The American Spectator : Secret Protocols of Beck's Legions

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Special Report

Secret Protocols of Beck’s Legions

By Robert Stacy McCain on 9.23.09 @ 6:09AM

Liberals warn America: Beware the Fox News menace!

My friend Myers and I had finished covering the 9/12 March On DC and were walking north along First Street when we passed an older woman and a teenage girl who had attended the massive rally at the Capitol. They were wearing identical “American Patriot” T-shirts and so, when we found ourselves stopped at an intersection, waiting for the light to change, I began a brief interview by asking the older woman, “Is this your daughter?”

Of course, the girl was her granddaughter, and my intentional flattery won me a new friend, who was quite eager to discuss her involvement in the big rally, a highlight of the Tea Party movement to which she proudly belonged. After a few minutes, the woman began to elaborate on the biographical details of a particular Obama administration official.

The fluency with which she discussed regulatory “czar” Cass Sunstein prompted me to ask, “Are you a Beck fan?” But it wasn’t the older woman who answered.

“Oh, yeah!” the teenager volunteered enthusiastically, a sentiment heartily endorsed by her grandma — and also by a large swath of the huge crowd who turned out for the rally. At one point, while a CNN reporter was doing a live interview at the Sept. 12 event, the crowd behind her began to chant “Glenn Beck! Glenn Beck!”

Grassroots conservative enthusiasm notwithstanding, the talk-radio host and Fox News personality is under attack this week, with the liberal establishment’s favorite weapon, a Time magazine cover: “Mad Man: Glenn Beck and the angry style of American politics.” This continues a long tradition of weekly newsmagazine covers demonizing conservative figures like Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich.

Time writer David Von Drehle begins his attack thus: “On Sept. 12, a large crowd gathered in Washington to protest … what?… If you get your information from liberal sources, the crowd numbered about 70,000, many of them greedy racists. If you get your information from conservative sources, the crowd was hundreds of thousands strong, perhaps as many as a million, and the tenor was peaceful and patriotic.”

So you see that Drehle can go either way here: He can use the crowd to discredit Beck, or use Beck to discredit the crowd. Either way, the point is to prepare the reader of Time magazine (who clearly does not get information from conservative sources) to be fearful of both Beck and the crowd at the Capitol, whatever their numbers might have been.

After a few more paragraphs, Von Drehle plays his trump card: “The old American mind-set that Richard Hofstadter famously called ‘the paranoid style’ — the sense that Masons or the railroads or the Pope or the guys in black helicopters are in league to destroy the country — is aflame again…”

Von Drehle’s invocation of “the paranoid style,” a trope that Hofstadter derived from Theodor Adorno’s “authoritarian personality,” is intended to clearly signal the reader that Beck is a kook, a conspiracy theorist, a demagogue pandering to the dangerous emotions of the ignorant mob.

You know. Nudge, nudge. Like Barry Goldwater.

That this is a very familiar sort of smear tactic does not prevent Von Drehle’s clever work from alarming Peter Wehner, a former Bush administration official who bluntly pronounced Beck “Harmful for the Conservative Movement” and proceeded to declare: “Beck seems to be a roiling mix of fear, resentment, and anger — the antithesis of Ronald Reagan.”

That Reagan was himself smeared by the journalistic predecessors of Von Drehle is evidently beyond Wehner’s scope of knowledge. If Americans had gotten their opinions of Reagan from liberal writers, the Gipper never would have been president and the victims of Soviet tyranny would still fill the gulags.

Having never met Beck, I am not qualified to speak of whether he is representative of the “paranoid style.” However, my friend and fellow American Spectator contributor Matthew Vadum has been a studio guest on Beck’s Fox News program and did not mention any “roiling mix of fear, resentment, and anger.” If Beck rants off-camera about black helicopters and Masons, it eluded Vadum’s notice.

While my acquaintance with Beck is limited to occasionally catching a few moments of his TV or radio shows, I did have the opportunity to speak to many of the people at the Sept. 12 Capitol rally. My Arizona blogger friend Barbara Espinosa was there, and I spent many hours before, during and after the event talking to the organizers, attendees and speakers, including Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and author Mason Weaver.

None of these people seemed to think that Glenn Beck represented a menace to public safety or the conservative movement. Given the evident threat that Von Drehle and Wehner perceive, why this remarkable silence from so many?

They’re all in on it together — the grandmother and teenagers, Pence and Vadum and Weaver! It’s all a clandestine conspiracy to conceal the hidden agenda for global domination by the Secret Legion of Beck!

And if you don’t believe it, then you’re obviously a paranoid kook.

topics:
Glenn Beck, Peter Wehner, Time Magazine

About the Author

Robert Stacy McCain is co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party (Nelson Current). He blogs at The Other McCain.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (191) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Deborah D | 9.23.09 @ 6:22AM

Thanks for this, Mr. McCain. Beck has his own way of imparting information -- it is both sincerely felt and researched thoroughly. He often says -- "if I'm wrong, please show me where" because he hopes he is wrong. He connects the dots, something mainstream journalists usually do not do. He worries about the direction the country is going (and don't all conservatives have that worry? And, if not, then they are living in some kind of liberal cocoon.)

He finds information and puts it all together with his chalkboard charts and lets you decide and tells you to do your own research. I don't agree with Beck on everything, but I do know they triple check their facts. I appreciate his passion -- he makes sure you can't bury your head in the sand on go on your merry way. He's not perfect, but he is invaluable at this dangerous time for our Republic. You too, sir. Thanks again.

Si Vis Pacem | 9.23.09 @ 7:24AM

RSM, thanks man!

Deborah... I started listening to Beck again only a few months ago. Could be wrong, but I get the sense that Beck rants off-camera about black currant jam in Mason jars. And donuts.

I was listening a few years ago when he threw red flags down on a number of Bush plays. He had been expressing the same annoyance a lot of us felt, that the President was not a Conservative and that grass-roots conservatives and libertarians had been left out of policy considerations by the President, Rove, Hughes and the gang in a fruitless quest for "compassionate" pandering to some "center" bloc. [Note to self: "Karl." Name ring a bell?]

Turns out Beck was on-target after all.

P. Ingemi | 9.23.09 @ 6:51AM

The single most important paragraph reminds us that so many of the heroes of the liberal press warned us how "crazy" Ronald Reagan was, and how wrong he was to confront the soviets instead of engaging them.

From Biden, to Rangel, to the Late Edward Kennedy to the media to my college professors to many of the media like Andrea Mitchel who are now held in esteem, they they pushed this line.

Decades later they push the myth of unity in fighting the cold war and as they said what they did in the days before YouTube peddle their version of history with impunity.

When these people are called to task first then perhaps I'll worry a bit more about Beck.

Melvin| 9.23.09 @ 7:16AM

We must keep in perspective that Beck is first and foremost an entertainer who thrives on ratings. Everything else is secondary.
Like with anything I suppose there are those who hang on Mr. Beck's every word, but the vast majority of us have to sift through the massive amounts of information that is available to us and decide what is relevant and irrelevant and make the best decision that we can.
It is easy to condemn those who are Beck's fans as, "Beck's Zombies," but they are really no different than, "Oprah's Zombies."

Saulie| 9.26.09 @ 12:41AM

We must keep in perspective that Oprah is first and foremost an entertainer who thrives on ratings. Everything else is secondary.
Like with anything I suppose there are those who hang on Oprah's every word, but the vast majority of us have to sift through the massive amounts of information that is available to us and decide what is relevant and irrelevant and make the best decision that we can.
It is easy to condemn those who are Oprah's fans as, "Oprah's Zombies," but they are really no different than, "Beck's fans."

S.L. Toddard| 9.23.09 @ 7:26AM

Here's Glenn Beck denouncing America's Empire and agreeing with the statement about the cause of 9/11:

"We were attacked as a direct result of our empire. If we truly believed in freedom we would understand the resentment that accompanies installing our military in other countries to protect our corporate interests."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded

found at

http://www.amconmag.com/postri.....-business/

S.L. Toddard| 9.23.09 @ 7:26AM

That should read "agreeing with THIS statement about etc"

John Navratil| 9.23.09 @ 12:53PM

Everyone should look at this link. Here we have Beck decrying "empire building" and espousing an isolationist view which is debated constantly. His nodding "yes", acknowledging the statement which he did not make, is used by Toddard here to all but call Beck a "truther". But don't take my word for it. Look at the link and make up you own mind.

Great job Toddard. Can you say "yellow journalism".

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 1:46PM

Toddard is the resident "anti-truther."

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 1:49PM

.. I suppose he;d be in agreement with Obama's handing over of the U.S.A. to the U.N. today.

S.L. Toddard| 9.23.09 @ 2:01PM

Not at all. I do not believe we should be party to the UN, and - as logically follows such an assertion - nor do I believe the U.S. should go to war to enforce UN resolutions. Can you say the same?

We should pull out of the UN immediately. Until we do, however, we are bound by the treaties that bind us.

Kurt| 9.23.09 @ 10:35PM

What if we signed a treaty that said in part, 'no hate speech shall be tolerated...' Would we still be bound by this treaty even though it violated the first amendment? Indeed, are your rights bound by the Bill of Rights (individual rights) or by the articles? In other words, do government rights superceed individual rights. S.L.-you seem to side for government rights over individual rights. Not me. I'll take my rights over Franklin's, Jefferson's , Lincoln's, Reagan's, Clinton's or the UN's. Seems like Obama's are beyond what I can take. Sign of the times, indeed!

S.L. Toddard| 9.24.09 @ 7:37AM

"What if we signed a treaty that said in part, 'no hate speech shall be tolerated...' Would we still be bound by this treaty even though it violated the first amendment?"

No. The supreme court established that when a treaty conflicts with the Bill of Rights, the Bill of Rights supersedes the treaty.

Victor| 9.23.09 @ 11:59PM

Dear Slo Todd,
Are their two of you writing alternate paragraphs?
Or are you Dr Reader and Mr. Todd?
First you say that we should not have gone after Saddam for violating 17 UN resolutions that we agreed with according to the UN Charter and then you say that while we are still a member, we should abide with those agreements?
I guess that you would have disagreed with Churchill when he said that we should have taken care of Hitler in the 30's before we had to go to war to take care of him in the 40's?
And now because you guys did not want to take care of Iran in the 00's we will have to take care of him in the 10's, eh?
PS go back to 1996 and see who aided and abetted Russia and Iran?

S.L. Toddard| 9.24.09 @ 7:40AM

"First you say that we should not have gone after Saddam for violating 17 UN resolutions that we agreed with according to the UN Charter and then you say that while we are still a member, we should abide with those agreements?"

We signed NO treaty that *compelled* us to conquer Iraq if Iraq violated UN restrictions.

"I guess that you would have disagreed with Churchill when he said that we should have taken care of Hitler"

Once any allusion to Munich is made during a debate on modern US foreign policy, whomever made that allusion is discredited immediately. Sorry.

S.L. Toddard| 9.23.09 @ 1:59PM

WHOA - I do NOT think Beck is a "truther". A "truther" is NOT someone who recognizes that the 9/11 attack was a reaction to our Imperialistic foreign policy. A "truther" is a conspiracy-theorist who believes garbage like 9/11 was an "inside job", that Bush planned it, or that no plane hit the second tower and nonsense like that.

Watching it again, though, it could be interpreted that he is nodding, just acknowledging the statement on the 9/12 site to which he is about to respond, so I will retract my assertion that he is agreeing with that sentiment. But, Mr. Navratil, watch it again - they ask him about that statement and in response he nods (perhaps in acknowledgment as you suggest), and then goes on to profess that he is turning more and more into a libertarian, that the "scales are falling from" his eyes, and then decries Empire building and promotes non-interventionism as an alternative.

While I can agree that a sensible person could conclude that he's not outright agreeing with the statement, can you not see how a sensible person could conclude that he was? He responds to the non-interventionist anti-imperialist diagnosis (largely held by Libertarians) of the cause of 9/11 by nodding and espousing anti-imperialism, non-interventionism and Libertarianism.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 2:16PM

Tddard, I meant you. Not Beck. I meant that you were not exactly for the truth.

S.L. Toddard| 9.23.09 @ 2:24PM

Uh... that's nice, but I was responding to the Mr. Navratil's sensible objection, not your senseless blathering.

Victor| 9.24.09 @ 12:12AM

Senseless Blathering?
If that phrase was in Webster's, it would have your faccia brutta and a few of your ill-chosen words.

