In the ongoing conservative assault on President Obama, many wild and often inaccurate claims have been made.
They have revolved around health care (death panels, coverage for illegal immigrants, etc.), Foreign Policy (shunning our allies, supporting dictators, leaving us open to terrorist threats by closing Gitmo…) and many more that I have neither the time nor the desire to mention.
But one particularly surprising tactic has come to the forefront: the attacks on “Czars,” and claims that they are just another way in which Obama is covertly destroying our Repubic.
Van Jones was the first Obama Administration czar brought down by unfounded and grossly exaggerated attacks by conservatives like Glenn Beck.
As usual, conservative commentator Glenn Beck is at the forefront of the right’s czar frenzy. According to him, Obama has a record number of czars which collectively form an “iceberg” that is threathening the U.S Constitution. In an interview with Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck professed that he found the czars “truly frightening.” But are they? Consider these important facts that you won’t see on the Glenn Beck Show or Fox News in general.
1) Czars have been around since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
2) 9 of the 32 Obama czars have been confirmed by Congress.
3) 8 were not appointed by President Obama
4) 15 have been appointed by previous administrations.
and this one is the whopper:
5) President Bush had 35 czars, MORE than President Obama.
Now of course this last fact serves to shine a bright light on the hypocrisy of people like Glenn Beck. The Bush administration and it’s 35 czars did not merit Beck’s attention, but now he suddenly finds Obama’s 32 czars a “truly frightening” aspect of the government.
Hmm, it seems that Glenn Beck’s concern has more to do with his hatred of Obama than his respect for the constitution. In short, their is nothing unusual or frightening about Obama’s Czars. Just some more tasty BS from our favorite conservative commentator.
Dominic La Maison
Latest posts by Dominic La Maison (see all)
- Health Care: A Debate - November 18, 2009
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Its a sad fact that these people will attack Obama on everything, even things that are obviously completely normal, like these “Czars” for instance. Its just absurd, like people holding up posters saying “Obama=More Czars than the USSR!!” at Tea bag rallies. The irony is that there were a grand total of ZERO Czars in the USSR, since the Bolshevik revolution was an Anti-Czar movement.