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Andrew Sullivan: Fox News And “Nutcases” Like Beck, Limbaugh Are “Controlling” GOP

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Chris Matthews this morning revisited Joe Klein’s “sedition” remarks from last Sunday, which sent the mediasphere into overdrive this week. Short refresher: Last Sunday Joe Klein told Matthews that “a lot of these statements, especially the ones coming from Glenn Beck, and to a certain extent Sarah Palin, are right up close to being seditious.”

On today’s show Matthews recapped reactions to the remark from both Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly and then asked his guests, which included Andrew Sullivan, Norah O’Donnell, Katty Kay, and David Ignatius for their take on Klein’s statement. Said Sullivan:

I’m more with Joe than I am with the Fox News Republican National Committee Coalition Machine. Sort of this great machine spewing out this alternative reality to reality every minute of the day. Look, dissent is great and important and I’m a free speech absolutist. But this, essentially accusing the president, the duly elected president being illegitimate and even treasonous in respect to what the United States is.

The other guests are slightly more toned down in their response, but similar in their concerns that the speech has gone from dissent to illegitimacy. Andrew Sullivan wasn’t having any of that rationale however:

I’m tired of this notion, I have to say, that someone like Beck and Limbaugh can be excused because they are entertainers. As if that is an excuse for saying, substantively that they’re saying, and for controlling the Republican party. Look, who in the Republican party have actually pushed back against Beck or Limbaugh or these other nutcases? That’s the truth, and because there’s no resistance in the Republican party, the Republican Party is Fox News. That’s the head of the Republican party.

Amazing to think that six short years ago Sullivan was stumping for George W. Bush. For his part, David Ignatius says that a) he doesn’t agree, and b) that if Fox News and Beck are the GOP, the party “will lose in perpetuity.” Clip below.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    Sullivan’s perception of the hate twins 24/7 monopoly of the air waves, Beck and Limbaugh, is dead on.

  • JohnSimpson

    Yawn! You guys already said they were not a force to be concerned about so why are you spending so much time on them.?And FOX thanks you for your plugs!

  • shootfromthehip

    Sullivan is right. There is no moderate leader of the GOP that has the balls to stand up to Rush. Until the GOP finds someone who can tell Rush that he does not represent all Republicans, the right is doomed. Rush is like poison to moderate voters who maybe want t pull the R lever, but won’t because Rush is a liar and a racist. Young republicans such as Megan McCain are repulsed by Riush’s backwards-looking social philosophy. HIs GOP is the GOP of the past, and they (young voters) want GOP candidates that reflect the 21st century. Too bad Rush and the extreme right with their purity tests will never let the Republican party move on.

    The GOP will never again be the majority party in America.

  • Puter Boi

    Anytime I hear Mr. Sullivan lecturing about responsibility….or truth…or standing up for one’s beliefs I sort of chuckle…Mr. Sullivan has more faces than “Eve.” The difference of course being….”The Three Faces of Eve” was great entertainment….alas….Mr. Sullivan is not……not great nor entertaining.

    http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-06-19/news/the-real-andrew-sullivan-scandal/1

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    The thing about Limbaugh and Beck are they are entertainers when they want to be and they’re political pundits when they want to be. It’s like catching smoke in a net, not happening. The real illness represented by them is they are in a right wing echo chamber, from am radio to Fox Not News Channel to Andrew Not So Breitbart.

  • BowenIsland

    “…………….and I’m a free speech absolutist.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!!!!!

    Except of course when I disagree ! Shameless hypocrisy has no boundries !

  • marymoffet

    Yes, it’s sedition; it’s treason.
    I don’t need a TV pundit to tell me that.
    In fact, I don’t even have a TV!!
    I’ve known since Obama was elected that the speech of Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity et.al was seditious and treasonous.
    Now Sarah “the quitter” is getting all the morons riled up over our muslim, communist, socialist, nazi president.
    Oh well … what can I say?
    The rednecks are getting restless .. and dumber by the minute.
    How pathetic.

