Glen Beck is an Idiot...

[jedweber]

I thought Beck said they raised $5.5 million?

[monkeymind]

On Meet the Press a few minute ago, Brian Williams said "I've heard estimates of 200,000 and NBC reported an estimate of 500,000..." People that is.

Geesh!

[jetson]

Yes, prepare for the head count to be THE CENTRAL topic now that it's all over.  Because head count is what matters, as opposed to the actual cause (which is barely admirable.)

[DeeJay]

I guess it goes without saying, but it's truly, truly frightening how many people buy into this guy's sh#t.  I think I've lost a few IQ points every time I've heard him talk.

[SherB]

I guess it goes without saying, but it's truly, truly frightening how many people buy into this guy's sh#t.  I think I've lost a few IQ points every time I've heard him talk.

My brother is divorced and lives by himself and spends way too much time alone at home with the TV on fauxnoise. Usually it's just in the background while he's doing something else, but in the last year something has definitely happened. Either he's getting Alzheimer's or faux and beckKK really do lower IQ points just by being in the same vicinity. Also he starts spouting faux talking points and when I tell him he didn't just think all that shit up, he heard it on faux, he doesn't believe me. And I think he's telling the truth---since he isn't actively listening he doesn't know he's being brainwashed. But he is, and to a point I almost can't stand to be around him. That's a bitch since we're running a business together...

[Frank]

Fortunately for the Republican Party, they continue to work for the 'lowest common denominator' of American society.  

You mean the majority of Americans then? Those flag wavin', bible thumpin', gun totin' good ol' boys.

[Nick]

I could not get on the site today so I figured that Glenn Beck really did transform the nation and we were in limbo as far as atheists and this site go.  Im glad to see it was just me or internet ghosts.


PS - I also heard there were 6 million people there to see Beck/Palin.  More than saw Obama get sworn in.

[xphobe]

He's telling people to abandon their churches?  And now he says that gay marriage is not an issue for him, that it "neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg" (quoting Jefferson)?

Wow.  He's really made an about-face.  His ratings must really be headed for the crapper.  It's about time for him to have another on-air meltdown.  

Hey maybe this time we'll actually get to witness a full-on double rainbow psychotic break!

That would be so beautiful...


edit: sp.

[Nam]

PS - I also heard there were 6 million people there to see Beck/Palin.  More than saw Obama get sworn in.

I heard the 1 million by Bachmann but not a 6 million count.

-Nam

[velkyn]

However, a firm hired by CBS News to estimate the crowd put attendees at between 78,000 and 96,000. The firm, AirPhotosLive.com, had three estimators go over high-resolution aerial photos of the event, and then combined the three estimates. (One of the estimators talks about the experience here.)

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2010/0830/Glenn-Beck-rally-attendance-calculating-how-many-really-showed-up

[pingnak]

Found various places on the interwebz, but I can't find the picture on the prominently displayed 'celebratethedream.org' site.

[jedweber]

I do give Beck a little bit of credit for (mostly) keeping overt politics out of this march, as he promised. Unfortunately, he filled the gap with God-talk and Christian nationalism...

Glenn Beck: Televangelist
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/08/glenn-beck-televangelist

I thought the Tea Party was supposed to be an anti-tax, ant-big-government movement. Are they going to let Beck turn it into a religious revival?

[Gimpy]

Pingnak, that is awesome.

I will steal it, of course.
 

[screwtape]

I do give Beck a little bit of credit for (mostly) keeping overt politics out of this march, as he promised.

You are being sarcastic, right?

[jedweber]

You are being sarcastic, right?

No, he really did leave out the overt Obama-bashing, the smears and character assassination of people he disagrees with, and the political conspiracy theories that make up a good part of his show. He focused on his more abstract and "positive" themes, which involve lots of patriotic gibberish and God talk.

Most observers have noted that the tone of the rally was generally less angry and less full of crazy than other Tea Party events (I think banning signs helped). I'm just giving credit where it's due.

[jedweber]

Apparently Beck went around soliciting support from the country's leading conservative pastors before shifting into religious revival mode. Some of them are scratching their heads over it, too, though they're not going to look a gift horse in the mouth:

Glenn Beck may be unlikely leader for conservative Christians

A few weeks before organizing a massive rally on the Mall that had the feel of a religious revival, Glenn Beck sought the blessing of some of the country's most prominent conservative Christian leaders. The Fox talk show host wanted their support as he shifted from political commentary to a more spiritual message, he told the group of about 20.

This is where God is leading me, Beck declared, according to Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, who was there, along with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson.

