The Other McCain

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WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT?!
Fox News Smears Geert Wilders?
UPDATE: A Completely Crazy Idea

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | 44 Comments

CubaChi at The Right Scoop:

A hero, a man who is risking life and limb to rescue the Netherlands and Europe from radical Islamization and communism taking grip of his country and continent. Everyday he has to wear a safety vest and hide his family and give them 24-hour security because he is willing to say the unpopular thing to protect and defend his nation.

First on “Special Report” with Brett Baier:

Then on Glenn Beck:

Now, there is perhaps some “fair and balanced” ambiguity here, and perhaps a good deal of unnecessary sensationalism – “Ooooh! The controversial far-right leader!” — but the overall tone of the portrayals, and the fact that these two reports were filed practically back-to-back suggests to me that somebody at Fox News (and somebody pretty important) is guilty of accepting liberal media reports of Dutch politics at face value. I’ve got a hunch about this, but it might take a while to investigate, so look for updates.

(Hat tip: Dan Riehl.)

UPDATE: I’m still trying to figure out where this anti-Wilders theme is coming from, and just got a call from a friend who suggests that Fox News is under pressure from Saudi interests – suggestions I’ve heard before, but prefer to discount. I think it far more likely that some senior producer or executive at NewsCorp has been listening to BBC or NPR or reading the New York Times and accepting those liberal characterizations as gospel.

It’s like what happened with the Sparkman “murder” in Kentucky. All it took was for one anonymous source at the Justice Department to tell an Associated Press reporter that they were looking at ”anti-government sentiment” as a motive and next thing you know, it’s “Send the Body to Glenn Beck” time.

You can’t judge people you’ve never met, in places you’ve never been, based on what you get from the media. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Kentucky or Kampala, there is simply no substitute for direct knowledge. And based on personal experience, I’m profoundly suspicious any time I see this “dangerous right-winger” theme in the media. Here is Roger Simon of Pajamas Media:

Regarding Wilders, I had the pleasure of meeting the man at a party in Los Angeles last year and spent thirty minutes or so talking with him, often one-on-one. He is extremely well-spoken and personable.

Pamela Geller, who knows Wilders, is outraged by the Beck segment. Whereas there is this from Charles Johnson:

Geert Wilders is a far right ideologue, and the European far right does often equal fascism. How the heck did Beck ever get this one right?

Frankly, now I’m tempted to start rattling the tip jar for a trip to Amsterdam, just to check out the situation on the ground. A quick check on Travelocity shows I could get a round-trip flight for about $800. If I could find somebody over there who speaks English, and has a sofa I could crash on . . .

It’s a completely crazy idea, but I’ve done crazier things.

UPDATE Tuesday 10:30 a.m.:  Now a Memeorandum thread. David Horowitz, Robert Spencer and Diana West (a veritable Murderer’s Row of LGF enemies) have commented on the situation. Paul Mirengoff wisely notes: “A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.” Noticing an Associated Press report of an “anti-fascist” protest against Wilders in England, I observed at the Hot Air Green Room:

If the protesters against Wilders are “anti-fascist,” then what does that make Wilders? He’s a “fascist” in the same sense that Mark Steyn is a fascist — which is to say, someone the Left hates.
A couple years ago I covered a David Horowitz speech at George Washington University where the left-wing protest pests chanted, “Racist! Sexist! Anti-Gay! David Horowitz go away!”
Horowitz is none of those things, but the protesters chant that stuff because they know that the accusations have propaganda value, stigmatizing Horowitz in the eyes of people who don’t know anything about him but who don’t want to be associated with racism, sexism or homophobia. A group calls itself “Unite Against Facism” and anyone they target for protests is immediately on the defensive: If you’re not a fascist, why are “anti-fascists” protesting against you? It’s like “peace” groups and “environmental” groups — who is against peace? Who wants to be labeled “anti-environment”?
The effectiveness of the Left’s propaganda against Wilders, I think, explains why he got such hostile treatment Monday from Fox News.

The influx of tip-jar contributions for a Holland trip hasn’t materialized yet. Maybe y’all don’t trust me over amongst all those foreigners. Anyway, I’ve got to run to D.C. today on business, so blogging will be light until this evening.

