For every action there is a reaction and a consequence.
Republicans who promised Americans Ronald Reagan and gave us John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Arlen Specter — hmm, one of these things is not like the others — have woken a sleeping giant and are only just starting to find out the consequences of trying to make the "tent" bigger, open to all those Democrat-lite candidates and progressives and we're seeing that in the NY-23 special election.
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Look, I don't really care about local politics that much, but I am watching this one — not because Doug Hoffman is so electric that he's set the nation on fire with excitement. I don't know much about him, but here's what he said on my radio program today:
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DOUG HOFFMAN, CONSERVATIVE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I think I've shown to the voters of the 23rd district that I stand up for what I believe in and I'm not persuaded by the party bosses. That's the way I intend to be as a congressman and I'm going to represent the people of this district and the people of this district are going to be my boss.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
He's promising to be a conservative and he's taken the lead in the polls. I think this race is shining the light on what's to come, but the GOP continues not to get it. They are taking their political advice from The New York Times.
Now, you can learn a lot reading The New York Times, like the most current locations of our troops in the field or the life-saving "classified" intelligence tactics the CIA employs.
But this weekend I learned something else from the Times: Sarah Palin and I are just like Stalin.
Sarah's connection is obvious: She can see Russia from her window and her last name ends with "alin." But what's my connection, you ask? Well, here's what Frank Rich said:
"It is they [Beck and Palin] who are re-enacting Stalinism in full purge mode. They drove out Arlen Specter and now want to 'melt Snowe'…. The battle for upstate New York confirms just how swiftly the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult that is as eager to eat its own as it is to destroy Obama."
We're eating "our own"? Arlen Specter is one of us? Really? The guy whose views and party blow with the political winds? The guy who cares more about the ethics of NFL coaches than the massive debt America is compiling?
And Olympia Snowe, the "conservative" who is playing ball on health care just to get some attention and power? And The New York "Republican" candidate who's pro choice, pro-stimulus, undecided on the public option and who accepted past endorsements from ACORN and the Working Families Party (the political arm of ACORN)?
If that's "eating our own" then yes, I am stuffing my face. And I'm bigger than New Jersey's Chris Christie — plenty of room in the belly; there's a lot more eating to do.
Here's the latest update on "our own" candidate in the NY-23 special election: The GOP's "chosen one" Dede Scozzafava decided "for the good of the Republican Party" to drop out of the race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEDE SCOZZAFAVA, FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: It's clear that the campaign is lagging, we've had a struggle with finances and it was time today, I think, to do the right thing which is to release the Republican County Chairs, they've stood beside me this entire time and let them do what's best for the Republican Party. In addition to that I think it's important to release my supporters and allow them to make a choice on who they might want to represent on the election on Tuesday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Then, mere hours later, this selfless martyr who wants nothing but the best for the Republican Party, came out and endorsed the Democrat: "It is in this spirit that I am writing to let you know I am supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same."
Gee, what a shocker. Why would she go and do that? Because there's no difference between Republicans and Democrats! Look at their views: Exactly the same. It's what we were presented with last November with McCain. It's what we get with Lindsey Graham and Arnold Schwarzenegger — they're all progressives.
Yet The New York Times and all these other so-called conservatives in the media say it's me and Sarah Palin who are "destroying" the party.
They keep using that word. To quote "The Princess Bride":
(BEGIN 'THE PRINCESS BRIDE' VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE SHAWN AS VIZZINI: That would be inconceivable.
As I told you it would be absolutely, totally and in all other ways inconceivable.
Inconceivable!
Inconceivable!
Inconceivable!
MANDY PATINKIN AS INIGO MONTOYA: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
I'm saying the party needs to return to principle and stop with the political games. Return to smaller government, not expand it. Get rid of special interest and corruption, not continue it.
I'm not destroying the party; I don't care about the party. And I don't think many in America do either. Can we just do what's right: Hold people accountable! If that means the party is destroyed — by holding them accountable — then they should be destroyed.
This is one area where I'm OK being pro-choice, but right now we have no options: I can either vote for the progressive or the Marxist progressive.
Right now, because both the Republicans and the Democrats have already decided who to pledge allegiance to. Hint: It's not you, but special interest and corruption.
But we want something different and we don't care about making your stupid tent more inclusive.
Can I ask a question? How come it's always conservatives who have to be more accepting? I don't hear Nancy Pelosi reaching out to me. It seems always one direction. Does anyone think Nancy Pelosi is reasonable and reaching out? What about Barack Obama?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess.
(APPLAUSE)
I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
But our tent needs to get bigger? And, by the way, if becoming a demagogue or ideologically pure hurts your party, explain Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi? They are the biggest ideologues out there.
It's the progressives who are kicking America's butt — the Republicans and Democrats. Look, I don't care what God you believe in, I don't care what you eat, I don't care what car you drive, just leave a freedom or two for my grandkids, OK?
Right now the polls show the people in New York think the conservative Hoffman is their guy: After Scozzafava dropped out, he shot up to a 5 to 17 point lead. And this isn't some crazy conservative district: The people there have a more negative opinion of Republicans than Democrats; they have a slightly negative overall opinion of Sarah Palin (and she, quite publicly, endorsed Hoffman); this is a district that voted for Barack Obama — when they had the option of a moderate Republican and a liberal Democrat, they voted for the liberal Democrat.
But just a year later, when faced with the choice of another liberal Democrat, another "moderate Republican" and a conservative, they're choosing the conservative. They ran the "moderate" right out of the race.
Hoffman may still lose, but the paradigm is changing. This isn't a message to the Republicans. This is a message to all those in Washington who aren't listening to the people. Hoffman wins or loses, it doesn't matter. If the political parties don't hold themselves accountable, don't stop the out of control spending then those who love me, those who hate me, those who love Sarah Palin and those who would like to put her in a cave with a grizzly bear, will vote you all out. Because we still have this cute little idea that "we the people" are in charge, not SEIU.
The party is over.
In the 1990s I was on the radio warning people about bin Laden, not because I was some super smart genius, I just listened to his words. He said he was going to do it and I believed him. But that wasn't the top priority in America, we were dealing with fat interns and the definition of "is" and I, like the rest of America, went to sleep on the terrorist threat.
On 9/11 we experienced a feeling we've never had before; when the buildings fell, our markets and our economy came falling down with them. Suddenly, we realized that our country isn't the unsinkable ship; we came to understand this Republic is fragile.
Here we are, over a decade later, on the air again, warning you that America can't sustain our government's massive ambitions. The system will collapse if they continue down this path. Ten years ago, I could have shouted every single day about Usama bin Laden and his wacky, crazy threats to kill Americans in New York and no one would have been willing to stand in line two hours while some security officer made grandma take off her shoes.
Today, things are different. America is changing. We're not letting you get away with it anymore. Look, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? Shame on me.
Conservatives are awake; 912ers are willing to do the hard things. They are taking time out of their busy lives, taking time away from family, they are attending town halls, they are calling their representatives and they are reading 2,000-page health care bills.
The 912ers are willing to stand in line and take off our shoes. But we are done trusting the people who ran Social Security into the ground and who have grossly mismanaged Medicaid to the tune of $60 billion in fraud.
Thanks, but no thanks.
We're going in a different direction and you politicians who think you are going to ride the wave of this 912 movement and continue with the same old stuff? Look out, because for you not only are 912ers willing to take off their shoes, they are willing to take off their boots and put it where the sun doesn't shine.
— Watch "Glenn Beck" weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel