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Beck and others like him are filling a leadership void in the country
Tweet“They would not listen, they’re not listening still,
“Perhaps they never will.”
— Don McLean, “Vincent”
Radio and TV commentator Glenn Beck was mentioned three times in separate opinion columns on the same day and in an article the next day in The New York Times, possibly a record for someone who does not hold elective office.
Oh, and then there’s last week’s Time magazine cover. He’s everywhere. Beck is also the Left’s latest explanation for what is wrong with America. Many on the Left believe that if conservatives would just get out of the way, shut up and allow liberals to re-create America in their image, we would all be better off. But those loud-mouthed cable TV and radio talk show hosts keep uneducated, God-worshipping, flag-waving, NASCAR-loving, country music-fueled trailer trash riled up and prevent their brave new world from being born.
Condescension
The articles, essays and columns about Beck, and so many others on the Right, drip with the condescension conservatives have come to expect from liberal elites who think because they went to the “right” schools they are better than everyone else.
I had not met Glenn Beck, so recently I visited him in his high-rise Manhattan office. His walls are decorated with black-and-white photographs of people he clearly admires. There are entertainers like Red Skelton and a young filmmaker named Walt Disney. You could watch Skelton on TV and view Disney movies along with your wife and kids, knowing you’d never hear a bad word, including a bad word about America.
Beck has an old Admiral black-and-white TV an aide says they are trying to “make work.” When it did work, it carried programs worth watching, including news broadcasts by real journalists like Edward R. Murrow, whose photo hangs on a wall close to Beck’s office.
Is it Beck who is stirring the pot or has the pot been stirring for some time and it is he, and a few others, giving the masses a voice? Maybe it’s the leadership vacuum in the country that has thrust Beck and Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin (1 million of his latest book sold) and others to the forefront. If Republicans were behaving like Republicans, perhaps there would be less perceived need for them.
If the Left bothered to hang out where conservatives do and take seriously their concerns about a country to which they pay taxes and for which many of them, or their parents, or children have fought, maybe they would understand what has so many upset.
Pollster Frank Luntz understands. In a recent column for The New York Daily News, Luntz reports on his interview survey of 6,400 people, the results of which appear in his new book “What Americans Really Want ... Really.” Luntz discovered that people are angry with the government because of the lack of accountability by our leaders and a lack of progress on anything meaningful in Washington.
The “absence of accountability,” he writes, “ranks No. 1 in the hearts and guts of the average American. Washington spends billions to bail out big business and then can’t explain where the money went. Washington spends $800 billion on a stimulus package filled with earmarks and pork projects. And now Washington is trying to create a trillion-dollar health-care experiment when over 85 percent of Americans are satisfied with their health care just as it is.”
As Professor Harold Hill put it: “Make your blood boil? Well, I should say.”
Luntz continues: “This could be forgiven, perhaps, if those elected officials from Washington exhibited even an ounce of respect for the voters who pay their salaries. But the combination of a political class that ignores those with whom they disagree and a business class that ignores the very real suffering of the working class (if they are, in fact, working) while pocketing million-dollar bonuses has convinced the public that no one cares.”
Ratings war
Glenn Beck seems to care and that’s why his ratings are now challenging the godfather of cable, Bill O’Reilly.
I ask if he fears being transformed into another “Lonesome Rhodes,” the politically corrupted main character in Budd Schulberg’s classic film, “A Face in the Crowd”? Beck tells me I am not the first to warn of such a possibility. He says he isn’t worried about yielding to that temptation. Beck believes in God and doesn’t think government is Him. And he’s going to his son’s ball game the next day.
That explains Glenn Beck. Any questions?
Tribune Media Services
Comments
A real accomplishment to be able to challenge O'reilly who is in the primetime 8 oclock slot when beck is in the 5 oclock slot which is much more difficult to get those sort of ratings.
Search, There's a lot of people realizing that Beck is looking out for everyone,not just the conservatives as some people think. He backs up his commentary with facts,such as in the Van Jones and the ACORN scandals. He and his family are taking great personal risk by his hard hitting of our political mess.
From what I gather he's a carnival barker who panders to the lowest common denominator (see comment directly above), just like those on MSNBC, CNN and any other major media platform. They wish to be the conversation rather than just a part of it; because our society is comprised mainly of sheep their wish comes true.
pro-I meant you. Close off the improperly used parenthetical statement next time, champ; I wouldn't want such errors to overshadow your powerful message...
Jeff, How many carnival barkers do you know,that have caused a top Obama advisor (Van Jones) to resign and has ACORN being investigated,and the Census Bureau,the IRS and Bank Of America,all have cut ties with ACORN. Jeff,in your quest to put down something good,because it's on FOX,you come across as silly. And as all of you on the left have been told,hate FOX. FOX is a threat to the liberal media and they are trying to marginalize FOX as described in Allinsky's book. Get over trying to be a good little liberal follower and become a concerned American citizen.
Beck is nothing more than another one of Rupert Murdoch's sheepherders. His only purpose is to preach doom and gloom to the kind of people that need that rhetoric to deflect responsibility from themselves for their miserable lives.
He gives them an endless list to point to that are the blame for their own failures. What he should give them is a mirror.
Cambridge,I'm neither a failure or have a miserable life. How do I figure into your synopsis? Explain Van Jones and ACORN. For you to post what you just posted is sickening.
