Fox's Kelly Absurdly Claims Fox Personalities Do Not Invoke Nazis
Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly responded to her guest's statement that Fox News figures regularly invoke Nazi imagery by claiming "I watch our programming every night and you're wrong." In fact, several Fox News figures, particularly Glenn Beck, have a long history of smearing President Obama, Democrats, and progressive figures by invoking Nazi and Holocaust imagery.In the last moth conservatives have made too absurd and conflicting claims. They have claimed that hate and often violent rhetoric has no effect on our culture. While also claiming their wild conspiracy theories are meaningful and have an affect. Which is it. Words mean something or they do not. They seem to be saying they will take responsibility for what they say up until the point a tragedy results, than it is not their fault.
Kelly Responds To Claim That Fox Commenters Invoke Nazi Imagery To Smear Dems By Absurdly Claiming "You're Wrong." On the January 20 edition of Fox News' America Live, Kelly hosted Equality Matters' President Richard Socarides to discuss Rep. Steve Cohen's (D-TN) recent reference to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels on the floor of the House of Representatives. Socarides stated that "on the very network that we're on right now, the leading commenters on this network use this kind of language." Kelly responded by absurdly claiming "I don't know if you sit and watch our programming every night, but I watch it every day and you're wrong." [Fox News, America Live, 1/20/11]
In Fact, Fox News Figures Regularly Invoke Nazis, Hitler, Goebbels, Other Nazi Imagery
Glenn Beck Repeatedly Invokes The Nazis While Attacking Obama And Progressives
Beck: Progressives Use "Democratic Elections" To Push Dictators -- "Hitler, 'Democratically Elected.' " On April 28, 2010, Beck stated that progressives use "democratic elections" to push dictators, then stated, "You'll hear this when they talk about the 'democratically elected' leader of Iran; the democratic leader Chavez, 'democratically elected,' you know; Castro, 'democratically elected'; Hitler - 'democratically elected.' " [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 04/28/10]
Beck Invoked "First They Came For The Jews" Poem To Respond To Ad Boycotts. On April 8, 2010, Beck portrayed ad boycotts of his show as being orchestrated by the Obama White House in order to "destroy" his "career" and "silence" him, adding: "Is there absolutely no chance whatsoever that you might be a target at some point in the future? What's that poem? First they came for the Jews, and I stayed silent?" [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 04/08/10]
Beck On NEA Conference Call: "You Should Look Up The Name Goebbels." On November 3, 2009, discussing an NEA conference call in which artists reportedly discussed how "to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda," Beck said that "advocating through art is known as propaganda. Hmm. You should look up the name Goebbels." [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 11/03/09]
Beck On Obama's "Civilian National Security Force": "This Is What Hitler Did With The SS." Discussing President Obama's call for a "civilian national security force" -- which was a reference to expanding the foreign service, AmeriCorps, and the Peace Corps -- Beck said on August 27, 2009:
BECK: I'm finding this -- this is the hardest part to connect to. Because this is -- I mean, look, you know, David [Bellavia, former Army staff sergeant], what you just said is, you said, 'I'm not comparing' -- but you are. I mean, this is what Hitler did with the SS. He had his own people. He had the brownshirts and then the SS. This is what Saddam Hussein -- so -- but you are comparing that. And I -- I mean, I think America would have a really hard time getting their arms around that. [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 08/27/09]
Beck Said "The Germans" During Hitler's Rise "Were An Awful Lot Like We Are Now." On June 10, 2009, Beck stated: "I think the Germans, however, were an awful lot like we are now. We're kind of living in a denial, like, 'No, no, that can't really be happening. No, that really -- I -- you don't want to believe some things, but you have to. You have to actually think about them." [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 06/10/09]
Beck Compared Auto Bailouts To The Actions Of German Companies "In The Early Days Of Adolf Hitler." While discussing the auto company bailouts on April 1, 2009, after stating, "I am not saying that Barack Obama is a fascist," Beck said, "If I'm not mistaken, in the early days of Adolf Hitler, they were very happy to line up for help there as well. I mean, the companies were like, 'Hey, wait a minute. We can get, you know, we can get out of trouble here. They can help, et cetera, et cetera.' " [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 04/01/09]
