Is Glenn Beck on final approach to a “Network” style meltdown? While suggesting he will be set up, Beck assures his listeners ‘I’m not into child pornography’.

Glenn Beck has been on a really over the top hate campaign against George Soros this week, and today the Anti-Defamation League weighed in on Beck’s false claims about Soros’s childhood: Glenn Beck’s Remarks About Soros And The Holocaust ‘Completely Inappropriate and Offensive’.

New York, NY, November 11, 2010 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today criticized as “completely inappropriate and offensive” remarks by Glenn Beck on his radio and television programs, in which he inaccurately connected George Soros, who was then a young boy, to the actions of others in sending Jews to death camps during the Holocaust.

On his November 10 radio show, Beck described how Soros, who was born in Hungary to Orthodox Jewish parents, “used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off.  And George Soros was part of it.  He would help confiscate the stuff.  It was frightening.  Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps.” 

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor, issued the following statement:

Glenn Beck’s description of George Soros’ actions during the Holocaust is completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top.  For a political commentator or entertainer to have the audacity to say – inaccurately – that there’s a Jewish boy sending Jews to death camps, as part of a broader assault on Mr. Soros, that’s horrific.

While I, too, may disagree with many of Soros’ views and analysis on the issues, to bring in this kind of innuendo about his past is unacceptable.  To hold a young boy responsible for what was going on around him during the Holocaust as part of a larger effort to denigrate the man is repugnant.

The Holocaust was a horrific time, and many people had to make excruciating choices to ensure their survival.  George Soros has been forthright about his childhood experiences and his family’s history, and there the matter should rest.

UPDATE at 11/11/10 2:16:37 pm:

This is not the first time the ADL has made note of Glenn Beck’s paranoid hate-mongering: ADL Special Report: A Year of Growing Animosity.

Adam Serwer talked to Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman about the planned September 11 protest against the Park51 Islamic community center in lower Manhattan; we criticized Foxman for his earlier statements, but on the issue of Pamela Geller and her allies (such as Dutch demagogue Geert Wilders) he seems to have regained his balance: ADL’S Abe Foxman denounces anti-mosque rally as ‘un-American’.

On the rally:

I would agree with [Where to Turn], this is not a place for political demonstrations, for advocacy, especially on 9/11. This is a place for memory, for families to be together, to memorialize their loved ones, [to have] a moment of reflection and introspection. For people with political agendas to use the place and the moment for their own interests and their own platforms is desecrating the memory and very sad. Especially if some of the families of the victims are asking, their view should be taken seriously and respected.

Foxman had some harsh words regarding the presence of Wilders, as well as for conservative blogger Pamela Geller and her group Stop Islamization of America, which is organizing the protest:

[Wilders] is a bigot, he’s an anti-Muslim bigot, and one of the demonstrations being called for is being headed by someone who has an anti-Muslim agenda, often under the guise of fighting ‘radical Islam.’ The group vilifies Islamic faith and is engaged in [claiming] there’s a conspiracy to destroy American values, which is nonsense. The organizer in fact has stated that part of her agenda is to help garner support for Wilders, who is a bigot, who has a long record of anti-Muslim bigotry.

The Anti-Defamation League’s Abe Foxman now says the ADL won’t fight the Park51 project.

The Anti-Defamation League will not fight the building of a controversial Islamic center and mosque planned near the site of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York, the group’s leader told CNN Wednesday.

The Jewish organization sparked debate last week by opposing what’s come to be known as the “ground zero mosque” on the grounds that the controversy over it was “counterproductive to the healing process.”

But following a ruling Tuesday that clears the way for the mosque to be built, “we’re not continuing to fight it. We raised an issue … but once the community board ruled, we move on,” Abraham Foxman told CNN’s “American Morning.”

Today the Anti-Defamation League surprisingly and inexplicably released a statement opposing the Park51 community center: Statement On Islamic Community Center Near Ground Zero.

Proponents of the Islamic Center may have every right to build at this site, and may even have chosen the site to send a positive message about Islam. The bigotry some have expressed in attacking them is unfair, and wrong. But ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right. In our judgment, building an Islamic Center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain – unnecessarily – and that is not right.

For a civil rights organization to take the position that feelings are more important than civil rights is, frankly, stunning.

And it’s even more stunning that the ADL acknowledges the open bigotry of many Park51 opponents, but still very publicly supports them.

Humorist Will Rogers once said about the repeal of Prohibition, “Repeal is all right, but the wrong people are for it.” In this case, the wrong people are against Park51, and if Abe Foxman and the ADL can’t keep their personal feelings out of the issue, they should have just kept quiet instead of handing the Bigot Brigade a public relations gift. What a disgrace.

The Anti-Defamation League has a press release about “sovereign citizen” movement member Jerry Kane, killed yesterday in a shootout with police in West Memphis.

New York, NY, May 21, 2010 … A suspect in the shooting deaths of two West Memphis, Arkansas police officers was a member of an extreme anti-government movement, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Jerry Kane, 44, was part of the sovereign citizen movement – an extreme right-wing movement that believes that virtually all existing government in the United States is illegitimate and which seeks to “restore” an idealized, minimalist government that never actually existed.

