Patterico's Pontifications

2/11/2010

Glenn Beck and Debra Medina

Filed under: Politics — DRJ @ 3:55 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]


Glenn Beck’s interview of Debra Medina
, a candidate in the GOP primary for Texas Governor, is a big story today on the internet. An excerpt from the transcript of the Beck-Medina interview is below the fold, and Medina appears to admit she’s open to 9/11 truthers if she’s not a believer herself.

Polls showed Medina growing in popularity in Texas and this interview should end that surge, but I doubt her positions on other issues would have carried her candidacy much higher. At the Texas GOP primary debate in January, Medina said she is willing to consider legalizing drugs and wants to eliminate Texas property taxes and replace them with a State-wide sales tax. Both ideas are worth considering but neither will pass anytime soon, and basing a campaign on them strikes me as unrealistic.

— DRJ

From the Beck-Medina interview transcript:

GLENN: Right. Here’s then let me be more frank and ask you the question: Do you believe the government was any way involved with the bringing down of the World Trade Centers on 9/11?

MEDINA: I don’t, I don’t have all of the evidence there, Glenn. So I don’t I’m not in a place, I have not been out publicly questioning that. I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard. There are some very good arguments, and I think the American people have not seen all of the evidence there. So I’ve not taken a position on that.

GLENN: I think the people of America might think that might be a yes.

MEDINA: Well

GLENN: Do you have advisors, do you have advisor

MEDINA: I’m not going to take a position.

GLENN: That’s fine.

MEDINA: These questions have been raised and they are not answered.

GLENN: Do you have advisors that advise you or people that are around you that are 9/11 Truthers?

MEDINA: Not to my knowledge.

GLENN: Would you, if you found out that there were, would you disavow them like the president should have but I mean, he escorted them out in the middle of the night. Van Jones was a 9/11 Truther. If you found out that people around you are advising you were 9/11 Truthers, would you disavow them or allow them to continue to advise you?

MEDINA: Well, you know, that’s a federal issue. We’re very focused on issues in Texas, on Texas state government. I’m certainly not into mind control or thought policing people.

GLENN: No, that’s a pretty big one.

MEDINA: We’ve got a very diverse team in this state and that’s because Texans are standing shoulder to shoulder to support and defend the Constitution. I frankly don’t have time, you know, to go through and do psychological testing on people and know every thought or detail that they have.

GLENN: No, I don’t think it’s psychological at all.

MEDINA: I don’t see us having a team of radical individuals, if you will. I think that there are certainly some that are looking, trying to use scare tactics. I you know, are there people?

GLENN: No, I don’t think they’re scare tactics. Debra, you’ve answered the question.

MEDINA: Yeah, are there people that have tried to come and be a part of our team

GLENN: Right.

MEDINA: that have not gotten on the team? Absolutely there are. But I can’t

GLENN: Yeah, I understand. Debra, you’ve answered the question.

MEDINA: You know, I don’t know. That’s so out of context, it’s difficult for me to answer.

GLENN: There’s

MEDINA: I think it would depend on, you know, how vocal they were about that and how much I thought it colored whatever other talent they brought to the table.

GLENN: Yeah. Okay, Debra, thank you very much. I appreciate it and best of luck to you.

MEDINA: Thank you, Glenn.”

42 Responses to “Glenn Beck and Debra Medina”

  1. I wouldn’t have much confidence in an elected (or appointed) official who was a Truther. But I just started wondering what the difference is between someone who holds such out-of-the-mainstream, contrary-to-the-evidence beliefs and one who holds beliefs that can be similarly categorized, except that they are religious in nature.

    In other words, if I consider Medina a weirdo who’s unworthy of the public trust, and that’s acceptable, why is not not acceptable to consider as a weirdo who’s unworthy of the public trust someone who, oh, let’s just say, believes Jesus walked the American southwest?

    Diffus (991efe)

  2. Diffus:

    Because the latter has no policy implications, while the former, Trutherism, most certainly does.

    Dafydd

    Dafydd the Excessively Literal (96b517)

  3. Trutherism does not have any policy implications for the governorship of Texas – and Mormons are just as delusional as Truthers. Great Point.

