Thanks For Clearing That Up

[We interrupt Stinque’s ongoing coverage of collegiate Sport (at halftime, which is a natural interruption point, so there) for a story about Glenn Beck being Glenn Beck.  Apologies in advance.  Sport thread appears below.]

So Glenn Beck made a pledge today to denounce extremism “from the Left, the Right or middle.”  [Note, of course, that two-thirds of that set is NOT HIM.]  Included in the pledge is this specific plea:

I denounce violent threats and calls for the destruction of our system – regardless of their underlying ideology – whether they come from the Hutaree Militia or Frances Fox Piven.

Well, isn’t that a refreshing thought from a guy — wait.  Rewind that last little bit there:

or Frances Fox Piven.

Dude.  I haven’t heard about Frances Fox Piven until today.  What puts her in the same discussion as a violent militia group?  Or anyone more radicalized than, say, Garrison Keillor?  Follow me for all the horrid details, post-jump.

A little digging shows that Dr. Piven was one of the driving forces behind that tool of socialism known as… Motor Voter.  That, and a few decades of advocacy on behalf of the poor (to the possible mobilization of the poor as a political force, leading to a guaranteed national income and [UH-OH] redistribution of wealth) has earned Dr. Piven a bunch of bad press from the right.  This includes a sting-video orchestrated, ACORN-Pimp Style, by Andrew Breitbart… and a place on Glenn Beck’s blackboard of DOOM:

Beck first mentioned the so-called “Cloward-Piven Strategy” in March 2009, three months after he began his nightly Fox News show, and 32 times since. On September 18 [2009], he used his trademark chalkboard to connect Cloward and Piven to Woodrow Wilson, Che Guevara, Bill Ayers, ACORN, the SEIU, the Apollo Alliance, the Tides Foundation, George Soros, Van Jones, Valerie Jarrett, and Obama — some of the right’s favorite villains.  Beck, like his right-wing colleagues, view Cloward and Piven as dangerous radicals masquerading as reformers. Earlier this month, Beck claimed that SDS, the 1960s radical student group, believed the road to change was “Let’s blow things up,” but Cloward and Piven counseled, “No, no, no, let’s try to just collapse the system.”

So: the Hutaree Militia (allegedly plotting a mass attack on cops before they were hooked up by the feds) and Dr. Piven are in the same league according to Beck.  The rhetoric may change from day to day, and week to week.  But stupid is forever.

[Note well: my knowledge of Dr. Piven is about one hour old. If I’ve missed something, like Dr. Piven raising a guerrilla army between lectures at the 92nd Street Y, please advise.]