Beck's Rally.....

[redcliffsw]

Glenn Beck 8/28 rally — the death rattle of mainstream conservatism

That's why the Beck Heads and Tea Partiers are losing their country. Not because they don't attend their local mosque often enough. But they can't admit that, because that would be "racist", and losing your country is a lot better than being called "racist."
-James Edwards

http://theoccidentalobserver.net/tooblog/

[Warph]

The MSM (AP & WA Post) 'point of view' of Beck's Rally:

WASHINGTON -- Conservative Fox News commentator Glenn Beck issued a Christian-themed call for a national rebirth of traditional values to a massive throng that gathered Saturday on the National Mall in a mostly nonpolitical twist on a tea party rally.

Conceived and promoted by Mr. Beck, the "Restoring Honor" rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial drew hundreds of thousands of people on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, also delivered at the memorial. Although the rally's tone was heavily religious, its sheer size helped demonstrate the potential national influence of the tea party movement.

Civil rights activists organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton held a counter rally at a high school, then embarked on a three-mile march to a site bordering the Tidal Basin, not far from the Lincoln Memorial, where a monument is planned to honor Dr. King.

Mr. Beck's three-hour rally also featured an appearance by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- the tea party's political star -- but his event itself was not politically focused. Instead, he drew heavily on biblical and patriotic rhetoric as he exhorted the crowd to pray and serve God more.

Veterans were praised. The Declaration of Independence was quoted. For the finale, some 240 clergy joined Mr. Beck onstage and, accompanied by bagpipes, sang "Amazing Grace."

"They have come here to the Mall to stand with America and God," Mr. Beck proclaimed.

"Don't Tread on Me" flags and anti-Obama paraphernalia were on prominent display at the rally, but its vibe was different from the venomous health care protests spawned here by the tea party movement in the past year.

Ms. Palin, too, avoided overt political talk and instead referred to her son, Track, and his military service in Iraq.

"Say what you want to say about me, but I raised a combat vet and you can't take that away from me," she said.

The former Republican vice presidential nominee -- and potential 2012 rival for President Barack Obama -- offered strong, though vague, inspiration.

"May this day be the change point," Ms. Palin said. "Look around you. You are not alone. You are Americans ... Let's stand together. Let's stand with honor. Let's restore America."

A sea of people -- organizers had a permit for 300,000 -- listened, standing shoulder to shoulder across large expanses of the Mall. Some organizers put the number of attendees at 500,000; the National Park Service stopped doing crowd counts in 1997 after it was accused of underestimating numbers for the 1995 Million Man March. It was unclear how many of those who attended were tea party activists.

Along with tea party and "9/12" groups nationwide, Mr. Beck promoted the event heavily in his broadcasts. On Saturday, he noted the crowd's unease with the nation's direction.

"I know that many in this country think I am a fearmonger," he said. "It is not a label I think applies. I do talk about frightening things. But I don't think the man who saw the iceberg on the Titanic and said, 'It's an iceberg' was a fearmonger. He was warning the people on the ship"

Thousands bused in from Western Pennsylvania for the event, including about 850 people from the Pittsburgh Tea Party, said the group's organizer, Patti Weaver, of Fox Chapel.

"When people show like this," said Evie Bodick, 67, of Springdale, gesturing at the ocean of people, "it shows it does matter. We are making a difference."

The tea party movement grew last year out of a general feeling that the nation is straying from its intended path. The sour economy and an expansion of government under Mr. Obama fueled the movement that is becoming a powerful, if unpredictable, force in the 2010 elections.

Ms. Weaver said her group will not endorse candidates but will put together a voters' guide and promote candidates who support "free markets, fiscal responsibility and a constitutionally limited government." The group plans a get-out-the-vote operation as well.

"I want to see people of integrity put into office and not take advantage of power and think that they're more important than everyone else," said Bev Slais, 66, of Valencia. "Because that's what we have right now."

Ilene Hightower, 53, of Penn Hills, arrived at 5:15 a.m. to get a prime seat for the rally, which started about five hours later. Her main cause: the need for more Christianity in the public square.

"Whether they like it or not, whether it's PC or not, God has to come back to this nation or this nation will go down the road there will be no freedom in this world," she said. "There will be darkness and there will be tyranny."

On the other end of the Mall, however, others accused Mr. Beck of appropriating the message and location of Dr. King's historic speech.

As rally-goers streamed past, a group loudly broadcast a recording of Dr. King's remarks from a makeshift memorial to the civil rights leader. They displayed a sign depicting Dr. King's face next to the word "Dream," and Mr. Beck's next to "Nightmare."

