Michigan Dems boycott panel over Beck speech

[Bozita]

Source: Detroit Free Press

POSTED: 2:41 P.M. SEPT. 15, 2009 | UPDATED: 3:53 P.M. TODAY
Michigan Dems boycott panel over Beck speech
BY DAWSON BELL
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU



EAST LANSING - Michigan Democrats scheduled to appear at a public policy forum at Michigan State University are boycotting the event in protest over the presence of controversial radio and TV host Glenn Beck this evening.

House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, and Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-Salem Township, were to have joined Republican Attorney General Mike Cox and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop on a panel this afternoon to discuss state tax and budget policy at the conference sponsored by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

But both, along with other Democrats, on the agenda notified organizers last night and this morning they would not appear, said Kelly Rossman, a Lansing public relations executive who chairs the Chamber Foundation.

Their decision was based on objections to Beck, who is the event's keynote speaker, Rossman said.

Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20090915/NEWS15/90915057/1319/Michigan-Dems-boycott-panel-over-Beck-speech

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The comments at the Freep are worth a look.

[Occulus]

1. There can be no better indication that the Chamber is our enemy.

Beck hates America, the Chamber invites him to be their keynote speaker, therefore.....

[BrklynLiberal]

13. Will not argue with that conclusion....

[No Elephants]

17. Now, now. Be fair. The Michigan Chamber of Corporatists probably

invited him simply because of his intelligence, speaking skills and great business experience and business acumen.


Oh, wait. This thread is about Glenn Beck?






never mind.

[xultar]

2. EW. Can you remove the freep link and put it in a reply. I don't want a link to

freeperville on the GP.

Can you just use a link to the Detroit Free Press?

[Bozita]

3. The Detroit Free Press has been known as the Freep for well over 30 years.

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. They have him captioned as "Newscaster Glenn Beck"

Ugh.

[No Elephants]

18. Maybe the copy editor wasn't sure how to spell Turd Caster?

:shrug:

[xultar]

8. Thanks. I see Freep and freak the fuck out. I should know that, I stayed there for

over a year.

[YOY]

7. That's a good Freep. Not a bad FReeper.

n.t.

[robinlynne]

10. lol

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. Sounds like it has turned into an echo chamber event

Are people still planning to protest Glenn the Beck?

[Bozita]

9. MSU Dem Club and others were planning to demonstrate at the Kellogg Center.

[Rowdyboy]

5. I appreciate that they took a stand....its about damn time someone did....

[Faygo Kid]

11. Ugly comments over there, of course, as you would expect.

All pretense of it not being about race is being rapidly stripped away now.

[MasonJar]

12. Good for dems who do occasionally stand tall for something.

[Vidar]

14. Good for them!

[cheapdate]

15. I don't blame them.

I'm not sure if I could attend Beck as a keynote speaker. It's a horrible thought.

[ScottLand]

16. I certainly wouldn't want to share the stage with

a man who calls my boss a racist and a Nazi.

[MinM]

19. Dawson "(Beck's) overall tone was upbeat" Bell, is a right-wing hack...

Which is alarming at 2 levels. 1) The Detroit Free Press is supposed to be to the left of the uber-conservative Detroit News, and 2) Dawson Bell is supposed to be a straight news reporter.

http://liberalmedianot.blogspot.com/2007/10/detroit-news-editor-chosen-as-most.html

Bell covers Lansing and politics for the Detroit Free Press, and he is the only reporter on the list. Finding bias in a straight news story is difficult, but bias there can cause the most damage because it is not so obvious. Bell helped start the "ipod for every student in Michigan" controversary last spring when he mistakenly wrote in a story that House Democrats were proposing a $58 million line item to buy every student an ipod that was really for new technology. Republicans made hay with that line, and it continues today...

Dawson Bell Responds (but just raises more questions)

...While I appreciate his (DBell's) timely response, I think it's safe to say that 1) he failed to answer my questions ("all the specifics we have" doesn't answer where he got the $38 million figure in the first place, nor why he changed it to $36 million the next day) and 2) he completely ignored the larger point I was making about the factual inaccuracies and stating assumptions as fact that he made. Also note that once again, he closes by stressing the fact that the "iPod deal" (which never existed) is now "dead" thanks to his making it up in the first place...

[No Elephants]

20. ....

"There is a great and growing cancer in our country. It will be terminal if we don't stop it," Beck said.


"If we don't stop it dead in its tracks, (we're) finished."




I never realized Beck was that candid and self aware!


:evilgrin:


Good work, Michigan Democrats! Every step toward stopping that great and growing cancer dead in its tracks is occasion for pride.