Curtis Rasmussen| 9.23.09 @ 3:30PM

Funny, turd the troll is lighter than air, floating above the masses instead of being flushed down the toilet where he belongs.

The libs are getting desperate. Van Jones has been giving his walking papers, and the conservative media continues to shine the light on the unconstitutional power grab by the liberal elite.

More power to Beck. The more he pisses off the liberal media and the Obama admisistration the better. Might as well include the arrogantly insignificant ToadTurd.

Crusader| 9.23.09 @ 7:34AM

Beck isn't a threat to the Conservative movement. He IS a threat to the limp-wristed, status-quo RINO-Republicans though.

Deborah D | 9.23.09 @ 7:50AM

Amen to that, Crusader.

Huladeb| 9.23.09 @ 8:01PM

Well said. They are still laboring under the impression that they get to define the conservative movement.

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Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : Secret Protocols of Beck's Legions [ links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

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Robbins Mitchell| 9.23.09 @ 7:50AM

Yea,Glenn has the MSM and fever swamp lefties collectively crapping trou because he can go for the throat,he moves things around and has a palpable effect on their nasty little indulgences...he has made the piggies squeal and will likely keep doing so,,,I'm modestly proud of the fact that I once stumped him in a trivia contest here in Houston broadcast by the local talk affiliate...and now he is stumping the left like Mosby stumped Sheridan

Dennis D| 9.23.09 @ 7:52AM

When 90% of Media are liberal Obama lap dogs whats a conservative to do to get heard? Go over the top to get coverage? It took 2 young college kids to take apart Acorn while the left had CBS, ABC, NBC and most major newspapers attacking Conservatives on a Daily basis for things that were less important or things that was invented.

mickeymat| 9.23.09 @ 8:07AM

If our response to people like Beck is to ridicule the source, then we have dodged the issues. The Left loves to use the Fox News nightly lineup as an argument. If we are indeed thinkers, then we have to evaluate information based more on its truth rather than its source. I know I dismiss many news stories based on their source but that is only because I have already evaluated the facts the source reports. If the facts are verifiable, it matters little where they came from. It seems to me that Beck is doing his darndest to present facts, facts that no other outlets are providing. He is also providing background for the facts in most cases coming from our own Constitution and system of laws. That cannot be a bad thing especially given the fact that our schools are not teaching these absolutely necessary things.

martin j smith| 9.23.09 @ 8:09AM

So when books and movies are written about Bush's assasination, or when Micheal Moor ( is it less ? )
makes his propaganda movies or when the "truth" is spewed from NBC ,ABC,CBS,NPR and etc. this is solid news ? This is acceptable. Keep it.
Glen Beck as are those in talk radio do not try to mislead people --it is strictly their oppinions--it is like one long editorial report from the right. But--
here is the important point--you can view or hear it or turn it off. You can agree or disagree etc.
However and this another "but" you do hear things on Glen Beck that you will not hear on the left leaning media. You get "the other side of the story". So there it is: you get more complete views of what is happening around you and it is the viewer that has discern where the truth is. When left wing media or politicians ( and would say the same on the right as well ) try to diminish the other side with name calling and not the truth in facts you know that the glen beck types are onto something and the left in the case of Glen Beck are4 afraid.

TenneesseeVolunteer| 9.23.09 @ 8:19AM

Robert, I recommend you spend 'more than a few occasional moments' listening to Glenn and Rush.
The reason they are so popular is because what they discover and say resonates with 'the great unwashed' here in the hinterland.
The american spectator is my favorite site for conservative commentary. However, the current times are fraught with danger and we need passion combined with knowledge to unveil the leftist puppetmasters.
Too many of you are too ensconced in your ivory towers and really don't understand the depth of frustration that we are experiencing based on our hard earned experiences that this administration and the dangerous size of our big government (perpetrated by both parties) will bring us all down if something is not done now. Obama and his socialist intentions are just the latest, and most dangerous, step towards the eventual takeover of government control.
We are FREEMEN and will be again. The only advice I can give to most of the writers at AS is to become just a little more like Glenn Beck, just a little.

Eric damon| 9.23.09 @ 12:11PM

Hey Vol,

I don't think RS is saying that he doesn't understand why beck or Rush are so popular, he just doesn't have a lot of time to listen to them. He knows that they speak to a great swath of the American public and let us know that we are not alone in our conservatism.

As for Beck, I don't see him as a conservative, but as a Libertarian. His brand of Libertarianism has a lot of conservatism in it, but he doesn't follow the conservative line on everything. He's not exactly my cup of tea, but I do respect his passion and his love for this country, and I appreciate his willingness to stand up when many won't.

Bruce | 9.23.09 @ 4:53PM

I absolutely agree, Eric. I don't watch Beck that much (though my 23 y/o son does nightly) because his style or presentation frequently rubs me the wrong way. However - one cannot deny that what he says has been thoroughly researched and verified, and is - in fact - his OPINION.

As you say - I don't ever recall Beck claim to be a Conservative - quite the contrary. The majority of his guests are Libertarians. Like you I don't define myself strictly as either because each espouses beliefs I don't share. Regardless - Beck is to my mind a Patriot who cares deeply about the direction this nation is taking. He doesn't like it. Neither do I - and I expect you as well.

linda| 9.23.09 @ 3:15PM

I couldn't agree with you more, its very disturbing to me that many so-called conservatives are so willing to eat our own when so much is at stake. Divided we fall!!!

FedUp| 9.23.09 @ 8:31AM

What is most important about Beck is to go back at least a year or more to see what he was saying then - then to compare what is happening now. You'd be surprised about how many things hav come to pass. Check it out!

Beck's style may make people uncomfortable, but it's the substance that is important!

Hostile Knowledge| 9.23.09 @ 8:32AM

It's very easy see who is causing liberals the most pain. They spend an enormous amount of time and resources in an effort to demonize those who cause them so much agony. I would say that Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh cause liberals to suffer from severe, chronic heartburn.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 1:57PM

Ha! love it! The truth, when it is spoken cannot be held down. The Left doesn't have, and will never have a strong enough acid blocker.

Allen| 9.23.09 @ 8:32AM

Glenn Beck does have a sarcastic delivery that many times gets in the way of his message. The good news for the USA is that he exposes the corruption on both sides of the isle. We need more of him. He should be given as large a staff of investigators as he needs to continue his good work. Are you listening Fox

Bruce| 9.23.09 @ 11:38AM

I agree that Glenn's delivery of the message could be less sarcastic. If he could rein in his passion somewhat I think he would be much more credible and effective.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 2:07PM

There are none so sarcastic as those on the Left. Especially mixed together with their "intellectual superiority."

Kurt| 9.23.09 @ 10:55PM

Intellectual superiority indeed! Where would we be without it? Our Universities could not properly mold the minds of the young to understand that the populus can not handle their own affairs. They desire and need social programs such as social security, medicare, unemployment compensation, and indeed, bank bailouts with stimulus packages attached. Why, you must be anti-American to say otherwise because America has indeed allowed this to happen. Why should we hesitate to completely centralize control of all of our citizen's needs. Margie, just what is it you have against intellectual superiority?

Victor| 9.24.09 @ 12:25AM

You obviously missed her point that the left has no "Intellectual superiority" to match the average Conservative. CommonSense and real Moral Outrage are not found on the left.
Who on the left can match Rush or Beck, eh?
The "Intellectual superiority" that "teaches" our yute can't even teach them to fill out a job application, balance a checkbook, read a roadmap or even know the chronology of the wars of the United States, much less know Civics or the role of Government.
Unless you're pulling my leg and being sarcastic yourself? Are You? We'll find out:
Less Government = More Freedom
Government is not the solution to our problems,
it IS the Problem.

Margie| 9.24.09 @ 1:56AM

"Why should we hesitate to completely centralize control of all of our citizen's needs."

What a joke. You have to seriously ask that question? Spoken like a true Socialist.I guess you are just proving the point. Must be an Ivy League Grad?

Timothy L. Pennell| 9.23.09 @ 8:39AM

Hey. Glenns' work speaks for itself. The RACIST COMMUNIST is gone. People are now aware of this whole CSZAR garbage, and we are WATCHING them. The 'STATE RUN MEDIA', is just that. Now we get word that THE MESSIAH is dangling BAILOUTS for his PROPAGANDA OUTLETS. The Alphabet Networks served notice, long ago, that they CANNOT BE TRUSTED. Thank GOD for the BECKS and LIMBAUGHS, and HANNITYS and LEVINS. Or this country would be a very dark place indeed.

JBobs| 9.23.09 @ 9:10AM

Tim: You left Michael Savage off of your list of voices to be heard... as is too often the case in "main stream" conservative discussions. Savage, similar to Beck, is passionate and rough around the edges (and this may put off some), but his insights, straight talk and espousal of conservative philosophies is often right on. Beck was appreciated by us radio listeners long before he started stirring thing up on TV... the nation needs to hear more of Savage as well. I believe that conservatives are guilty of liberal PC behavior when they refuse to acknowledge Savage and exclude him from the discussion.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 2:09PM

To quote Sarah Palin~ "You betcha!"

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 2:12PM

..that "you betcha" was to Tim's comment. As for Savage, I do appreciate what he has to say very much, but not his vitriol toward Rush and Levin, or some others.

Mattled| 9.23.09 @ 8:43AM

I tuned in to Anderson Cooper's show on Sep 11 (out of curiosity) .
September 11th coverage? no
ACORN Videos? no

Joe Wilson

A few days later, September 16th. More ACORN videos out and defunding by House.

Anderson Cooper?
Joe Wilson is a racist with three black liberals and David Gergen on a panel. How's that for fair and balanced?

Last Friday September 18th. More ACORN stories, more de-funding, Obama stabs Poland and Czech Rep in the back----Anderson Cooper leads with "Is Joe Wilson a racist".

If you rely on CNN (or MSNBC for that matter), you may be the most uninformed person walking the planet.

When Larry Craig was the BIG (non) story, I noticed CNN had become the Larry Craig Channel. He was on every fifteen minutes.

Now they have become the Joe Wilson Channel.

Great business model. Keep your viewers as un-informed as possible, then watch money-----NOT come in.

Last week Wolf Blitzer had 160k viewers---lowest in news. THEN he went on Jeopardy and lost to freaking Dana Delaney and another comedy actor.

Wolfie had -4600. The comedian had $36,000!!

Delany had $6500. Wolf is as stupid as he appears. So is Anderson "Gloria Vanderbilt" Dooper.

Meanwhile, Beck and Fox take it to the bank.

CNN will soon become C-Ya!

Grzmlyk| 9.23.09 @ 8:44AM

I must say, it cracks me up when people dismiss conservative talk/Fox hosts as "entertainers." Libs and preening "objective" independents love to attach this reductive title to them in an effort to diminish their influence. Fat frickin chance.

I actually find both Beck and Limbaugh utterly obnoxious. I hate their schtick with the heat of a thousand suns.

But I do listen to Limbaugh with some regularity, and lately I've begun to watch Beck - painful as that is.

Because although the delivery mechanism is, regretably, puerile emotional exhibitionism, the content that's ensconced is generally accurate . And you can tell what they say hits the liberal nerve by how many liberals try to neuter them.

Enter the turd (that's SL Turdard, for those of you that aren't familiar with septic systems).

OOOOH TURD, what a revelation. You are truly a devastating defenstrator of conservative dogma. If I could pat you on the head right now, I would.

Give yourself a cookie. What a good boy are you.

S.L. Toddard| 9.23.09 @ 9:15AM

"You are truly a devastating defenstrator of conservative dogma"

I'm not sure you know what "dogma" means, to be honest. And all I'm doing is pointing out that Glenn Beck believes that "we were attacked as a direct result of our empire. If we truly believed in freedom we would understand the resentment that accompanies installing our military in other countries to protect our corporate interests." In other words, he believes 9/11 was a direct result of our Imperialistic foreign policy - blowback, as it were - and not merely the mad act of Freedom Haters Who Hate Freedom And (probably) Freedom Fries. He believes we Americans should "mind our own business".

You know - the antithesis of what nearly everyone here at AmSpec believes.

S.L. Toddard| 9.23.09 @ 2:33PM

I'm going to retract this statement (not that you care). As the distinguished Mr. Navratil pointed out, it is not entirely clear that Beck is outright agreeing with the quote, though it seems to me that he is.

Red Phillips | 9.23.09 @ 2:34PM

SLT, I think some of the people who have responded think you are attempting to smear Beck with your accusations and they are attempting to defend Beck against your "smear." They don't realize that you are actually praising Beck.

