The GOP’s ‘Beck Problem’
The debate over Glenn Beck is fascinating, but both sides have missed the real truth. Glenn Beck’s current position of prominence is a problem, but not for the reason that his opponents imagine.
The debate has come down to a question of whether Beck is good for conservatism. Dan Riehl argues Beck is made prominent by the media because he hurts conservatism. Bernard Chapin provides the counterpunch that Beck is under attack by the media because he’s good for conservatism and revitalizes it.
The problem is that few people are as strategic as Chapin or Riehl suggests. Certainly, Fred Phelps and his ghoulish family are given prominent media play to tar actual conservative Christians, and the media never mentions Phelps’ support for Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 1988. Similarly, I’ve seen people I know to be reasonable, decent folks turned into monsters by the media in order to marginalize them.
However, this can’t be said of all media action. Would anyone say conservatives are attacking Keith Olbermann to make him prominent to give us election wins? Your average voter could care less about the latest outrageous statement by the Sportscenter alumnus. Conservatives attack Olbermann because they don’t like him. If there’s some grand strategy behind it, it’s not working. Nor would anyone say that Sean Hannity has James Carville or Bob Beckel on his show in order to make Democrats look like buffoons. Well, they wouldn’t say it about Carville, anyway.
The news media is about passion, energy, and novelty. “George Will writes bland intellectual column” isn’t news. “Glenn Beck throws down the gauntlet to the Obama administration on national television while wearing lederhosen.” Now, that’s news.
It’s silly to charge Glenn Beck with being bad for conservatism and bad for the Republican Party. Do Beck bashers imagine that people are going to say, “The economy may be awful and I may agree more with the Republicans, but I can’t stand that Glenn Beck, so I’m voting for the Democrats”? Will that show up in the exit polls?
The job of a talk show host is not to help or hurt a political party, and it suggests a soulless view of politics where we exist only as creatures of “the party.” His job is to be informative and entertaining. Beck has done that for many years. Those who have become aware of Beck’s existence in the Obama years may not be aware that Beck has done several non-political concert tours across the country. In 2007 and the early part of 2008, when you tuned into Beck on the radio, you were as likely to hear about the previous evening’s episode of American Idol as you were the political issue of the day.
However, in the last couple of years, Beck’s show has begun to change, taking on a darker, more concerned, perhaps even apocalyptic tone, and with good reason. The country’s political elite has begun to take steps that move our country into immediate peril.
Beck has done something unusual for a talk show host by bringing forth ideas and agendas. Beck as a political commentator is not a problem; Beck as a political leader is a problem. Think of how well it would work if somebody had quarterback Brett Favre pitch a Major League Baseball game. Beck knows as much about leading a political party as Favre does facing down the Yankees.
Beck’s solutions sound like clichés — populism with a touch of Oprah. At the march on Washington, Beck focused on corruption because corruption is bad and we all agree on that. Beck further extended an offer to fifty-six members of Congress to come clean, bash their own parties, and become one of the exclusive set of re-Founding Fathers (operators are standing by). And of course, Beck suggests non-partisanship as a solution to everything. “It’s not about right vs. left; it’s about right vs. wrong.”
The problem with Beck’s non-partisan/corruption approach is twofold. First, rank corruption is a problem, but solving corruption is not going to avert catastrophe. There is $9 trillion in debt coming our country’s way over the next ten years, $44 trillion in unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare. The idea that getting rid of corrupt politicians will solve this is like expecting that firing the first mate of the Titanic for embezzlement would save the ship.
Beck’s message is clear:
Think FOR YOURSELF.
Beck is an eye opener. He is a gateway truth sayer.
The rest is up to US to get our shit together and come up with a viable program and candidate who truly DOES stand for liberty and freedom and our constitution.
The Republican politicians are bad for conservatism, and bad for the Republican Party. They are looking out for porks for their cronies. Beck is much more honest, he works for his living. The politicians sponge on us, and like to suck us dry to fatten their own pockets.
If the Republican Party has a “Beck problem,” it’s solely because Republican elected officials have not being willing to abide by the party’s platform.
Glenn Beck is an American first. He’s not a partisan — and he’s willing to challenge the party that supposedly stands for freedom and limited government when it doesn’t walk the talk. That makes him an asset to all of us.