  • Cecelia

    I don’t get it . This is laughable sensitivity in light of how Democrats and some of their media lackeys spent years saying that Bush was not legitimately elected. Keith Olbermann did the same in ’04 via night after night of Ohio conspiracy theories that even John Kerry denounced.

    They didn’t stop at marginalizing one branch of govt, delegitimizing the Supreme Court as being controlled by partisan extremists wasn’t even off limits!

    The rhetoric has been that every Republican president since Reagan was illegitimate due to some sort of policy decision. War criminal…garden variety criminal…it was routinely claimed that they all had, in some way, betrayed their office and were therefore not worthy of the respect inherent in the position.

    That’s why this sudden sensitivity is breathtaking. I can remember people having the vapors over Donald Rumsfeld saying that SOME war criticism was the equivalent of a Neville Chamberlain-like head-in-the-sand mentality. Now we’ve jumped from that, to charges of full-fledged “sedition” by Joe Klein, no less.

    What’s next….from liberaldom’s best and brightest? Calls for deportation of the seditious?

  • Caryson

    I know it is often hard to predict a winner so early in the week but I believe Andrew Sullivan could probably be a winner for this week’s Douche Bag of the Week Award !

    The week is still young and there is a lot of hot air to be expelled in the next seven days!

  • NYSTEAMERMAN

    Haven’t seen any Dems pushing back against MSNBC either. What is the advantage for any politician getting into a “contest ” with a media type?

    From what the polls are indicating the GOP will make a strong showing. in November

    With radio commentators, bloos and cable news of all persuasions voters are becoming more informed which is a good thing for our nation. . Let the best idea win!

  • BowenIsland

    @ Cecilia They will have to be careful where they deport them to . It will have to be a pretty large place , or Rep. Hank Johnson may worry that it will tip over .

  • MarkStr82Hell

    Mr Sullivan, I suggest you get your CD4 count assessed. It appears that AIDS dementia is setting in. Matthews and his butt buddy KO can’t find anyone but flaming liberals as panelists on their shows.
    Word at MSNBC is that NO ONE likes KO.

  • SteveMG

    Andrew Sullivan has stated that the United States under George Bush was a “thinly-veiled military dictatorship” and that Guantanamo was a “gulag” akin to the Soviet forced labor camps. Dictatorship and gulag?

    And he has the gall to condemn inflammatory language?

    Setting that aside, he does have a small point about the undue influence on Congressional Republicans by the likes of Limbaugh (although, please, Beck doesn’t have any sway on the party). But if Limbaugh did indeed have such influence, entities like the Tea Partiers wouldn’t arise.

    Sullivan is in the throes of his Obama fever. He had Bush fever before. For him there are only two emotions: love or hate. Nothing in between.

    But it is always interesting hearing foreign journalists opine about American politics.

  • Munch

    Oh, Andrew Sullivan, one of the libby’s favorites.

    Andrew Sullivan is the guy who wrote an article that liberals jumped on during all the talk about “torture” during the Iraq war.

    He wrote :

    “As Britain’s very survival hung in the balance, as women and children were being killed on a daily basis and London turned into rubble, Churchill nonetheless knew that embracing torture was the equivalent of surrender to the barbarism he was fighting. ”

    Oh really, Andrew?

    Churchill didn’t resort to strong acts to save Britain?

    The British government operated a secret torture centre during the second world war to extract information and confessions from German prisoners, according to official papers which have been unearthed by the Guardian. More than 3,000 prisoners passed through the centre, where many were systematically beaten, deprived of sleep, forced to stand still for more than 24 hours at a time and threatened with execution or unnecessary surgery. Some are also alleged to have been starved and subjected to extremes of temperature in specially built showers, while others later complained that they had been threatened with electric shock torture or menaced by interrogators brandishing red-hot pokers. The centre, which was housed in a row of mansions in one of London’s most affluent neighborhoods, was carefully concealed from the Red Cross, the papers show. It continued to operate for three years after the war, during which time a number of German civilians were also tortured.”

    Sullivan is nothing but a pathetic liberal shill.

  • Ted

    Sullivan is right of course. There are no longer any Bill Buckley conservatives; only tea-baggers. Beck, Limbaugh, Palin and the rest of that thoughtful bunch do what they do for a couple of reasons; 1) they only know stupid and make a lot of money being stupid and 2) their audience loves stupid and will do what they are told, even if it means forking over their money (they just need to be told how much). Beck, Limbaugh and Palin are making a lot of money just being themselves; really stupid. Good for them, bad for the GOP.

  • Munch

    Good for them, bad for the GOP.”

    Like a miscreant like you cares, Ted.

    They are nailing libbys like you day and night and you can’t take it.

  • timzank

    Beck, Limbaugh and Palin are making a lot of money just being themselves; really stupid.

    Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Al Gore are making a lot of money just being themselves; really stupid.

    And the difference is?

  • Barney

    That nutcase Sullivan is still trying to prove that Trig is actually Bristol’s daughter.

    Wanna know the real Sullivan??…google “rawmuscleglutes”

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bob-Amsel/1450316715 Bob Amsel

    Why is it that the trolls on Mediaite who specialize in ad hominem attacks as “comments” never have anything remotely intelligent to say regarding actual issues? They also hide behind their anonymity. Before the internet, such people used to be known as poison pen writers.

    Please sign the BRING BACK DAVID SHUSTER petition:
    http://www.petitiononline.com/NewsFans/petition.html

  • Munch

    Bob Amsel – the home called; your bed is ready!

  • http://www.anonymousfinch.com AnonymousFinch

    This from the idiot who has spent the better part of the last two years demanding the release of Sarah Palin’s gynecological records so as to prove that she is really the mother of her child!!!!!!!!! Neither Limbaugh nor Beck has ever done anything that wacky. Yet he’s going to lecture us on “spewing an alternative reality”???? This is the exact reason why the mainstream media has lost all credibility.

  • Jamestaylor

    Hey Andy, look at what the NYTs is reporting. I guess Rush and FOX are having an affect.

    I say keep it up!

    Democrats’ Long-Held Seats Face G.O.P. Threat

    By JEFF ZELENY and ADAM NAGOURNEY
    Published: April 24, 2010

    ASHLAND, Wis. — Representative David R. Obey has won 21 straight races, easily prevailing through wars and economic crises that have spanned presidencies from Nixon’s to Obama’s. Yet the discontent with Washington surging through politics is now threatening not only his seat but also Democratic control of Congress.

  • http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

    Limbaugh and Beck don’t represent the republican party. They represent the majority of the American people. When the republicans were spending too much and they supported amnesty Beck, Limbaugh and MOST conservatives were bashing the Bush administration. That is something the loons on the left never will do to Obama.
    Bill, Ted and shoot are just mouthpieces for Obama. Ignorant ones at that.

  • Sunnyr

    It’s easy for these loony leftist creeps to scream “LIE” at those who tell the truth about what is going on in this Gangster Government, but I would like for them to be more explicit. Tell us what Glenn Beck is lying about! You have all opened your big fat ugly mouths, now let’s hear some real stuff. Tell us what Glenn is lying about. I dare you!! You can’t do it! All you ignoramus’s can do is whine, point fingers, obfuscate, LIE, cover-up, screech and wail, and name-call! You are pathetic Wuss’s who can only try to smear instead of “setting the record straight.” If you could do it, you WOULD do it. So shut the hell up until you have something intelligent to say!

