Bill Clinton, voted for Al Gore over George W. Bush in 2000, and both Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale over Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. At the same time, he supports troops in Iraq and the War on Terror. Phil voted for and supported George W. Bush in 2004 and feels that Bush will someday be viewed as one of the country's greatest presidents.

So, Hendrie can best be described as... misguided in every way? For Carter, Mondale, and George W. Bush? Ranking Bush up there with, say, Lincoln? Well, WXNT is airing him from 1-4am. Seems like a good place to stash this guy.

Update: WXNT is shaking things up even more than this. I just received an email from the station saying that Neal Boortz and Glenn Beck are going to trade times. From the email:

The other major change to our lineup involves two of our most popular hosts: Glenn Beck and Neal Boortz. Both hosts have very passionate fans. However, based on the results of several listener surveys, Beck & Boortz will "flip" timeslots effective tomorrow. Glenn Beck will now be heard from 10:00am to 1:00pm weekdays with Neal Boortz moving to the 6:00pm evening slot.

Well, that sucks! Boortz was the one syndicated show I listened to, because of Neal's largely libertarian views and because it was a time that I tend to drive. That's when I listen to the radio. I never listen in the early evening, and my understanding is that this slot is sort of the graveyard for the daytime airwaves.

Glenn Beck? The guy does good radio, so long as he isn't talking politics. I don't want to hear him talk policy. He's clueless there. He is very entertaining when talking about having been a drunk, or going on about popular culture, but as a whole, I don't care about an ex-drunk or celebrities.

Looks like the iPod is going to get even more use in the car when I'm in central Indiana. Bummer.