Land said most in the group found Beck's faith genuine and heartfelt, although not everyone agreed to embrace him publicly.

"We walked back to the hotel after and said: 'That was extraordinary,' " Land said of his conversation with Dobson after the dinner in Manhattan. "I've never heard a cultural figure of that popularity talking that overtly about his faith. He sounded like Billy Graham."

Two days after Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally...many Americans were still trying to figure out if the commentator had just seized the mantle of the religious right.

Conservative Christian talk radio was crackling with debate about Beck's Mormonism. Religious progressives were assailing his attacks on President Obama's Christianity. Scholars of religion and politics were analyzing Beck's evangelical-like talk of being saved from drug and alcohol addiction. Some pastor-bloggers were bemoaning what they consider the conflation of celebrity, politics and spirituality.
...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/30/AR2010083005015.html

ETA:

LOL. Some Christians aren't buying it - one Baptist leader calls it "Fox News at prayer"

Gospel not 'just Fox News at prayer': Theologian
...
Moore is "sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ." ...Moore twins the religious left and the religious right -- both rejecting what he calls the true gospel in favor of "crazy conspiracy." ...

USA Today

[screwtape]

No, he really did leave out the overt Obama-bashing, the smears and character assassination of people he disagrees with, and the political conspiracy theories that make up a good part of his show. He focused on his more abstract and "positive" themes, which involve lots of patriotic gibberish and God talk.

1. Are the teabaggers political?  Because they and other right wing political organizations (NRA, FreedomWorks,Americans for Prosperity, etc) were involved in organizing the event.

2. His rally was about "reclaiming" the civil rights movement, correct?  Is civil rights a political issue? 

3. Various speakers talked about abortion, same sex marriage, prayer in school, all of which are political issues for the right.

4. Sarah Palin and a host of GOP speakers were there.  How many liberal/ progressive speakers were invited?  You cannot tell me
liberals would not be out to honor military service or first ammendment rights.

5. I do not think it entirely hinges on whether Glenn "dumbest dumbfuck in dumbfuckistan" Beck said political things.  I think the aims of the crowd and Beck are important too. And they were undeniably political. 

From Think Progress
One of his organizations was there registering voters
More at Media Matters.

Most observers have noted that the tone of the rally was generally less angry and less full of crazy than other Tea Party events (I think banning signs helped).

He banned the signs because he is aware of the kooks he draws. The angry, crazy kooks were still there, you just had a harder time identifying them.

I'm just giving credit where it's due.

I am all for that.  I'm just not convinced it is due in this case.


One more from Think Progress to compliment the MLK-Beck timeline. How Beck's and King's philosophies are opposites.

[jedweber]

^ Sure, I'm not claiming it was a-political. It was clearly a conservative-themed rally organized and attended by conservatives. But we'd have to be blind not to notice the shift in focus away from the nitty-gritty details of politics and towards more general platitudes about God and country (at least for this one day.)

I'm not sure where he's going with this, and it seems many Christians aren't, either.

But if Beck succeeds in wrapping himself up in platitudes that sound inoffensive or even positive to most Americans, it could make him much harder to fight. It's much easier to attack and discredit him when he's lobbing firebombs (like calling Obama a racist) and spreading crazy conspiracy theories.

[screwtape]

I'm not sure where he's going with this, and it seems many Christians aren't, either.

just whipping the crazies up into a frenzy before the election.

But if Beck succeeds in wrapping himself up in platitudes that sound inoffensive or even positive to most Americans, it could make him much harder to fight. It's much easier to attack and discredit him when he's lobbing firebombs (like calling Obama a racist) and spreading crazy conspiracy theories.

Not gonna happen as long as he is a Mormon. 

[jetson]

But if Beck succeeds in wrapping himself up in platitudes that sound inoffensive or even positive to most Americans, it could make him much harder to fight. It's much easier to attack and discredit him when he's lobbing firebombs (like calling Obama a racist) and spreading crazy conspiracy theories.

My dad challenged me to find one instance where Glenn Beck called Obama a racist?  Do you have a source?

[HAL]

Now Beck has his own news website - The Blaze.

Enjoy!

http://www.theblaze.com/

[jedweber]

My dad challenged me to find one instance where Glenn Beck called Obama a racist?  Do you have a source?

The most famous incident was in 2009, it was widely reported at the time:

This morning on Fox and Friends, Fox host Glenn Beck accused President Obama of being "a racist."

The group was discussing the recent Gates controversy, and Beck exclaimed that Obama has "over and over again" exposed himself as "a guy who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture. I don't know what it is..."