As conservative leaders like Beck start trending our way toward non-interventionism the masses will also. I predict in 10 years non-intervention will be the standard on the right. The biggest roadblock to this is all the money the military industrial complex gives to conservative organizations to keep fighting the Cold War. That statement from "conservative leaders" on Obama's missile defense system had MIC money written all over it.

S.L. Toddard| 9.23.09 @ 2:55PM

Truly - it's the first time I've ever seen Beck say anything that surpised me in a pleasant way. I think it's possible that he's someone who was apolitical for a long time, and then political in a very conventional, establishment way, and is only now discovering that there is a conservatism that is consistent and honorable, that has roots that extend back past (gasp!) Reagan, that makes sense, and that explains where and how the Right went wrong while appealing to social and religious conservatives as well.

I was also thinking recently that it's high time, what with the catastrophic results of liberalism and liberal inverventionism so apparent as to be undeniable, for a traditionalist Old Right-style conservative talk show in the vein of Firing Line. With things trending the way they are, and this anti-establishment, pro-Constitution sentiment ascendant on the Right, such a show, with an erudite, dynamic, telegenic host, could do wonders bringing the Right back to traditional conservatism.

And that's not to say that we should look to TV for the answer, but we need a prominent voice promoting traditional conservatism. I do not see the conflict as being so much Left vs Right, as being the American People vs a statist/corporatist Establishment that encompasses both major parties.

Kurt| 9.23.09 @ 11:03PM

So should the feds control defense? How about civil rights? S.L. you are smart-smart as a whip. Can you, or are you able to draw a line?

S.L. Toddard| 9.24.09 @ 7:35AM

Yes the federal government is responsible for the common *defense* of the U.S.. And our civil liberties are protected in the Constitution, so yes.

Ken (Old Texican)| 9.23.09 @ 9:22AM

Hey Grzmlyk
When Rush is being obnoxious, he is usually tongue in cheek and often poking fun at himself.
I have kind of learned to smile wryly over the last 20 years.
His courage and hard work deciphering the BS and presenting it in a way we often think ourselves privately has been the key to his long term success.
Beck is hilarious to me. Yeah he likes acting a little wacky on TV, but on radio he is quite different in his approach. Again, a lot of hard work putting the BS in the sunshine.

I will take good insights where I can get'em.
Thanks Glen, for honest rabble rousing.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 3:00PM

The reason the haughty Leftists complain about Rush's being "obnoxious" isn't really that they think he's obnoxious. It's because they can't stand the fact that he does it better than them. :^)

Doug| 9.23.09 @ 10:16AM

Grzmlyk,

I think it may be help to put the whole 'schtick' in place if you think about the different definitions of the words 'think' and 'feel'. Ever notice that SO many people substitute 'feel' for 'think'?

Reporter: "Mrs. Jones, how do you 'feel' about [fill in the event]?

They're fishing for an emotional response, not a reasoned one.

The mainstream media, including Fox, are now mostly selling emotion rather than facts. These are businesses and they have all-to-often relinquished the information in the news for the emotion in the news. Why? Because that's what their customers (you and I) want - so in that respect, shame on us.

I call them 'emotion pimps' :) but we ARE buying, aren't we?

I believe one of the reasons Beck & Rush are so popular is that they understand (instinctively or with knowledge) that in order to get the real facts out they must wrap them in emotion. Nothing damages the arrogant liberal self-image than fact-based ridicule. Call them 'girlie men' and they go ballistic and prove the point. :)

I am glad that Fox is smart enough to allow their business sense to overcome any particular ideological bent but I hold no illusion about the notion that, for them, it's all about ratings and the monies they (Fox) can earn. This, of course, is a great illustration of de Tocqueville's notions about enlightened self interest.

John M| 9.23.09 @ 8:53AM

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
- George Orwell.

We live in a media-dominated culture where most of the MSM have become disseminators of left-wing propaganda and where right wing extremism is now being defined as any defense whatsoever of the Constitution. If anything Glenn Beck said was not truthful, I am sure we would never have heard the end of it. The truth that he and others are revealing and which much of the MSM have attempted to hide is potentially incendiary; nevertheless Beck and others are performing a great service to the country. Somebody needs to light the fire.

David| 9.23.09 @ 9:03AM

Glenn Beck may be louder, but I see little difference between the tone of his message and the tone of the message of Garrison Keillor, Al Franken, Chris Matthews, and Keith Olberman -- I just happen to generally agree with Beck and never agree with the others.

If Beck was ignored by the right or harmful to the right, the left would ignore him. The truth is, the left is afraid of Beck because he resonates with those who understand the left is full of crap.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 3:04PM

Right! Talk about obnoxious, "emotionalism", fear tactics, racist, anti-truth blathering imbeciles. The Leftists lie. That's the big difference. You go to the side you prefer.

Victor| 9.24.09 @ 12:29AM

Well, if you agree with Beck and not Keillor, Francken, Mathhews or Olberman, that's because they are WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!

Amdog| 9.23.09 @ 9:06AM

If an independent referee eliminated the "ad hominem" content of factless television,cable,radio,dish,blog,website,chalk on the sidewalk and NEA media, we would save trees,electricity and reduce much of the gas on our world. Plus, I would not be doing this at 9:05 A.M.

tenn slim| 9.23.09 @ 9:24AM

ALL
"Beck's style may make people uncomfortable, but it's the substance that is important!"
My Opine:
Substance, correct factual data, accurate traceable data, these things allow anyone to connect the dots.
bt
Connecting the dots, following the money flow, identifying the individuals, thier bios, thier positions held and previously held. ALL are dots.
The Overall picture that emerges is exactly what Beck is belatedly showing on his White Board. The emerging questions to be asked are the current set of "dots". We are in a tactical war for liberty, freedom and independence of the individual. It behooves each and every one of us to "Follow the Dots.'
Beck is doing, on the Fox network, exactly what every USA Electorate individual should have done in 2007, 2008 and most importantly RIGHT NOW.
Semper Fi
end

uncledan| 9.23.09 @ 9:25AM

Anyone here buying Beck's new book?

Northern Rebel | 9.23.09 @ 9:27AM

It's not that I'm paranoid, it's just that the liberal establishment (i.e. the democrat and republican parties), and President anti-Christ, are out to get me!

Help!

linda| 9.23.09 @ 3:25PM

Thanks, that was funny!

linda| 9.23.09 @ 3:25PM

Thanks, that was funny!

Grzmlyk| 9.23.09 @ 9:29AM

David, very well said.

Although I don't think Beck is louder than Matthews or Olberman - at least he doesn't froth at the mouth with blind ideological fervor (Matthews) or with rage (Olberman).

The reason Beck has captured the zeitgeist from the right so thoroughly is that, clown or not, he is providing a valuable service by connecting dots no one else wants to connect. Unlike the increasingly feckless and liberal-toadying O'Reilly, Beck is showing incredible cajones by being one of the very few individuals willing to pull back the curtain on the Wizard of Oz that is this administration.

I hope he hires someone to start his car for him in the morning, because the more bull's eyes he hits, the lower his life expectancy (Turd, you need a gig?).

And while Limbaugh's grandiose self-aggrandizement is tiresome, he is, in spite of himself, a peerless analyst when it comes to politics. He never falls for a head fake.

And with a Republican party that is thoroughly discredited, "conservative" press that too often curries favor with liberal solons (National Review, Krauthammer, etc.) and no real leaders on the horizon (god save us from Romney, Huckabee, who were so impressive they lost to McCain, or from the myriad other pretenders to the GOP throne whose credo is "go along to get along."), I will take our banner-carriers where I can find them.

WestRight| 9.23.09 @ 9:34AM

Very good Dennis D, 'when 90% of Media are liberal Obama lap dogs whats a conservative to do to get heard? Go over the top to get coverage? '
also to GB's credit, he sure smokes out the weakneed Repubs, the ones we will not share a foxhole! We need more Beck's, Brietbarts and Stacy McCains as opposed to Wehr, Moran, Brooks, Parker, Noonans and Meghans!

Amdog| 9.23.09 @ 9:35AM

Amdog| 9.23.09 @ 9:17AM
We know what they have done, will do and who did it and who will do it. America needs to inform elected officials who still love this country ,more than their careers, that we can supply them with facts. Their only role now is to enforce existing law and eradicate this blight. While, I seek no third party, some party must become the party of TRUTH and CONSEQUENCES.

John D. Auria| 9.23.09 @ 9:40AM

Did you read the Time piece? It seems like you just skimmed or read a summary of it on another blog. Surprisingly, it was a fairly positive piece on Glenn. So much so, that I have heard that many of the loons on the left were canceling their subscriptions over the article.

Grzmlyk| 9.23.09 @ 9:46AM

Hi Ken:

I know that's what Rush always says - that he's really very, very modest and the "braggodocio" is all an act. But if I were to tell people I was the smartest, best, most fantastic person on the planet all the time, eventually the line between self-satire and grandiosity would blur. I don't like it.

Besides, Limbaugh's myriad other annoying tendencies and traits really do make me shut him off pretty often. I don't find bloated grandiosity funny, and I don't think it's entirely an act. I think it's an alter-ego he developed as armour to protect an odd, eccentric, displaced personality.

And he has an annoying habit of mispronouncing words - some of it is intentional, some of it is not. And when it's intentional, eventually it's like fingernails on a blackboard - how many times can I chuckle when he pronounces "high school" as "hah screwel?" HA HA! I get it! Funny the first 1,45,678,000 times. Not so much after that.

And I do think Beck is unhinged; I really think he is an emotional exhibitionist and I have to agree with the ladies from The View that, when he gets worked up into tears, or when he develops that tremulo in his voice, it's a performance. Granted, it's one that he believes, but I'd be a lot more appreciative if he just delivered his content like a grown-up and eschewed the emotional lederhosen.

However, I realize I'm more sensitive to that schtick than many - most of Rush's legions of fans find him charming. Although one caller recently expressed exasperation that Rush pounds the table constantly, which I find incredibly annoying.

But again, content-wise, I think Beck has found his voice with this show on Fox and that Rush has been a beacon of truth for 20 years.

And hey, I know I'm not easy to live with. We all have idiosyncracies, and mine are no less annoying.

So, when it comes to Beck and Limbaugh, I grit my teeth and take the bad with the good. :-)

P. Aaron| 9.23.09 @ 9:56AM

I watch Glenn Beck for the same reason I watch FOX News: I know it pisses liberals off.

Hank Rearden| 9.23.09 @ 10:00AM

Nice article Mr. McCain. It might be worth mentioning the while Beck has become the object of scorn his facts haven't. Interesting...

Northern Rebel| 9.23.09 @ 10:06AM

What we need to remember, is that if not for Rush, we wouldn't be commenting at the Spectator, because it wouldn't exist!

Conservative publications have tripled their readership since Limbaugh's "annoying tendancies" stood up and started taking the hits for all conservatives to follow safely behind his shield of "bloated grandiosity".

Some of us have no sense of humor, and the left likes it that way.

Lea| 9.23.09 @ 10:08AM

I rant in my living room at the television set, does that make me dangerous? I don't think so! I rant when I hear the ridiculous things coming out of BHO's mouth when it moves, does that make me dangerous? I dont' think so. It just makes me a SANE American who sees a threat to the American way of life.
Beck does what most Americans are doing, he speaks what he sees. He questions the insane things that are happening. We DO still have the right to do that, don't we? We are peacefully asking these questions, we are peacefully protesting (note: all those hundreds of thousands or thousands of people who showed up in Washington, D.C. on the 12th of September had not one arrest, and not one piece of litter left behind them when they were done and gone-some dangerous crowd, I'd say) and not one arrest nationwide since we've begun (except the SEIU union thugs who mugged a black man in St. Louis who was giving out flags at a Townhall.
Oh, the "fringe" media did try to portray a townhall attendee as carrying a sidearm but another camera view from another news outlet clearly showed this was a BLACK MAN and could have been a secret service agent or policeman, who knows? Clearly, it was misrepresentation on the part of the "fringe" media, however. But, since when was it illegal to carry a weapon when one has a permit to do so? It is not.
We are housewives, grandmothers, grandfathers, people who take off time from our jobs to attend these functions because we feel our country is worth saving and our opinion is worth giving. We bring our children and our grandchildren. Yes, we are a threat. Glen Beck is definitely a threat, he is about as threatening as a teddy bear. A big jelly bean-eating, outspoken American who is patriotic and happens to be smart enough to see what is taking place in America. And, he has a huge audience.
By the way, Limbaugh is bigger than any president and I doubt that Obama and his thugs could ever bring him down. The worst thing they can do is to audit him every year (and I believe they are already doing that - lol; but he has tax attorneys, he makes more money that Obama). Glen Beck, he doesn't care, he is telling the truth and he does hope he is wrong. We all do; but we fear he is not. As time goes on, we see that he is not.