    Trogdor (f1e510)

  4. This is a lesson in how to kill a campaign in five easy minutes. And the Medina people who have hit the Texas blogs defending her are laughable. But the simple answer she should have given is “No, I am not a Truther and I don’t want anyone on my campaign team that is.” End of story.

    But Medina can’t avoid her own past. She is a Ron Paulian and even worked for Ron Paul’s president campaign. She has appeared on that lunatic, Alex Jones’s, radio show about six times. You don’t go on someone’s show that often if you don’t have anything in common with them.

    Medina’s peeps are the same one that supported Ron Paul’s bid for the presidency. They are just as loud, invading every damn poll they can to distort the results, and are now doing the same for Medina. Hell, I hang with TxGOPers and most don’t know anything about her.

    As to a state sales tax, we alread have one; it’s 6.25% over and above county and city sales taxes.

    retire05 (bab000)

  5. She worked the Ron Paul Campaign, as retire noted.

    that’s really all it takes to conclude she’s wrong for Texas and for me.

    Sadly, a lot of Paul people think the TEA party is all about them. It isn’t.

    Can anyone guesstimate how much the sales tax would have to increase to replace property taxes? How would that affect M.U.D. and colleges?

    I don’t have a problem with the idea, but it seems a bit regressive.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  6. Did somebody clue in Beck to set up Medina for the question? Probably; it’s certainly not something you’d expect him to come up with on his own unless he’s really up on Southeast Texas Republican politics.

    Does it matter if she does believe that? If you’re a Republican, do you really want the gubenatorial candidate of the nation’s second-most populous state to turn out to be the distaff version of Jesse Ventura? If someone from the Perry or Hutchison campaigns hadn’t pushed this to the forefront, you can be sure that former Houston Mayor Bill White would have thrown Medina’s past association with Truthers into the mix sometime during the general election campaign. And once it got to Democrat vs. Republican, the big media national outlets would have swarmed like locusts over the issue.

    Medina might have had an outside chance of gaining Scott Brown-like traction, if she edged Kay Bailey in the primary and GOP voters suddenly got all worked up about Perry’s Trans-Texas Corridor or cervical cancer vaccine boondoggles before the April runoff election. But that was unlikely, since Texas is doing far better than the nation as a whole right now, and while Perry is a politician who knows which way the wind blows and adjusts his sails accordingly, as long as Obama’s in the White House and Democrats control at least have of Congress, a re-elected Rick Perry isn’t tacking back towards his goofy ideas of 2007 any time soon.

    John (8de657)

  7. I got a robocall from Texans for Kay today. It was hard to hear but I think it purported to use a Glenn Beck statement about Rick Perry to discredit Perry. Beck said (I’m paraphrasing) that Perry was good during the campaign but he’d go back to being a progressive after the election.

    Anyone know where this quote came from? I can’t find it in any Beck transcripts, and Beck was complimentary about Perry in the transcript linked in the main post.

    DRJ (6a8003)

  8. http://www.journal-post.com/2010/02/08/2977/glenn-beck-says-rick-perry-is-not-what-he-seems/

    Here you are DRJ

    He uses the term progressive to describe Perry.

    Suffice to say I disagree with Beck. If progressives governed like Perry, China would owe US money. Perry isn’t the ideal, but he is good at his job.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  9. John,

    I disagree. Medina was coming across as a fruitloop to me for a while. Frankly, anyone who is a Ron Paul employee and runs for office should be asked this specific question.

    What bugs me is that a lot of fruitloops think they are the leaders of the TEA party. I was hoping it would be democrats and republicans setting aside their differences to agree on the basic value of spending less than revenue.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  10. I’m going to triple post, and I know how that’s annoying, but the part DRJ’s robocall was referring to was from 1:20-2:00 on the youtube video at the link I sent above.