  • Sunnyr

    ………”Using the screen name RawMuscleGlutes, Sullivan posted on a site for bare backers (the heroic term for gay men who have sex without condoms). He was seeking partners for unsafe anal and oral intercourse. Sullivan revealed that he was HIV-positive and stated his preference for men who are “poz,” but he also indicated an interest in “bi scenes,” groups, parties, orgies, and “gang bangs.” This hardly fit the gay ideal Sullivan had created in his book Virtually Normal. In fact, RawMuscleGlutes is just the sort of “pathological” creature who raises Sullivan’s wrath. Hypocrisy has always been a rationale for outing, and it’s the justification for a group of gay journalists who teamed up with the tabs to expose him…….”

    http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-06-19/news/the-real-andrew-sullivan-scandal/1
    ————————————————————————————————————————————————

    And this disgusting pervert is badmouthing Glenn Beck, a devoted family man? Pfft! Drop dead, Sullivan!

  • shootfromthehip

    Tell you what Glenn Beck is lying about? OK, here is just one of HUNDREDS of documented Beck lies.

    March 10th, 2010″

    Beck on Obama banning fishing:

    “A new report out today says it’s a move to appease the environmental groups, and just like before, without your consent, done in darkness by executive order. I told you a year ago this would happen. I’m not some prophet by any stretch of the imaginations. The report claims that Obama will no longer listen to the public as he tries to prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing on some of the nation’s oceans, coastal areas, and great lakes, even some inland waters. No more fishing. Really? Yeah, apparently some environmentalists want to save the fish. Forget about the frickin’ fish. People are losing their rights. Who’s more important: the fish or you?”

    The FACTS (something you will seldom get from Glenn Beck)

    The Obama administration created a Government agency called the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. What they plan to do is the same thing a fishing biologist who manages lakes does, manage the oceans etc. to keep the fishing good. It’s a fishing management plan, not a ban, and President Obama is never going to sign an executive order to ban fishing.

    There will never be a ban on fishing, it’s not gonna happen. The December 9, 2009, task force report discussing coastal and marine planning in more detail states that “CMSP provides an effective process to better manage a range of social, economic, and cultural uses, including” commerce and transportation, commercial fishing, conservation, mining, oil and gas exploration and development and recreational fishing, among many others. Nowhere in the report did the task force propose a ban on recreational fishing.

  • shootfromthehip

    HEY GORDON! Newsflash!

    The majority of the American people already voted, and they did not vote for the Republican candidate.

    Beck and Limbaugh DO NOT represent the majority.

    WE ARE THE MAJORITY. DEMOCRATS ARE THE MAJORITY.

    Deal with it.

    http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/president/

  • Sunnyr

    “WE ARE THE MAJORITY. DEMOCRATS ARE THE MAJORITY.”

    —————————————————————————————————————————————-

    You won’t be after November! Deal with it.

  • Sunnyr

    “There will never be a ban on fishing, it’s not gonna happen.”
    ———————————————————————————————————————————————

    Earth to Fool. It has ALREADY happened in many parts of the USA. I live next to one of the best native trout fishing rivers in the country and fishing with barbed hooks is banned. It is catch and release ONLY!

  • Jamestaylor

    shoot fromtheass:

    Democrats’ Long-Held Seats Face G.O.P. Threat

    By JEFF ZELENY and ADAM NAGOURNEY
    Published: April 24, 2010

    ASHLAND, Wis. — Representative David R. Obey has won 21 straight races, easily prevailing through wars and economic crises that have spanned presidencies from Nixon’s to Obama’s. Yet the discontent with Washington surging through politics is now threatening not only his seat but also Democratic control of Congress.

  • drex94

    RUSH WINDBAG ..SARA PAY-LIN…..AND GLEN “NAZI” BECK-ARE INCITING RIOTS; THEN CONDEMN THE DEMS FOR CALLING THE RIOTERS “TERRORISTS”…LOL

  • timzank

    Just in case any of you are confused, or forgot, this post was about a real tea bagger. Not about the tea party protesters, but about the “Real Mccoy” so to speak. The guy that’s had more balls on his chin than Linda Lovelace EVER did.

    The one and only spooge swallowing bare backing politically insignificant pissant of the people of Picadilly, Andrew Sullivan. How would ya like to eat at the same table as him? It’s really difficult to take any man seriously when every time you look at his face all you can picture is someone elses manhood stuffed in this morons disease ridden pie-hole.