Kane was allegedly involved in a May 20 shooting during a traffic stop that left two police officers dead and two seriously wounded. The other suspect in the shooting has been identified as Kane’s teenage son, Joseph Kane. Both suspects were later killed in a second shootout with police.

[…]

According to ADL, Kane’s specialty was an arcane sovereign citizen theory called “Redemption,” which provides formulas that claim to be able to extricate people from almost any sort of trouble, from financial debts to traffic tickets. From 2003-2006, a popular “Redemption” tactic was to assert the ability to eliminate people’s mortgages. The tactic picked up again in the wake of the recent housing crisis; Kane’s seminars emphasized this mortgage angle.

Yes, Rush Limbaugh again.

This time he’s embroiled in a controversy over statements about “Wall Street bankers” (aka “Jews”).

Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement calling Limbaugh’s comments “borderline antisemitism.”

Now Ben Smith reports that Norman Podhoretz has ridden to Limbaugh’s defense and accused Foxman of ‘chutzpah’.

Oh my achin’ head.

(Hat tip: davesax.)

1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)

2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)

3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)

4. Support for anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.)

5. Support for homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.)

6. Support for anti-government lunacy (see: tea parties, militias, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc.)

7. Support for conspiracy theories and hate speech (see: Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Birthers, creationists, climate deniers, etc.)

8. A right-wing blogosphere that is almost universally dominated by raging hate speech (see: Hot Air, Free Republic, Ace of Spades, etc.)

9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.)

10. Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source)

And much, much more. The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff.

I won’t be going over the cliff with them.

In their new report on the rise of extremism in the US, the Anti-Defamation League singled out Glenn Beck as “most important mainstream media figure who has repeatedly helped to stoke the fires of anti-government anger.”

Obviously, Beck didn’t like this very much. So he responded yesterday on his radio show by attacking the ADL, implying that they are responsible for antisemitism. Yes, really.

Notice that Beck goes on and on about what a great friend he is to the Jewish people — as if that’s supposed to excuse his promotion of racist, extremist ideas and conspiracy theories, and immunize him against criticism from the ADL.

The Anti-Defamation League has released a detailed report on the increasing anger and hostility among the right wing, singling out many of the same personalities and issues on which LGF has been focusing recently. This is the index page with summaries of the main points: Rage Grows in America: Anti-Government Conspiracies.

Since the election of Barack Obama as president, a current of anti-government hostility has swept across the United States, creating a climate of fervor and activism with manifestations ranging from incivility in public forums to acts of intimidation and violence.

What characterizes this anti-government hostility is a shared belief that Obama and his administration actually pose a threat to the future of the United States. Some accuse Obama of plotting to bring socialism to the United States, while others claim he will bring about Nazism or fascism. All believe that Obama and his administration will trample on individual freedoms and civil liberties, due to some sinister agenda, and they see his economic and social policies as manifestations of this agenda. In particular anti-government activists used the issue of health care reform as a rallying point, accusing Obama and his administration of dark designs ranging from “socialized medicine” to “death panels,” even when the Obama administration had not come out with a specific health care reform plan. Some even compared the Obama administration’s intentions to Nazi eugenics programs.

Some of these assertions are motivated by prejudice, but more common is an intense strain of anti-government distrust and anger, colored by a streak of paranoia and belief in conspiracies. These sentiments are present both in mainstream and “grass-roots” movements as well as in extreme anti-government movements such as a resurgent militia movement. Ultimately, this anti-government anger, if it continues to grow in intensity and scope, may result in an increase in anti-government extremists and the potential for a rise of violent anti-government acts.

The ADL is right on target when they identify Glenn Beck as one of the primary mainstream media promoters of extremist ideologies and conspiracy theory paranoia:

The most important mainstream media figure who has repeatedly helped to stoke the fires of anti-government anger is right-wing media host Glenn Beck, who has a TV show on FOX News and a popular syndicated radio show. While other conservative media hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, routinely attack Obama and his administration, typically on partisan grounds, they have usually [But not always… – ed.] dismissed or refused to give a platform to the conspiracy theorists and anti-government extremists. This has not been the case with Glenn Beck. Beck and his guests have made a habit of demonizing President Obama and promoting conspiracy theories about his administration.

On a number of his TV and radio programs, Beck has even gone so far as to make comparisons between Hitler and Obama and to promote the idea that the president is dangerous.

The whole thing is very much worth reading, so here are direct links to all of the report’s sections:

Index / Summary
Introduction

Part One: Anger in the Mainstream
The Tea Parties
The Town Hall Meeting Disruptions
A Building Anger
The “Birther” Movement
The Influence of the Mainstream Media

Part Two: Anger on the Fringes
Alex Jones, the Conspiracy King
Conspiracy Theories Imagine Government Plots
Conspiracy Theories Prompting Action: The Iowa National Guard
Conspiracy Theories Prompting Action: Richard Poplawski
Resisting the Government
The Oath Keepers
The Three Percenters
The Resurgence of the Militia Movement