    And while I agree with Beck on the idea that Perry campaigns like a fire breathing steely conservative and governs like a centrist Mccain clone, he’s still done a good job in Austin. If this is what progressives looked like, things would be a lot better. And I disagree with the reasoning he employs. The HPV thing or the TTC (which may have been flawed but had a critical need in mind)… those are the outliers. It may not be interesting to analyze the day to day operations, how we spend, how we are prepared for problems, etc, but that’s what makes Perry the winner in this election.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  11. If you are a Republican candidate, the only acceptable answer to the question “Are you a truther?” is NO.

    That’s it. No, “I’m just asking questions” cop outs. Just “No.” If you have “questions,” go run as a Democrat.

    Somesay the Strawmarian's cousin, Logic L. Fallacy (931dde)

  12. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=7272553

    This is sooo sad – she still is a troofer take 2

    EricPWJohnson (fef99c)

  13. Dustin,

    Thanks for the link. That contains the quote about Perry I heard in the robocall.

    By the way, the robocalled statement I heard apparently wasn’t by Beck, but it occurred on his radio show. I’ve never listened to Beck’s radio show but based on the transcript linked in my post, the comment sounds like it was made by Beck’s screener/co-host, Pat. I wish they would call again because I thought the call said Beck said that about Perry, but he didn’t.

    DRJ (6a8003)

  14. Right, it wasn’t Beck who said the lengthy spiel. Though Beck did use the word progressive earlier.

    Not that it really matters much. Beck wouldn’t exactly call KBH the second coming of John Adams.

    Texas really doesn’t know how lucky she is. KBH would probably be a good Governor, and Perry is already a pretty good governor. Budget Surplus and Jobs. KBH would point out that some are really hurting, but we should be thankful.

    And to hear a lot of folks I know, we have all these lame choices that don’t represent Texas’s conservatism. I disagree completely.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  15. Debbie Medina a little lpn

    went to go play with all grown up men

    she screamed and she spat and she told some big fibs

    and then she got invited to a real grownup gig

    so sitting at the table on the thanksgiving election eve

    she wanted to explain why she should be queen

    but when someone asked her why she spit and she spat

    the poor little medinas career went ker-splat!

    (the new texas state childrens song – sung to the tune by Mozart of the ego inflated cuckoo nutjob opus number 3)

    with apologies to well – everyone

    EricPWJohnson (fef99c)

  16. DRJ

    We should have terrible political poetry day every month

    first prize – 60 days community service

    EricPWJohnson (fef99c)

  17. Is it Medina or “Neither of the Other Two” who’s “coming on strong” for the Texas GOP gubernatorial nomination?…

    After a long blogging hiatus, I wrote last Friday about the 2010 Texas gubernatorial race. I was dismissive of the chances of GOP candidate Debra Medina, who’s identified with both the Tea Party movement and, perhaps less closely, with the 2008 enthus…

    BeldarBlog (0436bf)

  18. Dustin —

    Media definitely had some questions about both her experience in actually governing let alone her associations and beliefs. But the past few years, either with Scott Brown on the right or Obama on the left, shows that political situations can change for the better overnight when it comes to unknown candidates people can paint their own hopes on. It was unlikely Medina was going to catch that wave either in the March 2 primary or in an April runoff, but it wasn’t a complete impossibility until her talk with Beck on Thursday outed her as either a Truther, or someone willing to pander to their beliefs in order to gain a power base among the crazier Paulians of the upper Texas Gulf Coast.

    As for Perry, with the current state of affairs in Washington, and with the 2011 Legislature set to tackle redistricting, I’d say the odds are really good Perry’s going to govern the way he’s campaigning, because that’s the smart play in 2011. But it was disappointing after the 2006 election, when he staggered across the finish line with a victory Chris Bell, Carole Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman, to see that his principles were at the very least ‘adjustable’ when his vote totals fall under 40 percent, and that the most controversial policies he attempted to enact just so happened to coincide with the conventional wisdom that the country was shifting to the left.

    That’s not going to be a problem this year, or in 2011. But anyone looking at Rick Perry in the future for the Senate or national office should know his rock-solid beliefs in this campaign have some underlying fault lines that can cause some ground shifts in the future.

    John (d4490d)

  19. Lets get the FACTS STRIGHT GLEN
    This is what has been posted to the medinafortexas website. Everthing has been taken down from the main page and this is what is there now.