When the Obama Administration has advisors (all) who are revolutionaries, communists, marxists, and have an agenda to change our country to something our grandfathers and fathers fought wars to save other countries FROM, yes we feel that our country is in grave danger. These people with their evil social agendas are everything America has stood against. They do not belong anywhere in our government, let alone the White House. We have every right to want them OUT. Obama has the potential to be a Hugo Chavez and we all should be worried, very, very worried.

Deborah D | 9.23.09 @ 3:11PM

Lea -- I'm with you, sister! Great post.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 3:30PM

Lea, hear, hear!! The Left can't possibly hold us down. The only thing have is lies. They lie about us. They lie about what we say, how we say it, belittle us, try to marginalize us. They stand on sinking sand. The Truth is a solid Rock that can't be moved. They can't stand it. They underestimate the American spirit, and mock it. And Obama is their Dear Leader.

Bruce | 9.23.09 @ 5:05PM

Lea - I don't know if you have any plans to run for local political office - but you should. An excellent post there.

mrtin j smith| 9.23.09 @ 10:09AM

One simple but I believe elegant idea: when your opponent resorts to insults you know you gotem. And,when your opponent resorts to class warfare or the" race card "you really really gotem. Finally when your opponenet accuses you of inceitement of violence keep doing what you are doping but watch your back.

Tim| 9.23.09 @ 10:14AM

Glenn Beck durbatulûk, Glenn Beck gimbatul,
Glenn Beck thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

Liberty or Death| 9.23.09 @ 5:13PM

Hahahaha... Tim I love it. I bet few people got the joke;).

Kurt| 9.23.09 @ 11:09PM

Didn't get it at all. I'm dumb as a boxarocks. Funny as allgitgo-ignorant as the hillbilly i's born to B. Can't type or spell and smell like a goat-never gonna go down in history. Tim, ya got me on that one ya did you betchya!

Victor| 9.24.09 @ 12:37AM

Glenn Beck to rule them all,
Glenn Beck to find them,
Glenn Beck to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them

Pingback| 9.23.09 @ 10:27AM

Yes, Sir, He’s Crazy. Crazy Like A…Reagan? links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…with Satan to run down a conservative leader in a cover story every few months in exchange for the few subscribers they have. Their story on Beck is a jumping-off point for Stacy McCain’s column at the American Spectator . Here’s an excerpt: Von Drehle’s invocation of “the paranoid style,” a trope that Hofstadter derived from Theodor Adorno’s “authoritarian…

Anthony| 9.23.09 @ 10:28AM

I'm also beginning to warm up to Beck, albeit, I'm not available to watch his daytime show on FOX. That said, the more disturbing pattern of the hard left, for some time now, has been to isolate and marginalize conservative media. Clinton did it with Limbaugh when he & his goons intimated that Limbaugh instigated the Oklahoma City bombing. The elite media, as Mr. McCain reminds us, has also been on a crusade the crush out its competition, which happens to be running circles around it.
However, Obama and the brown shirts in his inner circle have raised the bar considerably. By deliberately leaving FOX out of the Sunday mix, the Alinsky acolyte sent a chilling message to all conservative media, conform or be crushed. It further sent a signal to the rest of the leftist media that their attacks on conservative media will be rewarded by Obama.
Obama and his circle are ruthless hardcore leftists. Their game is dangerous and they play to win. We need to be equally ruthless.

crookedwren| 9.23.09 @ 10:32AM

I had not seen Beck until recently. I kept hearing his name mentioned at tea parties and political rallies, so I thought I should take a look.

Glad I did.

I'd been alarmed since the eve of the election when I'd FINALLY researched ACORN.

Years ago I had "given up" on politics. But that evening I saw quite clearly -- albeit somewhat intuitively -- what we were headed for.

I KNEW that Bill Ayres was no stranger to Obama. I KNEW that one WeatherUnderground/SDS contact might be circumstantial. But then I saw the material on the Rathke brothers. SDS -- again.

Not an accident. Not mere "circumstance."

I knew from my almost-radical days as a rather middling liberal, meeting -- at anti-war protests -- "social justice" types in HAWAII. It didn't take long to find out they were Maoists and Leninists disguising themselves as patriots.

I had a few confrontational moments that were interesting, not the least of which centered on "hidden agendas." I argued that if one believes in Communism as the foundation for "social justice" then one should not hide that political stance from political co-workers (finding that "hiding" thing rather repulsive as well as dishonest).

Communist / Marxist States tend not to be happy places for those without substantial power. I don't think the government should be in the business of taking care of everything, controlling everything.

And I have observed in the course of my lifetime that private property more often leads to a sense of personal responsibility than do "handouts."

Growing up with kids from Fidel's haven of "social justice" taught me a great deal about the up-side of capitalism.

I have news for the Leftists that are in power in this country: GREED and CORRUPTION are MARXIST TRAITS, TOO. Capitalists have no corner on THAT market. In fact, in Communist nations, where the press is the "lapdog" of the august Leader -- sort of like NBC and MSNBC, etc.--CORRUPTION really can thrive.

I was horrified that evening in November and made my way to vote AGAINST Obama. Not because he's black, but because -- if he isn't red -- he's close to those who are.

Since that night, my fears for this nation (which I prayed would be unjustified) have been heightened.

Beck has been able to track down the facts I had started to find that night.

I'm so glad I discovered Beck when I did.

He's passionate. Madison was a quiet man, as I understand, but I suspect, if he were alive today, he would appreciate the passion of those who are waving those "Don't Tread On Me" flags, the passion of those who, in Town Hall meetings across the country, held up thin copies of the Constitution for which Madison and others worked so intensely, the passion of Mr. Beck who is honestly (I believe -- I don't think he's all about ratings) examining the mind set (the world view) of the people around the President, those who have the ears of the President, and REPORTING that examination to his viewers.

It's reportage by a non-journalist. Cause journalism by university-trained journalists died sometime ago. (That death took place a few years before teachers were trained to be "social engineers." Unelected, of course.)

Those old SDS-ers have been busy, quietly persistent in their work and ideology. They've been busy at the local and state levels -- and have infiltrated our national government. And those of us old enough to remember what those pictures of old Soviet Union and Eastern Europe -- well, most of us don't want to go there. But -- with this Administration in particular -- that's where we're headed.

I had my "Ah-ha" and "Oh, dear" moment back in November. Based on a little Googling.

Beck has helped me fill in more of the gaps.

I might even have to start listening to Rush. And you know what? Rush and Beck are more honest than most of those guys and gals we vote in and pay to represent us.

Thank the good Lord that honesty is still something a good many of us value -- and value strongly.

Deborah D | 9.23.09 @ 3:18PM

Yes, crookedwren, our country is in dire straits. I've been afraid ever since Obama came on the scene...Rev. Wright clinched it for me. Who sits in a church for 20 years and listens to that crap without believing it? You'd have to be a little touched in the head to believe all the Obama spin after that one...frightening to think 53% of Americans bought that, isn't it? They so wanted to believe in this man.

Thanks for your insights.

mamabear| 9.23.09 @ 8:20PM

Here's how it looked to me:
1) Democrats routinely believe all democratic candidates are lying in order to get elected ("the end justifies the means"/"perception=reality") and, they do not mind. Several voters actually said to me "I know he is lying and can not keep the promises he is making. But, I just like the way he looks; I like the way he talks." For these folks it's "my party right or wrong". They would vote for the devil himself as long as he is running as a democrat.

2) Many blacks (but not all) voted for BO (a) just because he is black/historic. The talking heads assigned to black churches said he was opposed abortion, opposed to same sex marriage etc. (knowing that most blacks are conservative on these issues) and they believed it. Some voted for him (2) because they thought he would make them "rich" by redistributing the wealth of whites down to them and toss in free health care. We all heard the stories of people who believed they would not have to pay their car note or mortgage after BO was elected. They are about to get a rude awakening.

(3) Far left, center left liberals and young people (who are not necessarily registered democrats) voted for him because having a black president is "cool/ historic." They also believed he was offering hope, transparency in government, free health care, no tax increases, free student loans and for the older folks, he was "anybody but Bush."

3) Independents and center right were disappointed in the over-spending, cowardly GOP and their ridiculous choice of John ("don't be afraid to vote for my opponent."- yes, he actually said that...) McCain. Unfortunately, because they are not democrats, they believed BO's rhetoric and grand promises.

4) The far right, stayed home or went to the mall. :-)

Grzmlyk| 9.23.09 @ 10:36AM

Northern Rebel, relax.

I do have a sense of humor - I'm told it's one of my more salient qualities.

And I take nothing away from Limbaugh's influence or his uncanny ability to reveal liberal motives behind the feel-good propaganda or the fetid poison behind liberal smiley faces - or the tendentiousness underneath so many "unbiased" observers.

I agree, he started out as the lone sentry for conservatism and has paved the way for many conservative outlets. His place among the pantheon of conservative thinkers is cemented forever.

And as I say, most of Rush's legions of admirers have no problem with what I find to be his relentless, adolescent obnoxiousness. I admit I'm in the minority of Rush listeners since I don't like his style. At all.

Sorry. He ain't funny to me. I like wit. Rush is not long on wit. Non-stop self-aggrandizement is not funny. Crinkling papers into the microphone is not funny. Pounding the table and wildly gesticulating is not funny. Stringing well-intentioned callers along is not funny. Sniffing ostentatiously is not funny. Developing his own insular, malaprop-infused argot is not funny. Employing the ugliest, most grating part of his vocal register is not funny. Bragging is not funny.

And yes, it IS bragging even if you can do it.

I know all of this is supposedly designed to annoy
libs, etc., and perhaps that's true (but what about the majority who actually agree with most of what he says?). It's his show, he has 20 million listeners and 600 radio stations - he can do what he wants. I applaud all that. But funny it ain't.

Paul Shanklin, on the other hand, is hilarious. That is wit.

As I say, Rush's insights are so keen that I put up with his style. I almost never disagree with him on politics and often find him the ONLY person who articulates what I am thinking (the Dubai Ports deal comes to mind).

He has earned his place alongside WFB in the conservative Hall of Fame. Which is still too sparsely populated.

kerry| 9.23.09 @ 1:45PM

what you should do is instead of listening to him, just check out his website. He usually has transcipts of various segments on there. That way you can cut out the gesticulating, pounding and paper crinkling! Plus, he always has some funny pics on there and links to other websites where he has researched his sh0w.
I understand what you mean about Rush, I am appreciative of his leadership on conservative issues. But, I sometimes find him to be arrogant and rude to people, this is a turn off for me. I also find some of his humor to be a little to off color for me at times. Plus, I can't listen to him usually, as I work Mon-Friday and don't have access to a radio or even online.
I know a lot of people (usually older men like my dad and uncle) who are uncomfortable with Beck. I think because of his physical comedy and emotional delivery. But he is very brilliant and has emerged as a leader for liberty. I've always liked him and watched him on CNN for a couple of years. Now that he is on at 5 on Fox I no longer get to see him. A real shame. I wish they would bump him up to 7pm- Fox would really be raking it in, then!

Mamabear| 9.23.09 @ 7:40PM

Beck repeats at 2:00 am after Greta's repeat and before Red Eye which I wish Fox would cancel. That's when I catch hin.

mamabear| 9.23.09 @ 7:41PM

Clarification: I wish they would cancel "Red Eye", not Beck! :-)

Liberty or Death| 9.23.09 @ 5:28PM

I gotta say Grz... I cannot DISAGREE with you more about Limbaugh and Beck's style. All those things you think are annoying and NOT funny, are the things I cherish the most. Call me one of his Rush babies, flock, or sheeple... whatever. I believe the conservative talk-wing, Rush et al. (including Savage) are some of the wittiest people alive, today.

Just because Rush doesn't speak like some kind of 5-alarm, IVY League pinhead, doesn't mean he isn't rapt with wit.

Peter McGrath| 9.23.09 @ 10:56AM

Recently, I shared my views concerning the dire trajectory of our nation with a government school teacher (speech pathologist) and G.E. employee (union guy). Their only rejoinder to me was: "you don't know what you're talking about."

This sort of misdirected name-calling is typical of what the Left possesses these days as far as defensible argument. Von Drehle's name-calling belies a basic point: right now, the Left is running scared, and doesn't have a clue.

