Tomorrow's New York Times features a lengthy profile of right-wing pseudo-populist talker Glenn Beck. While it half-heartedly takes some obligatory -- and when I say obligatory, I mean they feel exactly like that -- potshots, on the whole it could have been crafted by the PR department at the Fox News Channel, which must be doing some back-flips this evening. The tenor of this predominantly puff piece is captured in the headline: "He's Mad. Apocalyptic, Tearful, and a Rising Star on Fox News."
This is not to say that Beck isn't newsworthy -- his huge jump in popularity since he was shown the door by CNN's Headline News and moved to his rightful home at FNC, and his so-real-it-may-even-be-ilegal calls for an anti-Obama insurrection merit some kind of coverage -- but this article by Brian Stetler and Bill Carter feels in the midst of March Madness like a giant airball. My biggest complaint is that the article reads like Beck landed on Planet Fox in a flying saucer a couple of short months ago to save American Jesusland -- without the much-needed context that this is just the latest act for an "entertainer" who is a clown at his best and spews hate at his worst.
Here's an example. The story notes uncritically:
On March 12 Mr. Beck introduced the 9/12 Project, an initiative to reclaim the values and principles that he said were evident the day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. On a special broadcast he asked: “What ever happened to the country that loved the underdog and stood up for the little guy? What happened to the voice of the forgotten man?” He paused, then added, “the forgotten man is you.”
Really? Did the "values and principles" of America after 9/11 include publicly trashing the widows of 9/11 victims? Because Glenn Beck -- remarkably -- did exactly that, something that you'd think would be at least mentioned in a lengthy New York Times profile, especially given the context of his recent transparently bogus effort to wave that bloody shirt. This is what Beck said on the radio on 9/9/05, or just two days before the fourth anniversary:
[Y]ou know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims' families? Took me about a year. And I had such compassion for them, and I really wanted to help them, and I was behind, you know, "Let's give them money, let's get this started." All of this stuff. And I really didn't -- of the 3,000 victims' families, I don't hate all of them. Probably about 10 of them. And when I see a 9-11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, "Oh shut up!" I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining. And we did our best for them.
Before you give Beck some slack for making one outlandish comment, you should understand the context that this was a part of a much longer rant...trashing Hurricane Katrina victims. No, I didn't make that up. And yet this man continues to work in American media and is in fact climbing his way up the ladder of fame and fortune. Meanwhile, the good people at Media Matters have chronicled some 256 cases of outrageous remarks, including misleading statements and outright lies, by Beck over the years. Did Stetler and Carter bother to check any of this out? It doesn't look that way.
Beyond that, the whole premise of this re-invention of Glenn Beck as a populist is flat-out bogus. Beck and presumably his masters at Fox News are happy to work the torches-and-pitchforks crowd, as long as he steers them in the direction of Barack Obama, and not the corporate grifters and Wall Street scam artists who -- under a prior White House that looked the other way -- actually created the mess hurting "the forgotten guy" that Beck claims to be remembering. If Beck were the voice of America's populist rage, wouldn't he have something to say about obscene bonuses paid to AIG executives?
He did. He defended them:
But what's happening with AIG? Our supposed leaders are trampling each other to see who can abuse their power the fastest. That is exactly what our founding founders were afraid of and it's why this is a dangerous precedent: If contracts have no meaning, then the whole system will collapse.
Is that really "a mix of moral lessons (and) outrage..." as stated by the New York Times, or is this all just the tears of a clown, who is thriving because his idiot savant ability to deflect attentions from the true villains of the economic apocalyse is making Beck's bosses happy. making Beck himself a rich man -- and making America's most prestigious masthead look way too gullible here?
Will: Great post, as always. A couple of additional points: -- In stark contrast to that crass remark about the 9/11 families back in 2005, Beck more recently praised the work of the 9/11 families while tearing up over the death of 9/11 widow Beverly Eckert. -- Beck's populism is decidedly right-wing populism. One of the hallmarks of right-wing populism is its producerism: the lionization of "producers" in a capitalist system over the evil "parasites" who suck at their bloodstream. In right-wing populism, these are always captains of industry: Henry Ford being the iconic example. That's what the whole Ayn Rand fetish is all about. So Beck's defense of the AIG bonuses is actually perfectly in line with this. Right-wing populism is a highly selective populism, as this example vividly demonstrates. It's usually about protecting privilege, all in the name of ordinary people.— David Neiwert- Glenn Beck is as much a fascist today as Fr. Charles Coughlin was in the 1930s. As Fr. Coughlin did, Beck sells the message of the wealthy in the name of average people.— Delaware Jim
- Will: Beck does on his show the same thing you do for the DN. He registers his opinion.On any given day, we can all find opinions on the left and opinions on the right. Sone of them lean very heavy both ways. You can't tall me Olberman and Maddow don't lean as far left as Hannity and Beck lean right. Why don't you let the public decide for themselves? Why are you writing about someone having an opinion when you are doing the very same thing? Your time would be better served writing about an issue or someone actually in the political arena. Why are you covering a pundit? Both the left and the right hire pundits for ratings and advertising revenue. It seems to me anyone could write about a right wing pundit in an urban newspaper. Where is the challenge on your part? If this is your contribution, perhaps the DN labor cits should begin with you. In the future you should take a stance with a multitude of national and local issues which actually matter. Anyone can take the easy way out!!!— willy25
Comment removed.- Bombing for the Weather Underground or savouring the deaths of "Little Eichmans" is just free speech. Working for Fox News and having an oppossing opinion... Now that's just wrong! It's posts like this that remind me why I vote Republican.— Norton
- Comment removed.
Relax Will. FoxNews serves the public interest by keeping clowns like Beck off of the cartoon networks where kids might be watching.- Comment removed.
He's been on Fox for about what, six months or so, and destroys Olbermann in the ratings. To top it off, Beck is on at 5:00, but I'm sure that's just another one of those "myths" you'll have to bust. Just for clarification, I'd have to check if there are any "good" people at Media Matters, I can't take your word for it.— jmc- Comment removed.
- Wilbur, thy name is J E A L O U S Y.— WriteWinger
- It astounds me how "regular Joe's" can ever embrace this sort of trash. He and the other right wing blowhards are genuinely interested in one thing only...ratings = more money in the paycheck + more personal appearances $$$ at more right wing events. Do you really think this AH cares about the US when he trashes our President only weeks after being elected. Wasn't the honest election and profound result enough? For the last eight years these AH's preached piously about patriotism and how devoted they were were to our country. Obviously that undivided devotion only applies when it's convenient. This guy and his pals are self serving opportunists wth convenient tears. He is an actor working for money and fame only. A disgrace.— stoneman
- Hmm, let's see . . .you have this clown Beck, you have O'Reilly the " public servant" stalker, you have "socialist"Sean Hannity and let's not forget those such esteemed contributors as Karl Rove, Dick Morris and Bernie Goldberg . . . with a stellar lineup such as all of the above, why let the facts and truth get in the way at all, eh?— DonnyB
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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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