Posted on 10/13/2009 8:57:30 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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.
However, I don’t blame Beck for offering shallow solutions. Beck is stepping forward because, like a lot of Americans, he’s scared and there’s a void. I blame the Republican Party in Washington. Americans are hungry for real political leadership that will understand the state our nation is in and take steps to remedy it.
Yet, Republicans in Congress seem to live in Neverland. They act like grown children with big credit cards, spending like there’s no tomorrow. My senator, Mike Crapo (R-ID), is determined to bring Amtrak back to Idaho. He and other supporters of the Amtrak line insist those who came out with a study showing the line would cost $493 million to reopen and then require $20 million a year in subsidies overestimated costs and suffered a lack of imagination. Of course, we all know how government-requested studies constantly underestimate cost. Certainly, Senator Crapo has no shortage of imagination if he thinks that we have hundreds of millions of dollars to expand a service that’s losing money throughout America.
And it’s that same way across the country. After having their majority reduced to an eighty-seat minority, Republicans still can’t find the nerve to ban earmarks. There is no sign of slowing in the pork-filled gravy train that stops in most Republican districts in this country. Watching these leaders spend like there’s no tomorrow and ignore the mammoth-sized deficits reminds me of Christ’s description of how people lived in the days of Noah. Like members of Congress, they were living their lives as they always had until the flood came and carried them away.
An economic flood is coming. It doesn’t require being a prophet in the desert to see it. The massive debt obligations being taken on by this government are going to become an economic tsunami that will wipe out the economic prosperity and liberty of the American people. We know this debt is bad news. It’s a problem for which Americans are awaiting a solution while GOP House and Senate members continue with business as usual. No wonder 71 percent of Republicans say that GOP members of Congress are out of touch.
Perhaps the king of the out-of-touch crowd is Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). He completed the transformation of the NRSC from a campaign committee that helps Republican nominees for U.S. Senate to a committee which expresses its supremacy to every Republican Party in the nation from Colorado to Florida for the promotion of leaders who will fit right in with the out-of-touch Republican leadership in Washington.
It is not that NRSC recruits liberal Republicans in states where a conservative couldn’t easily win, such as Delaware, Connecticut, or New York, but the NRSC recruits and backs such candidates in states where a more conservative Republican could win, such as Colorado, Florida, and even Illinois. Nearly every candidate backed by the NRSC, if elected, will become part of the problem the day they are sworn in.
Now isn’t the time to forget the Republican Party; it is time to fight for the soul of the Republican Party. To abandon the GOP is to abandon the Marco Rubios of the world to the Charlie Crists. It is time to fight for those who are conscious of the times in which we live and will not hide their head in the sand. It is time for some primary challenges to those who refuse to face up to their responsibilities and have forgotten their conservative values, if they ever had them in the first place.
The prominence of Glenn Beck should be taken as a sign that says, “Help Wanted: Leadership.” The question is whether anyone will answer this call for help and begin the hard work of saving our republic.
If they do, in a few years Glenn Beck can go back to talking about American Idol.
Odd you never see stories about Pissy being a problem, or Over-bite being a problem, both of which are nuttier than fruitcakes.
His honesty might be hurting the GOP, but he is doing great things for conservatives.
I turn the TV on daily just to watch Glenn Beck, then I turn it off again when his show is done.
They will try everything to try to shut Beck out.
We must defend him at every opportunity.
EXACTLY!!
(Paraphrasing)
"Yes, he's entertaining, but he doesn't know what the H#!! he's talking about, so don't worry. There, there, nice Glenn! Good boy! Go back to commenting on American Idol! That's a good boy."
"Yes, corruption is rampant, but it really doesn't matter. There are bigger problems to solve."
Apparently the author would prefer to leave the same corrupt administration in place to try and plot a course out of the very mess it has created in the first place. To him, Glenn Beck is pathetically naive to think that we should install an honest government first, to have some hope of resolving it.
The dismissive tone of this piece is precisely the same as that of Sarah Palin's detractors. It's long on arrogance and short on comprehension.
Perhaps Mr. Beck is so popular because he lays blame where blame should go: on the enablers, our [ignorant] selves included.