    Medina Campaign Responds to Glenn Beck Interview
    by Debra Medina on Feb 11, 2010

    I was asked a question on the Glenn Beck show today regarding my thoughts on the so-called 9/11 truth movement. I have never been involved with the 9/11 truth movement, and there is no doubt in my mind that Muslim terrorists flew planes into those buildings on 9/11. I have not seen any evidence nor have I ever believed that our government was involved or directed those individuals in any way. No one can deny that the events on 9/11 were a tragedy for all Americans and especially those families who lost loved ones.

    The question surprised me because it’s not relevant to this race or the issues facing Texans. This campaign has always been about private property rights and state sovereignty. It is focused on the issues facing Texans. It is not a vehicle for the 9-11 truth movement or any other group.

    The real underlying question here, though, is whether or not people have the right to question our government. I think the fact that people are even asking questions on this level gets to the incredible distrust career politicians have fostered by so clearly taking their direction from special interests instead of the people, whether it’s Rick Perry and his HPV mandate or Kay Hutchison and voting for the bank bailout. It is absolutely the right and duty of a free people to question their government. Texas does not need another politician who tells you what you want to hear, then violates your liberties and steals your property anyway. I fully expect to be questioned and to be held accountable as Governor, and that’s the underlying issue here: should people be questioning their government. And the answer is yes, they should be.

    J.G. (7f60bb)

  20. I used to love Glen Beck – listened to his radio show – bought his books – and even MET him at Barnes & Noble! But I’ve heard him hang up on a polite caller who simply asked about nanothermite at ground zero, and call him idiot! I’ve heard him do it to anyone questioning 9/11. BECK channels Thomas Jefferson “Question with Boldness”, but attacks fellow PATRIOT (Medina) Are you a truther?! Huh? Huh? What a JERK! I hope more people research of 9/11 truth with an open mind, IN SPITE OF Glen Bick.

    handlethetruth (e923e6)

  21. If you are a Republican in Texas candidate, the only acceptable answer to the question “Are you a truther?” doubly is NO.

    Because it if the answer is maybe or yes, you believe that a former Republican governor of Texas might have been or was complicit in the deaths of 2000 people. You either have to be a kook or a Democrat to believe that. (I am aware I might be repeating myself.)

    Mark L (0ccd61)

  22. 9/11 troofers are just as bad as the Cult of Liberalism.

    PCD (1d8b6d)

  23. Re #19: That statement from Medina looks like a desperate attempt to stop her campaign from derailing and change the subject. Presumably Medina was trying to keep the 9/11 Truthers on board with her campaign during the Glenn Beck interview … but after the interview she realized that pandering to the Truthers was the road to political oblivion.

    Joshua (9ede0e)

  24. “I hope more people research of 9/11 truth with an open mind, IN SPITE OF Glen Bick.

    Comment by handlethetruth”

    I never lied Beck because force of personality isn’t that big a deal for me.

    But I agree. People should research both sides of the argument if they still aren’t convinced. Those people, however, are idiots and do not deserve respect. the questions were answered many years ago in a very convincing and respectable way. The idea that there was a conspiracy by the US to commit 9/11 is simply wrong, proven wrong.

    The people asking those questions are hardly thrown in prison. They get all the freedom Thomas Jefferson thought scurrilous bastards should get. But we sure as hell don’t want you fools having any power.

    I love how, when the voters are horrified at something your type says, you immediately complain that you have the right to free speech.

    The answers are very easy to find if you had a fair mind. It’s been 9 years now.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  25. never LIKED Beck, rather.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  26. In other words, if I consider Medina a weirdo who’s unworthy of the public trust, and that’s acceptable, why is not not acceptable to consider as a weirdo who’s unworthy of the public trust someone who, oh, let’s just say, believes Jesus walked the American southwest believes that Bush fabricated the intelligence on Iraq in order to provide a pretext for war?

    Subotai (1d2abf)

  27. strikeout doesn’t work reliably on this site Sub.

    It’s amazing people would cite religion as an equivalent to truther myth.