    Dude’s a freakin joke.

  • shootfromthehip

    SunnyR says: “Earth to Fool. It has ALREADY happened in many parts of the USA. I live next to one of the best native trout fishing rivers in the country and fishing with barbed hooks is banned. It is catch and release ONLY!

    No SHIT Sherlock. But that is NOT the same as banning fishing. You can still fish. Has nothing to do with the Obama, administration, either, which was my original point (proving Beck was a liar).

    Barb hook bans have been in place and not changed under several different administrations. Here is a ruling from 1997.

    http://afsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1577/1548-8675%281997%29017%3C0873%3ABHRICA%3E2.3.CO%3B2?journalCode=fima

    The laws were not changed or repealed under Bush.

    But go ahead and keep on lying and try and say Obama is “banning” fishing.

  • Newsjunky

    It’s time that the media move on from the fringe movements of teabaggers and birthers and back to actual debate on the issues. I think they’re moving in that direction, thankfully. Beck, Limbaugh, Palin are being shown for who they are… leaders of fringe right-wing people who are an embarrasment to their own parties. I know lots of Republicans. NONE of them behave or condone the likes of Beck, Limbaugh or Palin. They are fringe. Out there and embarrasing to most who believe in Republican values. I think all those that are masterbating on themselves thinking this November will be some sort of Republican landslide are mistaken. Those fringe talk show entertainers only control the easily mind-controlled fringe right-wing. Small percentage of peeps.

  • shootfromthehip

    Here is more on Barbless hook mandates. From 2007.

    “Eighteen states in the US mandate the use of barbless hooks on one river reach or another.”

    Who was President then?

    GW Bush.

    http://fish.suite101.com/article.cfm/barbless_hooks_whos_confused

  • felixw

    When somebody shouts out that people who disagree with him are nutcases…well, that’s must be the person with the weaker side of the argument.

  • TylerDurden

    shootfromthehip says:
    April 25, 2010 at 7:13 pm

    Who was President then?

    GW Bush.”

    hey, ahole I saw your post where you were telling everyone BHO won in 2008.

    Well, STFU, clown. You are white trash.

  • Olby Sucks

    Change your name to “junky” cause you’re on something…

  • Barney

    “Eighteen states in the US mandate the use of barbless hooks on one river reach or another.”

    Who was President then?

    GW Bush
    ____________________________

    Umm..idiot??..Bush had nothing to do with those..they were state mandates..

    The jug-eared idiot now disgracing the Oval Office wants to take over all water in the US…including backyard ponds

  • JunkJunk

    Andrew Sullivan: YOU DA MAN!!!

  • ex political-media hack

    TylerDurden says:, STFU, clown. You are white trash.

    How is that statement not racist hate speech?

  • ex political-media hack

    Andrew Sullivan is the vermin who said that anybody who oppopsed the war in Iraq was a
    fifth columnist” for the terrorists.

    He spent the entire Clinton admin attacking it and demanding Clintons removal and he trashed Gore more than any other.

    F him.

    reals Dems should loathe him

    Hes only really for obama because hed love to bed him. Hes the lowest of scum.

  • ex political-media hack

    Andrew Sullivan – on the lead up to Iraq – (“The decadent Left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead — and may well mount what amounts to a fifth column”)

    ——

    comments on sullivan from queerty.com

    Sullivan is a bigot (again The Bell Curve fiasco), but he’s not a low brow one. He probably separates us coloreds into the good ones and bad ones. Obama is just one of the good ones. I imagine I am not one he would like.

    Read more: http://www.queerty.com/why-andrew-sullivan-aint-joining-no-tea-party-parade-20100417/#ixzz0mBMpZjw3

    don’t mess with Miss Sullivan’s man, Obama (and personally, I believe that sexual attraction is at the core of Sully’s fascination with Obama although there are some political similarities).
    She will cut you for messing with her man.