Mr. Graham’s article is little more than a patent rejection of the nonsense perpetrated by Dan Riehl (READ the linked article, if you haven’t read the rant yet!). While he wishes to sit on the fence, the author is clearly agreeing with the basic premise of Beck and many, many Americans that the Federal government’s overspending/corruption must end NOW.
I hope John Cornyn sees this article.
Come down off your ivory towers, Washington, lest the public will have to pull you off those towers!!
I started this article thinking I would disagree with it – because it would be a predictable defense of Glen Beck. It wasn’t – it gave Beck credit for what he does while also adding in the caution that Mark Levin nightly dispenses, that the goal must be to change the soul of the Republican Party, which is at the same time our only hope, and a present curse. Understanding that the current foul, lame, leaderless, spendthrift, out-of-touch Republican Party is our only chance to reclaim the country is hard to comprehend. But it is true. And we have been here before. In the late 70s, after Republicans had brought us “wage and price controls” and the EPA. Ronald Reagan reformed the Party and it is his example that we need to follow. Adam Graham does a very good job in this article of recognizing the positive contribution of Beck, while also showing the wrongheadedness of Beck’s all too frequent assertion that “there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats”. While our Party is flawed, and needs reform, it has crucial qualities that distinguish it from the Democrat machine in ways that even a “rodeo clown” would have to recognize, and should. George Wallace was the most recent politician who made the claim there was not a “dimes worth of difference”. Reagan put the lie to Wallace’s claim. We need to put the lie to Beck’s claim, and bring him into the important battle of reclaiming the Republican Party.
“..the hard work of saving our republic..” used to be doing nothing for her other than standing out of her way. America is not a baby. The solution is not to extend her an umbilical cord from Washinton. “Help” is the problem. America, or any nation, stands strongest when it develops its own “saving” muscles, rather than enter the downward spireal of chronic assitance that only atrophied them. We help our children less if we help them too much. It is against natural law to help adults. It’s time to detox liberals from dependency. It’s time for liberals to put down their protest pickets, bullhorns, pens, keyboards, and video cameras and start working for a living.
The GOP abandoned conservative and no longer even recognizes it. I enjoy the Beck show. People seem to think his critism of the government is a new thing, his views on Bush were often not supportive as well… But I guess no one noticed because the entire media was caught up in the daily Bush bash.
Beck, Palin it doesn’t matter.
The establishment (gop) is trying to take both of them down because they know Beck & Palin will not play by the good ol boys rules.
Beck & Palin will seek the truth and expose the corrupt no matter which side of the aisle it resides.
The good ol boys are beginning to think their days might be numbered. We can only hope that is so.
They spend, because it gets them re-elected. “Look how much swag I brought home to our district last year. Re-elect me, ’cause I’m the best theif around!” And it works! Because voters are lazy… too lazy to become informed. Even when they try, there is so much misinformation and outright lies out there, that one must become a political junkie to keep up.
One, sadly, has to treat it as a college education. Follow the politics for a couple years, and you can then understand it and generally know which way to vote.
I think I have to agree with the basic premise of this article, which is that Beck is so prominent nationally because no Republican Conservative leader has emerged who can articulate our shared values and concerns.
The RNC is not leading, it is gatekeeping.
Kind of like a special local of the UAW for politicians; no political commentary is tolerated without a dues current, stamped union book.
When Beck says there is no difference between the two Partys, my read on that is that the votes being cast by Congressmen of both Partys, are not based on what’s best for America, but what is best for the Party, his lobbyist, or his career. These Congressmen of BOTH Partys need to be replaced by Patriots who will have the people and their countrys interests foremost in mind when they vote. That is how you change the soul of the Party. When you have the GOP backing a candidate like Crist in Florida, for instance, who voted for Cap and Trade, over a Conservative like Rubio, then there is, in fact, no difference between the Partys. The battle we are in is between Statists and Constitutionalists, until the GOP gives us truly Conservative candidates to represent us, they are part of the problem.
