Mark Levin Defends and Has Advice for Rand, Suggestions for MTP

[Lucille]

Newsbusters Video: Mark Levin Challenges David Gregory to Have Him on Meet the Press (http://newsbusters.org/blogs/eyeblast-tv-staff/2010/05/21/video-mark-levin-challenges-david-gregory-have-him-meet-press)

He's fired up! "Louder!" Heh.

It's nice to have him on our side (albeit begrudgingly) for a change.

[Depressed Liberator]

God damn how anyone can handle his voice for more than a minute is beyond me. Did someone castrate him as a child?

[MRoCkEd]

It is a very strange feeling to be silently cheering on Mark Levin, the biggest prick of all.

[AuH20]

It is a very awkward feeling to be cheering on Mark Levin, the biggest prick of all.

Me too. But he's kinda like that hockey enforcer you love to hate, until he turns up on your team. His rant is awesome by the way. He's charging into battle for Rand. I'm pleasantly surprised.

[t0rnado]

"I didn't endorse Rand Paul, but I want him to win now. I want Sharon Angle to win, I want Chuck DeVore to win ... because I believe in liberty" - Mark Levin in that video

I didn't expect that.

[Fozz]

It is a very strange feeling to be silently cheering on Mark Levin, the biggest prick of all.

Liberty and Tyranny is a pretty good book, and Levin agrees with us on a lot of issues.

He tends to hates liberals more than libertarians, and while he doesn't agree with Rand's views on foreign policy, I think he tolerates them, unlike Ron Paul's more hardcore antiwar stance. So I'm sure he'll be an ally in our war against Jackass.

David Frum is a far bigger asshole than Mark Levin.

[Depressed Liberator]

"I didn't endorse Rand Paul, but I want him to win now. I want Sharon Angle to win, I want Chuck DeVore to win ... because I believe in liberty" - Mark Levin in that video

I didn't expect that.

He wouldn't know liberty if it fell out of the sky on his bald head.

[Fozz]

He wouldn't know liberty if it fell out of the sky on his bald head.

He understands economic liberty well, but that's about it. He even has sympathy for the gold standard.

On foreign policy, he sucks.

[KanTuck22]

Face it. We all have disagreements with the establishment types. BUT......

We are facing a greater evil now....

Socialism and tyranny.

"If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth."

It is time to band together with all conservatives and libertarians and fight the socialist bastards that is the Democratic National Committee.

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

oops wrong thread...

[HPK]

Sorry you all, I love Mark Levin. He rocks! BTW, I also think Rand Paul rocks too, so be kind in your attacks.

[MsDoodahs]

Here ya go:

YouTube - Rand Paul To George Stephanopoulos: Criticizing BP Is Un-American And Where's My Honeymoon? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHyX74iEZcA)

[HPK]

Here ya go:

YouTube - Rand Paul To George Stephanopoulos: Criticizing BP Is Un-American And Where's My Honeymoon? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHyX74iEZcA)

Personally, I'm tired of Obama playing the blame game too.

[Justinjj1]

Mark Levin is a nasally, little neocon propagandist shitbag. The fact that he's rushing to defend Rand should tell you a lot about the differences between Rand and Ron. He's never said anything nice about Ron, and went out of his way to trash him during the '08 election, frequently calling him a nut, kook, "RuPaul", and having his listeners call and harrass Ron's office.

My neighbor loaned me his book earlier this year, and it was a bunch of god-awful drivel and neocon talking points.

[Fozz]

Mark Levin is a nasally, little neocon propagandist shitbag. The fact that he's rushing to defend Rand should tell you a lot about the differences between Rand and Ron. He's never said anything nice about Ron, and went out of his way to trash him during the '08 election, frequently calling him a nut, kook, "RuPaul", and having his listeners call and harrass Ron's office.

My neighbor loaned me his book earlier this year, and it was a bunch of god-awful drivel and neocon talking points.
You are one of the most cynical members here.

Mark Levin insults a lot of people who he disagrees with, from liberals to RINOs to radical libertarians.

[Lucille]

I'm ambivalent about him.

I do like his righteous rants, but I cannot abide his neoclown foreign policy.

Also, I heard an RPFer call him about Ron during the POTUS campaign, and Mark treated him like trash; he was so snide. I was pissed. He was just a teenager! He posted about it here actually.

[lordindra3]

My respect for Mr. Levin went from -50% to ALOT!

[low preference guy]

It is a very strange feeling to be silently cheering on Mark Levin, the biggest prick of all.

Maybe luckily, this is the first time I ever heard him.


I FUCKING LOVE the guy.

[Mini-Me]

It's good that Levin seems to be helping for now, but...watch your backs, and never forget who he is and what he actually stands for. I strongly suspect that he stands for endless war above all else, on behalf of both corporate special interests and foreign special interests (Israel). I don't know his specific ties (i.e. his personal motives), but he has been aligned with the neocons for years at a high level. This is long enough to recognize that they view every issue except endless wars and a brutal police state as compromisable...and he has been complicit. He's not remaining as hostile as Frum, but that could be a matter of style more than anything else, so the neocons can appeal to a wider audience to push the war propaganda. (It serves their purposes to offer several flavors of the same bullshit.) There's a reason he is so afraid of Ron Paul he has to call him a "kook," and it's very likely because he has some kind of vested interest in both endless war and its funding (the Fed).