"From what I gather" implies that I've never seen his show and don't even know what he looks like. rudy-have you really been waiting a few weeks for the conversation to arrive back at this topic? Well done, ma'am; clearly just a series of one exciting adventure after another in your life...if you don't like that you feel you're being "talked down to" EDUCATE YOURSELF. Have your own opinion and not one spoon-fed to you by some rejected radio hack on a cable news channel. Learn how to write proficiently and effectively and people will better respect your POV. Your "real world" comment made me literally laugh out loud, though; this from someone who is apparently confused and denigrated by others using big words. The depths of your insecurity must be very dark, indeed. Just for you I'm going to make an effort to use big words as often as possible in future posts.
bore-no one told me to hate Fox or anyone else. Talking head hacks on any network are dangerous and not worthy of a third of the attention they receive, read what I typed above -- it is in plain English.
The problem is that you people get more fired up over TV personalities being criticized than when the same thing happens to public officials. "No, not Glenn Beck; anyone but him!" In reading the comments here you could have thought this was a thread talking badly about Santa Claus. BTW, is it a requirement that conservative heroes on TV/radio be drug addicts? Limbaugh (who I have seen and heard) was so hardcore into prescriptions he went deaf and appears to have a cochlear implant and this Beck (who I haven't seen/heard) is supposedly a drug addict -- I mean, what's with that?
pro-if you are going to worship these people learn how to spell their first names. SaraH Palin and GlenN Beck.
That's what smart people do, pro -- they adapt. Then they win arguments. The opposite are the people that repeat the same drivel again and again, they clearly can’t think for themselves. (I’m referring to you, pro [and also showing how to properly use a parenthetical statement].)
First I was thinking rudy worked at a think tank but now I'm going with "comedy writer." Which is it, rudy? Caps don't make up for content, BTW.
I generally don't post links to other sites (freethinker) nor do I view links people post. Thanks, though. I'm also unaware of the word "paradige," enlighten me.
I thought I learned a new word, for real. I read up on the Acorn stuff after I read posts on this site but I seriously wasn't aware of specifics prior to a few weeks ago. If proven that these videos are widespread they should be shut down without question. The abortion slant is propaganda though.
Maybe when the Pres gets back from his 'important" overseas trip he'll weigh in on the whole issue.
ProMerkin....."child molestation"
Mark Foley was a Republican.
Jeff,I'm glad you admit you're uninformed and get your news from the posters. ACORN is also being investigated for voter fraud and income tax evasion. The videos only gave the impetus to finally look into other allegations that have been around for years. I'll do my best to keep you informed and educated,but you have to quit reading Cambridge's and his ilk's posts. OK?
UnAmerican..... I've never heard of Gary Studs.
Have you ever heard of the Republicans in the link below? They are the ilk Bor-Y-lie votes for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oggoth...
UnAmerican....Since you seem to hate the government and every direction the majority of the people want the country to go in, why don't you just move back to your home planet?
pro-my sentence may have been poorly worded, I think the organization should be shut down, not the videos. I also think that Pelosi should be removed as Speaker, along with other somewhat unpopular party-related opinions.
bore-I was admittedly uninformed about the organization in question (and eventually got my info from other sources, not posters) but I'll take my chances with other newsworthy topics in general. I appreciate the offer though. Seriously.
I am totally not surprised I found old Pro-American praising and defending Beck.Like the saying goes.birds of a feather flock together.I wonder if this applies to dodo birds?Hmmmm
Hey,Axle( w/IQ of 69 ), read the other posts and learn something.
It is amazing how the three alphabet networks and CNN are all trying to gang up on one little network. They must be scared of that one little network.
Ok, go ahead and try to shoot down my statement but when you are all done the alphabets and CNN will still be trying to discredit that one little network. Don't give up big guys, it is only one little network that will not daisy-chain with the rest of you.
Glen Beck has a 5pm slot on the weekdays 4 a hour.
Rush is on for three hours a day.
Ingram is on for 2 hours a day.
Hannity is on for 4 a day.
And Levin is on for 2 hours a day.
And what kills me is the you can learn more and hear things the MSM will never touch concerning Obama and his Administration. And old friends and employers.
Now that is going to never run out of steam. ACORN employed Obama.
If you do not want to watch or listen to any of them just go to http://drudgereport.com/ and follow the high lights or scroll down to catch blogs and sites. The left is being exposed for what they truly are. And if your a Republican and want to stand in the middle and play it safe get ready to get run over, it is time to choose and make a stand. With no voice in Washington for me from this area. And with the d's in control of everything and with putting up with the left slamming of Bush for 8 years. And remind you Bush was not a conservative he was a republican. Learn to take it.
I think it is funny that a few people are pushing buttons of the left and Obama daily Of course they have the support in the millions of people. Plus the left is a real easy target.
These folks are entertainers. I've listened to their shows and like most politicians you must seperate the wheat from the chaff to get to the truth.
I believe about 10% of us lean to the far left and another 10% to the far right. That leaves 80% holding the centrist view hoping to find a leader with common sense. Liberals and Conservatives come no where close to dictating the opinion of the masses.
Free, Assuming you're theory is correct,then Beck can be our leader. He's not a politician and even though entertaining,he's doing what the media and so called journalists are not doing. I'll give you all day to come up with one wheat seed of misinformation Beck has said on his show. This guy is just like you and I,but with more guts. We hide who we are behind these user names,this guy is out there getting death threats against him and his family. Someday you and many others are going to ask yourselves,Jeez why didn't I see this coming? Why didn't I listen?