    But it is more reasonable to believe in Jesus, Mormon or non, than to believe disproven lies about 9/11 or climate change or the holocaust.

    I guess some people want to live in a world where anything goes. Complete skepticism. It’s neat in theory, but it makes for bad politics.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  28. Nobody said anything about believing in Jesus. There is plenty of historical evidence to support Christ’s existence. There is NO historical evidence that he was EVER in the Americas. And actually if you’ll research all the contradictions in LDS mythology, I think you’ll see that Mormonism and Trutherism are very equivalent.

    Trogdor (f1e510)

  29. Mormon haters are so predictable and so tiresome.

    JD (d4820c)

  30. Yeah, I predictably use facts to support my position that Mormons are brainwashed, misguided boobs. I bet that is tiresome to someone who wants ignore the overwhelming evidence that his chosen “religion” is nothing but a cult based on lies.

    Trogdor (f1e510)

  31. Okay, now you are really an idiot.

    JD (5b3b30)

  32. I bet that is tiresome to someone who wants ignore the overwhelming evidence that his chosen “religion” is nothing but a cult based on lies.

    Nah, the only criteria that concerns me is whether they go around blowing people up to glorify their religion.

    Since that isn’t a Mormon expression of faith, I am not particular about the tenets of their faith.

    EW1(SG) (edc268)

  33. Glenn was hypocritical in this situation. First Medina never admitted to being a truther and her response says she isn’t. Second, Glenn continuously says “question with boldness” “question with boldness”….so is he the only one allowed to question with boldness? Is questioning whether or not your government could possibly be evil a bad thing? No, its a necessary thing and according to Jefferson our responsibility. But I guess according to Glenn this can only happen on his terms. Maybe he should quit getting his information about Texas candidates from his right winged best friend pat who is always willing to make acceptions to the constitution as he sees fit.

    MS (27d63e)

  34. Most of the people in Congress believe in the Federal Reserve Bank system even though its demonstratively an inflationary monster and the dollar has lost 95% of its value since the creation of the FED about 1914.

    But someone who questions the government’s official report on 9-11, a government that has been caught in countless lies, is suddenly a nut-case?
    Its seems much more rational to question the US government’s official report on 9-11 than to keep believing in the fairy tale of the FED.

    jharry3 (7d31d2)

  35. I thought it was dumb for Beck to throw Medina under the bus for not throwing truthers under the bus, but I could understand that he felt some need to stay consistent with the big deal he made about Van Jones signing the truther petition.

    What he’s done in the last two days though has been completely unconscionable. Last night he came up with this new half-baked version of the traditional left-right political spectrum where he bends the axis into a circle to connect the extreme left to the extreme right. He identified this point on the new spectrum with “Total Government” and put Debra Medina and Alan Keyes there as supposed advocates of total government because Medina is supposedly a truther and Keyes is a birther according to Beck (I wouldn’t know). Either individual might exhibit terrible judgment on certain issues for all I know, but to classify either as an advocate of total government is patently ridiculous.

    But it got much worse today when Beck laid the actions of Joe Stack and Timothy McVeigh at the feet of Medina and Keyes. Incomprehensibly, Beck held Medina responsible for covering for people like Joe Stack.

    Beck owes a major apology to Medina and Keyes.

    John T. Kennedy (5282bd)

  36. John, Beck’s always been a gasbag. He’s very annoying and you shouldn’t let him get to you. Medina destroyed herself. It was on Beck’s program, but it had nothing to do with him and you’re right that she’s not akin to terrorists.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  37. I think Beck’s show is great but his initial treatment of Medina was unwise and his most recent treatment of Medina and Keyes was inexcusable.