Glen Beck is a national treasure. His conservative detractors don’t get him, his Beltway GOP detractors do, and he scares them the way Sarah Palin scares them. His push for non partisanship highlights the betrayal of conservatives by the Beltway GOP and the McCain campaign. Notice he is no Ross Perot, no gift to the National Socialists. And he keeps throwing the Obama posse off balance, resulting in their knee jerk and emotional responses that just dig their hole deeper. His virtue is in his sincerity and dedication to an America that remains the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Getting rid of corruption is not a “shallow” solution (though maybe an impossible one). Getting rid of corruption is a prerequisite for fixing the wreckage in Washngton D.C.
“First, rank corruption is a problem, but solving corruption is not going to avert catastrophe.”
Solving corruption may not be the TOTAL answer, but it would be a great first step towards a better solution than the Dumb-o-Crats have advanced. If you look at the number of Congressmen and women who are currently under investigation for corruption, they overwhelmingly have a big (D) behind their names.
Personally, this American is sick of the politics as usual that drives the government engines. I agree 100% with Glen Beck,,, it’s wayyyyy past time for a general house cleaning in Washington DC.
Those that Knock Beckon the left and right leave out the most important basic fact that is great for America .
The right to know the Truth and facts the media and all politicians all hide like a on going affair .
Need we forget he outed Valerie Jarrett , Van Jones ,ACORN ,SEIU , Richard Jones and Mark Lloyds back grounds all marxist anti American lead .
I have a strong back ground in economics . Beck again outed the facts the media want give on how terrible our economy really is ….. The man is simply in the fact and honest Business .
Real Americans that love this country want the honest truth the media or Politicians and this white house hide without question .
Is Beck a little to silly at times ? Yes but remember he is a self educated former Rodeo Clown .
The Man has come a long way from working in his dad’s bakery .
Remember the Contract with America? Once in power, the Republicans in DC went native. Outside pressure will always be needed to keep the Republican leadership honest. That’s why so much of the leadership resents it.
Beck was on Fox & Friends (the show Ailes uses to promote his other shows) to explain why the White House has no respect for him – he mentioned Major Garrett and Van Jones. Funny thing, though, he didn’t mention calling Obama a racist. Why do you think he left that out? Could it be that conservatives have no balls? Yeah, I think so.
Glenn Beck fills a void. He informs people and rallies them, giving them some real hope that something can be done to stop this country’s rapid slide down the road to socialism. The truth is, we are being ruled, not governed.
We need some real leadership from the GOP. If no one steps up, the results could be disastrous.
Beck is better for conservatives than all the idiots in the NRCC. Beck asks Americans to think, to ask questions, and most of all to be patriotic. All the NRCC asks for is money to support RINO’s. He must be doing some good, the White House is attacking him ans Fox News. I don’t see the White House attacking most of the sitting Republicans.
Beck can’t do anything right . . . can’t even make a baby right.
13. Gary Ogletree: “Glen Beck is a national treasure.”
Yes, but unfortunately that nation isn’t the U.S.A.
Corruption may not seem like a major problem to the author but it is to many Americans. How can our elected officials come out of congress as millionaires and yet lead us to think their decisions were based on what is good for the country???? Voters lack trust in decisions being made and why they are being made.This is no small thing.
As for Becks effectiveness. He is making listeners think. He is bringing up relationships, backgrounds and relationships voters should know about, work that used to be done by investigative reporters who no longer exist. So what is the author doesn’t like his conspiratorial tone. Beck gives us information on which we can decide the merit.
I have argued for years that Republicans need people like Beck and Palin (and even Wilson) to bring out their emotions and fire up the base. The dems always had folks like Ted Kennedy and Jesse Jackson so why should they have all the fun?
Beck, Palin and Wilson are their Ted Kennedy’s so good for them. As you can see by their sheer numbers of emotional followers…its working !! So, they should Keep Charging !!
I agree that Beck is filling a void. What caught my eye was the part about the “economic tsunami that will wipe out the economic prosperity and liberty of the American people.” I was never a survivalist in the past, but it’s time to start getting ready. The debt is real and so is the refusal of politicians to address it.
It’s silly to charge Glenn Beck with being bad for conservatism and bad for the Republican Party. Do Beck bashers imagine that people are going to say, “The economy may be awful and I may agree more with the Republicans, but I can’t stand that Glenn Beck, so I’m voting for the Democrats”?
Yeah a lot of them do. You must not live near a city. And by city I mean pop of 2 million plus not including suburbs of another million plus.