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Category: Foreigners, Fox News, Netherlands, Religion

Comments

44 Responses to “WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT?!
Fox News Smears Geert Wilders?
UPDATE: A Completely Crazy Idea”

  1. USMC
    March 8th, 2010 @ 11:24 pm

    Okay, the Special Report didn’t seem like it was on a witch hunt. So unless I missed something…

    Beck interviewed Wilders and it was a favorable interview with only a small disagreement.

  2. Glenn Beck foolishly calls Geert Wilders a fascist – UPDATE: Is this a pattern at FNC?- The Right Scoop
    March 8th, 2010 @ 11:29 pm

    [...] people you should check out on their opinions of Beck and Fox News v. Geert Wilders: Atlas Shrugs, The Other McCain, and Riehl World [...]

  3. Thrasymachus
    March 8th, 2010 @ 11:46 pm

    Fox News is pretty much down with the Republican establishment, and relishes an opportunity to say, “See, we’re not racists!” However, for any “conservative” to use this smear is a sign of pathetic desperation- see its use by Bush, McCain and Graham. It completely loses its magic power when not in the hands of a Democrat.

    I can see the tactical value of not picking unnecessary fights with Muslims who are not our enemies, but Wilders only speaks the plain truth in this situation.

  4. Clavius
    March 8th, 2010 @ 11:50 pm

    Fox News goes the way of Charles Johnson?!?!?!?!

  5. Robert Stacy McCain
    March 9th, 2010 @ 12:00 am

    Fox News goes the way of Charles Johnson?!?!?!?!

    My thoughts exactly, and you see the update.

  6. Jack
    March 9th, 2010 @ 12:10 am

    Doug Hoffman Announces for Congress

    http://www.facebook.com/notes/doug-hoffman/doug-hoffman-announces-for-congress/347584784747

  7. On Any Top Ten List of ‘Really Bad Ideas for Blog Post Titles’ . . : The Other McCain
    March 9th, 2010 @ 12:20 am

    [...] douchebag.)UPDATE: Instalanche, to which we are partial.UPDATE II: Speaking of Glenn Beck, his portrayal of Dutch leader Geert Wilders has angered many conservatives. var addthis_pub='smitty1e';var addthis_language='en';var addthis_options='twitter, digg, email, [...]

  8. Xmas
    March 9th, 2010 @ 1:05 am

    Almost everyone speaks English in Amsterdam. Dutch is such difficult language that the locals don’t expect any foreigners to be able to speak it.

    It’s a pleasant city, a little on the expensive side. If you’ve got hotel points or air miles, there are plenty of brand name hotels in the city.

    The funny thing is, Amsterdam is social liberalism, in the “freedom” sense of liberalism, taken to an extreme. I can understand how an anti-Muslim reactionary can sprout from such an area. The red light district is literally built around the oldest church in the city. Look to your left, a bunch of semi-undressed fat girls, look to your right, a stained glass representation of Jesus. I couldn’t imagine anything more incompatible with the outward presentation of modern Islam.

  9. Thomass
    March 9th, 2010 @ 1:50 am

    “I’m still trying to figure out where this anti-Wilders theme is coming from”

    How about doing some research on Wilders to see if Beck has a point?

    Your post doesn’t fall into it, but I’ve seen a few blog calls for US conservatives to link up and work with the Euro right. As someone with a father from Europe… who is a righty… I’ll just repeat here, American ‘conservative’ and ‘right wing’ don’t line up with the Euro version. Actually, the progressives stuck both labels on dissenters as insults but they stuck and/or the people in the US called those names decided to keep them. We’d be called liberals in Europe (as opposed to right wing) and liberals here are just leftists there… and in Europe leftists and right wingers are generally a-holes.

    As to Wilders, he may very well be a fascist. It’s a worth a look before you go to his defense.

  10. Charles Johnson
    March 9th, 2010 @ 2:10 am

    A racist nut job like you.

  11. Charles Johnson
    March 9th, 2010 @ 2:11 am

    I should know, because Robert Spencer likes you both. I was friends with Spencer till I was not friends with Spencer. I have always been at war with Spencer. And Geller. And you.