Deborah D | 9.23.09 @ 3:26PM

Mr. McGrath -- a liberal friend of mine (along with me and three normal friends) was listening to a conversation I was having with two of those friends. (This was in June -- when people were still clueless, but starting to catch on). One of them asked what I thought of Obama -- I said he was a Marxist. My liberal friend started laughing (obnoxiously). I turned to her and said -- "I'm not stupid. I read. A lot." She actually shut her mouth because she knows me too well. Then later we were discussing Hugo Chavez and how three of us won't stop at a Citgo station. One friend asked why? (geez) I said, "Because he's a left-wing wacko." The liberal friend said -- "Oh, I like him." Later on when we were discussing democracy, I said -- "You know Venezuela used to be a democracy..." She is clueless and just spouts the liberal line. Scary.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 3:49PM

DebD.,
My entire Family are Democrats. Most of my friends won't tolerate me even speaking of Obama negatively, in any way shape or form. I figure if I'm "not allowed" to speak honestly, then they aren't interested in being friends. There is such a huge divide in our country, but I think it's good, and well worth it. The Left claim they are the tolerant ones. That we're the racists, etc., just by opening our mouths. The truth is, they are exactly what they accuse us of being/doing. That's the Leftist way, though. And it won't ever change. I speak all the more boldly now. I know who my friends aren't. Let freedom ring!

Pete| 9.23.09 @ 11:06AM

Just once I want to pass a magazine stand and see the messiah's condescending glare on a cover with a headline like, "Dangerously Incompetent?" or "America's Worst President?" Can you imagine the outcry? We are fighting an uphill battle against MSM misinformation and anyone who speaks out against the anti-American clowns in our ruling class is OK in my book no matter what their delivery style (even though I don't watch them).

Grzmlyk| 9.23.09 @ 11:28AM

I agree, Pete: That would be like a fantasy come true.

"The Emperor is Naked After All!" That's a headline I'm waiting to see with Obama's smarmy, supercilious, snarky visage underneath.

Of course the MSM will never abandon Obama; the more egregious his transgressions, the more shameless will be the efforts to prop Him up, despite their waning viewership/circulation.

After all, the MSM's demise is no victory for conservatism - the left's acolytes have, to a great extent, reconstituted themselves on the Web (if you don't think so, just google "FISA" - you'll see that about 95% of the Bush "warrantless wiretapping" content is generated by the left and its myriad web sites).

That's why, regardless of personal style, we NEED the Becks and the Limbaughs of the world. It's going to take the grass roots - we rabble, we "dittoheads," we "tea-baggers," we watchers of Fox News - to rebuild the Republican party.

Rather than oust Sarah Palin, we need to oust those elite country-club republicans who wanted so badly to oust HER.

Huckabee and Romney, Jeb Bush??? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 3:51PM

Sarah Palin 2012!

Ken (Old Texican)| 9.23.09 @ 11:37AM

Grzmylk
Just a final thought or two.
You are saying you love the substance but not the style. OK

One thing though. You and I and some forty million other Americans drop in on Rush to get a sense of what happens to be bugging him that day.

His opening ten minute monologue is often brilliant
The other thought I have is that he makes the communists' heads blow up and eyballs burst and blood pressure skyrocket. That is good for the country isn't it?

My one question is when is he going to lay aside the label "liberal" as he did "MSM" for something more accurate in these days.

Grzmlyk| 9.23.09 @ 11:51AM

Ken, I agree - his opening monologue is usually pure brilliance. He does amaze me with the clarity of his thought and his ability to cut through the fog of fear, uncertainty, doubt and pusillanimity.

And the more impassioned he is about something, the more sincere and user-friendly his delivery - when he drops the crap and just speaks from the heart I could listen to him all day.

And yes, as I say, he's been like a firewall for conservative values for 20 years. I think he is utterly sincere about everything that really matters (except for his fondness for the Steelers - I'm a Bears man).

Believe me, I'm thankful for him. Along with WFB and a handful of others, he was like an oasis in a desert for me back when I was just forming my political values.

If you've ever heard his brother, or read his brother's columns, that is what I picture Rush being like without the shtick - straightforward, sincere, measured, compelling. David Limbaugh is great.

Please "don't misunderstand," as Rush is fond of saying: the good far outweighs the bad with El Rushbo. And the first 20 minutes or so of his CPAC (I think that was it) speech should be required listening for every American.

I'm sure he's a nice guy in person, and I think he can be downright endearing when he drops the bravado.

:-)

Linda Murray| 9.23.09 @ 12:27PM

The only news show my husband and I get to watch together each day is Glenn Beck's show. I tape it and once the kids are settled down we watch it religiously. It gives us our daily energy to make one more call, write one more letter. Without Glenn, we'd feel like we're all alone. With Glenn we know we're not.

We are a small business, home educate our children, and believe America is the greatest country on the face of this planet. That said, we find Glenn Beck speaks for us. He says what we wish we had a platform to say. He's funny, passionate, angry, and super sensitive depending on the subject matter. He's just like me....just like my husband. We laugh, cry, stand up and shout out, and get motivated to write and call our legislators.

Glenn Beck is a real patriot. He tells us to "speak boldly, without fear", as he is doing. He arms us with the facts and it's up to us to go from there.

God bless Glenn Beck and God bless the USA.

Fr Bill | 9.23.09 @ 1:10PM

I see Mr Beck occasionally in cable. His style is somewhat emotional. Historically (since TV) the viewing audience has not kept with the emotional types. His message, however, is needed.
Perhaps it is the medium itself that has begun to lose its hold on the people. And Mr Beck's ability to tell the truth is stronger than the medium.

Bob Miller| 9.23.09 @ 1:22PM

I would put this challenge to the "Republican" critics who carp about Beck:

What exactly have you done lately to stem the Obama-leftist tide and how do your results measure up to Beck's?

I am not a libertarian and my other views are often not Beck's, but he has brilliantly and effectively laid out the case against Obama & Co. as they try to trash our liberties and Constitution.

Deborah D | 9.23.09 @ 3:49PM

Great point: "What exactly have you done lately to stem the Obama-leftist tide and how do your results measure up to Beck's?"

Perhaps Beck's success will make the Republicans grow a spine. (Of course, not McCain or Graham -- wusses.)

Bob Miller| 9.23.09 @ 1:44PM

However, in keeping with his visibility and influence, Beck should feel obligated not to buy into nonsense such as equating the two major parties or making nice to Ron Paul. If more people had voted for McCain and not sulked in their tents or voted for nuisance candidates in '08, we would be in a far less perilous position than we now are.

Red Phillips | 9.23.09 @ 2:41PM

If more conservatives had voted for nuisance candidates, then the GOP would be less likely to offer up some moderate RINO like McCain know the conservative base will not stand for it. It is because he is equating the two parties and making nice to Ron Paul and other Paulites (like Napolitano) that people like him.

Al Adab| 9.23.09 @ 1:58PM

Somewhere hopefully, the Citizens of today's United States will find their Tom Paine. Whether that is Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity or some other remains to be seen. est assured however, that he will not emerge from the GOP. That party is not synonymous with the Conservative movement.

As the movements in opposition to this administrations drive to collectivize America coalesce voices will be heard. Some event, water in the San Juaquin, or TEA protests or some other yet unforeseen may kindle the spark.

All of us are about to discover just what we are made of. Let us all hope we are not found wanting when courage is required.

Michael L. Hauschild| 9.23.09 @ 2:10PM

We are in very troubling times and at the moment Glenn Beck resonates in both tone and delivery. As far as his being an “entertainer” so be it; I find myself very well "entertained" by anyone bringing heat on the corruption that is Washington. Be forewarned though the instant he turns back into the Pom Pom Squad for Romney I will be diving for channel button on the remote.

Overheard at Turner Broad'ing| 9.23.09 @ 2:15PM

Phil Kent (President, Turner): Jon, it looks like your days here at CNN are pretty numbered. After Eason (Jordan), we had high hopes.

Jim Walton (President CNN): Yeah, I really did cover for you.

Phil: (Frowns at Walton) What are you talking about? Every time I asked WTF is going on, you blamed Jon.

Jonathon Klein (CNN News EVP): Look, I called them as I saw them and I saw that Republicans are evil and everything that Democrats stand for is the best for the country.

Phil Kent: But Jon, listen, we are a news organization---not a Jonathon Klein Opinion news outfit.

Jim Walton: Yeah Jon, how many times have I told you that?

Klein: Uh, never?

Phil Kent: OK, let's cut to the chase. We've got one more shot from Time Warner because Glenn Beck's show is outperforming our entire day now. Cooper's show is around 50k viewers, so he has to go first. Blitzer----Jesus Christ----he lost to a comedian on Celebrity Jeopardy by over 40 thousand dollars? Lost to Dana Delaney? I knew he was a dumba**, but crikes, Dana Delaney???

Jim Walton: Our PR person thought it would be good exposure.

Phil Kent; Yeah, whatever. OK--Jon, you do know what has to happen next, don't you?

Jon Klein: Oh God no! Please don't make me! No---can we try another angle?

Phil Kent: No I'm afraid not---we are going to have to start---

Klein: NO, NO--don't say it-....

Phile Knet: Yes, Jon, we are going to have to start telling the tru...

Klien: OH GOD---anything but the truth!! What about Obama's agenda? How come Keith and Chris don't have to? This isn't fair!!

Phil Kent: Jon, it's the truth or your job. You choose.

Klein: (leaves office crying)...oh God----I can't believe it---the truth---oh the humanity.....

Carol| 9.23.09 @ 2:32PM

You might not want to "brag" about not watching or hearing Beck. The Blue-Bubble-Zombies won't like you any better, and we "Joe-Sixpacks" recognize condescension when we hear it.

Yay, you. Too sophisticated to watch Glenn Beck.

*yawn*

Big Leo| 9.23.09 @ 2:40PM

Glenn Beck and Limbaugh both have annoying styles and mannerisms that I dislike. Both of them say some things I do not agree with.

Having made that clear, annoying people who say things I do not always agree with are the same people who are most likely to either teach me something new or make me think harder about something I believe. I appreciate both of them.

Oldefarte| 9.23.09 @ 2:42PM

Yea, people Beck and Palin will destroy this country-------------------AND THE COW JUMPED OVER THE MOON, WHILE THE DISH RAN AWAY WITH THE SPOON [keep on being brainwashed by Time, Newsweek, NYT,BG, WaPo,etc] !!!!!!

margie| 9.23.09 @ 4:01PM

Yep OleFarte,
..and "it all comes out in the wash!"

Scott| 9.23.09 @ 2:47PM

I think that the ascent of Beck has a lot in common with the rise of Sarah Palin, in that they both take a simple, down-to-earth, common-sense approach to addressing concerns felt by the conservative Christian base of the nation. That conservative Christian segment if the population is horrified at the advance of the "progressive" cause, a la “CHANGE FOR AMERICA, JACKASS STYLE – THE DEMOCRAT PARTY’S WAR ON CHRISTIANITY” at http://firebreathingchristian......istianity/

I only see these stars continuing their rise in the current political climate.

Grzmlyk| 9.23.09 @ 2:57PM

I really hope Sarah Palin rises to the top of the Republican pile.

She's the real deal, IMHO. In 2008 she was a diamond in the rough - a bit of polish, a bit more seasoning, and she'll glitter.

That is, if she can survive the sewage (and worse) that will be constantly hurled at her by the diversity-loving, glass-ceiling-busting feminists on the left.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 4:37PM

I think she has what it takes to survive, Grzmlyk. Did you catch her speech given in Hong Kong this morning? (Even though the lying Keith Olberman mocked her for going to speak to "Communists,")~ She was Fabulous as usual, praising Reagan and Margaret Thatcher's way of doing things economically, and criticized this current admin's messing with our own economy, amognst other things. I believe she's gettin' ready for the 2012 run. Let's hope so!

S.L. Toddard| 9.23.09 @ 6:06PM

"Did you catch her speech given in Hong Kong this morning? (Even though the lying Keith Olberman mocked her for going to speak to "Communists,")~ She was Fabulous as usual, praising Reagan and Margaret Thatcher's way of doing things economically, and criticized this current admin's messing with our own economy, amognst other things"

Wait a second - she was badmouthing America... on *foreign soil*?!! Isn't that something you people pretend to think is very, very wrong?

Marjorie| 9.23.09 @ 6:46PM

Tsk, tsk, Toddard. Speaking the truth about what the Obama-ton is doing to this economy. Not exactly to be compared with, say... Obama's bowing to the Saudi King?

What's the matter, can't distinguish between right and wrong? Truth and fiction?

Oh well Toddard. Perhaps when she is elected President she will just have to show you how it's done.

S.L. Toddard| 9.23.09 @ 7:05PM

"Not exactly to be compared with, say... Obama's bowing to the Saudi King?"

Of course not, since the former is an example of someone (Palin) badmouthing America on foreign soil (and during War Time!) and the latter is nothing of the sort.

So your position is that it IS okay to criticize America - The Greatest Force For Good In The History Of Humankind - on foreign soil, during War Time, as long as... you personally agree with the criticism.

Not exactly shocking, is it. In other words "It's okay to badmouth America during War Time on foreign soil if you're badmouthing Obama. It's NOT okay to badmouth America during War Time if you were badmouthing Bush."

The funny thing is that it might not be accurate to call you people hypocrites, since you're not even capable of understanding the contradiction.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 8:04PM

Toddard~~ The Obama-ton auto-maton.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 9:02PM

Wow Toddard, I didn't know you believed that America is "The Greatest Force For Good In The History Of Humankind." --Or are you contradicting yourself again? lol.

Victor | 9.24.09 @ 12:41AM

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
Before Slo Todd comes back with:
I said that before I did not say that.
Slo Todd agrees with the Founding Fathers:
"America - The Greatest Force For Good In The History Of Humankind"

S.L. Toddard| 9.24.09 @ 8:52AM

"Slo Todd agrees with the Founding Fathers:
"America - The Greatest Force For Good In The History Of Humankind"

Which founding father used that phrase?

Marcell| 9.23.09 @ 3:56PM

Grzmlyk

But I do listen to Limbaugh with some regularity, and lately I've begun to watch Beck - painful as that is.

*******************

I have been studying conservatism for nearly 20 years & I know conservative content is far from being generally accurate, it is generally NOT accurate, & that is one of the main reasons why I don't vote Republican.

As far as I am concerned Beck & Limbaugh are paid hacks for the special interest groups, & their interest have very little to do with conservatism or the people who vote for Conservatives.

Beck & Limbaugh are just cogs within a machine that is primarily set up to tell a certain demographic what they want to hear for votes. It is why Republican Politicians mainly sound conservative on the campaign trail then seem to change when they get to Washington..."No,you were lied to."

The interesting thing their spin is set up to trick you into blaming the Democrats / Liberals & many of you blindly do so based on the manufactured hate for liberals created by the do nothing for you conservative host / spin masters.

I am amazed by the way they use your fears to basically control you as well as most of their supporters. Then they arm those they whip with misinformation & emotional psychobabble that was given to them for your consumption by their real special interest group in Washington. The final part their brain washing recipe is to make you a victim of the liberal press for not buying their / your one sided slash misinformation.

Rush & Beck has tricked you people into voting for & supporting lots of bad candidates because you trust them but never verify what they say.

Finally, the radical right should rethink the fact that people like Beck & Limbaugh get under the liberals skin as an attribute because it can easily be used like a pawn or a double edge sward to redefine you like radical liberal leaders such as Jesse Jackson & Maxine Waters do for Democrats.

Think about this: Jesse Jackson & Maxine Waters get under the conservatives skin, should they be given a platform to keep you united?

I Know that you probably wont come close to agreeing with me, but their are lots of Democrats & moderate Republicans in the MSM that do, & that is why they, as well as, I will make sure we continue putting out info for the Right to blame on the Liberal press; we are being successful at bursting up their little Right-Wing lies.

Deborah D | 9.24.09 @ 6:10AM

Perhaps you should spend 20 years studying the evil that is "progressive" politics, because you are clearly off your rocker.

Conservatives (including Rush and Beck) want to be left alone by and ever encroaching government. "Progressives" want to control everything, including your children and your wallet and your mind. Wake up, lady -- you and yours are destroying our country. I only hope you have children and that you live long enough to be cursed by them for what you "progressives" have done to their country.

Deborah D | 9.24.09 @ 6:12AM

Oops -- guess "Marcel" is a man's name? So, "Wake up, buddy" would have been more appropriate.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 4:04PM

There's Marcell Marceau again. Marcell, don't you know you can't be heard? Ha!

Exhibit A | 9.23.09 @ 4:07PM

Who does Mel Martinez really represent?

***************
Mel Martinez joins lobbying firm

Two weeks after he resigned from the Senate, Republican Mel Martinez of Florida has joined DLA Piper as a partner in the lobbying firm's government relations practice.

In a statement, the firm said Martinez will "advise clients on government affairs, litigation, financial services, real estate, energy, defense, infrastructure development and other matters." He cannot lobby the Senate for two years, under the Senate's post-employment rules for senators and high-ranking aides.

DLA Piper earned $11.8 million in lobbying fees last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The firm's clients include defense contractors (Raytheon and Lockheed Martin), telecommunications firms (Qualcomm and Verizon), and financial services (Morgan Stanley and the Royal Bank of Scotland), the center says. Here's a link to the center's full profile.

Martinez joins the firm with $456,220 cash on hand in his campaign committee, as of June 30, according to CQ MoneyLine. USA TODAY's Fredreka Schouten reported Monday that ex-lawmakers sometimes use their leftover campaign funds to make political contributions to help advance their clients' interests.

Bruce | 9.23.09 @ 5:17PM

And your point is ... what?

Marcell| 9.23.09 @ 4:11PM

Margie

Stop fooling yourself.

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 4:38PM

Anybody got that Twilight Zone theme music handy for good ol' Marcell?

Ron| 9.23.09 @ 4:16PM

While I am a conservative and sometimes agree with Beck, I consider him a weirdo personality, beyond eccentric, and bordering on just plain goofiness. I think he is an embarrasssment to the Right, not because of his viewpoints but due to his his general wackiness and Baby Huey approach to discussion. He is like an old uncle whom the family knows has something wrong with him but cannot determine what it is.

Michael L. Hauschild| 9.23.09 @ 4:26PM

Here is one for the pro-lifers.

The Pope and Nancy Pelosi are on the same stage in front of a huge crowd.
The Pope leans towards Mrs. Pelosi and said, "Do you know that with one little wave of my hand I can make every person in this crowd go wild with joy? This joy will not be a momentary display, like that of your followers, but go deep into their hearts and they'll forever speak of this day and rejoice!"
Pelosi replied, "I seriously doubt that. With one little wave of your hand? Show me"
So the Pope backhanded the b****.

the GM| 9.23.09 @ 5:27PM

Marcell,

You have been studying conservatism for 20+ years? You haven't learned a thing then as you are studying from a LEFT sided cause trying to contradict or even discredit it from any angle you choose to take. I'm saddened indeed that you believe it's NOT accurate. NOT accurate compared to what? The history that is printed now in schools isn't completely accurate either!! Who prints that? Who is forcing the nation to become "sensitive" to everyone's personal opinion of that is oppressive or offensive in some way? I can assure you it isn't the CONSERVATIVE side you speak of. I'm sick of all the pandering to this or that. Gays, Racists, Minorities, Liberals, and you name it DON'T have the right to take away any of my rights!! If it's HISTORY then print it the way it was meant to be printed. Blacks sold Blacks, Blacks owned Blacks, and Blacks killed Blacks in the slave times of the USA. btw the slaves didn't get here because we (Americans) brought them over or sold them... the Africans (yep Blacks) sold them and normally slave traders (Duestch) hauled them over. I could go on that subject for hours.... sorry to the rest of you.... ;)

Use my fears?? Oh you mean like fear of more taxes, gun ownership (control), or the fear of attack again from an outside agency... God forbid from the inside again like T.M. did in Ok City.

Those aren't fears they are truths... the American people don't want more taxes for something they will never get to use or even need if they would "reform" the health care system in the "correct" way. And the misinformation you speak of? You mean handing the people the information that is written or said in public office? I don't think that Beck or Limbaugh provide any more than that!! You are the one that is believing in the "WRONG" side of the facts here....

You seem to be a part of the elitist party that proclaims to know more than anyone else because of your superior intellect or education. I resent that as I have an education as well and have made my choices based on common sense and what is "right" for my family.

I don't believe in gun control, all should own a gun and use it on a regular basis (practice) to be able to shoot the criminal in critical areas. I don't believe in God censorship.... This country was founded on God and should remain that way... separation of church and state is keeping the government from choosing a national religion NOT keeping God out of the system!!! Citizenship is earned NOT given because you were born here!!

And finally... Equality ends at birth!! What you make of your life is that which you create!! Just because you were born doesn't give you the right to have what others have or the government assistance to acquire it!!!

Sorry... but I'm sick of people like Marcell!!!

Margie| 9.23.09 @ 6:00PM

the GM,
That was great! You ought to get your own show. Move over, el Rushbo. ..kidding Rushie, kidding.

Marcell| 9.23.09 @ 7:26PM

Dear The GM

Do you feel better knowing that Bo Snerdly would more than likely have owned or captured & shipped slaves back in the 1700s? Tell me something I don't know.

& you should be sick of the phony pandering to Tea Party … by fuax news & the rest of the Republican bunch trying to act as if they didn't play a major role of helping create one of Americas worse financial crisis in its short history.

& like I said Conservatism isn't based on logic, check it out as GM blathers the crap.

“I'm sick of all the pandering to this or that. Gays, Racists, Minorities, Liberals, and you name it DON'T have the right to take away any of my rights.”

Here are all his fears that happened under a Republican president:

“Oh you mean like fear of more taxes, gun ownership (control), or the fear of attack again from an outside agency.”

Let's talk about Right-Wing lies. I don't hear many conservatives talking death panels nor can you find many conservatives trying to fake like the banking crisis was created by liberals forcing bankers to loan money to the N-word types anymore.

Here are some more of the GM lies:

“This country was founded on God and should remain that way... separation of church and state is keeping the government from choosing a national religion NOT keeping God out of the system!!! Citizenship is earned NOT given because you were born here!!”

I guess you Repugs like smoke blown up your backsides.

Victor| 9.24.09 @ 12:47AM

Marcell, Marcell, Marcell.
I'll wager that if we were in the 1770' and you found out we were going to toss tea into Boston Harbor, you and Simple Reader and some of the Lib Trolls would gladly turn us in to the King'sMen for the reward and watch while we walked to the gallows, eh?

Sue| 9.24.09 @ 5:08AM

Way to go "the GM!" Marcell only wants one thing for her Country, everyone to "share." There is no way she could "study" conservativism" for 20 years and remain this ignorant. Maybe she should have started with 'ol Abe Lincoln and moved forward from there?

Or, better yet, started with the Declaration of Independence and moved forward from there?

Or, maybe started from the "Fall of Rome?"

Who knows. But, it's obvious she has no intention of "learning," only "spewing."

Giga Joule| 9.23.09 @ 5:31PM

Beck backs up his arguments with audio and video evidence. That's one of his great strengths.

I would add that I bet much of his huge audience is tuning in so they can get the scoop on stories the MSM is ignoring.

I would also add that humor is another great asset of his, as shown by when he poked fun at poor Linda Douglass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nw9D8IiRFs

David| 9.23.09 @ 6:32PM

I started listening to Glenn Beck 4 or 5 years ago and then started watching his show on Headline News. I remember him going on and on about how we were headed for a financial collapse and didn't hear that from anyone else back then. Sure enough he was right on the money about that.

Some times his chalkboard sketches about how everything in the Obama admisinistration is linked to ACORN, the unions, Tides foundation etc. and how they want to change (aka destroy) this country, seems a bit too much of a conspiracy theory for me to take so I want to dismiss it...... except he has been right about everything so far.

And that my friends is what scares me to no end.

Marcell| 9.23.09 @ 7:31PM

Yeah Beck was right when he said that President Obama hates white people...

Don't stay stuck on stupid.

How Time magazine enables Glenn Beck's lies
http://mediamatters.org/columns/200909170033

Victor| 9.24.09 @ 12:50AM

Yes, Marcell, if Obama hated white folks, then he would have to hate half of his white self, now wouldn't he?
He is half white you know?
What do they call that a mullatto?

Glen Beck's Lies| 9.23.09 @ 7:32PM

How Time magazine enables Glenn Beck's lies
September 17, 2009 4:17 pm ET

Four years ago, Time magazine devoted its cover story to a puff-piece profile of Ann Coulter, the right-wing ideologue best known for serial lies and wishing death upon those she disagrees with (journalists included). Only, Time forgot about the lies and the bloodlust and portrayed Coulter in a remarkably kind light.

