In Glenn Beck's world, most of the venom and violence in politics comes from liberals.

"You look at some of the stuff that is happening with the election and the way [progressives] are -- it's so dirty," Beck told Fox News Don Imus.

"They accuse me of inciting violence," Beck noted. "You've got to be kidding me."

The Fox News host may have been referring to a California shooter who saw Beck as his "school teacher." The shooter had plans to attack the Tides Foundation which is a favorite target for Beck.

"There's two pieces of video I saw today," Beck continued. There's a rock-throwing incident and another guy from MoveOn.org that is choking a person on videotape and just saying, 'I hate you. I hate you.'"

Over the weekend, MoveOn.org supporter Fred Highton put his hands on the throat of Tea Party activist James Massee at the first debate between Democrat Gabrielle Giffords and Republican Jesse Kelly. Highton later told the Daily Caller that he needed to "learn some self-control."

"It's this dirty progressive 'we know better.' John Kerry said it yesterday that Rush Limbaugh and I are hypnotizing everybody and stirring everybody up without any kind of intelligence at all," Beck explained.

"But the dirty stuff is on both sides. You would agree with that?" Imus asked Beck.

"Yes, I would. I don't think it's as hate-filled as some of the people on the left," Beck shrugged.

"Well, of course you wouldn't think that. It is of course. So... I mean, it's pretty much a jump ball," Imus said.

Beck seemed to be ignoring a recent incident where a man affiliated with Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul (R-KY) stomped on the head of a MoveOn.org supporter.

One Paul supporter is seen in video taken by Fox News channel 41 pushing MoveOn.org activist Lauren Valle to the ground. Tim Profitt, another Paul supporter, then is seen stomping on Valle's head and shoulder. She received a concussion and a sprain as a result of the altercation.

The Paul campaign condemned the attack but the next day the candidate downplayed it as "jockeying" and a "crowd control problem."

That same day, a full-page newspaper ad placed by the Paul campaign prominently displayed Profitt's name as one of the candidate's supporters.

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I guess George Will forgot about the good old days when all the media pundits were telling Americans that it was unpatriotic if the Democrats didn't concede to George Bush's will because he had a "mandate." Now the obstruction we've seen for the last two years that will worsen after the mid-term elections means that the government is working. Okay George. George Will thinks whatever gets Republicans elected is just fantastic no matter how much harm it does to the country or our economy.

And like the rest of the talking heads in our media cooperation and bipartisanship means Democrats going along with everything Republicans want and ignoring their base.

WILL: Doesn't matter, though, because if Mitch McConnell has 48 senators, he will always have 41 senators for whatever he wants to have 41 for.

Let me just say this. The Republican Party is being told to be the party of no. No more stimulus spending. No cap-and-trade. No card check. None of this other stuff. Gridlock is not an American problem. It's an American achievement. The framers of our Constitution didn't want an efficient government; they wanted a safe government. To which end they filled it with slowing and blocking mechanisms. Three branches of government, two branches of the legislative branch, veto, veto override, supermajority, judicial review.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: And we added to that the partisan rate so that we not only have institutional gridlock, we have partisan gridlock, which the voters overwhelmingly voted for.

WILL: What I'm saying, Cokie, is that when we have gridlock, the system is working.

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Former President Jimmy Carter slammed Fox News Channel Sunday for their coverage of President Barack Obama.

"With the discussion groups, for instance, on Fox News, that are totally biased, and they implant completely false images not only of the facts about legislation that's passed, or doesn't get passed, but also about the character of President Obama," Cater told CNN's Howard Kurtz.

"And they have been successful in projecting him as a person who is not a citizen of America, who is not a Christian, but a Muslim, and is not a Democrat, but he's a socialist, and so forth," he continued.

"And those seeds that are planted every day that they broadcast by the discussion, in the discussion groups, have found a harvest place in the minds of a lot of Americans. So I think they have completely twisted around what he has done, what he has accomplished, and his own personal character to his detriment. It's a small portion of the total news media."

The thing that really depresses me about tomorrow's election is knowing that if the Republicans take control of the House, the Democrats are likely to tie themselves into knots, explaining that the results are a mandate for cutting the deficit -- and a rejection of liberal ideas.

So I emailed this message to my congress critter's office:

"I just wanted you to know that I'm planning to vote for you Tuesday, but not because you've been a centrist. I'm only voting for you because the alternative is even worse. Please don't take this as a validation of your DLC policies.

"You used to have liberal ideas, but as you got more ambitious, it became difficult to tell the difference between your positions and those of Republicans. I voted for President Obama and Democratic control of the House and Senate because I wanted Democratic policies, not corporate-friendly ones.

"I want jobs, an end to these wars, strong government regulation, legal consequences for corporate wrongdoing, and a more liberal health reform plan. Please keep in mind that companies are moving our jobs overseas because they can't afford the high costs of American health care, and if you won't fight to improve things, I hope you face a primary challenge.