When Fox's Brian Kilmeade pointed out that many people in Obama's administration are white, so "you can't say he doesn't like white people," Beck pressed on. "I'm not saying he doesn't like white people, I'm saying he has a problem," Beck said. "This guy is, I believe, a racist."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/28/fox-host-glenn-beck-obama_n_246310.html

Here's the full clip:



He later tried to back off from these remarks, apologizing for "the way it was phrased," after they caused a firestorm which led to advertisers pulling out of his show. But he insisted that it was "a serious question which...needs serious discussion."

There are many other instances of him saying similar things, though not as directly:

Beck distorts Obama's comments to accuse him of "racism"
http://mediamatters.org/research/201006140061

Beck accuses Obama of aligning himself with the New Black Panther Party
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201007070019

Beck says New Black Panthers are part of Obama's "army of thugs"
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201007090026

etc.

[jetson]

Jed...thanks!

I was mistaken though, it was Beck calling Obama Hitler, or a Nazi.

[jedweber]

^ He won't say that directly (he's stupid, but not that stupid), but he often implies or alludes to it. He's not very subtle, either - once I remember him discussing Obama's policies while the entire screen behind him was filled with marching Nazi stormtroopers.

E.T.A.: A Washington Post reporter recently counted Nazi references in Beck's show:

Consider these tallies from Glenn Beck's show on Fox News since Obama's inauguration: 202 mentions of Nazis or Nazism, according to transcripts, 147 mentions of Hitler, 193 mentions of fascism or fascist, and another 24 bonus mentions of Joseph Goebbels. Most of these were directed in some form at Obama -- as were the majority of the 802 mentions of socialist or socialism on Beck's nightly "report."
LINK

Here's another long list of specific Nazi references:

Beck has repeatedly compared Obama to Hitler, claimed his policies are leading America toward Nazi Germany
http://mediamatters.org/research/200910130061

Be careful, Beck fans will often try to dismiss Media Matters as a biased source, but they provide dates and quote directly from actual Fox News videos and transcripts...

[Nick]

But if Beck succeeds in wrapping himself up in platitudes that sound inoffensive or even positive to most Americans, it could make him much harder to fight. It's much easier to attack and discredit him when he's lobbing firebombs (like calling Obama a racist) and spreading crazy conspiracy theories.

My dad challenged me to find one instance where Glenn Beck called Obama a racist?  Do you have a source?

I saw it on the FOX morning show several months back.

[Gimpy]

But he backtracked on "racist."

He carefully avoided saying he would call it back, but instead came up with a perfectly fine EUPHEMISM that even Goebbels would approve:

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace, Glenn Beck gave his first interview after Saturday's Restoring Honor  rally in Washington, DC. While much of the conversation focused on the rally and religion, there were some answers that are bound to drive more water-cooler conversation on Monday.

Starting at the 10:40 mark in the interview, Wallace asked Beck if his claim that Obama is a racist destroyed Beck's credibility in talking about "reclaiming the civil rights movement."

Toward the end of a lengthy response, Beck said that he "miscast" Obama's liberation theology as racism.

Wallace: "Do you regret having called [Obama] a racist and saying he had a deep seated hatred for white people?"

Beck: "Of course I do. I don't want to retract the, um ... I want to amend that I think it is much more of a theological question, that he is a guy who understands the world through liberation theology, which is oppressor-and-victim. 'Racist,' first of all, it shouldn't have been said. It was poorly said. I have a big fat mouth sometimes and I say things. That's just not the way people should behave. And it was not accurate. It is liberation theology that has shaped his world view."

See? Obama isn't a racist, he simply espouses a "liberation theology," which involves an opperssor-and-victim mindset.  So, see, it only manifests itself as racism.

Silly minkeys.

http://huff.to/csaL4w


Edited to add: I just wanna say, sometimes I come to this thread JUST to read the subject line! 

[jedweber]

Now Beck has his own news website - The Blaze.

Enjoy!

http://www.theblaze.com/

LOL. On his show today he was citing news reports from "The Blaze" to back up some of his allegations. (something about professors at UC San Diego who hate America and an 80-year-old leftist lady at the Labor Dept. who indoctrinates schoolchildren with Marxism!)

Nice circular "journalism" - he's created his own source!

[Nick]

I would like to AMEND the title of this thread..."Glen Beck is a f*cking idiot".

[jetson]

Edited to add: I just wanna say, sometimes I come to this thread JUST to read the subject line! 

Too funny - I get all excited when someone brings this topic to the top of my unread post list!  I love seeing the thread title!