Now, it's Glenn Beck's turn.

In its new issue, Time features a cover profile of the Fox demagogue, written by David Von Drehle -- a profile that downplays or ignores Beck's defining qualities, draws false equivalencies between liberals and conservatives, portrays obvious lies as simple differences of perspective, and omits Beck's most shocking and outrageous statements.

In the opening paragraph, Time describes last weekend's Beck-organized, right-wing temper tantrum in Washington, in which conservative activists got together to air a disparate array of sometimes contradictory grievances. Here's how it dealt with the size of the crowd, right in the first paragraph:

If you get your information from liberal sources, the crowd numbered about 70,000, many of them greedy racists. If you get your information from conservative sources, the crowd was hundreds of thousands strong, perhaps as many as a million, and the tenor was peaceful and patriotic.

But here's what Time left out: Those conservative sources are flat-out lying.

Progressive media critics often point out that the media too frequently take a "he-said/she-said" approach to politics that boils down to, "Is the Earth flat or spherical? Opinions differ." That may seem like an exaggeration, but Time's handling of the crowd size dispute is virtually indistinguishable from that caricature.

Actually, in some ways, it's less honest than the caricature. See, the 70,000 estimate didn't come from "liberal sources"; it came from sane sources, such as the Washington, D.C., Fire Department. Time portrayed the disparate estimates as equally-likely-to-be-true products of ideological observers. In fact, the large estimates from conservatives were clearly false, and the lower, accurate estimates came from official, nonpartisan observers -- and even from some conservatives like Beck's colleagues at Fox News.

And the estimates of "as many as a million"? True, they came from conservatives (actually, some conservatives put the crowd size at the 2 million mark. Time has downplayed the dishonesty displayed by one of the very conservatives it later references.) But, more accurately, they came from dishonest conservatives who were lying, lying about how many people were there, lying about where the estimates came from. Lying.

Look: The difference between 70,000 people on the National Mall for a protest and 2 million is huge. Seventy thousand people is a good-sized crowd. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's almost as many as the 85,000 people who attended last Saturday's college football game in Lincoln, Nebraska. But 2 million people? There probably weren't 2 million people in the entire state of Nebraska (population: 1.8 million) last Saturday.

Houston, Texas, is the fourth-largest city in America, with just over 2 million residents. Do you know what happens when you drop the population of Houston, Texas, in the middle of Washington, D.C.? Hotels for miles and miles around are booked far in advance. The Metro system is stretched to the breaking point. Thousands of people get trapped in tunnels. It is, in short, unmistakably different from what happens when Missouri plays Bowling Green.

I dwell on this because the difference between 70,000 and 2 million people is simply not something about which reasonable people of honest motives can disagree. It is not something that can be an innocent mistake. Dishonest people who wanted to misinform you told lies in order to exaggerate the crowd size. There really can be no doubt about that.

But Time not only won't make clear that they are lying, it won't even tell you that they were wrong. Thus, the magazine makes clear right up front that this article is not "journalism"; it is a pathetic attempt to pander to malicious liars.

Here, look at Time's next paragraph:

At any rate, what we can say with confidence is that Deanna Frankowski was there. A cheery woman of 49 from Leeds, Ala., Frankowski said she had come to Washington as part of a group of 100 or more protesters. They filled two buses.

Well, no. What we can say with confidence is that nowhere near 2 million, or 1 million, or 500,000 people were there, and anyone who says otherwise is either lying or has fallen prey to those who are lying. One of many ways we know this is the case is that if it took two buses to get 100 protesters into the city, it would take 40,000 buses to get 2 million there. Anyone see any evidence of 40,000 buses (or their plane, train, and automobile equivalents) last weekend? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Time continued:

The old American mind-set that Richard Hofstadter famously called "the paranoid style" - the sense that Masons or the railroads or the Pope or the guys in black helicopters are in league to destroy the country - is aflame again, fanned from both right and left. Between the liberal fantasies about Brownshirts at town halls and the conservative concoctions of brainwashed children goose-stepping to school, you'd think the Palm in Washington had been replaced with a Munich beer hall.

What in the world is Time talking about? This is a grotesque false equivalence. Conservatives have been yelling about President Obama being a secret Kenyan bent on sending granny to the Death Panel, comparing him to Hitler and Mao and Stalin and who-knows-who-else -- and that, apparently, is matched in intensity and paranoia by liberals pointing out this unhinged behavior? Insane.

Eventually, Time got to its point: Glenn Beck. But even there, Time buried the lede. No, that's not quite right. Actually, Time completely omitted the lede.

See, Glenn Beck's defining characteristic is that he's deeply dishonest. He claimed that 1.7 million people stormed the National Mall last week to protest Obama. And that's just one example; Beck tells lies of such size and obviousness, and with such frequency, that to fail to make his dishonesty clear right up front is, itself, dishonest. But Time didn't even hint at it in its introduction of Beck:

Glenn Beck: the pudgy, buzz-cut, weeping phenomenon of radio, TV and books. ... Beck is 45, tireless, funny, self-deprecating, a recovering alcoholic, a convert to Mormonism, a libertarian and living with ADHD.

Indeed, the closest the Time article ever came -- ever -- to indicating that Beck tells lies and spreads falsehoods is this whopper of an understatement: "[H]e also spins yarns of less substance." Oh, snap! That really exposes him for the fraud that he is!

Instead, Time suggested Beck's rants are reality-based [emphasis added]:

Beck mines the timeless theme of the corrupt Them thwarting a virtuous Us. This flexible narrative often contains genuinely uncomfortable truths. Some days "they" are the unconfirmed policy "czars" whom Beck fears Obama is using to subvert constitutional government - and he has some radical-sounding sound bites to back it up. Some days "they" are the network of leftist community organizers known as ACORN - and his indictment of the group is looking stronger every day.

Well, not every day. See, on Tuesday, Beck aired a video of an ACORN worker saying she had killed her ex-husband and then went on a prolonged rant about ACORN employing someone who was guilty of "premeditated murder." Turns out that wasn't quite true. She didn't murder her ex-husband. Nobody murdered her ex-husband. Her ex-husbands are quite alive and well.

That's typical Beck: He rushes to make sensational allegations based on the thinnest of evidence, without bothering to check it out. It's behavior that careens from reckless to dishonest, and it's his calling card. But, to Time, Beck's treatment of ACORN is something to be applauded. It's looking stronger every day (as long as you ignore the fact that he just aired a bogus video in order to falsely suggest an ACORN worker is a murderer)!

It isn't just Beck's dishonesty that got left on the cutting-room floor. It's the extent of his offensiveness. Take a look at Time's portrayal of Beck's emotional recollection of the September 11 terrorist attacks:

On the recent anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Beck grew afraid that Americans may no longer be the sort of people who cross mountain ranges in covered wagons and toss hot rivets around in bold bursts of skyscraper-building. Tears came to his eyes (they often do) as he voiced this last fear. But then he remembered that the fiber of ordinary Americans is the one thing Glenn Beck need never fear. So he squared his quivering chin to the camera and held up a snapshot of ground zero, still empty eight long years after the World Trade Center was destroyed.

It goes on like that for a while. But one thing Time didn't mention? This famous Glenn Beck statement: "You know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims' families? Took me about a year."

Seems like if you're going to devote two full paragraphs to Glenn Beck's tearful remembrance of September 11, maybe you should note the contempt -- hatred, even -- he has expressed for the families of the people who died that day. Doesn't it?

Nor did Time mention Beck's 2001 statement that he'd like to "beat" Rep. Charlie Rangel "to death with a shovel"; his comments about poisoning Nancy Pelosi; his comparison of the Holocaust museum shooter to Thomas Jefferson; this little outburst; or his comparisons of Obama to Adolf Hitler. Let's stop there for a second and go back to Time's opening lines:

On Sept. 12, a large crowd gathered in Washington to protest ... what? The goals of Congress and the Obama Administration, mainly - the cost, the scale, the perceived leftist intent. The crowd's agenda was wide-ranging, so it's hard to be more specific. "End the Fed," a sign read. A schoolboy's placard denounced "Obama's Nazi Youth Militia." Another poster declared, "We the People for Capitalism Not Socialism."

Gee, where did that "Obama's Nazi Youth Militia" garbage come from? It came from Glenn Beck. But Time won't tell you that.

After whitewashing Beck's dishonesty and borderline-obscene behavior for a while, the magazine returned to the crowd estimates:

We're in a flood stage, and who's to blame? The answer is like the estimates of the size of the crowd in Washington: Whom do you trust? Either the corrupt, communist-loving traitors on the left are causing this, or it's the racist, greedy warmongers on the right, or maybe the dishonest, incompetent, conniving media, which refuse to tell the truth about whomever you personally happen to despise.

At this point, you have to wonder if the article was some kind of performance art, designed to prove the very skepticism about the media it seems to lament. See, this very Time article was the product of a "dishonest, incompetent, conniving media, which refuse to tell the truth." And not because I happen to despise Glenn Beck, but because there simply were not 1.7 million people at last week's protest. Because Time damn well knows there were not 1.7 million people at last week's protest. And because Time refused to say there were not 1.7 million people there. Not only that -- Time also insisted on pretending that only "liberal sources" say there were 70,000 people there, when, in fact, the D.C. Fire Department said there were 70,000 people. That's a dishonest and incompetent refusal to tell the truth. Actually, it's worse than a refusal to tell the truth: It's a dishonest and incompetent false claim.

At the beginning of his article, Von Drehle referred to a recent poll that found "record-low levels of public trust of the mainstream media." Guess what? Articles like this are why nobody trusts the media. When you pretend that obviously false claims about crowd sizes are valid, people won't trust you. When you pretend that only liberals say 70,000 people actually attended last week's protest, people won't trust you. They shouldn't trust you. You aren't trustworthy. You are doing your job dishonestly and incompetently.

And that dishonesty, that incompetence, is what enables Glenn Beck. When Glenn Beck says 1.7 million people were at the protest, and the Washington, D.C., Fire Department says 70,000, and Time runs an article saying conservatives and liberals disagree about the crowd size, that enables Glenn Beck's lies.

No wonder Beck liked the article so much.

Jamison Foser is a Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog and research and information center based in Washington, D.C. Foser also contributes to County Fair, a media blog featuring links to progressive media criticism from around the Web as well as original commentary. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook or sign up to receive his columns by email.

Si Vis Pacem | 9.23.09 @ 10:58PM

The final count - not by professionals like firefighters, mind - but by amateurs with intelligence analysis of aerophotos experience estimate the numbers in excess of 1.7 millions. Follow the links and the photos yourself.

Beck's lies, huh? What was that, Jack, you were saying about incompetence? Dishonesty? Is your real handle "Bob", by any chance??

S.L. Toddard| 9.24.09 @ 10:55AM

So according to you, the official estimate is 70,000, but the estimate of hopeful right wing amateurs is in the millions. You essentially agree with Glen Beck's Lies.

Kurt| 9.23.09 @ 11:12PM

That's plenty of lies, when I get my own problems solved I recon I'll come back and read a few of them.

Victor| 9.24.09 @ 12:57AM

That's Jamison Foser at Media Matters for America 202-756-4100 for any complaints, comments and suggestions where he can go for psychiatric treatment on account of:
Liberalism is a Mental Disorder!

S.L. Toddard| 9.24.09 @ 11:37AM

Let's just keep in mind that no one here has bothered to try to refute any of Foser's claims. They stand unchallenged and unrefuted.

Marcell| 9.23.09 @ 7:35PM

More of Becks honesty, I mean, lies.

http://video.google.com/videos.....mp;q=glenn beck's lies&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#

Kurt| 9.23.09 @ 11:14PM

Liar indeed!

David Paterson| 9.23.09 @ 9:58PM

Beck may be over the top at times, but he is usually 95% on target.

Unlike O'Reilly who is loathed by most for his bloviating, self important style and social conservatism & liberal fiscal positions, Beck is the opposite.

For the first time in recent memory people who give a damn about what is happening have a real news source. That is the appeal of him vs nitwits like The Pomposity Factor host.

Kurt| 9.23.09 @ 11:18PM

They said the same thing about Rush twenty years ago. You can't change stupid, God know because he tried with me and proved it with...Alas, look where we are?

V| 9.23.09 @ 10:03PM

Beck is clearly making the Dems nervous given all the trolls assigned here.

Clearly Bertha Lewis had some success with the ad she placed to pick up "internet consultants" to push her image.

More great use of tax dollars...