    Get out of my head McCain!

  12. Robert Stacy McCain
    March 9th, 2010 @ 2:21 am

    ’ll just repeat here, American ‘conservative’ and ‘right wing’ don’t line up with the Euro version.

    I understand that. Continental politics, is especially different from the Anglo-American tradition, and the Tories in England are more statist than American conservatives. There isn’t such a deep infrastructure of conservative non-profits in Europe, nor do they have any equivalent of Rush Limbaugh, etc.

    So, yes, it is hard to judge the extent of actual “neo-fascist” tendencies in these European rightist movements, and that’s really my point — we don’t know how much we don’t know. But Wilders and his Freedom Party have exhibited no totalitarian tendencies, and thus trying to paint them as the “Fourth Reich” is absurd.

    If, five or 10 years from now, Dutch tank battalions are overrunning Luxembourg while Wilders is greeted by “Sieg Heil” salutes from brownshirted legions at mass rallies in Amsterdam, Charles Johnson can say, “I told you so.”

    But does anybody really think that’s going to happen? No. So exactly what awful policies — what crimes against humanity — does CJ fear the Freedom Party will commit if it wins the June election?

    That’s the problem, you see. We are told that Wilders has said this or that awful thing, but the actual “facist” danger . . . is it really there? Or are people just trying to scare us?

  13. Morton Doodslag
    March 9th, 2010 @ 3:09 am

    So I went to see this movie the other day…

    It was about a bleached platinum blond, openly gay “extreme right wing” Dutch politician who is making great pretense of risking his life and all, posing as a defender of his civilization and freedom of speech, all while plotting the most heinous things imaginable! Very scary stuff, but luckily there were all these good guys who were onto his tricks! His clever charade didn’t fool these heroes, no! Before this horrid monster could wreak his evil, the righteous hatred and venom of Europe’s true defenders and supporters, those genuine freedom lovers, those authentic democrats like the Muslims and all the noble Charles Johnson types, exposed the facts to the world and revealed that this scary blond gay proto-Hitler was going to shove all the poor Muslims (who only ever wanted to assimilate and worship in peace and defend religion and democracy and freedom after all) into the ovens to begin the new holocaust…

    Anyway, it was all very riveting and so frightening! I’m sure glad this crazy shit only happens in the movies!

  14. Will
    March 9th, 2010 @ 4:25 am

    1) The Dutch are amongst the best English-speakers in Europe; their train drivers have a larger English vocabulary, as well as better grammar and diction than Amtrak employees. Go. There’s no excuse.

    2) Villepen isn’t far-right at all. He’s centre-right, and Chirac’s protege. I think he means Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is a racist. Big, big difference. It’s like conflating Lyndon Larouche and LBJ. Beck is an idiot.

    3) It’s a mistake to think that the American left-right bifurcation is directly applicable on the continent. There, most GOP-types would be classified as “liberals”. There are no culture wars, like in the US *because almost everything the religious right wants, they have*.

    4) Wilders has disowned Le Pen, Haider, the BNP, etc, and supports multi-racialism and assymilation – which the former all oppose. This should count for something with Johnson, but it doesn’t seem to. Shades of grey mate, shades of grey..

  15. Charles Johnson
    March 9th, 2010 @ 8:04 am

    I told you so. I can see the future. Of course Wilders has not denounced enough right wingnuts to make me happy, because he has not denounced you.

  16. Charles Johnson
    March 9th, 2010 @ 8:07 am

    Here is Fox News and another racist right wingnut making racial slurs about President Obama, it just makes me sick.

  17. Reaganite Republican
    March 9th, 2010 @ 8:19 am

    Glenn Beck is a dangerous fool, imo- and is starting to do some real damage now.

