READER COMMENTS ON

"AUDIO: Beck 'Lose[s] Mind,' Freaks Out at Radio Show Caller Over Health Care..."

(26 Responses so far...)





COMMENT #1 [Permalink]

... jamzz said on 7/15/2009 @ 2:50 pm PT...





Glen and Axey must be good friends...

COMMENT #2 [Permalink]

... Yossie said on 7/15/2009 @ 3:00 pm PT...





I feel sorry for the man. He is severely mentally ill and his medical health insurance isn't covering treatment. This is why we need a medical insurance reform.

That said, why do we bother listening to him? He doesn't represent a point of view so much as a fantastic perspective that has little to nothing to do with reality.

COMMENT #3 [Permalink]

... idontgetit said on 7/15/2009 @ 3:42 pm PT...





Who is this guy? I've never heard of him. Is he a Rush wannabee? You can call me naive or ignorant, but I don't listen to entertainers to get my news. There's a lot of serious issues going on in our country right now and so why do people want to get into a shout fest with some radio jockey? And why do they garner attention? Why don't people just ignore all the entertainers out there? Without an audience, they'll eventually go away. And yes, this applies to both sides of the fence. I don't listen to Alex Baldwin or Keith Olbermann, etc.. Call me stupid if you will but I don't get it.

COMMENT #4 [Permalink]

... Batocchio said on 7/15/2009 @ 3:56 pm PT...





Bad even for him. It's sad, too, because Beck should know better (or does) after his health woes. But he's still shilling away...

COMMENT #5 [Permalink]

... Debra LoGuercio said on 7/15/2009 @ 4:04 pm PT...





Clearly Beck needs to have his meds readjusted.

COMMENT #6 [Permalink]

... Brad Friedman said on 7/15/2009 @ 4:05 pm PT...





Yossie @ 2 said: [W]hy do we bother listening to him? He doesn't represent a point of view so much as a fantastic perspective that has little to nothing to do with reality. And IDontGetIt @ 3 similarly said: There's a lot of serious issues going on in our country right now and so why do people want to get into a shout fest with some radio jockey? And why do they garner attention? Why don't people just ignore all the entertainers out there? Without an audience, they'll eventually go away. As long as Beck is allowed to spout his rhetoric on our publicly-owned airwaves (as he did here, on his radio show), and on our publicly-subsidized cable outlets (as he does each night on Fox "News"), his "fantastic perspective" has everything "to do with reality", since our airwaves and cable "news" outlets like Fox reach millions of Americans and strongly influence --- if not entirely drive and define --- the debates on such important issues as healthcare, energy, war and peace and everything else. You are free to ignore those opinions. However, millions have those opinions jammed down their eyes, ears and throats every day and are not offered balanced alternatives offering reality views instead at the same level. You ignore such influences --- reliant on government-funded welfare --- at your (and our) own peril. Corporations, and the stooges like Beck who represent them, have true freedom of speech, because they have enough money (and government funding) to buy it. You and I do not.

COMMENT #7 [Permalink]

... Dori Smith said on 7/15/2009 @ 4:15 pm PT...





Kathy, you appear to have been overshadowed in your efforts by the voice of a mad man who was clearly melting down. It's no surprise. Glenn Beck is working at a level he is in no way equipped to handle and it seems the pressure is getting to him. You on the other hand, held up very well and you kept at it with facts and challenges. So you are the voice we need to hear, and so please don't let this experience deter you from making calls... even to those like Beck who are not interested in the facts as much as they are in promoting some rough and tumble characters in the background who are funding their fake news reporting. For those who want real statistics, not faux news from FOX, stick to web sites like Brad's but also surf around to sites for the true numbers on US health care, insurance costs, what hospitals are doing in order to be able to survive this desperate economic time and how it impacts patients, statistics on US health care versus that in other nations, and then go to whatever lengths you can to force this vital information into the public square. We all need to hear it! There is in fact one interesting post at FOX, of all places, and it is derived from an AP report that shows how the US lags behind other nations in health care because of the soaring costs here.

http://www.foxnews.com/s...ry/0,2933,508971,00.html There was also an interesting poll taken in 2008 as Harvard scholars asked Democrats, Republicans and Independents, if the US has the best health care system in the world. Clearly Beck is intimidated by intelligent people, toss this data at him!

http://www.hsph.harvard....-health-care-system.html Keep in mind of course that Harvard is not perfect either..But the report notes, "Nearly seven-in-ten Republicans (68%) believe the U.S. health care system is the best in the world, compared to just three in ten (32%) Democrats and four in ten (40%) Independents who feel the same way". So politics affect what we think. I blame the media monopoly that has caused a steady deterioration of US news. Glenn Beck is a political news 'hack' working for the Republican right. It makes perfect sense that his rhetoric reflects the lunatic fringe when it comes to facts about health care. The fear tactics floating around at this point about an increase in taxes would be a non story if a good reporter's story about the facts on health care costs could make it to corporate media, prime time on major TV networks. America's failed media can't or won't step up to offer real analysis of the crisis we face. Kathy, maybe you should go to work in community radio, or better yet, expand that strong voice of yours by taking on Glenn Beck in the blogs. Don't let him off the hook after he spoke to you in such an insulting way. He should be challenged by you and a whole team of others like you who care about the US health care system and those affected by it. Obviously Beck should be fired for what he said, he should never work at FOX or in radio again.

COMMENT #8 [Permalink]

... 72dawg said on 7/15/2009 @ 4:55 pm PT...





Fox loves this stuff. It probably is Murdock's POV. Murdock is one of those aliens who bought his citizenship with lies and a lot of money. He should loose both and be shipped back to Australia.

COMMENT #9 [Permalink]

... 72dawg said on 7/15/2009 @ 4:57 pm PT...





I should add that I have no problem with most aliens, legal and otherwise. Just the ones that want to destroy America by abusing our freedoms.

COMMENT #10 [Permalink]

... idontgetit said on 7/15/2009 @ 5:06 pm PT...





Brad, of course we all know this and I was being a bit facetious. I can't, and yes, I shouldn't, ignore it. We know what newstainment is about. That it avoids the real issues, and yet at the same it sends out an ideological message to the masses. It does that quite well. Serious information is difficult to wrap one's head around and making it entertaining makes it easier to consume. It's also a relief valve for a lot of people. Both sides have found that it's quite effective. And the more the media plays this way, the more exposure these people get. Both sides of the fence engage in a odd sort of 'look who just said what' or 'look who just pulled a gaffe' etc.. I hate to go into Palinspeak here, but it is sort of this 'gotcha' kind of thing. When I lived in France (where I grew up), TV would host people like Baudrillard and Virilio on prime time. Sure it was entertainment, but it was highly engaging and thought provoking. I couldn't imagine the networks here putting on somebody like Jameson or Harvey. They won't as they are all corporate owned. Anyway, I just prefer to fight the battle on different fronts.

COMMENT #11 [Permalink]

... mick said on 7/15/2009 @ 5:31 pm PT...





As soon as your opponent screams and shouts in a debate you know that you have won ,end of story. Kathy 1

Beck 0

COMMENT #12 [Permalink]

... FormerDittoHead said on 7/15/2009 @ 5:57 pm PT...





The thing Beck can't wrap his head around is that for all of his persuasiveness, people aren't buying it. It's not working. How his kind were able to cling to their audience after no WMDs were found is beyond me. That's when *I* turned it off. That didn't stop him, however. Maybe Beck has to yell and scream so he can't hear that voice in his head repeating, "Glenn, you're a good man. They are good people. Stop lying to them."

COMMENT #13 [Permalink]

... BlueHawk said on 7/15/2009 @ 6:08 pm PT...





Glenn Beck is simply trying to top himself...

His crying episode lost him huge credibility and the beatdown Whoopi Goldberg gave him cost him the rest. Glen beck is on sliding down the other side of the heap...into oblivion. Good job Kathy...

COMMENT #14 [Permalink]

... marzi said on 7/15/2009 @ 7:31 pm PT...





Beck is a bad actor - he's not really losing his temper, but that doesn't matter to right wing fans. Their brains feel comfortable with the screaming rhetoric because they're authoritarian and need to be told what to do and think.

COMMENT #15 [Permalink]

... Clint said on 7/15/2009 @ 9:00 pm PT...





I'm glad the caller didn't back down when confronted with Mr. Beck's scream-laced insanity. His characterization of Canada's health care system was, of course, absurd. I always knew Beck didn't have all the marbles, but I didn't realize he had the O'Reilly "cut his mic" approach to arguments. Guess that's what I've been losing out on by deliberately ignoring everything that comes out of his mouth.

COMMENT #16 [Permalink]

... PSzymeczek said on 7/16/2009 @ 11:15 am PT...





Sure, Glenn, you can be "treated" in an ER in this country. The difference between here and every other civilized nation is that here you get a bill for a couple thousand dollars or so, and if you pay it, you won't be able to afford the utility bill or rent that's due next week.

COMMENT #17 [Permalink]

... TLV said on 7/17/2009 @ 11:43 am PT...





Once again, the right wing blabber box acts like a childish, insane, shrieking hater while his caller exercises what he has decided is NOT allowed unless those who who call agree with him 100% - and that would be the right to free speech. They do it in my area of Ohio as well. As soon as the host detects that a caller is about to offer disagreement, they scream and disconnect.