    John T. Kennedy (5282bd)

  38. I’ve been on the fence a long time in this governor’s race, but paying attention. I’ve listened to Perry, written him and encouraged him to take firm stands on the critical issue, but na-da.
    I heard the Beck/Medina interview when it was aired live. Her original response was a clear denial she had ever hand anything to do with the 9/11 truthers (even Beck said only months ago he had questions himself.)
    Despite her denial Beck pressed on until he got the sound byte he wanted, cut her off and started playing the clown, “french kissing Rick Perry.”
    Perry is playing politics, he’ll lean how ever the wind blows. Beck is part of his machine’s dirty tricks. After interview I decided to actually listen to Medina’s interview on local CBS; a full half hour on youtube. Amazing. She’s a straight talker, a person who wants liberty for citizens as long as they aren’t harming other citizens or breaking common laws, and her fiscal and sovereignty policies are sane and sensible. This truther thing is a RNC gang-bang red herring to divert people from paying attention to the real issues. In both TV debates Medina kicked ass and made asses out of both opponents, exposing them for the political animals they are and always have been.
    If her policies are followed we’ll see massive fiscal improvement here in Texas. Listen to her CBS interview and decide for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_aYliXqCPY

    wm ridenour (2569e6)

  39. Just as a final note: radio talk show hosts, Jeff Bolton and J.D. Wells, have interviewed all candidates more than once. Bolton said he, Wells and others have gotten thousands of emails about Medina, THOUSANDS, pro and con, and he’s spoken to other talk show hosts. He said he’s never heard of a single email about Medina being a 9/11 truther…NEVER, not a single one. Yet, Beck does one interview and says he received a lot of emails, pro and con, and most of the con emails complained Medina is a 9/11 truther.?????? Some one is lying here; there are dirty tricks here. I’ve been listening to Jeff Bolton for years here in Dallas and never known him to be unfair or to knowingly give bad information.
    Beck, on the other hand, after how he conducted that interview and his massive over reaction and pounding on it afterward; I don’t trust the man at all. I think he’s a liar and a traitor his own avowed principles. On Thursday he tried to discredit Debra and make her appear to be a liar by actually playing part of the Medina interview out of order and then mocking her with Pat Gray, squealing like a bunch of mindless school girls: pathetic. He clearly lied to make Debra appear to have lied. This man has lost all credibility. Disgusting and deeply disappointing. He has let tens of thousands of those who supported and trusted him down, including me.
    You can hear Bolton’s recounting of Beck’s barefaced lie on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/billyboy647#p/f/6/y91dlfim9HA
    Part II can be found by putting “jeff bolton” in the youtube search; there are 6 parts in all. Listen to ALL the evidence with an open mind and make your own mind up based on evidence not on hearsay. You’ll find Debra is not a truther but a truth teller; Beck is a clear liar.

    wm ridenour (2569e6)

  40. Glenn Beck is in the Entertainment business, where anything said about you is good as long as they spell your name right.
    You’re talking about him, which is good for him.
    When you stop talking about him, he’ll be out of a job.

    AD - RtR/OS! (e05987)

  41. http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/13469

    Above link shows stats of Americans who believe there are still unanswered questions. Quite a high percentage, (hardly so-called fringe) but I guess we Texans are more gullible than the rest of the country and we hate to admit we voted for a guy in a cowboy hat and we shouldn’t have. Texans find it hard to believe that a fellow in a cowboy hat isn’t just as good as gold even if we have legal documents and newspaper reports to prove it. It’s a flaw we have, I admit it.

    If you look at the full transcript (which most newspapers leave out)

    “GLENN: Right. Here’s then let me be more frank and ask you the question: Do you believe the government was any way involved with the bringing down of the World Trade Centers on 9/11?

    Ms. Medina said:

    MEDINA: I don’t, I don’t have all of the evidence there, Glenn. So I don’t I’m not in a place, I have not been out publicly questioning that. I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard. There are some very good arguments, and I think the American people have not seen all of the evidence there. So I’ve not taken a position on that.

    Since this was a telephone interview, who is to say there is not a period after the first “I dont” instead of a comma? It appears she answered emphatically and then explained why she hasnt taken a position. And I do find it odd, that so many newspapers left off the first “I’dont” thereby trying to make it look like she hadnt answered in the negative.

    Rob (9d1bb3)

  42. […] Patterico’s Pontifications » Glenn Beck and Debra MedinaPolls showed Medina growing in popularity in Texas and this interview should end that surge, but I doubt her positions on other issues would have carried her candidacy much higher. […]

    Deborah medina | Bghomesforyou (395f9c)


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