    Linked at Reaganite Republican-

    http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/2010/03/glenn-beck-is-grandstanding-imbecile.html

    PS- CJ, give it a rest, man

  18. Live Free Or Die
    March 9th, 2010 @ 8:56 am

    Point of order; Glenn Beck did not call Geert Wilders a Fascist. He called him ‘Far Right Dutch MP’(Member Of Parliament)Geert Wilders.
    The Youtube video heading says “Glenn Beck calls Geert Wilder a Fascist”, but he does not. Glenn Beck’s ‘crime’ MIGHT be in lumping ‘Far Right Dutch MP, Geert Wilders’ in on the political spectrum(which is, itself debatable)with fascism.
    That said, the political pendulum swung so far to the left, in Europe, and now in the U.S., that there was bound to be a swing back in the other direction.

  19. Bob Belvedere
    March 9th, 2010 @ 9:27 am

    In Mr. Beck’s defense: when he draws the political spectrum, he properly places fascism between socialism and liberalism, and not on the Right.

    I have my problems with the guy, but on this one it appears he’s innocent.

  20. Mann
    March 9th, 2010 @ 9:28 am

    The richest man in Saudi Arabia holds a significant stocks of News Corporation. Fox is just carrying favor for the man.

  21. Fritz_Katz
    March 9th, 2010 @ 9:51 am

    I was at LGF-1.0, got banned for defending Geert Wilders, and I’m damn proud of it!

    It does seem eerily similar to the way Charles Johnson suddenly changed from a rational-intelligent human into a hideous-goon sometime in 2007-2008 timeframe.

    Here’s my theory: someone placed a pod next to both Beck and Johnson while they were sleeping? Now that is what we call a completely crazy idea.

  22. chuck cross
    March 9th, 2010 @ 10:00 am

    Wilders, his meteoric rise to fame, his love/hate with the right, is an interesting story.

    I don’t think Dutch politics, let alone European politics, match up well with American politics. Team Jihad-Hunter are always banging the drums that Europe’s problems are also America’s problems, but I still don’t see it (yes I’ve read all the reports because it is something to which we should be aware as Americans).

    The Dutch should do what the Dutch need to do to preserve their society — perhaps that is a Prime Minister Wilders? I don’t know, not enough facts. Any society should be wary of ethnic groups pushing their way of life on the general public as a whole when they commit public acts of violence (as seen in France) or lobby government officials (as seen in the U.S.).

  23. Charles Johnson
    March 9th, 2010 @ 10:03 am

    Denouce McCain or denounce Beck? This does not compute! This does not compute!

  24. Charles Johnson
    March 9th, 2010 @ 10:03 am

    So Beck denounces Wilders and McCain backs Wilders…so I have to support Beck?

  25. Grimcargo
    March 9th, 2010 @ 12:45 pm

    Don’t kick that football if you not wearing hip boots. you might get s**** up to your eyeballs.

  26. Prophet Mohammed
    March 9th, 2010 @ 12:46 pm

    Lay off Wilders Beck. I kind of like the guy. He’s honest and I respect that. Of course, I may have to cut off his head. I may have to cut off your head too. But insh’allah! We have to do what we have to do. Nothing personal, just business.

    These cartoons made me laugh.

  27. Glenn Beck Lost Me – Updated and Bumped | The Lonely Conservative
    March 9th, 2010 @ 1:23 pm

    [...] The Other McCain had video of Brett Baier, apparently making similar statements about Wilders being a far right extremist, but the video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Fox News. Neither is the Beck video. This is the first time I’ve seen them do that. Oh, look, my video’s not working either. [...]

  28. Prophet Mohammed
    March 9th, 2010 @ 2:33 pm

    Don’t you dare judge me. You allow little naked angry midgets to run around your capitol and go after members of Congress. How gay is that? This video of Rahm is sort of sad. Now you know why I banned alcohol.

  29. Prophet Mohammed
    March 9th, 2010 @ 2:39 pm

    I may have to cut off Rahm Emanuel’s head too. But I will have to get down on my hands and knees to do so. Good thing I have practice from praying five times a day.

  30. Charles Johnson
    March 9th, 2010 @ 3:56 pm

    Beck defends a man grouper. I mean groper.

    That means Michelle Malkin is right.

    Hell just froze over.