{He is trying to redress that failing by informing/teaching people so they will no longer be ignorant. But he also drives stinging criticism at those actively perpetrating the injustices: ACORN, Government, Democrats, Republicans, etc.}
I must be sick. I watch Beck at 5:00pm and again at 2:00am.
LOL. I often listen to his three hour radio program in the morning too. (ahem, just before I listen to Rush)
LOL watch again on GlennBeckclips.com.
This guy rants that corruption is a small symptom of the main problem, then goes about complaining that the main problem is corruption by Cornyn to the party system. I think Beck is saying this with a broader brush stroke. I also believe Cornyn stinks.
Who are Pissy and Over-bite?
I believe if we allow the MSM select the candidate again as they did in 2008 Sarah Palin if she should run should not be under the GOP ticket. JMO
It's time to drop the labels...more people listen to him without the lable - instead of knee-jerk tuning him out.
That is good for our side...I hope to h*ll the holier-than-thou brand of conservative we often hear from in here don't get into the ‘cut-off-our-noses’ crapola that insists that everyone that doesn't say/think EXACTLY like they do, has got to go. That puffed up thinking is our biggest enemy...it's what gave us the pres. we have now. (For those of you who, nose in the air, didn't vote for McCain/Palin to 'teach the pubbies a lesson' - Thanks a lot. How's that working for ya?
The litmus test: Beck is making the Socialists mad as hell...that's a good thing. Keep your powder dry - and use your ammo on the REAL enemy. (And he doesn't waffle,like 0'Reilly often does.)
This isn’t about FOX News or Glenn Beck or “media arm of the GOP”. This is about the Fairness Doctrine and freedom of the press in general. One day it might be FOX News and the next it might be CBS. By the time the libtards and mediots catch on, it will be too late.
Are you serious or just kidding?
I DVR his program every day.
I have not a clue who they are supposed to be.
Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman
Oh, got it. I make a point to not click on threads for them and have never seen them on tv, so I was clueless.
You don’t know your PMSNBC stars? Think tingle and leg, and big mouth talking about how everyone else looks.
I make sure I don’t see them as well. But the names have become familiar in all sorts of form from around here..lol.
LOL............Fox News and HGTV ONLY on my tv.
And the thrill going up Chris Matthews’ leg is either David Shuster’s hand or Obama’s agenda.
There is an old saying - “Cut the crap and make your point.”
Gnerally Glenn does a good job (On his TeeVee show) getting the point across.
His radio show OTOH, seems to be just for laffs.
AMEN!
There is no way in hades that the problems are going to get fixed with corrupt politicans in office, so the only alternative--short of shooting the whole darn bunch of them and starting fresh with a different system to try and wrnagle a new Constitution and new government--is to expose the damned corruption and corrupt politicians, replace them asap, and hold trials to indict and then convict and incarcerate or behead the bastards for their treachery to the Republic(treason?). THEN the example is front and center that corruption will not be tolerated and things have a chance to be repaired. To dismiss the necessity of getting the wreckage off the deck is to make impossible the future landing of planes in need of refueling ... to borrow a metaphor from the Battle of Midway.
OH MY! Sounds like quite the threesome.
When Glenn dried up the alcohol addiction he got the spiders out of his head. Now, he sees with his soul’s eye, not just his media savvy ... adn believe me, he has media savvy like few are blessed with, ever. Oh! And make no mistake, Blenn Beck is making the beltway pubbies very nervous ... and that’s a good thing.
Blenn???? ... Yeah, I mean Glenn. After my long drive today, I guess it’s time to find my pillow.
>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.
That’s funny right there.
The left must be wetting their tighty-whities over Glenn’s Refounders. As of now, Glenn has 5 insiders ready to rat out their own party. That will make for exciting television, a must watch event.
I agree that the Republicans dropped the ball but there is no way that anyone can say that the Republicans are the same as Democrats. The Dems have accused us of doing exactly what they are doing right now. They were wrong about the Republicans and they lied about their plans as well. Republicans did not lie to get into office. That is my problem with Beck. The Dems are in control now so when you are talking about their corruption, do not put the Republicans in the next sentence. Republicans have nothing to do with this healthcare or the CRAP ON TRADE bill. It’s all them.
Beck is hurting Obama and the lying lunatics of the left, any minor flesh wounds he may or may not be causing the GOP are inconsequential. Independents are tiring of the NeoCom spin machine, and these constant personal attacks on conservatives are starting to drive a wedge between Democrats and moderates.