I’m not going to pan Glenn Beck. He’s one of the few who is actually making a difference.Besides, he’s funny!
I read an article on BH called “Debating Leftists is like debating Charles Manson”–it’s futile and why play by their rules.So we need the Becks, the Seans, and Rush, more than ever.
Glenn is a refreshing voice. If only we had some elected leaders speaking out for us– like a Marco Rubio.
Beck is wildly popular and he’s p!ssing off all the right people.
So he’s obviously doing pretty much everything right.
The pussified, professional appeasers in today’s GOP no longer stand for anything. Their abysmal failure to lead when they controlled the federal government – epitomized by the Bushes’ failed “compassionate conservatism” (a.k.a. Socialism-Lite®) – and their failure to respond in any tangible way to 8+ years of Democrat / Left Wing Media mendacity has destroyed not only their own credibility, but destroyed the credibility of the Office of the POTUS and destroyed what little remained of America’s faith in government as well. Not for nothing has Congress’ approval rating been in the toilet – worse than Bush’s ever was – for years. And of course this is to say nothing of what all this has done to the U.S.A.’s global status.
This explains how a country which overwhelmingly espouses conservative values over liberal ones can be duped into electing a demonstrably corrupt marxist and serial liar with absolutely no executive experience and the most liberal voting record in the Senate. All that was needed was to successfully hide or downplay his past and paint him as an alternative to the status quo: CHANGE. It worked like a charm. But just like 1992, it required a half-hearted, non-campaign waged by a weak-kneed, simpering, compliant GOP candidate.
But here’s the problem for the GOP: BHO is turning out to be the very epitome of the status quo and they have NOTHING to offer as an alternative. Even registered and former Republicans recognize people like Romney and his opportunistic ilk for what they are: political appeasers who will compromise away the Constitution in return for their own aggrandizement.
So Joe is right: today’s center-left GOP no longer knows how to lead. Their lifetime incumbencies depend upon endless compromise with the socially suicidal ideology of the left and, thus, they no longer understand statesmanship. They know only reactive politicking. The left pushes America closer to outright socialism – the GOP pushes back, a little. The left proposes socialized medicine, the GOP responds with “alternative” legislation, – i.e., baby steps leading to the same outcome – instead of addressing the root of the health care problem. The left promotes economic suicide by perpetuating the corrupt practices of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the GOP majority halfheartedly chastises them and limps away. The left extorts retirees and steals money from U.S. Taxpayers to keep bankrupt, socialist programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security going, the GOP nods with cow-eyed approval.
This dance has been going on since FDR’s failed and largely unconstitutional “New Deal” (so-called). With one bright, shining exception during the ’80s, when the GOP was forced to field a candidate who consistently and overwhelmingly resonated with Americans, the GOP’s craven unwillingness to stand up for its constituents has given us 75 years of unconstitutional thuggery and creeping socialism that has now successfully completed its long march through ALL of our institutions – now advancing to a gallop.
Enter Beck and Palin, who resonate with America’s primarily conservative values the same way Reagan – and, to a lesser extent, Perot – did. The GOP can’t resonate with anyone or anything, but the problem is that they’ve been practicing appeasement-with-the-left politics for so long, and have so much invested in protecting their lifetime incumbencies, that they are no longer capable of recognizing the opportunity being offered to them. So instead of getting on board, they attack Beck and marginalize Palin when all they need to do to truly get back in the game is to get solidly behind these two (and the tens or hundreds or thousands who will then follow), laugh loudly at the Left Wing Media’s attempts to ridicule them, and… Start. To. LEAD. But that’s something they are neither willing or able to do. So instead, they attack Beck (and Palin) because they know the left will help them do it.
Beck is only controversial because he presents the same problem for the pseudo-conservative, center-left GOP that Reagan did, and Palin does. As the dynamic behind this becomes more clear, and we get closer to the next round of elections, and more U.S. Citizens decide they’re not gonna take it anymore and would rather fight than see their country flushed down the toilet by quislings like BHO, McCain and the bulk of our federal government, I expect the GOP’s problem – of which Beck’s popularity is only a symptom – will become magnified.
First, and foremost, Glenn Beck is a smart showman. Secondly, I hike his show. Enough said.
yeah, really i have to say, since when is beck such a big deal anyway. if you don’t like him by all means don’t watch him. but all these articles wringing hands about beck seem kind of pointless. he is not going to suddenly stop making shows. fox is not going to drop him. and people who like him aren’t going to stop because a couple less famous whiners whine about him. indeed, i suspect that all this hand wringing over him is making people tune in just to see what all the fuss is about and bluntly it is about very little.
Getting ride of corruption is a simple solution. Start with the federal reserve they are the gate keepers of this system of fraud. Only support canidates that support the audit of the fed. Republicans are in trouble because they do not care for the people anymore they only care for republicans. Look whats going on with this healthcare this is their time to be vocal to defend the people and all of them are sitting on the sidelines waiting for an opportunity for a piece of the pie while millions march on townhalls and places of government. The solution is to kick this one party / 2 party monte they have going on out of office. Until we get rid of the republicrates nothing will change. We cannot sit by waiting around for another Regan to change the party, we as patriots need to stand up and say enough is enough and make the changes we want.
The biggest reason that Beck doesn’t hurt the Republican party is because he’s NOT a Republican. And he doesn’t hesitate to tell the viewers that.
Beck gives you facts, tells you to check them, and make your own decision. As in the flu shot recently/\ He has shown us how corrupt Obama and his WH are. Maybe we thought this, but we had no proof.
The only thing the GOP has to be afraid of is themselves and their lackluster performances as elected officials. If they keep tearing down Beck, it will have people questioning them as to why we cannot hear the truth. Beck tells us he is not and does not pretend to be a politician.
The left doesn’t like Beck because he shines a light on their corruption as they scurry like rats.
The right is afraid because they know Beck is correct and they are losers in NOT fighting the good fight for our nation. There is no leadership, period.
I find it difficult to go with the Dems or Repubs.
We like Beck and will continue to listen. His program is interesting.
The most amusing thing about the ‘controversy’ is that Beck isn’t a conservative. Let me say that again. By his own admission, Beck isn’t a conservative. If he’s not a conservative, and doesn’t claim to be one, how can he be bad for conservatives? Because he says things that conservatives don’t like, in a fashion they don’t like?
To ask, “Is Beck bad for conservatives” is like comparing apples to donuts. Which reveals more about liberal and conservative thought than it does about Beck.
Aside from the lederhosen, what makes Beck stand out is that he is not an adherent of groupthink. He is also attempting to get people to think for themselves. Conservatives and liberals don’t like people who think for themselves, you see. They don’t like people who ask too many questions.
To the people that claims that Beck is bad for Republicans. So what? What’s your point? It’s a free country.
Regarding comment #21 from “Now and Then” (“Beck can’t do anything right . . . can’t even make a baby right.”): Thanks for revealing what kind of base, low character and ignorantly cruel person you are. Knowing from that comment all I need to know about you, I can disregard all of your opinions and comments, and so will many others.
Becks counter part is not Oberman it is John Steward.
We need to find new ways to get our points across and expose the DEms for what they are. Any port in a storm imo.
Go Glen! Your pissing off all the right people; keep it up!
Now and Then: Beck can’t do anything right . . . can’t even make a baby right.
I cannot believe PJM allowed you to say this vile thing. You should be forever removed from this thread. You are absolutely the most vile, reprehensible and mean person who ever set posted on this thread-and believe me I’ve read some of the worst you lefties have said on here.
To say this about his child, is pure gutter, but then you are a lefty. So so much for how tolerant and open minded and all those other lofty platitudes you give each other. Lies.
You are sick and from now on everyone on this thread who debates you is an idiot because someone who says this kind of unadulterated, inhumane and repugnant crap should be avoided. Or if I could meet you face to face, beat you until you peed your pants.
I have no problem with Mr. Beck. Seems to lay it out in common sense terms. It is frightening what I am seeing and believing for my children’s future. Congress has problems on both sides and a W.H. that is clueless what made this country great (or careless disregard). Take Sen. Snowe as example. I am appalled the side she takes while under the Party of a Repbl. I don’t know who the enemy is but it starts at the top. The spending, the CZARS, ACCORN, the list goes on and on and no one to stop the madness that is the Federal government.
#21
obviously your daddy didn’t either….
and you still leave that little slime trail as you troll around the internet…
In case any wonder about the stakes here just imagine Now and Then sitting across the table from you as you make your pitch for that crucial operation for your family. This is the reality of progessivism today. They rule, you die. They don’t care as long as they rule. Remember that when you are at the polls in 2010.
Glen Beck is a breath of fresh air to America. He teaches, he requires you to think. How simple can it be. You steal your a crook. The problem with all the high thinkers in this country is they have lost the art of thinking in a common sense mode. Two + two equals 4, not three, not five but (4). The political parties in this country are entirely corrupt and we need to start over by going back to square on and if that gorges your ox so be it……. Long live Glen Beck and the many others like him!
So I write this, “Beck can’t do anything right . . . can’t even make a baby right.”
36. Marian:
“what a base, low character and ignorantly cruel person you are”
39. blotto:
“You are absolutely the most vile, reprehensible and mean person . . . to say this about his child, is pure gutter . . . unadulterated, inhumane and repugnant crap”
41. gracie:
“obviously your daddy didn’t either….and you still leave that little slime trail”
And the snare snaps shut:
A few years back, Beck was having a feud with his radio partner named Bruce. A couple days after Bruce’s wife, Terry, had a miscarriage, Beck called her live on the air and says, ‘We hear you had a miscarriage,’ ” remembers Brad Miller, a former Y95 DJ and Clear Channel programmer. “When Terry said, ‘Yes,’ Beck proceeded to joke about how Bruce apparently can’t do anything right — he can’t even have a baby.”
And this is the guy you all admire so much? Not me. I know better. Don’t worry, I don’t expect an apology. Just more excuses from the raging right.
That is what leftist do Blotto.. souless vile creatures
“Now & Then”
Your comment in this thread should get you banned from this site.
It serves as a prime example of the pathetic nature of a liberal mind.
You are obviously a pathetic waste of a person and I will never show any respect to your future postings.
@21
With your unintelligent and juvenile commentary, you are a continual reminder of why I left the Democratic Party.
Thanks again for reaffirming the type of people who support stupid policies.
@44. Now and Then: – So I write this, “Beck can’t do anything right . . . can’t even make a baby right.”
So you lied. Is that supposed to surprise anyone?
Beck was an adolescent once – at least according to the hearsay you’ve copied and pasted – just like you are now. Is that supposed to surprise anyone?
Charles Krauthammer has been asked how he went from writing speeches for Walter Mondale to FOX News. His response: “I was young once.”
Unlike you, Beck and Krauthammer grew out of their adolescence.
it has nothing to do with who people are going to vote for. We’re not stupid enough to think that Beck can actually sway an election. We just think he’s a crazy guy, an obvious racist, a fear mongerer, and someone that’s primary motive is to stir up the hatred that southern whites have felt for centuries. That’s great if he represents the Republican party, it shows Americans exactly what we don’t want or need in our country. Fox News tried for 6 months before, and leading up to the election to convince Americans that Obama was a Muslim, a terrorist, not a citizen, a socialist, a marxist, arrogant, and a Nazi. But he was still elected by a wide margin over McCain and what’s her name. The GOP has to realize that lies, smoke and mirrors, twisting the truth, and changing history, doesn’t work any more. The American people are not falling for the same old crap again. Like Bush said, fool me once, shame on you…, uh.., fool me twice…, uh, …, well,…you can’t fool me again.
Irrelevant hypocritical moralizing. I’ve shown you why already. I’ll show you again soon enough.
#21
As we all will someday repent of our foolishness, I’ll give you the benefit of thinking you’ll grow up someday too. Meanness is universal. Getting over it and moving on is for those who face life realistically.
No debating the facts huh John T? Just ad hominen attacks and playing the racism card? Don’t you know that is passe and does not work anymore. It sounds like you are actually happy the way that America is going! Also you know whats’ her name is Gov. Palin. It is just that you are scared to death of her and I do not blame you. LOL!
‘However, I don’t blame Beck for offering shallow solutions.’
This article was idiotic and superficial. There’s no way this guy has watched Beck’s show, or he couldn’t call what Beck does ‘shallow’. Beck is about as detailed as you can get, and that’s what scares Obama. Obama is a con man, and if you have Penn and Teller (ie Beck) showing the foundations of his magic tricks, he dissolves like the wicked witch of the west doused with water. I’m not sure what this article is trying to accomplish, other that being ‘serious’ and ‘professional’ in just the way the NY Times is, but what it comes across as is supercilious and elitist.
