Debra Medina self-destructs on Glenn Beck’s radio show – that’s the headline in the Christian Science Monitor. Ms Medina is the Tea Party person who has come from nowhere to challenge Rick Perry in the Republican primary for Governor. According to the story, Glenn pushed her hard about rumors that she (or people around her) are “9/11 truthers” – people who think the US Government was behind the attack on 9/11…
Her answer was evasive, and Glenn followed up with a question that if she found out someone on her staff was a 9/11 truther, would she dismiss them….. again she was evasive and trying to “privot” the question away….. Glenn terminated the interview and washed his hands of her.
If you heard the show, is that somewhat accurate?
I vaguely remember a poll a few years ago that found that something like 60% of people thought we didn’t know the truth about 9/11….. If Glenn writes off everyone who has doubts about the official story, he’s gonna write off a lot of people….
Time Magainze story from 2006 about Scripps Howard poll that 36% of americans think we didn’t get the truth about 9/11 (of course, that was before President Obama was elected – I wonder if he was part of the 36%…)
Ron Paul is a 9/11 truther and appears often on Alex Jones’s show, which Glenn seems unaware of…
The ever reliable Wikipedia has a summary of all of the credible polls done about what Americans think about 9/11.
Here’s the interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j2Ov6u9e38
Beck was completely fair. A simple “no” would have sufficed, but she sounded guilty by rambling on and on in political-speak.
I didn’t know about Ron Paul being a truther. That’s going to kill Rand Paul down the road if he wins the primary.
He’s not as hard core as Alex Jones (like that the Pentagon was hit by a missile, not a plane), but he blames the attack on our foreign policy, and thinks the 9/11 commission was a coverup
http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=2372
That’s from 2004 – that one isn’t saying the US planned the 9/11 attack, but rather that Bush and the “Neo-cons” used it as a pretext to invade Iraq…
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/18/martin/index.html
He’s doing a lot of tap dancing when people push him on the subject….. but when he calls into Alex Jones show, he’s been pretty clear about his mistrust of the government’s actions and wants a new investigation…
Alex Jones is worth listening to, as long as you realize that most of it isn’t based on fact – but he certainly nailed the Goldman Sachs thing early on and the connections with Paulson and Geithner….
I would like to think at this point I have a pretty good understanding of Glenn Beck….
The interview starts off on the wrong foot – he asks the very open ended question “I don’t know much about you – tell me who you are”….. she “pivots” the question into talking about Governor Perry…. after her long answer, Glenn reminds her of his original question and gives her a second chance to answer it….. her voice is agitated that Glenn didn’t let her get away with it….
Later on, she talks about the issue of eminant domain and the Texas Corridor / NAFTA Superhighway – which is an Alex Jones favorite subject…. She then makes the argument relative to immigration that the people who own the ranches should not have to allow people on their land to prepare to take their land in order to build a border fence – which puts her on the side of the pro-immigration forces…. at least that’s the implication. So before we arrive at the Truther question, she’s already stomped on a lot of Beck’s B.S. detectors…. I’m guessing that question was a “maybe I’ll ask it” one that he went to when it was clear she was giving evasive answers (she also fumbled a lot when Glenn asked her to explain more about her Small Business experience….)
Her notion of doing away with all property taxes (in a state with no income tax) and moving that need for revenue to the state sales tax says just how poorly she has thought through the issues…. Whatever merit the “Fair Tax” might have at a Federal level, the same idea doesn’t work at a state level at all…. If you slap on a 20% state income tax, it’s far too easy to smuggle in merchandise from neighboring states….
The 20% rate was a guestimate….. now some harder figures….
Texas in 2009 raised $21 billion in sales taxes at a 6% tax rate
https://fmx.cpa.state.tx.us/fm/pubs/cashrpt/08/html/tables/table_12a.php
It’s very dangerous to say 1% = $3.5 billion because people’s behavior will change when tax rates change (they may consume less, buy things out of state, leave the state, smuggle, buy things in the underground economy, etc….)
Here are the folks who gave her the idea she can do this…. They propose to epand the tax to things not currently covered by sales tax (including taxing transfers of real estate) at 8% or if you don’t broaden the base, make the sales tax 12.5% (including taxing transfers of real estate)
Their opinion was based on a report commissioned to Arduin, Laffer & Moore http://www.arduinlaffermoore.com/News.asp
The Laffer is Arthur Laffer of the “Laffer Curve”…. So far, I’ve been unable to find the actual study to see what the underlying economic assumptions are…. for instance, if you impose a 12.5% tax on the transfer of real estate, ,will that change how frequently people move to a new house? Will they hold onto their old home and make it a rental rather than selling it? Will farmers move their farms into closely held corporations so they can be transferred to their heirs without transferring the actual property? Will transfers of stock be taxed?….