The media likes pissy and overbite so no attention of complaints against them from Democrats - if there are any.
However, the media wants to divide and conquer the Republican party and Rinos are more than happy to accomodate. Rinos are liberals and they like being the minorty advisors to the socialists. They want to be a a minority with conservatives having no voice and no influence. That is why Grahm says “if you don’t like it leave” the party.
Well said.
In my opinion, Glen Beck doesn’t understand the Constitution as well as others but he is in the right ball park. The thing that bothers me is that he takes credit for others work. Listen to Mark Levin and you’ll hear his show a month before. You can almost hear Glen Beck Read Liberty and Tyranny sometimes.
Glenn Beck does waffle. Before he came to Fox, he was for the bailouts. Then he was against them, then he was for them, and then later, he was against them. Then he became a Libertarian, but he’s religious so that doesn’t make much sense either. Personally, I think he’s a Conservative but calling himself a Libertarian because he’s trying to get the moderates. But if you mislead someone to get them to listen to you, isn’t that a Democrat trick?
I think that everyone should top from following anyone too closely because anyone can become a mind numbed robot.
But Glenn also said that Obama is exactly what we needed. I agree with that. We needed someone to slap our face and wake us the heck up. Sometimes you have to let your kid fall so he can feel the pain. Mistakes are the best way to learn.
Just my opinion. ;o)
“The country’s political elite has begun to take steps that move our country into immediate peril.”
Hello....yes, immediate peril and then some. Thank God for Glenn Beck! I have always been aware of what was going on to some extent, but thanks to Glenn I learn something new (and equally scary) everyday! They (liberal Democrats and wussie Republicans) are not going to take my country.... without me putting up a fight!
Exactly. Beck can be flaky, but he points out how AWOL the party has been on the issues that most Republicans care about.
Glenn is NOT a Republican, but he IS a conservative! He has done more for America/Americans than any Republican in the GOP! People like Adam want to criticize Glenn, but I’d like to ask Adam, exactly what has he done for America/Americans? Until he does what Glenn has done, he should just keep his mouth shut.
So do I. LOL
The best thing for the GOPee is Glenn Beck!
The heart of the problem
Beck is the only one putting the connections together with a national forum.
There are others who can go after this policy or that, but he’s the only one putting the pieces together and doing it with passion and good humor.
He isn’t ideologically pure, I don’t think he’s read all the philosophers on my list, so he tends to zig-zag philosophically. But he does have a keen sense of right and wrong, so despite his zigging and zagging he gets there. Unlike the GOP swells who wouldn’t know a principle if it slapped them in the face.
He isn’t in the game to make conservatives look good or bad.
The writers who get caught up in the game of deciding which pundits are good or bad for conservatives or the GOP are really dancing to the Obamists tune. Beck and Limbaugh are hitting them hard and where it hurts, so we get a flood of articles opining that they might really be bad for the GOP. Palin speaks and their plans crumble, so next thing you know we’ve got all kinds of people including supposed Repubs and supposed conservatives trying to convince us to throw her under the bus.
Watching these people in action is like a graduate course in propaganda and political gamesmanship, with all of their cutouts and fake conservatives, all their fake organizations like a kaleidoscope making it almost impossible to figure out how the players connect to one another and most especially who funds who and who answers to who.
But Beck gets it. A lot of the rest of us are starting to get it too. FR does that, too. Something about being able to put dozens of stories side by side from a dozen different sources for comparison lets you begin to see the patterns.
Yeah... Rush and Beck are useful to the conservative cause up to a point.
In my opinion some issues are deal breakers. Both Beck and Rush have consistently failed to cover what I believe should be a “deal breaker” issue: Obama’s eligibility to be president. ( No, I do not consider Rush's less than five minutes of airtime in jokes to be “covering” the issue.)
By not covering Obama’s eligibility they have destroyed trust. It was a deal breaker.
OK...So? Should we completely walk away from Rush, Beck or the other conservative media yappers? No, of course not. But...We should remember that they are NOT men of courage. They have proven it with this issue of Obama’s eligibility.
When oppression comes Rush and Beck will lick the boots of their masters. They will turn their prodigious talent over to the state and work as propagandist for tyrants.
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