Mr. Sharpton mocked the Beck event:

"The folks who used to criticize us for marching are trying to have a march themselves," he said. "We come because the dream has not been achieved. We've made a lot of progress. But we still have a long way to go."

Mr. Sharpton and the several thousand marchers who joined him crossed paths with some of the crowds leaving Mr. Beck's rally. People wearing "Restoring Honor" and tea party T-shirts looked on as Mr. Sharpton's group chanted "reclaim the dream" and "MLK, MLK."

Both sides were generally restrained, although there was some mutual taunting. Mr. Sharpton urged his group to be peaceful and not confrontational, saying "If people start heckling, smile at them."

One woman from Mr. Beck's rally shouted to Mr. Sharpton's marchers: "Go to church. Restore America with peace." Civil rights marchers chanted, "Don't drink the tea."

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's delegate to Congress, said she remembers being at Dr. King's march on Washington in 1963.

"Glenn Beck's march will change nothing. But you can't blame Glenn Beck for his March-on-Washington envy," she said.

Mr. Beck has said he did not intend to choose the King speech anniversary for his rally but had since decided it was "divine providence." He, too, portrayed Dr. King as an American hero.

Mr. Sharpton and other critics have noted that, while Mr. Beck has long sprouted anti-government themes, Dr. King's famous march included an appeal to the federal government to do more to protect Americans' civil rights.

Both groups heard from members of the King family:

Alveda King, a niece of the civil rights leader, appealed to Mr. Beck's rally participants to "focus not on elections or on political causes but on honor, on character ... not the color of our skin."

Martin Luther King III said at the site of the planned memorial that his father in 1967 and 1968 "was focused on economic empowerment. He did not live to see that come to fruition."

"We have made great strides," he said, "but somehow we've got to create a climate so that everybody can do well, not just some."

[sixdogsmom]

Sounds like Beck finally got around to reading that book series about the rapture,------ from Robert Parham, Baptist Center For Ethics. God help me, Red I agree with you on this one. These people are working for Rupert Murdock. I have copied and pasted this article----

Forty-seven years ago to the date, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream Speech," a historical note that Beck and others played off.

"The story of America is the story of human kind. Five thousand years ago...God's chosen people were led out of bondage...Man first began to recognize God and God's law. The chosen people listened to the Lord. At the same time those things were happening, on this side on this land another group of people were gathered here. And they too were listening to God," said Beck.

As he spoke, two Native Americans appeared behind him to stand next to a rabbi. They were followed by a white preacher.

Facing these three individuals with arms outreached, Beck said, "God's chosen people, the Native Americans and the pilgrims."

Beck claimed, "When people came together of different faiths... the first thing they did was to pray together."

Some two hours later, during his lengthy, disjointed speech, Beck said, "This day is a day that we can start the heart of America again. And it has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with God...turning our faith back to the values and principles that made us great."

Warning that Americans were at a crossroad and had to decide what they believed, Beck said, "Abraham Lincoln found God in the stars of Gettysburg. He was baptized and gave the second inaugural. He looked to God and set men free. America awakened again."

He soon segued to Moses.

"Moses freed them. Then they forget. They wander until they remember that God is the answer. He always has been. And then they begin to trust," said Beck.

"Have trust in the Lord. And recognize that Moses and Abraham Lincoln and George Washington were men. They were just like you...Man makes a difference. What is it that these men have that you don't?...The answer is nothing...They relied on God...America is great because America is good...We as individuals must be good so America can be great. America is at a crossroads...Look to God," pled the TV talk-show host.

He told the audience of religious and Tea Party conservatives: "If you find out who God truly is, I warn you, I warn you, if you know who he is, it will be the biggest blessing in your life. But it will also be the biggest curse in your life."

Saying that America needed to go to "God's boot camp," Beck said, "We must insist that our churches stand for things that we know are true because they are universal and endless in nature."

Having recalled earlier how disciples had fallen asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane before Jesus' arrest, Beck returned to that theme of slumber. He said that the nation and its churches had fallen asleep.

Beck said that 240 years ago America had the "black-robed regiment," preachers who opposed the British and were among the first killed by the British.

"The black-robed regiment is back again today," said Beck.

On cue, 240 men and women marched up and stood behind him. Obediently with arms linked on the front row were Southern Baptist Convention official Richard Land and fundamentalist pastor John Hagee. Religious-right mythmaker David Barton stood next to Sarah Palin.

"America, it is time to start the heart of this nation again. And put it where it belongs. Our heart with God," proclaimed Beck.

Claiming these clergy represented the thousands of clergy in the audience who represented 180 million people, Beck said, "We can disagree on politics. We can disagree on so much. These men and women don't agree on fundamentals. They don't agree on everything that every church teaches. What they do agree on is that God is the answer."