COMMENT #18 [Permalink]

... The Skeptical Cynic said on 7/17/2009 @ 6:08 pm PT...





Whores whore for the money.

Some may even enjoy whoring sex and the fact that they can get paid doing what they enjoy.

Some may abhor that fact that they are whores but continue because the money is good and they need it. Beck is a WHORE who fits one of those categories.

COMMENT #19 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 7/18/2009 @ 2:50 am PT...





My boyfriend doesn't belly-laugh out loud at much, but this Glen Blech girl scream episode caused him slumping fits of happy giggles for over an hour. He equates Beck's meltdown with Crispin Glover's unforgettable Cousin Dell in Wild at Heart when he shrieks "I'm MAKING my LUNCH!" He says it's the shrill sound of 'mentally not having anywhere else we can go'... And of course, "Get off my phone" the REMIX's are already impregnating YOUTUBE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHcwqLs1WvM

COMMENT #20 [Permalink]

... Dori Smith said on 7/18/2009 @ 11:57 am PT...





LOLAL with you and your boyfriend Jeannie. I saw Wild at Heart a long time ago. These bizarre films with good actors and actresses in them can reveal sides of human nature we don't like to consider. In fact so many of the hard line Republican wackos and the 'born again' right wing politicians like GW Bush are so far over the top they seem like film or cartoon characters from history. There is John Ascroft with his strange singing and his mad paranoia about tri-colored cats... this all harkens back to the Christian crusader era as does Ashcroft's culty version of Christianity itself. The idea of a God that affords some folks 'power' is absurd, but they so want to believe it somehow I guess. These images bear considering as the Republican party melts down along with our Polar ice cap. Not funny so much as emotionally exhausting to watch when one knows the consequences in their wake. I was thinking of the chicken feather scene in the Italian film Bread and Chocolate just now. It's strange but you can see this kind of extreme take on good and evil underlying some of what the Beck's talk about that is close to what we see in the extreme US Christian nation cults. We just visited Alternet to watch another film of Sarah Palin with the crazed samurai sword ceremony. http://www.alternet.org/..._samurai_sword_ceremony/ They keep emotionally pressuring these teenagers in the Masters program Bruce Wilson writes about. Palin went through it and clearly she had confidence to exceed her personal abilities, something that coincides with cult thinking. They appear to want to push the Dobson ideas about war for God, something from the Catholic Church's dark past. But what would a real Samurai think about a cult using their name and culture for this kind of Christian supremacy doctrine? I'm not sure it would go over very well in Japan though it appears to play in this small segment of the population of Wasilla, Alaska. The Italian film Bread and Chocolate had that rather splendid blond beast meets wide eyed peasant impact. It had racial undertones that were likely about Hitler and other murderous types, serious messages underneath the comedic craziness. Wild at Heart was kind of like passion of Christ meets Dracula meets The Drifters. There can be something really unnerving about a God that would torture his beloved Son and threaten eternal damnation (and of course torture) for those who reject him. Please don't think I'm criticizing this particular faith, just the failure of that faith that encourage peace, the most obvious message of Jesus. I wonder what Beck's favorite film is, then too I guess it would be 12 Monkeys, or the FOX horror Family Guy that keeps going and spinning off beyond all reason, just like Beck. Now there is a version based on the one black character in it. Who will watch it, Judge Thomas while enjoying pretzels with George HW Bush or Antonin Scalia? Hard to know. It's been clear from the start that Beck is a mean clown with eyes that plead with you ...put a straight jacket on my arms before I take actions to go along with these words! I hope Kathy is keeping up the heroic pressure... Do read the Greenwald story Brad's talking about today. It puts the right emphasis on the collapse of our news media in general, and shows how some of the more serious news stars are over the top as well.

COMMENT #21 [Permalink]

... Damail said on 7/18/2009 @ 12:02 pm PT...





So this means that all of the Bradbloggers were equally disgusted at the incidents when Ed Schultz, Mike Malloy and Randi Rhodes screamed and cut off disagreeing callers, right? Right?

COMMENT #22 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 7/18/2009 @ 2:23 pm PT...





I can't speak for all Bradbloggers, Damail, but for me, simply put --- yes. Unequivocally. I'm so tired of opinion in my news (that doesn't ascribe itself as such) and so much angry, blustery, bellowing, boasting stupidity on my air waves I could spit snot-balls and lumberjacks for a month of unseasonably warm Sundays. I can say that most of us here understand that screaming like a baby-bitch in heat and hanging up on callers is not news, no matter which bitch is doing the horny dance. Sadly, thanks to Clinton's 1996 telecommunications act we here in the U.S. have dwindling listening/ viewing alternatives. No Walter Cronkites to counter all the hot-blah-blah blippity blah from the beltway bougouisee --- except BRAD, and some other equally noteworthy, hero-type game changers on the internet --- spinning and pointing to their talking-pointy heads; one-tracked, half-keeled intellects, all. Yes, Damail, most of us have some real bile and venom to spare for our 'artists formerly known as the fourth estate' (and their radio side show freak counterparts - just to distinguish where the corporate media can not.)

