So whadda ya know? HuffPo has minimal “standards” of decency after all

Was just about to link to a disgusting little piece published earlier today at the Huffington Post titled “$100,000 For Glenn Beck’s Sex Tape” but I see the piece has since been pulled – with the following explanation in its place:

Editor’s Note: This piece was published directly to the Huffington Post by its author. It didn’t meet our editorial standards and has been removed from the site.

I don’t recall this same “editorial standard” being used during the Bush administration years when it wasn’t uncommon to see HuffPo writers wish death on Dick Cheney and similar fates to other Bush administration officials. Maybe they’re trying to “clean it up a bit” now that President Obama himself has recommended HuffPo to the masses as a site they should read? Whatever. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

The New York Observer was kind enough to copy what was originally published at the HuffPo at its own website, which you can read here. If you’re not interested in clicking on the link, here’s the meat of what was advocated by writer Beau Friedlander:

Beck touts religion, because he says the battle for America’s soul is at stake. It is all about morality, propriety, and doing what’s right. But Beck’s conception of religion is all about control. He replaces God with an ersatz myth about self-reliance and a position of moral superiority spun in ways that magically seem to privilege the few at the expense of many (this includes the anti-Middle East / Islam thinking that led to the war in oil-rich Iraq), etc.

Glenn Beck talks about what’s right a lot. Propriety comes from the same root as property, and that does seem to be the issue. As the culture changed in the 60s, so did neighborhoods. This was the heyday of blockbusting and race-baiting. We are in similar territory with a black president right now. His successful campaign is proof positive that the counterculture prevailed over the conservative movement. And the neocons are mad as hell about that.

Glenn Beck is also a Mormon. It matters. His religion typifies the noble lie that the neocons originally set out to defend against the counterculture—Archie Bunker’s America—where a woman’s place was in the home and with baby, and an African American’s place was in a ghetto. (Mormons revere women much like Hindis do the cow, and they didn’t accept African Americans in their ranks at all till 1978—draw whatever inferences you like).

The new conservatives are true believers in the “One Right Way”, and Democrats only rarely agree on the one best way to go. But we can all agree that Fox News is a bad influence on America.

It is time to pop the tea baggers’ favorite balloon (so what if it will be replaced by another?), and with that in mind I hereby offer to negotiate a $100,000 payday to the person who will come forward with a sex tape or phone records or anything else that succeeds in removing Glenn Beck from the public eye forever. I am not offering the cash myself, but I will broker the deal and/or raise the money for what you bring to the table. (And it better be good.)

If you have the goods, or if you want to contribute to a slush fund to buy more takedowns (probably not tax deductible), please contact me at: glennbecksextape@gmail.com.

Friedlander has since issued an “apology” of sorts. Snippets:

The post was called “$100,000 For Glenn Beck’s Sex Tape.” It was supposed to simply make the point that the right does not hesitate to play rough with the left, and the right is far better financed. It was glib, but finally off-kilter and misdirected.

I was actually trying to mimic what I saw as the way right wingers go about these matters, and by misapprehending the way they do things, I went too far. (I offered to broker a deal for anyone who had damaging media pertaining to Glenn Beck.)

First, I owe Glenn Beck an apology. I crossed the line. On the off chance something comes in over the transom…scratch that; I’ll delete the email account. Problem solved.

I meant to tilt at a windmill in the post, and I planted my lance in the dirt.

Gotta love how he plays the “blame Republicans” game when in reality the only person he can blame is himself for his guttersnipe tactics. There’s a history of that on the left, which I’ll get to in a minute. But first, correct me if I’m wrong, but conservatives like Breitbart don’t offer up $$$ for “sex tapes” – they offer up $$ for anyone who can prove outrageous liberal assertions, like the one about the “n” word allegedly being yelled “15 times” to CBC members after the health care bill was passed in the House. We leave the obsessions with sex tapes/sexual preference allegations to liberal heroes/icons like Hustler big wig Larry Flynt and Mike Rogers, who gets his rocks off by attempting to out Republicans who he alleges are “in the closet.” Remember this the next time a liberal tells you that it’s the right who “hangs out in the swamps” to dig up whatever dirt they can on the left.

Did I mention that Friedlander was the editior-in-chief of the failed Air America liberal radio network until it folded earlier this year? I’m sure that comes as a big shock.

Beck, by the way, has responded by imploring the HuffPo and Friedlander to leave his wife alone.

Just curious: Where’s widespread liberal outrage over this? Why hasn’t Media Matters posted a play by play of when the article was first published, where all it was mentioned, and what time it was finally pulled? Oh, that’s right. None of the above give a rip when something happens that’s actually WORTH getting outraged about. They don’t give a darn when the “politics of personal destruction” that they whine incessantly about, that they claim is an exclusive trait of Republicans, hits someone on the right who they love to hate – and want to destroy.

The stench of hypocrisy is pretty overwhelming right now. Excuse me while I throw up a little bit in my mouth.