If you’ve ever read the Tarzan novels, you’ll understand what Beck and Palin offer to the world, and what the pathetic, over-civilized denizens of leisure (like the author of this piece) fear about them.
I have seen over and over how people who have such deep criticism and hatred of figures like Beck NEVER EVEN WATCH OR LISTEN TO THEIR SHOWS. Like the guy criticizing Rush, he admitted he never listened to him, but he just despised what he stood for. What? Makes perfect sense.
Adam =
Pull your head out -
GLEN BECK IS NOT A CONSERVATIVE!!!!
He’s a libertarian. Jeesh.
It’s difficult to take you seriously when you don’t know
enough about your subject to even get his party affiliation
correct.
You know how well you’re doing by the enemies you make.
“Fox News tried for 6 months before, and leading up to the election to convince Americans that Obama was a Muslim, a terrorist, not a citizen, a socialist, a marxist, arrogant, and a Nazi”
Factcheck:
Dictionary. com has some synonyms for terrorist: thug, revolutionary, rebel,incendiary, goon, radical, guerrilla.
Their definition is as follows:a person who terrorizes or frightens others.
Muslim: (who cares) son of a Muslim is a Muslim
Not a citizen? Maybe he is. Maybe he isn’t. I’m not a birther, but where’s the actual Cert?
Socialist- True
Marxist – True
Arrogant – nah
Nazi – Nazi ideology stressed the failure of both laissez-faire capitalism and the failure of democracy. Do the math.
They didn’t convince most of us, they just exposed him for what he is. Why wouldn’t the so called msm?
Obama didn’t win by that much, and with Acorn’s fraud all over the place, I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole election was rigged.
Now & Then: Puh-lease.
First, I don’t tend to place a whole lot of stock in hearsay presented by nameless strangers in internet comment sections. Second, if what you stated about Beck were completely true, it would make no difference. He himself says that at one point he was alcoholic and scummy. But he had a turning point. Grew up. Even had a special needs child himself, which has a way of maturing a person at light speed, helping him to zero in on what’s most important in life. I can not imagine that he could even think such a thing now. Absolutely no point made.
You, on the other hand? These posts reveal that either you do think such things, or you’re the type who fancies himself to be quite brilliant, yet somehow feels the need to try to prop up his self-esteem by spending time trolling blogs attempting to antagonize, play games and appear hollowly clever. Either way, it doesn’t appear that you’ve hit much of that maturity yourself yet.
@49. Jack T: – … a fear mongerer …
OT: just curious – would that be a monger of fear mongers, a former fear monger, or…?
So broadcasting video evidence of corruption being funded by U.S. Taxpayers is mongering fear? Is that what you really think? Huh.
The GoP’s worst enemy is the GoP. To quote Pogo:
Beck only asks questions that should be asked. He is a lot of things, overly theatrical and overwrought sometimes but he rarely misses the mark.
The elitists in the country, those pundits at NRO, the RNC and all the other places are so out of touch with the rest of the country it is laughable. Just ask yourself this: “Where is all that ammo going and why is there such a shortage?”
Now and Then @ 21 said:
That is despicable and shows your true nature, now and then.
Beck’s oldest child has cerebral palsy.
blotto @ 39:
I would be glad to help. But I would bet that just being faced would make this vermin mess himself. Want to bet if this gets posted? The moderators here will not moderate the pure hate from the trolls @ PJM but they sure will others.
6) RagnarD
Oh, Ragnar . . . you flatter me. Your empty threats of physical violence would certainly pass muster here in the home of Frustrated Repressors. It’s hard to face the childish and evil actions of your heroes (post #44). Harder still to reconcile your own hypocrisy. There were no victims in my original post. Beck? Beck’s daughter? (Her name is Mary, by the way.) No. I simply used them to skewer unprincipled ideologues like you (and him). And so you sit in the dark, just another conservative candyass typing regrets and flinging anonymous bravado.
6a Ragnar . . . Looks like your pure hate got through. Go figure. (Her name is Mary, by the way.)