COMMENT #23 [Permalink]

... Bluehawk said on 7/19/2009 @ 6:26 am PT...





Comments 21& 22.... The left won't be taken seriously if we just imitate what the right did when they were in power. Actually the left isn't in power...but I hope you get my point.

I'm not a fan of blustering no matter who does it. The whole idea of "gotcha" political debate and blustering inconsiderate hacks who simply want attention is making this country dumber by the day. No one makes a coherent argument or lays out a reasonable, rational case for their side...it's all now scream over the listener/caller, holler, twist facts and pontificate. No one learns or thinks in that kind of atmosphere...and the only people that benefit are corporate MSM outlets...it draws an audience like gawkers to a car crash.

COMMENT #24 [Permalink]

... Dori Smith said on 7/21/2009 @ 3:01 pm PT...





I can't comment about something I've not heard. However, it seems to me that my own comments 'at' the corporate media tend to include rational data and sound criticisms. Also, Beck's irrational and bullying comments to the caller had nothing to do with America's health care system. We saw a loss of reality testing in 'news' under Bush and Cheney. Their supporters use loudness, or screaming, to try to dominate the conversation, rather than arguing the points on their merits. Could someone like Glenn Beck listen to what I'VE got to say to the tube when he's on it? I'm pretty sure he would fold up his carnival tent and slink away rather than face my indignation. There is a huge difference between reacting to the grim news about the human tragedy going on in the USA right now as opposed to using pat rhetoric in defense of wealthy insurance CEO's. I care that mothers find themselves struggling to get infant care, and when they find it, to get insurance providers to pay as they are required to. Costs have soared, people are dying for health care. That IS something to scream about if you truly care about humanity. The Becks of the airwaves seem to me to care about $ and power. There have been some powerful statements made by Americans who have had to face the criminality of insurance providers at times when they have faced life threatening illness. I applaud their screaming out truth to power and willingly listen to it. We should point out the cruelty of Bush and Cheney supporters when they support criminals who have repressed Americans. In Connecticut right now Anthem Blue Cross is seeking a 25% to 30% fee increase for their coverage. I wonder how much of that money they want is really because of rising health care costs versus rising lobby costs. They are lobbying US Congress and the White House every second of every day to try to prevent any and all curtailment of profits. Their greed has fostered an atmosphere where patient care seems to be placed last, and managing people in order to reduce their spending is first. Meanwhile, they have pitting American workers against one another, claiming some people over use their insurances to get unnecessary tests and too many medical appointments... forcing small businesses to consider lowering coverage for employees. They have tried to argue that people should accept the Bush plans, pay as you go types of insurance that are very dangerous for American families. --One calamity and you could easily lose everything. Americans must overcome the lobby movement, stand up to the AMA and insurance industry, and help save America's hospitals and medical teams by demanding that the profiteers get shoved aside now that they have ruined America's health care system. When people are dying, it's appropriate to scream bloody murder!

COMMENT #25 [Permalink]

... Joe Harris said on 7/29/2009 @ 5:00 pm PT...





I must say Brad that I am very disappointed in your choice of words. You must have acted in haste when you said " As long as Beck is allowed to spout his rhetoric ". Allowed was a very poor choice of words, please do not even go there. It is his right just as it is your right, and if you both get rich off of spouting your views then so be it. No one is made to listen to either of you, we can choose to listen to you or Beck or we can simply tune you both out. I am a Cold War Veteran and am very proud that you both are free to speak on the issues of the day. I encourage you sir, as well as Mr. Beck to continue to comment on whatever you choose to voice your opinion on, as for myself, I will stand guard to make sure you both continue to have the right to do so. You see sir I am neither left nor right,liberal or conservative, I am a blend of both and believe it or not that is what most Americans are. If you care to know my political affiliation I am proud to say to any & all that I am a Libertarian! I guess for the most part you Democrats & Republicans kinda see us Libertarians as just spectators on the sidelines, it will not always be that way and thanks to the Dems & Repubs it will be sooner rather than later that us Libertarians gain more power & influence in the world of American politics. Just know that we are watching the fiasco being played out by the current and very faulty 2 party system. Respectfully, Joe.

COMMENT #26 [Permalink]

... Tommypayne said on 7/30/2009 @ 2:49 am PT...

