OUT OF CONTROL – AT 8:27 P.M. ET:  Glenn Beck's massive rally at the Lincoln Memorial today has unleashed some of the most uncontrolled, undisciplined, unruly journalism that we've seen lately, and we've seen much.

Beck is controversial.  I agree with some of his views, disagree with others.  His rally took place on the anniversary of Dr. King's famous "I have a dream" speech, and Beck spoke at the same place.  My own sense:  He might have wisely chosen another day.

However, the left forgot any sense of shame in attacking Beck, and relating his speech to all kinds of horrors.  Consider this from Bob Herbert of The New York Times:

There is a great deal of hatred and bigotry in this country, but it does not define the country. The daily experience of most Americans is not a bitter experience and for all of our problems we are in a much better place on these matters than we were a half century ago.

But I worry about the potential for violence that grows out of unrestrained, hostile bombast. We’ve seen it so often. A little more than two weeks after the 1963 March on Washington, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan and four young black girls were killed. And three months after the march, Jack Kennedy was assassinated.

What, precisely, does the assassination of President Kennedy have to do with the march on Washington?  Herbert seems to suggest that it was a racist act, or an act by peple upset with the civil rights movement.  He simply cannot accept that Mr. Kennedy was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald, a man with profound left-wing views.

Herbert concludes:

My sincere advice to Beck, Palin and their followers is chill, baby, chill.

O, that he would give the same advice to some of his ideological brethren, who tag most Americans as bigots, Islamophobes, racists and fascists whenever some disagreement arises.  There are certainly nut jobs on the right.  But there are more, today, on the left, and the left won't even acknowledge them.

August 28, 2010     Permalink

JOB INTERVIEW? – AT 8:37 A.M. ET:  President Obama and Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York have had their golf outing.  But what was it really about?  From The Politico:

VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. — President Barack Obama hit the links Friday with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, mixing business with his summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.

Obama and Bloomberg huddled inside the clubhouse at the Vineyard Golf Club for about 15 minutes to discuss the economy before heading to the driving range, the White House said.

It’s the first time Obama and Bloomberg have met since the controversy over the planned construction of an Islamic center near ground zero in Manhattan. Bloomberg strongly supports the Park51 center, but Obama triggered a storm of controversy when he said proponents have a right to proceed with project, and then seemed to question the wisdom of building it.

COMMENT:  Bloomberg has grown increasingly bizarre.  After the attempting terrorist attack in Times Square, he speculated that the bomber might have been someone who just didn't like Obamacare.

No, I mean it.  He said that.  He also meddles in people's diets, pushing all kinds of regulations as to what mere citizens may be served in New York. 

And, of course, undoubtedly dear to Obama's heart, Bloomberg not only supports the Ground Zero mosque, but has declared that those opposed to it should be "ashamed" of themselves. 

He used to be a Republican.  Then he became an independent.  I wonder what he is now, or can be persuaded to be.

But one speculates on whether this was more than a golf game.  Although Bloomberg was elected to a third term as mayor last November, his popularity has dropped since then.  With the economy in the kind of shape it is, Obama might be looking for a new secretary of the Treasury.  Who better, some might say, than a billionaire who knows how to make money?

Just speculating.  But I doubt Obama invited Bloomberg just to have a golf partner who likes mosques.

August 28, 2010