He called for a group of bagpipers to play "Amazing Grace."

Mixing Christian faith with military images, the rally included video clips of soldiers, flags and eagles. The Bible was also read.

C. L. Jackson, pastor of Houston's Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church, prayed for the "ministry of Glenn Beck."

The crowd - as viewed on Beck's own streaming video broadcast - had very, very few people of color.

The white audience listened at one point as two African-American men read different passages from the Bible and two Africa-American women sang solos with recorded tracks.

Another African-American woman, Alveda King, a niece of Martin Luther King Jr., gave a sermon, referencing "Uncle Martin," failing public education, the "womb war" and hope that prayer would one day be welcomed back in public schools.

No amount of Bible reading, sermons masquerading as prayers and Christian hymns can cover up Beck's civil religion that slides back and forth between the Bible and nationalism, between authentic faith and patriotic religion.

He treats the "American scripture" - such as the Gettysburg Address - as if it bears the same revelatory weight as Christian Scripture.

What is important to Beck is belief in God - God generically - not a specific understanding of God revealed in the biblical witness, but God who appears in nature and from which one draws universal truths.

Not surprisingly, Beck only uses the Bible to point toward the idea of a God-generic. He does not listen to the God of the Bible who calls for the practice of social justice, the pursuit of peacemaking, the protection of the poor in the formation of community. Beck has little room for God's warning about national idolatry and rejection of fabricated religion.

For Beck, God-generic is a unifying theme and religion is a unifying force for what appears to be his revivalist agenda for Americanism - blended nationalism and individualism.

Robert Parham is executive editor of EthicsDaily.com, where this essay first ran, and executive director of its parent organization, the Baptist Center for Ethics.

[Varmit]

Those authors just don't get it...amazing.

[Anmar]

Those authors just don't get it...amazing.

I think you don't get it....

Did you know Beck is a mormon?

[Varmit]

Yes. I know that beck is a mormon, so what?

[Anmar]

well, according to you, he isn't even a christian.....

[Varmit]

...and?  Whats your point?

[Anmar]

My point is, you consider yourself to be this super patriot, uber conservative, evangelical christian.  Yet here you are, in the face of you're own party, defending someone who belongs to what your religous leaders call "a cult of satan" and is employed by an australian jew and a muslim saudi prince.  To top it all off, he is one of the biggest proponents of the fake "tea party" movement and it kills me to say this, but I agree with the article Red posted.  This rally may be possibly the lowest point so far for the conservative movement.  

While I'm at it, you sir, are the epitome of the problem.  You don't understand whats going on.  You just want to be angry and hateful, but you are really missing the big issues.  You are easily led and your emotions are easily controlled.  Do you really think any of the politicians give a damn about a mosque in NYC?  Do you honestly believe that your elected representatives want to stop illegal workers (cheap labor) from coming to the US?  Do you really think that republicans will ever do anything to ban abortion?

You're attention span only lasts about 2 weeks....  In the last 30 years, the republicans have controlled the government for the majority of the time.  They have never balanced the budget, they have never shrunk the government, they haven't done anything to stop abortion, they have actually tried to help bring more cheap labor to the US, they gave tax breaks to ship american jobs overseas.  These things are not arguable, they are facts.

The only 2 platforms of the conservative movement that is repeatedly accomplished are de-regulation and tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.   Bush's tax cuts, over the last 10 years, gave 700 billion dollars to the top 200,000 income earners in the US.  How was it paid for?  the money was borrowed from your kids.  

You are getting scammed, robbed, your children are having their futures destroyed and our country is turning into a third world nation.  Here in Oakland, in the nations second most dangerous city, they had to lay off 80 cops.  One of my clients that I consult for owns a convenience store that gets robbed every other day by the same thug.  When they call the cops, they say they don't respond to petty theft anymore, that my client has to file a police report online.  In many cities, they are turning off street lights at night.  All across the midwest, they are turning paved roads into gravel roads because they can't afford the upkeep.  And what do the republicans want you to think is important, a mosque in NYC?  Get a clue.

Sorry i went off on a tangent, but seriously, this rally had no meaning.  Even the most ardent right wingers are just confused.  Frankly, i can't figure it out.  I was in reno for the weekend and i caught a little bit of it from the poker table i was at, and i couldn't make any sense of it.  Does Beck think he's a prophet now?  You know he apologized for calling Obama a racist?  He also said Obama's faith was a perversion of christianity, but Varmit, you say the same thing about Beck's faith, so whats your deal?  You are actually closer to Obama in faith than you are to Beck.

A

So thats my bit, now why don't you man up and tell us all what your point is.

[Anmar]

Let me add