    Read more: http://www.queerty.com/why-andrew-sullivan-aint-joining-no-tea-party-parade-20100417/#ixzz0mBN03gFJ

    I will never understand how this scum maintains any relevancy in the political sphere. If anything, he should be the reigning campaign advertisement for what not to do as it concerns safe sex. You can’t promote conservative vaules and then participate in “not so smart” acts like he does. He makes us gays look bad. Down with this guy.

    Read more: http://www.queerty.com/why-andrew-sullivan-aint-joining-no-tea-party-parade-20100417/#ixzz0mBNF095H

    Probably the most interesting moments we could have discussing Andrew Sullivan would be if someone posted the body pic (or at least a link) re: his bareback-seeking ad a few years back on a sex meeting site.

    Read more: http://www.queerty.com/why-andrew-sullivan-aint-joining-no-tea-party-parade-20100417/#ixzz0mBNqGtDW

    I guess with his powerful media connections, Sullivan was able to get his racy “companionship ads” expunged from the worldwide web-a-roonie.
    Well, almost. Just add http:// and, voila:
    web.archive.org/web/20010606105110/milkyloads.tripod.com/bareback/index.html
    web.archive.org/web/20010526175901/milkyloads.tripod.com/aol/index.html
    Before the flames of Q hell consume me, I acknowledge that thematically, his sex ads (the type of guys or activities he likes/doesn’t like) don’t correlate directly to this Tea Party conversation above.
    Still, I think people deserve access to these ads for comparison when Sullivan writes columns on matters of “gay morality” and “sexual responsibility,” as he does quite often.
    Then, after you grow a bit disenchanted at the chasm between what “Sexy Andy Says” and “Sexy Andy Does,” at least you can keep strong in the knowledge that 10 years ago, Sullivan had a finely muscled ass that could crack a walnut in mere seconds:
    web.archive.org/web/20010610223732/milkyloads.tripod.com/bareback/08406c.jpg
    And a lovely evening to one and all.

    Read more: http://www.queerty.com/why-andrew-sullivan-aint-joining-no-tea-party-parade-20100417/#ixzz0mBNS6uKP

    Over ten years ago, I used to know this young, annoying conservative, college boy, homo who used to get all wet over Andrew Sullivan. Thank you, ladies, for these comments. It gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Just right for a cold rainy night!
    (Sigh!)

    Read more: http://www.queerty.com/why-andrew-sullivan-aint-joining-no-tea-party-parade-20100417/#ixzz0mBNha7uR

  • TfT

    Trig Truther Andy Sullivan calls someone else a “nutcase” and it is considered news? Too funny.

  • ChrisNH

    The happy take-away from all of this is that Libs are almost universally in a rabid froth now. They are angry, unhinged, apoplectic. You can see it in their faces and hear it in their voices. It ought not be that way, right? I mean, Libs have almost complete control of government. Why the hand-wringing, then? The reason is because unfettered Liberalism is one big ‘Epic Fail’ and its true motivation and lack of positive effect is now clear for everyone to see. Libs don’t like it that their ‘mask’ has been ripped off, but they ripped it off themselves.

  • Patrick Bateman

    “Look, dissent is great and important and I’m a free speech absolutist. But this, essentially accusing the president, the duly elected president being illegitimate and even treasonous in respect to what the United States is”
    -Its the same as all his liberal buddies saying the supreme court elected Bush and Bush stole the election.

    “Sort of this great machine spewing out this alternative reality to reality every minute of the day”
    -Its just alternate to his reality. Liberals cannot stand that now the news is read not just from their slanted perspective but another slanted persepective as well. And they cannot stand that more people watch the other perspective on the television and listen on the radio.

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  • writer

    And Sullivan is a nut for not knowing that Beck is a Libertarian, not a Republican.

  • http://none pyrope

    Yep, ol’ Sullivan has pretty much always been as full of crap as a Christmas goose.

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