  31. Ron Lewenberg
    March 9th, 2010 @ 4:21 pm

    I see three explanations
    1) Ignorance. These people don’t know the facts and rely on MSM reports.
    2) Ideology. Beck is all over the place. He loves immigration. Kristol and Krauthammer are Neoconservatives wed to the idea of democratization and assimilation. If the problem is not a few crazy Islamists and enablers but one of Orthodox Islam as Dawa (mensheviks) to the Jihadists playing Bolsheviks to mainstream Islam being the equivalent of Democratic Socialists, then the liberal and neoconservative visions collapse.
    When Wilders calls the Koran fascism, he stabs neoconservatism in its heart.

  32. Ron Lewenberg
    March 9th, 2010 @ 4:22 pm

    The third reason is Saudi money.

  33. I’ve never met Geert Wilders… « DaTechguy's Blog
    March 9th, 2010 @ 4:46 pm

    [...] Stacy bottom lines it best: If the protesters against Wilders are “anti-fascist,” then what does that [...]

  34. Denise
    March 9th, 2010 @ 4:54 pm

    Hello – I’m a newbie here and very interested in the subject matter you are discussing.

    At last my city (Seattle ) newspaper had an article on Wilders , and maybe , hopefully ,that is a sign of things to come. As you probably know the media usualy act like Wilders and his trial don’t exist. They, like most of todays simpering ultra-liberals , are so worried about hurting Muslim feelings they don’t care how many feelings get hurt by Muislims. They see them as underdogs.

    Why do you say Wilders is gay ? I have read that before and wonder what info . anyone has to back up that claim ? I mean, just because he bleaches his hair doesn’t mean he’s gay.

    I like his hair, btw, it gives him a kind of cherub look . Can someone answer : is he gay ?

  35. cobra
    March 9th, 2010 @ 5:39 pm

    Hey, Lizard!
    Get the hell out of here, as we try to have an intelligent conversation about the next disappointment to the conservative movement.
    You pollute the blogs you touch…

  36. skzion
    March 9th, 2010 @ 11:31 pm

    The Beck segment is here:

    http://www.trilulilu.ro/patrupedbun/d39d786dd8f03e

  37. skzion
    March 9th, 2010 @ 11:33 pm

    Boy, too bad McCain moderates his site (I’ve been here once before). The link I posted won’t last forever.

  38. Denise
    March 10th, 2010 @ 3:42 am

    Is anybody going to answer me ? Is Geert Wilders homo. ?

    Morton Doodslag uses the words “openly gay ” in his comments about Wilders. Come on now–anybody know about this ?

    I didn’t think gay men married. Wilders is married to a “hungarian woman ” so I read.

  39. Charles Johnson
    March 10th, 2010 @ 9:03 am

    Wilders is a fascist. Like RSM and Pam Geller and Robert Spencer and the rest of my critics and enemies. Fascists, one and all.

  40. FatBaldnSassy
    March 10th, 2010 @ 3:24 pm

    There has been a resurgence of far right parties in Europe, mostly in eastern Europe. I don’t think Beck knows anything about that, however. He never talks about that, from what I can see.

    I think that Beck is now spending so much time around Bill O’Reilly that he’s pulling a triangulation move on the listeners. If he occasionally beats up on a few right wingers, he gets to say “See, I’m really not ideological- I’m just sticking up for the folks.”

  41. cobra
    March 10th, 2010 @ 3:39 pm

    CJ/Lizard,

    You are just a slimy moron.

    But I think you are a masochist too, since you continue to post on blogs that despise you and let you know unambiguously about it.

  42. james healy
    March 10th, 2010 @ 3:47 pm

    If you want to know why there’s a creeping demonisation of Geert Wilders on Fox, follow the money. Fox’s sister station in England, Sky News, has one principal advertiser, namely the Royal Family of Qatar. The Royal Family of Qatar also finance the Islamic Nazi channel Al Jazeera. Money talks. Fox has ended a 50 year monopoly on discourse by the liberal left. But it’s not incorruptible.

  43. Victor
    March 11th, 2010 @ 3:55 pm

    The problem has a name and that name is Grover Norquist.

  44. The Weekly Wilders Round-Up « Defend Geert Wilders
    March 14th, 2010 @ 4:47 pm

    [...] The Other McCain – WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT?! Fox News Smears Geert Wilders? UPDATE: A Completely Crazy Idea [...]

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