Glenn Beck Tears Into the ‘Lousy Senator From Arizona’ John McCain for Latest Obamacare Comments

[Cincinnatus]

Glenn Beck tore into Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain Thursday over new comments he made about repealing Obamacare that were at odds with statements he made in September.

Beck said more than once that he couldn’t decide whether McCain is a “dirtbag weasel” or a “weasel dirtbag.”

Speaking on his radio program, Beck said that when GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee were fighting to repeal the legislation a number of weeks ago, McCain said such a goal was “not rational.” Cruz, Lee, and anyone who supported their efforts were called everything from “anarchists” to “terrorists” (though not necessarily by McCain).

But Beck said now that “the lousy senator from Arizona” has seen how “the political winds have changed,” he wants to jump on the bandwagon.

“I’d like to call him ‘the good senator from Arizona,’ but I don’t think he’s a good senator from Arizona,” Beck said. “I think he’s a lousy senator from Arizona.”

Beck played audio from McCain’s interview with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News Wednesday, where the senator advocated reforms like allowing individuals to purchase insurance across state lines and medical malpractice reform, before launching into another tirade.

“John McCain, you’re such a maverick,” Beck said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “He’s almost such a maverick he’s old-timey. It’s almost like he’s using someone else’s recycled idea, you know? And it’s almost like he had to destroy someone so he could retain his power! You know what I mean? And then take his idea and then just recycle it, repackage it, and then go on the sources that won’t hold him accountable at all, because they are part of the problem. You know what I mean? It’s almost that much of a maverick.”

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[Oceander]

And it’s almost like he had to destroy someone so he could retain his power! You know what I mean? And then take his idea and then just recycle it, repackage it, and then go on the sources that won’t hold him accountable at all, because they are part of the problem.

That is how many (most?) successful politicians stay in power:  they find the bright up-and-comers, those who are still under the delusion that what wins the day - and the girl - is having really good, bright ideas.  Not so.  What matters is having the power to take those bright ideas - either by stripping them from their creator, or making the creator your creature, your pet - and using them to your own advantage.  It's also how tyrants and despots stay in power:  sacrificing others to the gods of Power.

[Slide Rule]

The successful politician owes his power to the fact that he moves within the accepted framework of thought, that he thinks and talks conventionally.  It would almost be a contradiction in terms for a politician to be a leader in the field of ideas.  His task is a democracy is to find out what the opinions held by the largest numbers are, not to give currency to new opinion which may become the majority view in some distant future.

To treat existing majority opinion as the standard and for what majority opinion ought to be would make the whole process circular and stationary.  There is never so much reason for the political philosopher to suspect himself of failing in his task as when he finds his opinions are very popular.  It is by insisting on considerations which the majority do not wish to take into account, by holding up principles which they regard as inconvenient and irksome, that he has to prove his worth.

FA Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty

I recommend the above as covering much that the economic view in the outstanding The Road to Serfdom does not.