While Rand may not be approaching foreign policy from Ron's principled stance, never forget that he is still more anti-war than almost anyone else in either chamber of Congress. He opposed the war in Iraq entirely, and while he frames the Afghanistan issue as a Constitutional issue about officially declaring war, I get the impression that's a subtle means of pressuring Congress to actually leave (since he knows Congress doesn't have the guts to officially declare war on anyone, and declaring war on Afghanistan right now would be pretty silly). I don't doubt that he would have supported going into Afghanistan after 9/11 - even Ron Paul voted in favor - but he does not strike me as the "stay for 100 years" nation-building type. Moreover, Ron just made the comment on Colmes that Rand is not going to turn around and say something like, "I love the Fed," and Levin knows that the Fed is the engine that fuels wars through endless spending.

I see four possibilities with respect to Levin:
Levin truly believes Rand is close enough to him on warmongering to support him. If so, I think he's making a mistake that may work in our favor. Rand Paul may not be Ron Paul, but he's close enough that Ron Paul is still happily stumping for him and shows no reservations...that should be a hint that he's not going to turn out as a neocon on foreign policy. However, I also think Levin is smart enough to take this hint.
Levin does not believe that, but he believes that Rand's measured rhetoric makes him essentially harmless against the war machine anyway. If this is the case, I fear he might be right...but I also see the opportunity for a more subtle approach to sway conservatives towards more peaceful thinking. A pragmatic flank attack by Rand opposing the specifics of future war marches might strongly complement the full-on principled assault on the war machine that Ron Paul and other liberty candidates make.
Levin actually fears Rand almost as much as Ron, and he's feigning support as a means to an end, which is ultimately to undermine him in some way. Cue Ackbar: "It's a trap!" Keep your eyes peeled.
I'm mistaking Levin's motives, and he's not deliberately evil on foreign policy, just blind. However, this seems somewhat unlikely, considering the kind of people he would have been rubbing shoulders with in his current and past positions.

[LastoftheMohicans]

It's good that Levin seems to be helping for now, but...watch your backs, and never forget who he is and what he actually stands for. I strongly suspect that he stands for endless war above all else, on behalf of both corporate special interests and foreign special interests (Israel). I don't know his specific ties (i.e. his personal motives), but he has been aligned with the neocons for years at a high level. This is long enough to recognize that they view every issue except endless wars and a brutal police state as compromisable...and he has been complicit. He's not remaining as hostile as Frum, but that could be a matter of style more than anything else, so the neocons can appeal to a wider audience to push the war propaganda. (It serves their purposes to offer several flavors of the same bullshit.) There's a reason he is so afraid of Ron Paul he has to call him a "kook," and it's very likely because he has some kind of vested interest in both endless war and its funding (the Fed).

While Rand may not be approaching foreign policy from Ron's principled stance, never forget that he is still more anti-war than almost anyone else in either chamber of Congress. He opposed the war in Iraq entirely, and while he frames the Afghanistan issue as a Constitutional issue about officially declaring war, I get the impression that's a subtle means of pressuring Congress to actually leave (since he knows Congress doesn't have the guts to officially declare war on anyone, and declaring war on Afghanistan right now would be pretty silly). I don't doubt that he would have supported going into Afghanistan after 9/11 - even Ron Paul voted in favor - but he does not strike me as the "stay for 100 years" nation-building type. Moreover, Ron just made the comment on Colmes that Rand is not going to turn around and say something like, "I love the Fed," and Levin knows that the Fed is the engine that fuels wars through endless spending.

I see four possibilities with respect to Levin:
Levin truly believes Rand is close enough to him on warmongering to support him. If so, I think he's making a mistake that may work in our favor. Rand Paul may not be Ron Paul, but he's close enough that Ron Paul is still happily stumping for him and shows no reservations...that should be a hint that he's not going to turn out as a neocon on foreign policy. However, I also think Levin is smart enough to take this hint.
Levin does not believe that, but he believes that Rand's measured rhetoric makes him essentially harmless against the war machine anyway. If this is the case, I fear he might be right...but I also see the opportunity for a more subtle approach to sway conservatives towards more peaceful thinking. A pragmatic flank attack by Rand opposing the specifics of future war marches might strongly complement the full-on principled assault on the war machine that Ron Paul and other liberty candidates make.
Levin actually fears Rand almost as much as Ron, and he's feigning support as a means to an end, which is ultimately to undermine him in some way. Cue Ackbar: "It's a trap!" Keep your eyes peeled.
I'm mistaking Levin's motives, and he's not deliberately evil on foreign policy, just blind. However, this seems somewhat unlikely, considering the kind of people he would have been rubbing shoulders with in his current and past positions.

Mini-Me,

Great analysis. I think #2 is the best explanation. He's your typical neocon, Israel-Firster albeit with a little more free market rhetoric and/or understanding. I think he sees his defense of Rand as a way to build credibility with grassroots conservatives and libertarian-leaning Repubicans. The way Rand is talking, he'll not be an effective threat to the Military Industrial Complex.

I'll never forget how Levin treated Ron Paul and his supporters when it counted. He already showed his true colors. He is not misguided on foreign policy in the innocent sense, like some average working guy on the street who wants to bomb Iran. He ideologically is pro-war. Incidentally, he never joined to military to fight in the wars he supported.

BTW, I like Rand but I think he's being wishy washy on his more radical postions so that he can get elected.