"Remember, if I wanted Republican policies, I'd have voted for a Republican. Please keep that in mind."

Send a similiar message to your congress person. (You can find them here.) Don't let them hide more corporate compromise behind Tuesday's election results.

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Dick Armey apparently doesn't care for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's satire on their shows, since he attacked them during the roundtable discussion on ABC's This Week. Here's Armey projecting his own bad behavior onto Stewart and Colbert.

It sure is funny to hear Dick Armey worry about civility. This is the same man who:

-- Told Joan Walsh: "I'm so glad that you could never be my wife because I surely wouldn't have to listen to that prattle from you every day".

-- Organized right wing hooligans to interrupt town hall meetings during the health care debate.

-- Called Rachel Maddow "Rachel Maddox" at one of his teabagger rallies to get even with her for making a fool out of him on Meet the Press.

What a guy.

Here he is Sunday:

AMANPOUR: Let me go to Dick Armey, who is joining us from New Orleans. Dick Armey, thank you for joining us. You obviously a big supporter and organizer of the Tea Party. Do you think that there's anything wrong with common sense and civility? Because a lot of people have said that the Tea Party is really helping the extreme end of the spectrum.

ARMEY: No, obviously we need civility. I agree with George Will. You don't be confused between having sharp and sincere differences of opinion and being civil with one another.

I thought yesterday was a fun day. I was quite amused at watching these very important national comics stand up and decry with such sincerity that which they do every day on their shows. And, you know, I said -- I thought it was so remarkable, I want you all in America to quit acting like we do on our show every night with our militant vilification of everybody with whom we have a disagreement.

Continue reading »

Hello, everyone. Thanks to Mike for inviting me back. It's a pleasure to help out here at C&L. I'll be here for the next two weeks. Let's get started...

The Rude Pundit: A terrifying tale of campaign finance corruption.

Just an Earth-Bound Misfit: I accuse (Republicans and collaborationist Democrats)!

Squatlo Rant: Ann Coulter likes women again, thinks they should be allowed to vote.

Tom Watson: The first Jewish president (i.e., Jon Stewart).

And some international content:

The Duck of Minerva: The (highly relevant) future of NATO.

Guest post by Michael J.W. Stickings of The Reaction. Check out our extensive election coverage, and E-mail tips to mjwstickings AT yahoo DOT ca.

(Yes, dot-ca. I. Am. Canadian. Which means I have to vote vicariously through my American friends and family. Please. Don't forget.)

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Sean Hannity and Brent Bozell of the right-wing Media Research Center decided to attack Chris Matthews and Jimmy Carter for truthfully pointing out, on Hardball this past Monday, the fact that these Tea Partiers have been co-opted by Big Money interests, and the dupes out there protesting on their behalf don't have a clue as to who is funding this astroturf "movement".

Here's the transcript from Hardball that they went after them for.

MATTHEWS: Well, what you think of these Tea Party people? Mr. President, I look at a lot of them as, they‘re not all crazies. They‘re regular people, a lot of middle-middle-class people and they‘re very religious. They‘re churchgoing people, like yourself. And I wonder, do they know that they‘re being backed by big corporations and all this conservative money at the top?

CARTER: The ones that know it deny it. And, obviously, the Tea Party movement has been completely financed—almost completely financed by hard-right oligarchs who want to prevent the oil companies and major corporations from having to pay their share of taxes or to comply with environmental laws.

MATTHEWS: Right.

CARTER: And so the Tea Party movement has been suborned by these very right-wing people who don‘t give a darn about low-class working people, but just want to feather their own nests.

MATTHEWS: I wish they knew that.

Their response... to laugh it off since Hannity obviously don't want his viewers to know that Fox is just as big of a player in this as groups like Dick Armey's are, and then Bozell makes a personal attack on former president Jimmy Carter.

BOZELL: You know, first comment on President Carter. Doesn't he sound like that proverbial college freshman who spouts neo-Marxist pablum after one too many hits on the bong? I mean he... Mr. President, it's time, you know it's time to put up shutters in your houses and really shut up now because you are making a fool of yourself.

Sorry Brent, but the only "fools" are the ones who watch Hannity's show or read your site and believe that anything you say is credible. You're both the same sort of tools that Carter called out on Hardball spouting the corporate line as long as it lines both of your pockets. If anyone's had too many "hits on the bong" it's anyone who takes either of you seriously.

h/t to Media Matters for the catch and whose title I borrowed since I could not have written a better one myself. I can only watch so much of Sean Hannity's show without starting to feel like Jon Stewart and his staffer did after Hannity's lame "apology" to Stewart and too much of Fox "News" in general. They're better taken in small doses to keep the television set intact.