Glenn Beck’s War On Czars Hits The House Floor
Forget Rush Limbaugh. Glenn Beck is now the de facto head of the Republican Party. In recent weeks he has gotten a White House official fired. He has helped to force the government to sever all ties with an ultra liberal community organizing group. And just yesterday he got over 100 Republican House members to co-sponsor a bill that would eliminate all members of the administration that he has decided has way too much power and a funny, foreign sounding completely made up title. That’s a lot of power for a TV talk show host. Not even Rush Limbaugh has accomplished as much in his many years on the radio.
According to Beck, Obama’s socialist agenda for this country includes the hiring of scores of policy experts who have not been vetted by Congress and have no real Constitutional authority. These shadowy, dangerous government officials are called Czars because, like the Russian despots, they have almost unlimited power over the daily lives of average American citizens. All of these Czars, according to Beck, represent an unprecedented attempt by Obama to concentrate government power and subvert the Constitution. Or something like that, depending on what part of the manic/depressive cycle Glenn Beck finds himself in that day. It is all very entertaining if you’re a Glenn Beck fan and it makes for very good television ratings. Now, however, we are going to find out if his theories about Obama’s Czars have any currency outside of the world of FOX Fantasy News.
The introduction of the Czar Accountability and Reform Act of 2009 would eliminate the funding for any government entity appointed by the President who has not gone through Senate confirmation. During the bills introduction, the Congressmen reiterated many of the same fearful talking points that have become such a large part of Beck’s show. The problem is that the sponsors of the bill didn’t even bother to check out the facts. First of all, people who are called Czars have been a part of our government landscape going all the way back to Nixon’s “Energy Czar”. The term was first used as a short pithy substitute for a long complicated title that nobody cared to remember. Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton all used them. George W. Bush greatly expanded the use of the term Czar as fast as he expanded the National Debt. Many of the very positions that Beck is complaining about and the Republican bill would eliminate were important parts of the previous administration yet nobody complained about them at the time. And to top it all off, The “Czar Chart” that was being used by the Republican sponsors of the bill contained Obama appointees who have already been confirmed by the Senate, including Cass Sunstein who was approved only last week. These are all facts ignored by Glenn Beck and FOX Fantasy News and amazingly ignored by Republicans in Congress as well.
As I have said before, Glenn Beck has no need for the truth to achieve success on television. In fact, lies work much better for him because he can shape them into whatever narrative he wants to sell that day. But were elected officials really the intended target of Beck’s propaganda? Even Republicans, I would hope, would have a more finally tuned “crap detector”. Then again, maybe not. Especially if you’re going to be gullible enough to let Glenn Beck and FOX Fantasy News write your bill for you.
