John V. Santore at Media Matters makes a convincing case that what Glenn Beck is doing in attacking President Obama's appointees as "communists" and "Marxists" is simply a new form of McCarthyism.

Now, what do we do about it?

Step 1: Expose both Beck and his enablers for what they are: liars, smear artists, and political charlatans.

James Rucker of Color of Change has a superb post up about the nuances of dealing with hatemongers like Beck:

In the wake of Van’s resignation, some have wondered whether kicking the Beck hornet’s nest makes sense. I’ve got two thoughts in response. First, Beck and Fox trying to change the topic and counter-attacking with such force is probably a good indicator that we’re getting to them; if anything, now would be the time to go harder. Second, I believe we have no choice. Beck has promised to take his witch-hunt to others in the administration, and has set his sights on Cass Sunstein as his next target. He has no plans to stop, and neither should we. But it’s not just “czar”-hunting that’s at stake here. The right wing media machine, of which Beck is now one of the leading members, is the single greatest force standing in the way of change. They have already helped derail the conversation on health care, elevating accusations of Obama’s alliance with the Third Reich to some semblance of credibility. And they will do the same to the upcoming debates over clean energy, immigration, and every progressive policy priority. We simply don’t have the luxury of ignoring them. We must challenge them head on, expose their distortions, take away their advertisers, and position their views where they belong: far outside the bounds of any rational political discourse.

Be sure to read the whole piece.

It's been patently self-evident that Van Jones was just the appetizer for the sharks at Fox, whose ultimate goal is to take down Obama himself.

Beck has been boasting that he took down Jones by simply using Jones' own words and repeating them.

Well, folks in glass houses ought to think carefully about the wisdom of throwing stones, if you know what I mean.

The catalog of Glenn Beck's toxic discourse is long and nasty. When it comes to giving advertisers something to think about, the well is deep and dark. No doubt a lot of it is going to be bubbling back up into public view soon.

Because nothing brings down the liars and crooks like the light of day, shining brightly under the rocks whence they crawl.