A perfect example of why I abhor Glenn Beck

On Glenn Beck's radio program today, I forced myself to listen to Beck and co-host assert that Nir Rosen's thoughtless, cruel and insensitive twitter comments about Lara Logan being sexual assaulted and beaten at the hands of an Egyptian mob are prototypical evidence of how hateful "the Left" is; that this is just how "these people" act.

Beck had not heard of Nir Rosen and was not familiar with his work, but was willing to confidently assert that his comments are representative of an entire category of persons. Nevermind that you will find almost universal condemnation of the attacks on Logan from across the political spectrum and the same for Rosen's remarks, let's take this reasoning at face value for a moment.

Beck acts as if Nir Rosen is the only person who said anything trivializing about Logan's traumatic experience. Yet conservative bloggers Gateway Pundit and Debbie Schlussel made remarks about Logan that could fairly be described as hateful. By Beck's "logic," wouldn't these comments mean that "the Right" is full of nothing but hate?

Schlussel:As I’ve noted before, it bothers me not a lick when mainstream media reporters who keep telling us Muslims and Islam are peaceful get a taste of just how “peaceful” Muslims and Islam really are. In fact, it kinda warms my heart ...

...Hey, sounds like the threats I get from American Muslims on a regular basis. Now you know what it’s like, Lara.

There will be no further comment from CBS News and Correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time.

I just love it when the people of the profession of “the public’s right to know” suddenly want “privacy.” Tell it to your next interview subject, Lara. Of course CBS has no further comment. Wouldn’t wanna impugn the “peacefulness” of “Religion of Peace” animals, would we? Now, if they were Christians or Jews, well, then there would be comments galore.

So sad, too bad, Lara. No one told her to go there. She knew the risks. And she should have known what Islam is all about.

Yes, you read that correctly. Not only does the story of Logan's sustained sexual assault and beating at the hands of hundreds of men "kinda warms [the] heart" of Schlussel, but Schlussel says that as a result of that trauma of which Logan is lucky to be alive, Logan now knows how tough Schlussel has it because of the hateful/threatening e-mails she gets. This is a bewildering absence of basic levels of human decency on the part of Schlussel; and after reading her final shot at Logan - "How fitting that Lara Logan was 'liberated' by Muslims in Liberation Square while she was gushing over the other part of the 'liberation.'" - I find myself seconding the question of Mary Elizabeth Williams: "Debbie Schlussel, what's it like to be so liberated from the burden of having either a mind or a soul?"

Nir Rosen, an obscure figure that Beck had not heard of, has since lost his job as a result of his comments and has issued an apology and explanation of his remarks. Just to be clear: Rosen had to resign from his job at NYU ONE DAY after his remarks. This is the incident that Beck wants his audience to believe indicates how hateful "the Left" is.

While Rosen's comments about Logan are not typical nor indicative of the type of the work he does as a foreign policy analyst, prominent leaders of the conservative movement traffic almost exclusively and routinely in ad hominem and generally repulsive attacks and yet their career never suffers for it. For example, just days before this attack occurred, Ann Coulter expressed - to wild CPAC applause - the contempt and lack of sympathy she has for the well-being of journalists like Lara Logan (who previously was detained by Egyptian security forces) when she said that she believes there should be more jailed journalists. This is years after Coulter responded to the terrorist attack of Timothy McVeigh which killed 168 people that her "only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building." She later qualified the remark: 'Of course I regret it. I should have added, "after everyone had left the building except the editors and reporters."'

Coulter is no exception. Take Rush Limbaugh for instance

On November 29, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh read an Associated Press report about the apparent kidnapping of four Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) activists by an Iraqi insurgent group. Limbaugh announced that "part of me likes this." He explained: "Well, here's why I like it. I like any time a bunch of leftist feel-good hand-wringers are shown reality."

As an aside, and to demonstrate that I can and do hold a grudge against those who demonstrate a lack of intellectual decency, I'd like to take a moment and remember Laura Ingraham having had the nerve to lecture actual journalists on how to do their job in a war zone, when the closest Ingraham ever got was taking a brief military embedded guided tour of Iraq. Here is Logan's eloquent response to such nonsense criticism: