On his Wednesday radio program, conservative commentator Glenn Beck accused Media Matters of “economic terrorism” and “thuggery,” giving a signal that he and conservative talker Rush Limbaugh are aligning against a common foe.
Beck explained how Media Matters is using strong-arm tactics and focusing on local affiliates because small stations and small businesses are easier targets. (RELATED: Full coverage of Media Matters)
“What they’re doing is Media Matters has gone out with their little chieftains and they’ve gone out and they’ve assembled an army of hatred and destruction, and they are going after and they are writing down all of the clients,” Beck said. “Radio stations are telling me now — they’re so stupid — they’re getting people calling their radio stations: ‘Do you have a client list? Do you have a list of all your sponsors?’ Oh yeah, I’m going to give it to you, you dope.”
And according to Beck, Media Matters and other liberal groups take that list and target each individual business by overwhelming it with negative complaints for advertising on particular radio stations.
“And what they are doing is they are now attacking any small business,” he continued. “And they are organizing throughout the country and they’ll say, ‘Here’s Bob’s House of Cars’ and they are now giving that list to a national group. Now Bob, he comes in and all he does is fix cars. He’s a mechanic. He wants people to know, ‘I fix cars here locally.’ He happens to know a lot of people who listen to Rush Limbaugh. It works for his business. So he advertised. He advertises on my program or the local radio station — not even in Rush Limbaugh. And Media Matters has their goons call up and harass Bob.”
That, according to Beck, is “terrorism” and “thuggery.” Beck questioned why those tactics are acceptable, but similar tactics used by activists trying to prevent an abortion are unacceptable.
“This is terrorism,” Beck said. “This is economic terrorism. Period. This is union thuggery. You name it — this is what they’re doing. … They say they are so unrighteous for someone to actually stand out in front of an abortion clinic and say, ‘Please don’t do this. Please, let the child be adopted.’ That is abhorrent. But what they’re doing now, ‘No, that’s fine.’”
Beck went on to plug the website DefendSmallBusiness.com, which was also plugged by Limbaugh on his Tuesday show. The site names Media Matters as its target and instructs visitors on how to file complaints with elected officials, the media, and Media Matters itself, against the organization’s tactics.
“Well-funded professional activists, led by the left-wing pressure group Media Matters, are waging a campaign across America to hurt small businesses like yours through strong-arm tactics and intimidation,” the site says.