Pingback| 9.23.09 @ 10:45PM

Nancy Pelosi’s Lying Eyes « Jim Blazsik links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…achieve it’s agenda. So what will the Blue Dogs do? They know they can’t trust Nancy – and her lying eyes. More Articles War: ACORN sues Breitbart, O’Keefe, and Giles Secret Protocols of Beck’s Legions Documents Show Americans for the Arts Participated in Aug 10 Conf. Call Clintonista Dee Dee: Obama Looks ‘Indecisive, Pushed Around’ On Afghanistan Filed under: Nancy…

Brian| 9.24.09 @ 12:45AM

It amazes me how conservatives rally round Beck. Beck is a libertarian, supports Abortion, the radical gay agenda and other leftist causes that would make even Barney Frank blush!

Victor| 9.24.09 @ 12:58AM

You got proof of that?

Wrong Brian| 9.24.09 @ 10:45PM

Brian, you do not understand what it means to truly be conservative.

A conservative does not seek to meddle in anothers personal life and reproductive decisions and sure as hell does not support the federal government meddling in same.

Beck supports a radical gay agenda?
Does not deserve a response.

Beck has spent more time exposing Barney Frank for what he is than anyone on tv.

You sound like a member of the religious right that has no idea what true conservatism means.

The same type of Republicrat that gave us Huckersterbee The Squirrel Nuker as a canidate.

The same that would marginalize Ron Paul after he "won every debate" (Giuliani's words after dropping out).

Go away and stop killing the Republican party.

Wrong Brian| 9.24.09 @ 11:06PM

Brian, you do not understand what it means to truly be conservative.

A conservative does not seek to meddle in anothers personal life and reproductive decisions and sure as hell does not support the federal government meddling in same.

Beck supports a radical gay agenda?
Does not deserve a response.

Beck has spent more time exposing Barney Frank for what he is than anyone on tv.

You sound like a member of the religious right that has no idea what true conservatism means.

The same type of Republicrat that gave us Huckersterbee The Squirrel Nuker as a canidate.

The same that would marginalize Ron Paul after he "won every debate" (Giuliani's words after dropping out).

Go away and stop killing the Republican party.

the GM| 9.24.09 @ 1:55AM

Funny thing is I've only watched about 2 shows of Glenn Beck and listened to Rush about a dozen times... I try my best to look at the FACTS then decide from there.

Good ol Bo... I don't think anyone should own a human!! It's NOT ethical and besides it's just plain wrong.

From Sept 2003 _ B. Frank
"I want to begin by saying that I am glad to consider the legislation, but I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis. That is, in my view, the two government-sponsored enterprises we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a crisis."
Yep.. Repubs screwed that one up didn't they?? NOT!!!

More taxes? Where? Gun Control? From where? Answer that honestly!!! NOT GW. ;) Oh and the Coup de ta... The TWIN TOWERS... GW did that one!! Sure an inside job!! Geez are you serious??

He came off a tough election then went right to work as all presidents do and the "Terrorists" did their deed to the Towers. That would have happened under any president no matter the situation. When something like that happens, especially to the US, it is frightening!! Fear... ya DAMN right!!!

What the heck are you talking about?? N-word types? I think that anyone that can afford a house/home should be able to get a loan for it, but FMae and FMac distributed weak or BAD loans to more than Blacks. That's just the tip of the iceberg!!

LIES?? What lies? This country wasn't founded on the notion of being able to choose your own religion? That is wasn't founded on God? Are you kidding me?? How many of the older buildings have scriptures or God engraved/carved on them??

TAXES??? What about the taxes that are going to be levied on the people of this country if any of the crap they (ODUMA admin) are pushing goes through? We got a money tree or a money machine that will back said currency? NO!!!

Let me finish... this will never end if I don't, so here's a final question?

Your (LEFT) side has control of the Executive and Legislative branches, correct?

Well in 3-4 years from now your side has all the blame as far as I'm concerned!! Especially if the Obumacare goes into affect!! Pelooser has been pushing that for months now. Yipeeeee!!

Good luck to you and your LEFT side!! You'll need it!!

Good to post... first (2nd time really... just another lie from the GM... ROFL) time posting in a political forum.

Sue| 9.24.09 @ 5:17AM

It really is quite easy to detect a "communist liberal." They attack the messenger every time instead of the message.

There are several who do this regularly - print media and broadcast/cable media and they are easily identified. Al Hunt of the WSJ was PAID to write liberal opinions. You could tell by reading his words, he really didn't believe them. A lot of times, he just plain misstated the facts so they would "fit" his view point.

The WSJ now has a couple of new writers doing the same thing and their opinions always attack the messenger - never the facts.

For the Republican party, the easy thing to do is just sit back and let the Dems move everything forward without their help. They "helped" the Dems during the Roosevelt years, the Johnson years, etc. and look what we got.

A bankrupted Medicare/Medicaid system, a bankrupted Social Security system, a bankrupted Nation. The only programs functioning without threat of "termination" are the NEA and the Department of Education which the communist liberals need in place to keep advancing their extreme socialist ideals (to Marcel, "can't we all just share?" - yeah, if you're down on your luck and you "share" my principals and values.)

Pingback| 9.24.09 @ 9:16AM

A conservatism hater : Stop The ACLU links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…all a clandestine conspiracy to conceal the hidden agenda for global domination by the Secret Legion of Beck! And if you don’t believe it, then you’re obviously a paranoid kook. More here. Why the left hates Glenn Beck : “For the last few years the left and the press would take shots at Beck, but never in a concerted fashion. He simply could be ignored, and they had bigger fish to…

Pingback| 9.24.09 @ 3:15PM

» Daily Links – 09/24/09 NoisyRoom.net: Where liberty dwells, there is my country… links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Glenn Beck In The Blogosphere Jack Cashill: Performing The Lost Art Of Investigative Journalism Glenn Beck Daily Clips News You Can Believe Glenn Beck: When the Going Gets Weird . . . Secret Protocols of Beck’s Legions The Last Word on Glenn Beck’s Obama-Better-Than-McCain Comment Defending President McCain from Glenn Beck Glenn Beck Show September 22, 2009 Best. Blog. Headline. Evah! Who is…

yoyo| 9.24.09 @ 10:15PM

Jeebus, will you Beck fans even acknowledge that he is an entertainer who has found his niche, scaring people who live in trailer parks. for all those highley educated beck fans cans you truly say you want the fed reserve destroyed? that all roads should be privatised? That whatever piece of scum manages to wrangle a seat on a local board of education gets to decide whether your child learns science or mormonism or any other closely held personal belief? Stacy is trying to use the Beckians, to keep the so-cons close but will not acknolwledge that beck hates repubs when it gets him viewers too.

Jay Pitsby| 9.25.09 @ 12:57AM

Ah! What searing intellect, what calm yet immensly forceful reasoning is this? Aristotle must be a-spinning in his grave wishing he had turned that mighty phrase"...his niche, scaring people who live in trailer parks."

Pingback| 9.25.09 @ 10:11AM

Steynian 385 « Free Canuckistan! links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Propaganda, Health Care and ACORN: Full Context of NEA Conference Call Reveals Disturbing Pattern …. (biggovernment.com) ~ GLENN BECK : When the Going Gets Weird; The Secret Protocols of Beck’s Legions– American Spectator, by Robert Stacy McCain …. (rsmccain.blog) ~ THE REAL BARACK OMAMA – Bully or Knucklehead? What Is This “Or” You Speak Of? ….…

Richard Baker| 9.25.09 @ 11:25AM

Jay Pitsby:
These mental giants should keep insulting and degrading anyone who disagrees with the Kenyan. This way the country see exactly who the Prophets of Tolerance really are. James Carville is their leader in this.

ATLmedia| 9.25.09 @ 1:57PM

"The Kenyan"? Way to elevate the conversation.
This is what the riled up 1% of America
(Becks 3M) sounds like?
Easiest job in the US? Fact checker for GB.
Quick note-I loved the way he denounced the US healthcare system after his operation last year,
but it became "The Worlds Best" when the reform talk started in DC this year.

Grant| 9.26.09 @ 2:11AM

A little off-topic, but I'm feeling sort of heretical tonight, "Mmm, Mmm, Hmm: B H O" notwithstanding:
Rep. Frank + Herb Moses = Pres. Obama + KiddieACORN
Dear Leader:
1. What exactly is the issue with releasing your documents, e.g, birth certificate(s), school records, adoption papers, passport records, White House visitors logs, etc.?
2. When you went to school in Indonesia, what was your favorite part of Koranic study?
3. Did you have sex with Frank Marshall Davis when you were an adolescent?
4. Did you matriculate at Occidental as an American citizen?
5. Where did your Columbia University roomie, Sohale Siddiqi, get to? Is he currently in the U.S.? Does he travel to Pakistan frequently?
6. On which of your passports did you travel to Pakistan in 1981?
7. Have you ever been repatriated?
8. It was just blow, right? You've never smoked crack, right?
9. Even though you pal around with terrorists, you never, personally, killed anyone within the CONUS?
10. That guy from Duluth, MN, who claims he had sex with you in his limo is telling the truth?
11. ACORN: the ends justify the means, right? (ACORN, founded by an S.D.S. member, trained and represented by B.H. Obama, Esq. (Harvard Law '91), in Chicago, funded by tax dollars, working to establish underage brothels in several cities.)
12. When did you first get involved in child sex rings in Chicago?
13. Who were the guy and the little girl on Air Force One, the only passengers on the Manhattan fly-by?
14. Were you ever in the same room with Jaime Feliciano, SEIU leader, and a child?
15. Is Valery Jarrett your ACORN bawd? (Or should we ask Bertha Lewis?)
16. Next to being named the most left-wing senator (farther left than Teddie Kennedy, diver and K.G.B. collaborator, R.I.P.), what was your most satisfying moment in your few months as senator?
17. If the LA Times releases the video they have of you at the 2003 party for Rashid Khalidi, your pal and PLO spokesman, will Jews still vote for you?
18. Did you direct Herb Moses to drop Rep. Barney Frank? They were so in love.

Richard Baker| 9.26.09 @ 5:05PM

ATLmedia:
Would you rather I call him the Communist or the self-Anointed One? Show me the vault copy.

Pingback| 9.27.09 @ 5:57AM

The Dying Mainstream Media = “Fringe Media” (political cartoons, video) « Frugal Caf links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Knox: US News and CBS attack The Right Confederate Yankee: Dishonest MSNBC Edits Out Face of Protestor in Order to Push Narrative of Racism Robert Stacy McCain, The American Spectator: Secret Protocols of Beck’s Legions Publius, Big Government: AP: How the ACORN Videos Came To Be Veronica DiPoppo, Big Hollywood: 9/12 Tea Party: Talking With the ‘Turf’ Greg Gutfeld, Big Hollywood: Daily Gut: Frommer =…

jerry| 9.27.09 @ 9:19AM

By chance 2 years ago I started to read american history of 1880-1932 (I was helping my 17year old son study). I became alarmed when I recognized the similarities of that time period with what was happening today. I then had noticed that Beck was also making references to that period in american history and he was making the same connections as I. Before anyone blows off Beck as a kook they should first read a little history and while at it study the ascendancy of V Lenin and the thought processes of Mussolini. The bullying tactics of the left has forced Beck to do his homework and get the facts correct. If he makes just 1 mistake they will ignore everything else he has been right about in order to discredit him. Thank God for Beck because without him no one else was willing to present a factual opposition to the Dems agenda.Without an impartial and objective investigative media our freedoms will be lost. Beck will slip up at some point in the future and that is when we will really have to worry.

Pingback| 10.31.09 @ 2:03PM

Latest » Beck’s fired up, ready to go links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Leave a comment Go to comments I enjoy listening to Glenn Beck, although I wonder how much those shiny rocks (gold) and survival seed banks will do if something goes really wrong. Check out the Other McCain’s take on Beck. And this one. Beck’s popularity is not something to be mocked, but shows where many people are right now. And it will not be ignored. UPDATE: Additional thoughts from…

Pingback| 12.24.09 @ 1:02PM

Don’t Fear the People « The Other McCain links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…of the basic principles of representative government is that people have the right to choose their own leaders. If you called for a show of hands at a Tea Party rally . . . well, as I reported Sept. 23 for The American Spectator : At one point, while a CNN reporter was doing a live interview at the Sept. 12 event, the crowd behind her began to chant “Glenn Beck! Glenn Beck!” Grassroots…

www.us-bapeoutlet.com | 4.2.10 @ 5:31AM

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