Beck Airs Photos Of Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Asks, "Is This Where We're Headed?" On April 2, 2009, while teasing the next day's show, Beck asked, "Is this where we're headed?" while airing photos of Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Vladimir Lenin. [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 04/02/09]
Beck Has Attacked Progressive Organizations As "Brownshirts." On May 7, 2009, Beck attacked the "brownshirts" at ACORN and "their henchmen" at the Service Employees International Union. [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 05/07/09]
Beck Warned Of Impending "National Socialism." On February 6, 2009, Beck claimed that "We are really truly stepping beyond socialism and starting to look at fascism." Then, purporting to "explain what happened in Nazi Germany," Beck claimed that "we're talking now about nationalizing the banks," which he called "national socialism." Beck said that "at first, all the big companies and the big capitalists in Germany said, 'Oh, thank goodness there's a savior. OK, great, we'll do that. Yes.' It didn't take too long before, like here in America now -- Goldman Sachs -- they started to see the writing on the wall and ... they couldn't get out of it fast enough." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 02/06/09]
Beck Compared Gore To Goebbels, Says, "The Government And Its Friends Are Indoctrinating Our Children For The Control Of Their Minds." On February 5, 2009, Beck stated "The government and its friends are indoctrinating our children for the control of their minds, your freedom, and our choice and our future." Beck then quoted Joesph Goebbels discussing the Hitler Youth and said, "If mom and dad decide the keep the temperature above 72, should our 'Gore youth' report mom and dad?" [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 02/05/09]
Beck: Holocaust Survivor's Story Of How Nazis Drove A Wedge Between Students And Parents Sounds Like U.N. and Gore. On September 24, 2010, Beck hosted a Holocaust survivor who said that the Nazis drove a wedge between students and their parents. Beck responded by saying, "I don't know about anybody else ... this, to me, doesn't sound like stuff necessarily that I've heard from Obama. This is stuff that I've heard from the U.N. This is the kind of stuff that we have heard from ... Al Gore." [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 09/24/10]
In 2007, ADL Rebuked Beck's Smears Of Gore. On May 2, 2007, the ADL issued a press release condemning Beck's April 30, 2007, statement that "Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however. The goal is different. The goal is globalization. The goal is global carbon tax. The goal is the United Nations running the world." Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor, said of the remark, in part: "Glenn Beck's linkage of Hitler's plan to round up and exterminate Jews with Al Gore's efforts to raise awareness of global warming is outrageous, insensitive and deeply offensive." [American Defamation League, 5/2/07]
Beck Invokes Nazis While Attacking The Media
Beck Compares Media Portrayal Of "Tea Partygoers" To Nazi Portrayal Of Anti-Nazi "Complainers." On August 11, 2009, Beck compared the media's portrayal of the "tea partygoers" to a Nazi propaganda poster portraying "complainers" about Nazi policies, saying, "This is a poster of what you see every day now in the news media making the complainers, the tea partygoers, look somehow rotten." [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 08/11/09]
Beck Says U.S. Is On The Same Course As Weimar Republic
Beck Suggests U.S. On Course To Make Same "Mistake[s] That Germany Made During Weimar Republic" On February 24, 2009, Beck suggested that the U.S. was on course to make the "scariest mistake that Germany made during Weimar Republic." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 2/24/09]
Beck Conspiracy Theory: Similar To Weimar Republic, U.S. Government To Seize Land Through Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac To Back New Currency. On October 28, 2009, Beck theorized that the United States, in order to pay its debts, would continue printing money and drive up inflation, at which point the country would drop the dollar as its currency and establish a new currency backed by land, which the government will seize through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Beck explained that this is exactly what happened in the Weimar Republic. [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 10/28/09]
