Fact or Fiction? Doesn't matter if you're Frank Beckmann

by: LiberalLucy

Thu Oct 04, 2007 at 17:43:10 PM EDT

Welcome to another round of "Partisan Hacks posing as Journalists". Today we feature one of the most notorious hacks of them all, Frank Beckmann, the WJR radio talk show host who goes out of his way to pledge his allegiance to Unethical Republican Propaganda on a regular basis.

This morning Beckmann of taped an interview with Gov. Granholm that was to be played later in the day. Beckmann, thanks to his minions at the ultra-conservative blog RightMichigan (RM) was already prepped for a partisan slam on nothing but taxes.

Barely bothering to get his facts right in his questions about the recent budget negotiations, Beckmann accused the Governor of lying to the citizens of this state when it came to tax hikes.

To do this, he played the YouTube clip that RM put together of a debate that took place at TV station in Detroit during the '06 Campaign. The interesting part is, RM couldn't be bothered to put up her answer in entirety, but rather just the part that fit their devious desires.

If he had ethics, Beckmann could have just as easily gotten the clip from WXYZ, who actually hosted the debate. Problem is, it wouldn't have suited his dirty tactics. Even Saul Anuzis, Chairman of the MI Republican Party bothered to post the full clip. Wow. It's a sad day when Saul's own people make him look like the good guy.

So why didn't Beckmann play the real, entire clip? Simple, because if he did, he knew the Governor would have known it was a question about replacing revenues from the Single Business Tax (SBT), and not just a blanket "No New Taxes" pledge, and she would have talked about the SBT/Michigan Business Tax (MBT).
So what really was it that the Governor was talking about? Well, if you review the clip, you would have heard her entire answer and even ol' Frank Beckmann would have known that she was talking about replacing SBT revenues. Here's a transcript of the question and answer.
Steve Clark (moderator): Governor, you and your opponent continue to debate the relative merits and evils of the single business tax. The...truth of the matter is that it's gone. And you do seem to agree, both of you, on the need to replace at least a portion of that money. Keeping in that at 6%, Michigan sales tax is among the lowest in the region, would consider raising it to 7 or 8% or consider a tax on services?

Gov. Granholm: No I would not. In fact, what I would like to see is a restructuring of the single business tax. And I have put a proposal on the table that replaces it - restructuring it as a business tax. I don't want to shift business taxes to citizens, which is what raising the sales tax would do. But I would like to make sure that we do replace it.

Other than not having ethics, you might be asking yourself why Beckmann even bothered to entrap the Governor. I have no doubt that Beckmann likes to get his jollies in the same manner Scrooge does, but let's face it. Beckmann's regular listeners enjoy being spoon-fed conservative rhetoric. It doesn't matter if pesky journalistic ethics and morals get in the way, just like pill-popping Rush Limbaugh, he's got to give them something to listen too, fact or fiction.

Gee, speaking of ol' Rush, this sounds like a page out of one of his play books. In fact, according to Media Matters, that's exactly what it is. Instead of attacking an elected official, Rush attacks the our men and women serving in the armed forces. Yet another new low for the Rhetorical Right.

I know, I know we shouldn't be surprised about such slimy tactics from a guy who has no ethics or integrity, or a blog that pretends to operate with ethics. Who knows, after reading this, Beckmann might just start hollering about suing MichLib again, or maybe we'll just get another nasty email from him. All I know is that the current theme behind all of this Republican rhetoric seems to be 'desperate times call for desperate measures'.
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